R.E.M. - Accelerate
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Say goodbye to the sleepy sounds of the past 3 records and get ready to rock. R.E.M. just shot across the bow and are back in full force. Accelerate features 11 songs and tops out at 35 minutes, not your typical release from the trio. In track 1 "Living Well Is The Best Revenge" the signature jangle pop is back with some distortion. Michael Stipe sings with a belly full of anger and Mike Mills backs him up filling out the sound. Track 2 "Man Sized Wreath" is awash with political inferences and mid tempo fist pumping rants. On track 3 "Supernatural Superserious", the 1st radio single, the classic R.E.M. sound with harmonies, garbled vocals and arena tendencies. Track 4 "Hollow Man" slows down the tempo and features Michael crooning over a piano for the first 30 seconds. The rest of the band joins in and builds on the a cresendo that rides up and down. Track 5 "Houston" harks back to the New Adventures In Hi Fi era with moody keyboards and strange tempos. Track 7 "Until The Day Is Done" starts out like "Try Not To Breathe" which had me singing wrong lyrics and meanders into an alt country, melancholy swoon. Track 9 "Sing For The Submarine" keeps the minor chord feeling going, and builds on the aura that "E Bow The Letter" created. Track 10 "Horse To Water" is one of my favorites, its upbeat, in your face approach and heavily distorted guitar gets you going. The song is sloppy and brash, completely different from their perfected studio masterpieces. Hearing this track on its own you would think it was some young Minneapolis band circa early 80s.
Whereas R.E.M. turned up the amps and distortion on Monster, this is different. It's not controlled and polished, its raw but from a group of men who know each other inside and out. The harmonies tone down the rough edges and once again you hear life coming from the band. Most people love to dis R.E.M.'s Around The Sun release which I get but I never thought it was that bad. There were some amazing tracks but it was overproduced and much to long. Take the best songs and you would have had one amazing EP. I have been a huge fan of R.E.M. and have embraced each and every cd. I havn't liked every song, I could go on thru life without ever hearing "Shiny Happy People" but cry if I couldn't ever listen to "Pretty Persuasion", "Electrolite" and "The One I Love".
I don't have a favorite R.E.M. record and if I was forced to pick just one it might even be Up. I really enjoy the atmospheric style and this cd was created to listen to on headphones. Automatic For the People tugged at your heart while Up created a separate universe where you could just sit with back with Michael and listen to his stories.
I could go on and on about R.E.M. but you get the point. They are a band that I grew up on and still follow, they are my U2 and I frequently pull out different cds depending on my mood.
This cd is amazing and a must have. Even if you wrote the band off years ago, try this one on you will not be disappointed.
Posted by mardenhill 4/02/2008 05:26:00 PM
Labels: Music
Great review by the way, I saw some of your music picks at Gizmorox's blog.
Do you know Beth at Cup of Coffey? She's been R.E.M.ing for a week now!