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R.E.M. moves out of tar and away from the sun with Accelerate
by Cy Fard posted March 29, 2008
Most of the buzz surrounding 2008's Accelerate has been that R.E.M. has finally regained a sense of urgency again. Excuse me for being a tad bit cynical, but considering the lumbering autopilot of Around the Sun and the safe studio pop of the post-Berry period in general, I wasn't exactly quivering in anticipation. Imagine my surprise when "Living Well is the Best Revenge" kicks in with frenzied guitars, lean rock, and the political honesty of, "don't turn your talking points on me/history will set me free." Could it be a one track fluke? No. It is seamlessly followed with the 2-3 punch of "Man-Sized Wreath" and "Supernatural Superserious." The former being a strong and distorted rocker with an effortlessly melodic chorus, the latter a standard infectious pop single that is arguably their best since "Imitation of Life."
Coming in at eleven songs and less than 40 minutes, this is R.E.M. focusing in on what they do best, and that is writing infectious pop songs. The lack of studio tinkering and the forthright attitude of Jacknife Lee's production gives the songs a lean sounding intensity that makes the album's title so damn appropriate. The band covers so much territory in so little time as well, jumping from the earnest acoustic balladry of "Until the Day is Done," to the Beatlesque pop psychedelia of "Mr Richards," to the intense punk-lite of "Horse To Water." This is the album where R.E.M actually feels relevant again, with the flowing creativity of their 80's and early 90's periods, without sounding anything like those respective eras.
Fortunately, this isn't experimentation for the sake of experimentation, which is easy to fall into when existing as a dinosaur rock act. Instead, R.E.M. decides to strip down not to try something new, or revisit an old era, but to get themselves down to their essence again. And it really does show throughout the album. "I'm Gonna DJ" closes as sing-along rock done right, and "Hollow Man" is pure Stipe, without being washed over in bad production like Around the Sun, which itself didn't suffer much in terms of song quality. While R.E.M. will always have a large dedicated audience, they will also face the pressure of falling into the plaguing by-the-numbers tempo which they seemed doomed to following Berry's departure.
Accelerate finds R.E.M. freeing themselves of the constraints of studio self-consciousness, or the desperation to experiment and redefine R.E.M. And hopefully this newfound sense of urgency continues, as their relevance in the pop world has always coincided more to that of U2, than a band like The Cure.
Coming in at eleven songs and less than 40 minutes, this is R.E.M. focusing in on what they do best, and that is writing infectious pop songs. The lack of studio tinkering and the forthright attitude of Jacknife Lee's production gives the songs a lean sounding intensity that makes the album's title so damn appropriate. The band covers so much territory in so little time as well, jumping from the earnest acoustic balladry of "Until the Day is Done," to the Beatlesque pop psychedelia of "Mr Richards," to the intense punk-lite of "Horse To Water." This is the album where R.E.M actually feels relevant again, with the flowing creativity of their 80's and early 90's periods, without sounding anything like those respective eras.
Fortunately, this isn't experimentation for the sake of experimentation, which is easy to fall into when existing as a dinosaur rock act. Instead, R.E.M. decides to strip down not to try something new, or revisit an old era, but to get themselves down to their essence again. And it really does show throughout the album. "I'm Gonna DJ" closes as sing-along rock done right, and "Hollow Man" is pure Stipe, without being washed over in bad production like Around the Sun, which itself didn't suffer much in terms of song quality. While R.E.M. will always have a large dedicated audience, they will also face the pressure of falling into the plaguing by-the-numbers tempo which they seemed doomed to following Berry's departure.
Accelerate finds R.E.M. freeing themselves of the constraints of studio self-consciousness, or the desperation to experiment and redefine R.E.M. And hopefully this newfound sense of urgency continues, as their relevance in the pop world has always coincided more to that of U2, than a band like The Cure.