R.E.M. - "Collapse Into Now"

[jakobnicholas]

I've been listening to Rollingstone.com's stream and enjoying Collapse Into Now a lot. Overall it has a very positive and, more importantly, confident vibe. Probably their most confident-sounding record since Hi-Fi. Stipe, Mills and Buck all seem unafraid to let it loose. The rockers rock, the pop is very poppy, and the slower songs have real emotion. I can't name any song that I consider a clunker. (maybe "Walk it Back", but not really). "Everyday Is Yours to Win" is a beautiful creation by all the band. "That Someone Is You" is 2 minutes of pop bliss.

 

R.E.M. could never match the mystery and perfection of some of their early great records. And maybe it's not on the level of Out of Time or Automatic, but that's a high level. Since Berry's departure, the band has never really seemed sure of what they wanted an album to be. "Up" came the closest perhaps, but was probably a few songs too long. "Reveal" mostly succeeded at making a summer record, but was inconsistent. "Around the Sun" sounded like R.E.M. was lost. "Accelerate" tried too hard to sound like there old selves. Considering their age and history, I think R.E.M. nailed it this time.

[auctioneer69]

I've been listening to Rollingstone.com's stream and enjoying Collapse Into Now a lot. Overall it has a very positive and, more importantly, confident vibe. Probably their most confident-sounding record since Hi-Fi. Stipe, Mills and Buck all seem unafraid to let it loose. The rockers rock, the pop is very poppy, and the slower songs have real emotion. I can't name any song that I consider a clunker. (maybe "Walk it Back", but not really). "Everyday Is Yours to Win" is a beautiful creation by all the band. "That Someone Is You" is 2 minutes of pop bliss.

 

R.E.M. could never match the mystery and perfection of some of their early great records. And maybe it's not on the level of Out of Time or Automatic, but that's a high level. Since Berry's departure, the band has never really seemed sure of what they wanted an album to be. "Up" came the closest perhaps, but was probably a few songs too long. "Reveal" mostly succeeded at making a summer record, but was inconsistent. "Around the Sun" sounded like R.E.M. was lost. "Accelerate" tried too hard to sound like there old selves. Considering their age and history, I think R.E.M. nailed it this time.

[/quote.

 

Ditto. Not to shabby at all for their 15th album.

[Moss]

I had to give this one quite a few listens and I really do like it. But I liked Accelerate as well. It's so hard not to carry the baggage of those great early albums. I love those albums so much that even something like Automatic for the people really does not compare for me. But trying to be subjective as possible, I do really like this album. Some absolutely great songs, some OK songs. The album seems to lose a little momentum towards the end. But overall a good album from a great band.

[auctioneer69]

I had to give this one quite a few listens and I really do like it. But I liked Accelerate as well. It's so hard not to carry the baggage of those great early albums. I love those albums so much that even something like Automatic for the people really does not compare for me. But trying to be subjective as possible, I do really like this album. Some absolutely great songs, some OK songs. The album seems to lose a little momentum towards the end. But overall a good album from a great band.

 

 

First R.E.M. I owned when it came out was "Life's Rich Pageant". Pored over the sleeve for weeks. Did a factory job during summer whilst at University. Me and my mate Chris would spend hours trying to crack the lyrics on the first four albums to kill time. I'd pour over old NME's and Melody Makers at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow when I should have been studying to find any interview, live review or nugget on R.E.M.. Would go to record fairs every three months looking for the latest bootleg tapes. Buying "Succumbs" on video and spending hours watching the different video's. It is indeed hard to conjure up the mystery and romance of early REM looking back now.

[Analogman]

First R.E.M. I owned when it came out was "Life's Rich Pageant". Pored over the sleeve for weeks. Did a factory job during summer whilst at University. Me and my mate Chris would spend hours trying to crack the lyrics on the first four albums to kill time. I'd pour over old NME's and Melody Makers at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow when I should have been studying to find any interview, live review or nugget on R.E.M.. Would go to record fairs every three months looking for the latest bootleg tapes. Buying "Succumbs" on video and spending hours watching the different video's. It is indeed hard to conjure up the mystery and romance of early REM looking back now.

 

I bought that and Fables of The Reconstruction at the same time. Those albums were my first two.

 

I also recall buying Succumbs. I still have it.

[LouieB]

Greg Kot sure isn't impressed. See below from the Trib this morning. Two out of four stars...ouch.

 

LouieB

 

What better band to cover R.E.M. than R.E.M.? That’s exactly what the longtime Athens, Ga., trio sounds like it’s doing on its 15th studio album, “Collapse Into Now” (Warner Bros.).

 

In the tradition of rock legends rehashing their best moves on mid-career studio albums – the Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls” in 1978 or U2’s aptly named “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” in 2000 – “Collapse Into Now” is an echo of past glories. If nothing else it reminds us that R.E.M. is fully aware of what it did best and when. Those glory years are now nearly two decades past – “Automatic for the People” in 1992 was their last indisputably great album (though I’d make a case for the 1996 “New Adventures in Hi Fi”).

 

The band re-energized itself in 2008 with the lean, pithy, hard-rocking “Accelerate.” It ended a string of snoozy, ballad-heavy Michael Stipe-dominated albums by amping up Peter Buck’s guitar and Mike Mills’ essential backing vocals.

 

“Collapse Into Now” takes a similarly democratic approach and expands on it, juggling rockers with textured acoustic pieces. Buck’s guitar blasts open the album with promising bravado on “Discoverer” and “All the Best” and Stipe swaggers: “Let’s show the kids how to do it fine.” Mills, always the band’s not-so-secret weapon, adds a big dollop of melody and texture; he brings majesty to even the slower, weaker songs (“It Happened Today,” “Every Day is Yours to Win”) with his wordless harmonies.

