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Review
Welcome to REM's 'new direction', folks. It's the old one, thank goodness! Eleven years after Bill Berry's departure from the drum stool it's finally ok for the band to admit that things haven't been too rosy on the communications front. The decision to soldier on was, they say, brave but maybe misguided, especially when it led to the stylistic dilettantism of albums like Up or the frankly moribund Around The Sun. But those who thought that the hiring of Jacknife Lee as producer (Bloc Party, Editors) might lead to another radical re-think will be disappointed. For what REM have done (in a mere nine days) is return to their indie roots and made a fast 'n' dirty album that thrills by its very speed. An apt title, indeed!
The opening chords of opener, Living Well Is The Best Revenge lets you know. Back are the wailing backing vocals of Mike Mills, the chiming D chords and drones of Peter Buck and some of the most impassioned singing that Stipe has laid down in eons. In interviews the band revealed that they'd slashed anything that wasn't instantly appealing. The results are a spartan 35-minute romp through the things that made us love them way back in the mid-80s. Viz: the punk thrash of hilarious closer, I'm Gonna DJ, which comes on like a cousin to End Of The World As We Know It. In fact the only downside of Accelerate is the album's tendency to recall too many of the band's best earlier moments. The folk waltz of Houston could come from their classic Out Of Time mid-period. Man-Sized Wreath could be from Green, such is the infectiousness of its chorus. The title track is just classic REM in any era. Yet when you get to the middle of Sing For the Submarine you realise that 20 years ago they couldn't have taken a song and lifted it so monumentally by sheer force of dynamics. So there's still progress of sorts.
Stipe's lyrics are as politically sharp as ever, with the aforementioned Houston's lyrics dealing with Hurricane Katrina (''if the storm doesn't kill me the government will'') but so often the whoops and hollers mean far more than the more jaded worldview. For, this late in the day, REM have begun to act like a band again. We should be thankful, and not a little amazed... --Chris Jones
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By P. Mccormick
Format:Audio CD
This album is not as good as it could be. Like most other reviewers I agree this is the best REM album for some time. However, my beef is with the mastering. I can only listen to about three songs in a row due to the sonic bludgeoning that this CD inflicts on me. It really is physically tiring to be subjected to a virtually constant volume level on every song. Like others I'm frustrated at how this recording has been mastered. Every song is the same volume, every part of every song is the same volume, every guitar part is the same volume, thrashy guitar chords and guitar arpeggios are the same volume. Can't we have some light and shade? This is particulary draining to listen to. The whole recordings been turned into some sort of liquidised sonic mush where there's no lumpy bits and everything's the one gloopy texture. No doubt guitar/drum/bass etc parts were compressed when they were recorded, compressed further when they were mixed, and then the whole mix was probably compressed. .. leading to a unpleasant listening experience.
It would be better if the songs were allowed to breathe and not suffocated. Please let's have some music recorded with natural dynamics instead of squashing everything.
Most of the songs are great by the way...
It would be better if the songs were allowed to breathe and not suffocated. Please let's have some music recorded with natural dynamics instead of squashing everything.
Most of the songs are great by the way...
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By C. O'Brien
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
It's difficult to know whether to applaud Stipe, Buck and Mills for coming out with their most solid and succinct piece of work since Bill Berry's exit, or whether to frown at the extent to which they've been content to conform to most people's idea of what an REM album should be.
Yes, Accelerate is a return to form: strong, muscular, intense and powerful. It's also concise at 34 minutes and apparently took just nine days to record. Eschewing the experimentation of every album since Up, they've perhaps finally made the wilder follow-up to Automatic for the People that Monster so flagrantly failed to be.
Accelerate can be downright mouthy: Man-Sized Wreath violently rejects elder-statesman conceit and the post-punk sensibilities of Horse To Water seems to dare imitators and interpreters to match up. Musically, the sound of the band here reflects who they are in a live context: impassioned, intense, full of driving, droning guitars, the fires of the creative trio powerfully stoked by ex-Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin.
Lyrically, it's a dense and literary work, drawing on quotations from English metaphysical poet George Herbert's Jacula Pudentum in the opening track's title "Living Well Is The Best Revenge" and referencing American novelists Sinclair Lewis and William Burroughs as well as Victorian conjuror Harry Houdini on the lyrics sheet.
