Album Review #1: R.E.M.- Accelerate.

Part I: The History.  

R.E.M.’s 14th studio album Accelerate may be the most crucial album of their career. To understand the importance of this album, you must understand a little history first: in 1997, R.E.M.’s drummer Bill Berry announced that he was leaving the band. The rest of the band decided to go on as a three-piece, mostly on the insistane of Berry himself. Naturally, this news was met with some confusion from the audience.

And the first post-Berry album, Up, was met with the same type of confusion. Rather than the jangly guitars or shining folk-pop of R.E.M.’s previous albums, Up was a dark, ambient, experimental album made up mostly of electronic instruments. Fan reaction was and still is conflicted: some view the album as a beautifully dark masterpiece, while others view it as a brooding mess. But either way, one thing was certain: post-Berry R.E.M. would be a completely different R.E.M. than the public had come to know.

In 2001, the band released Reveal, the follow-up to Up. Reveal still contained most of the electronic elements of the previous album, but used them to create a warm, summer-ish atmosphere and make an album that Michael Stipe referred to as “our summer record”. While the album does an excellent job accomplishing that goal, the album still had some detractors. Critics and fans alike were slightly bothered by R.E.M.’s newfound similarities to adult-contemporary radio pop. The band’s influence was started to wane, despite the fact that just a few years earlier they were elder-statesmen with a legendary status.

But luckily, the band’s fanbase and critics were divided. Despite some negative feedback, enough of the fanbase still supported them that they weren’t completely written off. At most, they were in a slump. But then a few things happened: The band released a greatest hits compilation that turned them into a nostalgia act for the general public, as well as brought more of a spotlight on their upcoming new album: Around the Sun.

Around the Sun has, as most music fans know, gones down in history as a pretty bad album. Most of the negtive criticism was universal: R.E.M. was essentially finished. They were now becoming the Rolling Stones of alternative rock, based more on greatest hits compilations and setlists that revolve soley around the hits, while releasing medocre albums of new material that sounds exactly like the kind of the thing that the band would have used to avoid. In the span of a few years, the band would also release another greatest hits compilation and a live album, two things that did nothing but prove the naysayers correct. R.E.M.’s career and legacy were getting tarnished fast.

Part II: The Return of R.E.M. in Dublin.

In 2007, R.E.M. was inducted into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame, despite the detractors of the last few albums. This, some speculate, was a turning point for the band. Soon after, word came out that the band was writing new songs together as a group. Then, around May, the band announced a 5 night working reheasal where they would play through new songs for an audience in Dublin.

These shows turned the music world on it’s head. The new songs had a kick to them that R.E.M. hadn’t put in their music since 1996′s New Adventures in Hi Fi and the band sounded more enthusiastic than they had in almost 10 years. In addition to that, the band played older songs from their days as an indie band for the first time since the late 80′s/early 90′s, one song in particular (Harborcoat) hadn’t been played live since 1985. The band was telling the world that they were back.

News spread quick, and soon the internet was in a massive state of buzz over the shows. The cellphone videos of the new and old songs became some of the most-watched videos on Youtube that summer, and critics everywhere were hailing that R.E.M. was back on top as one of the best bands in the world. R.E.M. quickly recorded the songs in 3 one week long studio sessons, in order to keep the album feeling raw and immediate.

Then on January 1st, 2008, the band announced to the world that on April 1st, the new album Accelerate would hit shelves. Anticipation for the album was the most R.E.M. had seen in years. News sources everywhere begged for any kind of tidbit on the album.

In the run up to the release, R.E.M. talked at length about the promises that they had made for the new album. While they refused to talk about the material itself in detail, in order to not create false hopes, they did say that they were more excited about this than any album they’ve released in 10 years, and even admitted to that Around the Sun was a poor, uneven album.

Not only did they talk of their new changes in the press, but they proved them onstage. At their show at the South By Southwest festival, the first show since the release date announcement, the band performed a revealing setlist: gone were set staples “Losing My Religion” and “The One I Love”,  two of the band’s biggest singles, and in their place came obscure goodies like “Auctioneer (Another Engine)”, “Second Guessing,” alongside classic hits like “Fall on Me” that haven’t been played live in years. With this show, R.E.M. announced that they’re back and ready to show the world what they’re made of. But, this of course hinges on the new album itself…

 Part III: The Review.

Accelerate does indeed live up to much of it’s hype. It is a cohesive return to form for R.E.M., with songs that sound spirited and truly energetic in a way no R.E.M. album has in the past 10 years. But unlike much of the hype states, it’s not a mind blowing album that will change music in 2008.

The modesty of the album is half of it’s strength. It’s not a band trying to show off it’s chops, but instead a band doing it’s thing the best they can and taking the listener along for the ride. Modesty was always one of R.E.M.’s original selling points, that they were a band that made music because they wanted to make it, not to get famous or to make points. They’re back to being a band of guys rather than a band of superstars. They’ve returned to their roots in an honest, respectable way.

Of course one of the biggest concerns was if the album would just be a simple throwback to the band’s glory days rather than a legitimate artistic statement. And yes, there are a few reminders of yesteryear, such as the jangly guitar on songs like “Supernatural Superserious” or “Hollowman,” but as a whole the album is much more than simply a nostalgia trip. The album expands upon R.E.M.’s classic sound while at the same time embracing it. “Hollowman” sounds like a cross between Reckoning era jangle pop and New Adventures in Hi Fi mainstream rock, while “Mr. Richards” has much in common with Document’s “Finest Worksong” without sounding like a re-tread.

Even the folk numbers on the album sound much more organic and fiery. “Houston” is a dissedent policial piece that features some of the murky atmosphere of earlier R.E.M. records, while “Until the Day is Done” is a perfect example of a classic R.E.M. folk number. They don’t sound overproduced like the folk numbers on the band’s past 3 albums, but instead sound organic and real, something that had been lacking from R.E.M.’s music for a number of years.

Overall, Accelerate is a strong record that’s worthy of most of the praise and attention it’s gotten. While not perfect, it works as a cohesive piece of energetic art that’s able to celebrate itself without being cocky. It’s fun and intelligent at the same time, and a breath of fresh air to the mainstream rock scene. Essentially, it’s exactly what an R.E.M. album should be.

Now listening to: Woodie Guthrie- Dust Bowl Ballads.