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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > April > 10 > Entry
New R.E.M. CD: Fast, fun and about time
It’s our disc du jour! This is one I was really looking forward to:
R.E.M.
ACCELERATE
Most bands, like most people, have a fast speed and a slow speed, and mix these up a bit to keep music, and life, interesting and balanced. It’s both a compliment and a criticism to observe that R.E.M. has never really been like most bands, though — and as even their most loyal, die-hard fans must have to admit by now, they have taken the fast/slow thing to an extreme.
Said another way, the last album they recorded with a lot of pep to it was “Monster,” a great fun noisy blowtorch of a record that came out back in 1994. If it seems even longer ago then that, it’s because nearly all their work since has been soooooooooo sleeeeeeeeeeepy and reeeeeeeeeeally boooooooooooooring.
Mind you, that is the assessment of a patient fan. I imagine anybody who was only passably interested in the group dating from its outre, muffled-jangle persona from the ‘80s gave up on them a decade ago, at least. Some of us hung in there, wondering why-why-why? and kicking around theories ranging from the departure of Bill Berry’s kick-butt drumming to Michael Stipe’s evaporation into middle-age zenification to the fact that once you’ve been paid $40 million in advance, you can find all kinds of reasons not to sweat the details.
Whatever. Our waiting has paid off, more or less, with “Accelerate,” an album unlike anything since … well, since “Monster.” As you’ve read in just about every other review of it out there, it’s fast, it’s tight, it’s bouncy and it rocks, coasting high and wide on Peter Buck’s heady guitar playing — just when R.E.M. had apparently given up on all those things. Its 11 songs clock in at just about 30 minutes, and the music feels like some of R.E.M.’s best mid-career work on albums like “Green,” “Document” and “Lifes Rich Pageant.”
At the end of the day, though, it’s not quite as good as any of them. Not quite. Where those discs were cloaked in atmosphere and were fueled by youthful brio, “Accelerate” has maturity, wisdom and a certain sophistication going for it — meaning, alas, that for all its speed, it lacks anything that resembles fire.
Too much time past for that? Well, as we said— R.E.M. isn’t like other bands, never has been. I’m not saying to count them out; just don’t count on this new change to end up meaning all that much. As we’ve seen, that ain’t the way they play it.
Grade: B+
iPod picks: Actually, I like every song. download “Living Well Is the Best Revenge,” “Man-Sized Wreath” and “Accelerate” if you’re choosy.
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By jay
April 14, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this
Love most of the songs…reminds me of many early songs but lyrics are not quite as vague. We know who they are singing about and to whom…