That's not to say it's in any way limp or over-intellectualised. Stipe certainly seems to be asking more questions of himself than ever: self-flagellating in Hollow Man, diving into dream imagery in Sing For The Submarine, begging for answers in Accelerate ("Where is the rip cord, the trap door, the key, where is the cartoon escape hatch for me?") He sounds permanently angry, alive, vividly in the moment, supported by some great backing vocals from Mike Mills.
Yes, this is a quintessential REM album, distilling most of the elements of what's made them one of the all-time great bands. If it turned out to be their last defiant rejection of age and decline, it would make a peerless exit. But somehow, I think there's more to come.
Yes, Accelerate is a return to form: strong, muscular, intense and powerful. It's also concise at 34 minutes and apparently took just nine days to record. Eschewing the experimentation of every album since Up, they've perhaps finally made the wilder follow-up to Automatic for the People that Monster so flagrantly failed to be.
Accelerate can be downright mouthy: Man-Sized Wreath violently rejects elder-statesman conceit and the post-punk sensibilities of Horse To Water seems to dare imitators and interpreters to match up. Musically, the sound of the band here reflects who they are in a live context: impassioned, intense, full of driving, droning guitars, the fires of the creative trio powerfully stoked by ex-Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin.
Lyrically, it's a dense and literary work, drawing on quotations from English metaphysical poet George Herbert's Jacula Pudentum in the opening track's title "Living Well Is The Best Revenge" and referencing American novelists Sinclair Lewis and William Burroughs as well as Victorian conjuror Harry Houdini on the lyrics sheet.
That's not to say it's in any way limp or over-intellectualised. Stipe certainly seems to be asking more questions of himself than ever: self-flagellating in Hollow Man, diving into dream imagery in Sing For The Submarine, begging for answers in Accelerate ("Where is the rip cord, the trap door, the key, where is the cartoon escape hatch for me?") He sounds permanently angry, alive, vividly in the moment, supported by some great backing vocals from Mike Mills.
Yes, this is a quintessential REM album, distilling most of the elements of what's made them one of the all-time great bands. If it turned out to be their last defiant rejection of age and decline, it would make a peerless exit. But somehow, I think there's more to come.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Managed to get hold of an early release copy of this new REM album and from the first listen you could tell this was one of their better more consistent offerings of the last 10 years. Monster style guitars sounds start the album and appear on several tracks but yet more melodic than Monster. Also short and sweet at 11 tracks running approx 35 minutes in length thus not so over produced as Reveal or to long like Up. When it finished you want to just play it again. One for the summer months and festivals this year, glad I will be seeing them at T in the Park in July. With these new songs you can tell that will fit in seamlessly with the older ones, a must have for any true fan!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of their best late efforts
'Accelerate' (2008) is a gritty and relatively short album with a sense of urgency to it. This - along with a fine collection of songs - is probably why it's so good, certainly one... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Torben Madsen
5.0 out of 5 stars
REM
What can i say yet another triumph for the lads i remember when thet were a support act and knew then what stars they would become
Published 17 months ago by baz
1.0 out of 5 stars
How or when did Stipe OK this?
First of all, let me say that Accelerate is a great album: the music is among the best R.E.M. has produced. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2010 by Jorge Reyes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Short and effective
Accelerate has a great opener --"Living Well is the best revenge". Peter Buck's guitar hadn't sounded this loud in years. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2010 by Jorge Reyes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Their best since New Adventures In HiFi
It has been well documented how R.E.M. un-did their reputation as one of the worlds biggest bands as they struggled to come to terms with Bill Berry's retirement and hence their... Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2010 by D.Joyce
2.0 out of 5 stars
REVEAL was better in comparison. Can you believe that?...
...And AROUND THE SUN was, if not better - no, of course anything in this world is better than that "thing", everybody knows that - at least not as pretentious and pompous as... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2010 by Tognato MARCO
5.0 out of 5 stars
REM are back!!
Reacting against accusations that they were getting "soft" and pandering to record company executives, REM release "Accelerate", an album that sees them returning to the... Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2010 by Spin
4.0 out of 5 stars
Their strongest album since Bill quit.
Ever since drummer Bill Berry quit and even before then, R.E.M. have been occasionally inspired but for the most part, directionless. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2010 by dynamitekid156
5.0 out of 5 stars
a gift..
I bought this for my boyfriend as he's a big REM fan like myself but unlike myself he's also a vinyl nerd. Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by electro_cute
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant R.E.M album!
Brilliant album! I was lucky enough to be at the Olympia for the live rehearsals and this album lives up to all the promise and hype. Read more
Published on 22 Nov 2009 by JU
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