R.E.M. #2: Accelerate

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R.E.M. will tour North America this May and June in support of Accelerate, their new record which is set to be released on April 1. The band will be joined on the North American tour by Modest Mouse and The National. Please stay tuned to remhq.com for more details.

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Op maandag 28 januari 2008 22:17 schreef BUG80 het volgende:

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Jazeker. Wereldband!

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Op dinsdag 29 januari 2008 09:45 schreef Grobbel het volgende:
Alleen de Noord-Amerikaanse tour? Jammer. Alleen voor Modest Mouse en The National zou ik al een ticket kopen. En dan krijg je R.E.M. er nog als toetje bij.

Zou trouwens ook een bijzonder leuke band zijn voor Rockin Park, trouwens.

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Op dinsdag 29 januari 2008 19:14 schreef peaceman het volgende:

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Net als een paar jaar geleden

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Op dinsdag 29 januari 2008 19:15 schreef Grobbel het volgende:

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Precies!
En dan mogen ze Modest Mouse en the National ook wel mee nemen.

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Op zaterdag 2 februari 2008 11:31 schreef Acathla het volgende:
De trailer van Accelerate *klik*

Dit geeft de goede burger wel hoop zeg.

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Op zaterdag 2 februari 2008 12:28 schreef Numbie het volgende:
Rest van het album klinkt voor 65% ook zo

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Op zaterdag 2 februari 2008 12:35 schreef BUG80 het volgende:

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Hoe bedoel je? Dezelfde sound? En hoe weet je dat?

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Op dinsdag 5 februari 2008 10:58 schreef ioko het volgende:
Ik hoop dat de muziek weer wat meer richting rock gaat

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REM's "Accelerate"
2008-01-30 12:07:52
OK, then, I must admit I’ve been sceptical about this one, so disillusioned by “Around The Sun” (three good, if woefully overproduced, songs notwithstanding) that I didn’t even bother to check out any bootlegs of those “live rehearsal” gigs from Dublin last year. . . More fool me, it transpires.

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If “Around The Sun” was a glossy attempt to update the moods of “Automatic For The People”, “Accelerate” looks further back into REM’s terrific back catalogue for inspiration. The mixture of crunch and jangle from Peter Buck, the generally speedier pace, Michael Stipe stuffing far too many words into each line while Mike Mills gamely tries to keep up with his harmonies, the attractive gothic woodiness of the folk ballads – all this reminds me a lot of how the band sounded circa “Lifes Rich Pageant” and “Document”.

It’d be mighty rash to suggest “Accelerate” was the equal of those albums, but it certainly draws on their energies. This is not a perfect record, by any stretch, but it is one that improves with every listen, and which this morning sounds pretty much like the best REM effort since “New Adventures In Hi-Fi” (and I like “Up” and “Reveal” more than most critics, I suspect).

The opener, “Living Well’s The Best Revenge” is, I think, the most straightforwardly exciting song they’ve recorded since “So Fast, So Numb”, a breathless hurtle which seems designed to prove they’re still capable of this dynamic, heady, heavily-textured kind of rock. It’s a point which’ll be made ad nauseam in reviews of “Accelerate”, but Buck’s return to electric prominence is both striking and massively welcome. I remember interviews with Stipe and Mills circa “Around The Sun” talked of how Buck busied himself in the studio stocking up their iPods. This time, mercifully, he seems to have contributed a lot more – or contributed a lot more of the sound which REM’s fans generally want from him – to the record.

“Accelerate”, in fact, sounds like the record REM’s fans wanted them to make, not necessarily the record REM may have wanted to make. It’s a small complaint, I guess, when professional pragmatism sounds as good as this. I don’t want to write too much on the specific tracks, not least because I’ve got a very long review to file for the mag in the next few days.

But it’s just under 35 minutes long, and only one of the 11 tracks (“Sing For The Submarine”) outlasts its welcome. “I’m Gonna DJ” you’ll probably know from recent tours and last year’s live album; it’s the worst song here, I think. Besides “Living Well’s The Best Revenge”, I’m currently taken with “Mansized Wreath” (improbably funky work from Mills), the fuzzed-out raga of “Mr Richards” (shades of “Time After Time” maybe) and another breakneck thriller called “Horse To Water”.

If anyone saw the Dublin shows or has listened to the bootlegs, let me know what you think. Judging by "Accelerate", I really should have believed the hype.

John Mulvey