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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
REM have no right, at this advanced stage in their career, to be making such spirited and beautiful music as that on Reveal. Twenty years after "Radio Free Europe", they're still jiggy as year-old pups. Reveal is the sound of a band who have moved beyond feeling the need to change or to prove themselves to each new generation, but still want to make music that expresses a passion for life. Michael Stipe's voice has never been more evocatively beautiful than it is on "I've Been High", and Peter Buck's eclectic tunesmithery has continued in the highly accessible vein it was mining on their previous album, Up. Those who yearn to hear the Stipe of old, mumbling incomprehensibly behind murky Byrds-u-like chords, will remain disappointed by his increasing emergence as an upfront vocalist whose lyrics, if never entirely self-explanatory, now make ingenious use of phrases, images and vignettes that anybody can identify with. Hovering over much of the album is the spirit of Brian Wilson, whose melodic and harmonic genius is echoed in "Beachball" and almost transcended in the astonishingly plangent "Summer Turns to High". With so much to live up to from "Losing My Religion" to "Man On the Moon", it's not far short of astonishing that REM can still come up with a song like "Imitation of Life", whose gorgeously chiming and shimmering chorus sets the heart soaring and the eyes misting over. That song alone would be worth the price of admission but, fortunately, from the first synthesiser swirls of the album's opener, "The Lifting", there's not a dud to be heard in the entire dozen cuts. --Johnny Black
Product Description
REM Reveal (2001 UK 12-track CD includes Imitation Of Life and All The Way To Reno picture sleeve with lyrics)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An album of easy bliss,
This review is from: Reveal (Audio CD)
I'm one of those people who has to be doing something else while listening to music - be it reading, working, whatever. It's not often that you get an album that strikes so many chords in you with the lyrics particularly, that you have to stop what you're doing to listen to certain songs. Admittedly, this isn't REM's best album. There can be no decisive 'best' album for REM because they're all so different. However, this album does have stand-out songs, almost every one of them. "I'll take the rain" shows Michael Stipe's feelings on singing - "I used to think, as birds take wing, they sing through life, so why can't we?" as well as other meanings, obviously. What Stipe seems to do is invoke a feeling in you that makes you think every song is delivered to you. Three REM songs stand out like this, 'Tongue' on Monster, 'Walk Unafraid' on Up, and 'I'll take the Rain' on this one. REM are unstoppable in their ability - to get through crisis after crisis and still make music this beautiful, 20 years after 'Murmur'. In one word - outstanding.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Four Stars... & a half!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Reveal (Audio CD)
Up until now I was an REM virgin, having never previously owned anything of theirs before, although I loved many of their singles. After listening to Reveal, all that will change. The album kicks off with the spacey, electronic/rock of The Lifting, though the album, in my opinion, really starts to shine when I've Been High (Track 2) begins. A fragile, heartrending ballad, about coming down (not from drugs, but from life); it is a real standout. Next comes All The Way To Reno, a lightweight piece of fun, country-tinged rock. Following Reno, is She Just Wants To Be, a folkish ballad with a powerful, albeit short, repeated chorus. Disappear, a strangely uptempo, but melancholy song, follows maintaining Reveal's high standards. Next comes Saturn Return, the most experimental track on the album. Michael Stipe's beautiful voice is backed by sparse electronica and punctuated by piano and guitar chords. With the exception of Reno and The Lifting, the album so far is quite bleak, but the mood changes on Beat A Drum, a summery, folkish tune. Imitation Of Life, Summer Turns To High and Chorus And The Ring follow, all more uptempo, and with the occasional Beach Boys influene thrown in. In my opinion, this is the weaker part of the album, but is still highly listenable. The penultimate track is easily the highest moment of Reveal. The gorgeously sad ballad, I'll Take The Rain, rivals such REM classics as Losing My Religion, Everbody Hurts and The One I Love, with its anthemic chorus. Michael Stipe's voice sounds its fullest and richest on this track, complementing the soaring strings - pure REM class. While I'll Take The Rain would have made the perfect closer, the band opted for Beachball, a summery track, complete with horns. A happy end to a balanced and very good album. I'll be checking out the back catalogue very soon indeed.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
REM brings us a beautiful sun-kissed album,
By
This review is from: Reveal (Audio CD)
You could be forgiven for noting the similarities between Up and Reveal as they are both feature mainly slow tempo yet stirring, almost chill-out numbers. However, Reveal seems to have a prominent Summer feel to it especially in blissed-out 'Summer Turns to High', the care-free 'Beat a Drum' the shining 'The Lifting' and the shimmering 'All the Way to Reno'. Also worth a mention is the song 'Beachball', which feels a little odd even for REM, but has a nice holiday-island style sound to it.Also featuring on the album is the brilliant yet catchy 'Imitation of Life', the true to life 'She Just Wants To Be' and 'Disappear', and the sombre yet defiant 'I'll Take the Rain'. Although a slightly unorthodox sound for the band (as they seem to be exploring just about every type of instrument, synth and sound effect possible), still one of the most moving and unique REM albums available. Words simply cannot do it justice.
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