Sometime in the fall, twelve years ago, I was a naive but well intentioned 16 year old making my usual round at the record store in my local mall. Previous times, I was there to buy whatever fodder The Wall or Camelot Music had to offer. Some of those purchases shall remain nameless to protect what little "indie cred" you may think I have at this point (not that I completely care, but I gotta keep those blog hits comin' don't I?).
That week I was there for R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I had never purchased an album by the boys from Athens previous although I felt some kind of attachment to them ever since I saw the video for "Stand" on MTV when I was eight. I followed them casually afterward (if that means never feeling the need to change the station when one of their other videos or songs came on the air). I really started to get into them when my friend Ed gave me their best-of-the-indie-years compilation, Eponymous. From that point on, I tried to get my hands on all of their stuff and learn all of their songs on guitar for the band that Ed and i had at the time. Naturally, we couldn't wait for the next album.
Regardless of how big of a fanboy I was back then, New Adventures still holds up. The soul of that album was it's balance. It combined the best of their major label period with their indie years. It was a very smart move by the band to use their tour to record the rockers and the studio to do the quieter tracks. The bottom line was that they were just good songs (and great set list filler for us, hahaha)
When Bill Berry dropped the wake-up bomb on all of us and quit R.E.M., I was certain the band was doomed. My fears were met over the course of the next three albums, Up, Reveal, and Around the Sun. The first album was like watching a family try to deal with the death of the person that was their "glue". We tried to have a listening party for Reveal, but couldn't stay awake by the time the third track started. I have nothing to say about Around the Sun. I even began to not keep up with the band, news-wise
A few months ago, I got bit by the bug again and decided to check around the internet for activity. I saw that they had recorded new tracks and moved over to youtube. It wasn't great, but it was something. The guitars were back. A bunch of words crammed into single lines had returned. I'll try my best to look at this from a balanced perspective.
Accelerate begins with the blistering "Living Well is the Best Revenge", three minutes of Peter Buck's ringing, distorted guitars, Mike Mills' shifting bass lines, and the aformentioned abundant words packed into one verse. Bucks playing is his usual, intricate arpeggiated lines that alternates with shambling strums. Mills once again brings to the forefront his post-punk, funky (not in the traditional sense) notes. This same style was learned from bands like Joy Division, Gang of Four, and Bauhaus that so many groups are exhaustingly aping now, without the same results. From there we move on to "Man-Sized Wreath" a Byrds-y, 60's-style folk-rock track that will remind one of a track from Document. It has Roger McGuinn twelve string written all over it. It's just a little bit louder.
The album loses a little bit of steam with the single "Supernatural Superserious", but it isn't drastic. The opening verse is kind of mundane and sounds like the band is trying to reach out to Teenland. It never yanks your crank. The chorus helps out though, as it recalls Out of Time or Automatic For the People and "Fall on Me", from Life's Rich Pageant. The next track, "Hollow Man", almost breaks the whole thing down. This song unfortunately reminds one that R.E.M. helped inspire a bunch of mundane bands in the early 90's that your mom probably liked.
The band reassures with what is probably the best track, "Houston". The song is highlighted by acoustic guitar and distorted organ. The lyrics seem to be Hurricane Katrina related. The title track may seem like a yawner to some, but Michael Stipe keeps it relevant with lyrics about one who is caught in a trap and needs to find a way out. "Until the Day is Done" almost made me think we were headed to another meltdown, but the band goes to new territory in the end.
"Mr. Richards" is a mid-tempo track that starts out eerily with the same chord and structuring as David Bowie's rendition of "Let's Spend the Night Together." It's one of those songs you put on when you first wake up in the morning. It's a politically-charged tune, but that's all that can be gathered. Could he be referring to Michael Richards' "n-word" incident from one of his routines a few years ago? "Sing for the Submarine" is a true fan track. It makes about a million references to the bands past clocking in at 4:50, the longest tune before it feels gravity's pull. "Horse to Water" rivals the first track for the record's "Drags you around by the face" award. What follows next, I think, will be one of R.E.M.'s most divisive songs this side of "Everybody Hurts".
"I'm Gonna DJ" may be viewed by some as fun and by others as forced Sonic Youth-like posturing. The track does bring to my mind "Master-Dik", the final track from SY's 1987 album Sister. Lines like "Death is pretty final, I'm collecting vinyl..." are supposed to be taken tongue-in-cheek. We can see that the band hasn't lost their sense of humor, even through the past 10 years. "DJ" was written during the previous album's processes, but the band scrapped it and decided to just play it live before finally recording it here.
To sum it up, Accelerate isn't a classic. It probably won't win many new fans, if any, blah, blah, blah. It reiterated why R.E.M. are great artists. Hopefully, it will bring some fans back to their camp and the band can continue this inspired period.