R.E.M. - ACCELERATE

[bigideas]

Also, keep in mind that many of the extra tracks on the IRS reissues are also available elsewhere (both legitimately and otherwise). For instance, many of them are on the 1987 release "Dead Letter Office," which was a compilation of B-sides that had been issued to that point. I would definitely recommend you pick that one up eventually--it's worth it for Peter Buck's liner notes alone, and the CD version now comes with the "Chronic Town" EP included.

 

that's the compilation i was referring to.

those IRS reissues with bonus tracks are listed around $20 opposed to the normal ones which i think are under $10 on amazon. of course, i imagine decently priced used versions may be found via ebay or half.com since they came out back in 93 - buuuttt......if those bonus tracks are on DLO anyway than there seems to be no point to seek those out.

[bigideas]

i think it's funny how this board usually works.

most users download the album early and talk about the album before release.

then when i get it on the actual day all talk has pretty much subsided.

[John Smith]

After finally getting a chance to listen to this and digest it a bit, I think the praise is a bit overblown. The album is OK not great, but certainly more listenable than what preceded it. That being said I think if this exact same album had been released during their hey day it would have been slagged more harshly than Monster was. It really is a so-so record when taken against the totality of their previous work. But it was not released ten or twelve years ago, it was released last week. Because of that it is getting noticed and proclaimed as being better than the others. But being better than Around the Sun is hardly anything to brag about. It's listenable, but not memorable. The music is fine, but at times the lyrics seemed forced. I'll give it a few more spins in the next week and maybe I'll like it more, maybe not. My impression is that this album is neither a grower nor is it one that people will pay much attention to in two years time. I'm sure it will play well in concert, but it's lasting impact just will not be there. I bought it on a whim and am not feeling real comfortable about the $10 I spent.

 

 

When the entire REM story is written and done with this album will be in the lower third of their output, slightly higher than Reveal and Up, slightly lower than Monster.

[LouieB]

When the entire REM story is written and done with this album will be in the lower third of their output, slightly higher than Reveal and Up, slightly lower than Monster.

Lower than Monster....that ain't good....

 

LouieB

[TheMaker]

Yeah, it's nowhere NEAR as good as Monster or Up.

[Analogman]

R.E.M. Will Revisit 'Early Days' On Summer Tour

R.E.M.

April 30, 2008, 12:55 PM ET

Gary Graff, Detroit

 

After delighting fans with rarities such as "Second Guessing" and "Animal" at its performances thus far this year, R.E.M. is promising to dig further into its vaults for its return to the road on May 23, Billboard.com has learned.

 

"[For] the last Dublin shows [in June and July 2007], we went back and learned a whole bunch of stuff from the early days we hadn't played in a long time, just to see where we came from, and it was pretty inspiring to play those," guitarist Peter Buck tells Billboard.com.

 

Regarding upcoming dates, Buck says, "We're obviously going to play the new record ['Accelerate']; we've been playing nine songs off it, which is 28 minutes or something, so there's a lot of space for us to do stuff from all through our career."

 

The early material the band has been dipping into is in keeping with the harder-rocking nature of "Accelerate," which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (and No. 1 in the U.K.) in April. Buck says that playing songs from 2004's commercially disappointing "Around the Sun" live, in fact, helped steer the direction of the new set.

 

"I think Mike [Mills] particularly was saying, 'God, I wish we could get back and record ['Around the Sun'] right now,'" Buck recalls. "I had no interest in making another record the way we'd been working -- book eight months in a studio and see what happens. I never liked that. I always complained and I always suggested that we work quicker and more spontaneously. The other guys [Mills and frontman Michael Stipe] weren't into it.

 

"I think maybe the reception ['Around the Sun'] got kind of shocked them and made them realize ... I was right, we can't work like this any longer."

 

And if Buck has his way, R.E.M. will never take the long, exacting route again.

 

"I can't imagine ever going back to the way we were working prior [to] this," says the guitarist, who already has "a ton of songs" written for R.E.M.'s next album. "I think everyone agrees that this record is really a strong record and it's strong because of the way we approached it. So when we start making the next record, I think this is the way to at least start doing it."

 

R.E.M. plays in North America -- including the Sasquatch! Music Festival in Quincy, Wash. -- until late June and will spend the summer in Europe starting in early July. The group's "Austin City Limits" episode debuts on May 24 on PBS outlets.