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Track Listings
| 1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge (Album Version) |
| 2. Man-Sized Wreath (Album Version) |
| 3. Supernatural Superserious (Album Version) |
| 4. Hollow Man (Album Version) |
| 5. Houston (Album Version) |
| 6. Accelerate (Album Version) |
| 7. Until The Day Is Done (Album Version) |
| 8. Mr. Richards (Album Version) |
| 9. Sing For The Submarine (Album Version) |
| 10. Horse To Water (Album Version) |
| 11. I'M Gonna Dj (Album Version) |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
At this stage in a band's career a Mojo front cover would seem more likely than actually getting their old mojo back. And at 14 albums young, REM's longevity had been taken as a byword for pale compliance--in spite of a melodic obedience, last album Around the Sun lacked the emotional vigour of their key works and was presumed by many to be no more than a footnote in their decline. Here then is where they break all the rules. Accelerate is exceptionally loyal to its title and marks a hefty return to their Document-era heyday, when their Byrdsian post-punk was beefed up to suit the arenas they were then beginning to fill. There's even a new "end of the world" song to back up that assertion--the excitable Stooges/B52s love-in "I'm Gonna DJ" ("Death is pretty final/I'm collecting vinyl/I'm gonna DJ at the end of the world!"). Michael Stipe's voice splinters scattered emotional punctuation, Mike Mills is as ever REM's secret weapon, drilling out bass-lines like rapid CPR and achieving more with a single backing vocal than many lead singers manage over a whole album, while Peter Buck deals out memorable guitar twists a-go-go evoking amongst others The Who, The Small Faces and Neil Young. To summon a cliché, this really does sound like a band--and a band half their age at that--playing live in a room, packed full of all the fire and nuances needed to feel at home in a club or the stadiums they now more regularly inhabit. --James Berry
Product Description
REM Accelerate (2008 Hong Kong issue 11-track CD album includes the singles Supernatural Superserious Hollow Man and Man-Sized Wreath presented in sealed & stickered fold-out card sleeve)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
They had to do this, I think. Another one like Around the Sun (which I love, by the way) or an experimental album like Up (also very good) would probably have resulted in poor sales, more slagging off of the band etc. So here we have Accelerate. In short, I think it's great. Not a second is wasted in its short length, and there are not any tracks on here I would say are poor. Particular highlights for me are Hollow Man - great piano/guitars combination, and Sing for the Submarine, which feels far more developed than the shorter songs. However, on the negative side, the album as a whole is occasionally just too LOUD. Great overall, though.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
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
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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 5 months ago by baz
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 17 months ago by Jorge Reyes
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 20 months ago by Jorge Reyes
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 23 months ago by D.Joyce
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 23 months ago by Tognato MARCO
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 23 months ago by Spin
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
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
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
One for the fans only.
I have several REM albums and this has a few good tracks. I would give it three stars if the sound quality were acceptable. Read more
Published on 5 May 2009 by Owen Palmer
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