R.E.M. - Accelerate
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Free Music Notes for Accelerate
Free Music Review: The day is not done
Hit: 5 Stars
All R.E.M. fans seem to have a phase that they like the most (many in fact, do not like the other stages very much at all). Some favor the band during their I.R.S. days, when they were the smallest big band in America. These people were smallish in number, but obsessive and loyal in nature. They wondered what a "Harborcoat" was and were shocked when the actual lyrics of the song "Fall on Me" were shown in the video.
Then, on a major label and with a wah-wah pedal (or maybe a mandolin) R.E.M. became the rock superstars that everyone knew. The band, as Kurt Cobain said, handled their success like saints, turning down millions to not let their songs be used by Bill Gates, and refused to make the same album twice to cash in on their massive popularity.
Yet, with any success comes a backlash, and with 1994's Monster, many fans of both eras began to drift away. By 1997, with the departure of Bill Berry, the band moved into another era. One that found the band trying to figure out a direction to go which could, somehow, tie everything together on a collective positive level.
Accelerate is the music of a band who has found that path. It will not bring back the Murmur/Reckoning faithful. It will not sell like Out of Time. Perhaps, one day, more music fans will like the studio sounds of the last three records. It is not like those albums either.
What Accelerate is, is R.E.M. phase four music. Alive and vital in 2008. A record that will have its fans and critics, but signifies the beginning of a new era in the bands history. One that by looking forward, also can reach back, where fans of all three groups might find key elements that represent why they became fans to begin with. It also deserves to make its fair share of new ones.
Free Music Review: REM - Accelerate delivers!
Hit: 5 Stars
I can't say that I didn't like "Around the Sun". I did. But Accelerate is a different animal alltogether, and a new direction for the band at a time that they needed to diverge a bit. Where "Around the Sun" and "Reveal" had a more subdued and dark tone, Accelerate is a driving rocker, with just enough slower melodies mixed in.
You can't listen to Accelerate without thinking about what songs would fit on what previous albums. It's not that the songs sound or feel old, it's that they have such appealing harmonies and melodies that they conjure up other great REM works. The first four tracks on this CD rival pretty much any album since "Automatic" or "Document".
"Mister Richards" could fit on UP, "Until the day is Done" could fit on Automatic, and "Man Sized Wreath" could fit on Monster or New Adventures. These songs, and the entire album for that matter, give us a new direction for the most part but retain enough REM backbone to make you feel comfortable as you listen. Buck's jangling guitar is out in front and Stipe's Lyrics are again right on target. Mills' baseline is more driving and focused on songs like "Living Well". There is still a good dose of political message here, as in the last two albums. But this time there is an attitude of defiance and confidence rather than sadness and despair.
The feel of Accelerate is sometimes rough ("Living Well is the Best Revenge") and sometimes perfectly polished (Until the day is Done") but always a great listen. This is one CD I have to stop myself from playing over and over so I don't get tired of it. It's that good.
The recording quality is very good, and it sounds great on my Ipod or on my big system (or blaring out my car windows).
Enjoy it!
Free Music Review: Short and sweet
Hit: 5 Stars
Usually, I'm the type of listener who grumbles about a monetary transaction that results in ponying up $11.00 for only 35 minutes of music. But given the down-tempo moodiness and soul-searching of the past three R.E.M. albums, I suppose I should've checked my doubts at the door. "Accelerate" is a work of masterful brevity, leaving in its scorched trail a longing desire for just a bit more of that savory sound. Only the finest albums in your library have this power.
My initial attitude toward "Accelerate" was marked mostly by skepticism; I was, afterall, the guy who openly preferred the electro-pop glitch of "Up" (still my favorite R.E.M. record) and "Reveal" above the party vibe of "Life's Rich Pageant" or the distorted crunch of "Monster".
But you've got to hand it to the boys from Athens: having been more or less musically derailed by the loss of drummer Bill Berry and a slew of mediocre responses to their subsequent releases, it was unlikely for these aging rock icons to push the envelope again. It was worth the wait.
Opener "Living Well is the Best Revenge" showcases more group confidence than the band has shown in a decade. "Man Sized Wreath" includes a bassline far catchier than anything Mike Mills has pinned down since "Man on the Moon". Michael Stipe's stream-of-conscious lyrics are at their best in "Horse to Water" and "I'm Gonna DJ". Out of its 11 tracks, only "Until the Day is Done" indulges a more acoustic texture not heard since "Automatic for the People" hit shelves in 1992. Even if there was a misstep here (which there isn't), it would probably pass in less than three minutes.
All the hype is true.
Free Music Review: A perfect album for less-than-perfect times
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't fully get the "throwback" tag that so many people seem to apply to this album. Yes, this album is a rocker, and some of REMs other albums have been rockers, but I really feel like Accelerate could only have come out of the times we're in. 80% of the Americans think this country is on the wrong track and the rest of the world had lost a great deal of the respect they once had for us. What better way to deal with it than to turn up the volume and rock!?! And where past REM rockers have still noodled around a little, these songs start fast, get to the point, and drive it home with hardly a wasted motion.
Just like the tongue-in-cheek pop of "Shiny Happy People" and the angsty drama of "Everybody Hurts" were ideally suited to the national mood at the closing of the Reagan-Bush era, I feel like the loud and fast songs on Accelerate are perfect for the end of this disastrous Bush II administration. They seem to scream, "hurry up and get this sh** over with!"
While they may have missed the national pulse with their last few albums, I feel like Accelerate really hits home. Like most artists, REM seems to produce their best work when times are tough. If anything, I'd like to hear them play even louder and faster--maybe they could somehow speed up time until January 2009.
Free Music Review: Solid return to what makes REM great
Hit: 5 Stars
I, like many, was so thrilled to hear that REM were getting back to making a more straight-ahead rock album featuring guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Stylistically Accelerate takes from Life's Rich Pageant, Document and to some degree Monster. To me nothing will beat the IRS records from Murmur to Document. But Accelerate just sounds so good given their recent 3 releases. REM became one of my all-time favorite bands playing straight ahead rock w/o the atmospheric fluff heard on recent albums. The songs here are played with a sense of urgency.
I'm not going to sit here and write a dissertation on each song. What I will say is that this is the best REM album I've heard since Automatic. I do think it deserves a 5 star. I get excited when I listen to this album. Gives me the feeling I used to get when they put great albums out. I can assure you one thing. Accelerate will win back the fans they've lost since New Adventures In Hi-Fi. Like many great albums it gets better with subsequent listens. I don't think this disc will sit in the dust bins of one's CD collection.
It's great to have REM back making great music again. Thanks to the boys from Athens, GEE AYY.