 

A few guests are on hand to dress things up, but they’re used in predictable ways: Peaches brings attitude to the punch-drunk silliness of "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter"; Patti Smith plays shaman-like muse to Stipe on the eerie soundscape “Blue” (which demands to be listened to once, then never again); Eddie Vedder adds mournful gravitas to “It Happened Today.”

 

Similarly, riffs and melodies that remind us of past, better R.E.M. songs abound: the acoustic melancholy of “Drive” resurfaces on “Uberlin,” the chanting rock moves of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)” resurface on “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter” and “Walk It Back” retraces the power-ballad A-B-C’s of “Everybody Hurts.”

 

It’s all done earnestly. In “Oh My Heart,” Stipe comes home to “a city half-erased” but emerges with hope: “The storm didn’t kill me/The government changed.” On “Blue,” he exults, “This is my time and I am thrilled to be alive.” But if there’s to be a vital future for R.E.M., the band can’t continue recycling its past.

[dtram]

Greg Kot sure isn't impressed. See below from the Trib this morning. Two out of four stars...ouch.

 

LouieB

 

What better band to cover R.E.M. than R.E.M.? That’s exactly what the longtime Athens, Ga., trio sounds like it’s doing on its 15th studio album, “Collapse Into Now” (Warner Bros.).

 

In the tradition of rock legends rehashing their best moves on mid-career studio albums – the Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls” in 1978 or U2’s aptly named “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” in 2000 – “Collapse Into Now” is an echo of past glories. If nothing else it reminds us that R.E.M. is fully aware of what it did best and when. Those glory years are now nearly two decades past – “Automatic for the People” in 1992 was their last indisputably great album (though I’d make a case for the 1996 “New Adventures in Hi Fi”).

 

The band re-energized itself in 2008 with the lean, pithy, hard-rocking “Accelerate.” It ended a string of snoozy, ballad-heavy Michael Stipe-dominated albums by amping up Peter Buck’s guitar and Mike Mills’ essential backing vocals.

 

“Collapse Into Now” takes a similarly democratic approach and expands on it, juggling rockers with textured acoustic pieces. Buck’s guitar blasts open the album with promising bravado on “Discoverer” and “All the Best” and Stipe swaggers: “Let’s show the kids how to do it fine.” Mills, always the band’s not-so-secret weapon, adds a big dollop of melody and texture; he brings majesty to even the slower, weaker songs (“It Happened Today,” “Every Day is Yours to Win”) with his wordless harmonies.

 

A few guests are on hand to dress things up, but they’re used in predictable ways: Peaches brings attitude to the punch-drunk silliness of "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter"; Patti Smith plays shaman-like muse to Stipe on the eerie soundscape “Blue” (which demands to be listened to once, then never again); Eddie Vedder adds mournful gravitas to “It Happened Today.”

 

Similarly, riffs and melodies that remind us of past, better R.E.M. songs abound: the acoustic melancholy of “Drive” resurfaces on “Uberlin,” the chanting rock moves of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)” resurface on “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter” and “Walk It Back” retraces the power-ballad A-B-C’s of “Everybody Hurts.”

 

It’s all done earnestly. In “Oh My Heart,” Stipe comes home to “a city half-erased” but emerges with hope: “The storm didn’t kill me/The government changed.” On “Blue,” he exults, “This is my time and I am thrilled to be alive.” But if there’s to be a vital future for R.E.M., the band can’t continue recycling its past.

 

This review was posted to murmurs too. Apparently he loves the Decemberists for sounding like old R.E.M. but R.E.M. themselves are not allowed to.

 

It's pretty simple; it's a good batch of songs. If you liked R.E.M. between 1986 and 1996, you're probably going to like this. Does it break new ground? Probably not but does music always have to? Can songs just have good hooks and be fun to listen to? Seems to me that some critics feel that since the last decade or so for R.E.M. has been spotty, that ripping the record is the safe route to go, better to be wrong and be negative instead of gushing over the thing and then realizing a month later you were probably wrong and it isn't so great, if that makes sense.

 

I'd bet anything if this record came out in 1994 it would get universal 5 star reviews (which it probably wouldn't deserve) but since the last 10 years have been spotty (in most of the publics optinion anyway) it isn't cool to gush.

 

My 2 cents.

[jakobnicholas]

Sorry, but Kot's review BLOWS. I agree with dtram. A record DOES NOT have to always break new ground to be a good record. I actually think "Collapse Into Now" has a lot of freshness to its sound, but I'm not the music "expert" that Kot is, so what do I know?!

 

Kot writes snarky, condescending crap like "Patti Smith plays shaman-like muse to Stipe on the eerie soundscape “Blue” (which demands to be listened to once, then never again);" I can imagine Kot patting himself on the back after writing that. I put the record on and let it go until finished, and enjoy nearly all of it. Is it their best? No. Is it in their top 3? No. Top 5? No. Top 10? Maybe. Who cares! To me, it's a fun record to listen to.

[u2roolz]

I am also in the "I don't really like this album" club. Am I the only one who thinks the record gets bogged down by too many same sounding songs that sound like mandolin era Out Of Time meets acoustic New Adventures In Hi-Fi? If someone put a gun to my head and asked me if I could describe each song, I probably wouldn't be here right now. None of the songs made me get a goofy grin on my face, meaning "I'm so happy that R.E.M. is back with something new and awesome." I kind of sat here confused wondering where this "expansive" comment comes into play. The one saving grace are the melodies which make up for the so-so lyrics and often off song arrangements. For almost every song, I had a bit of a problem with a certain place that a song goes to.

 

And for the rockers, I'm not sure what people consider rockers around here. Alligator Aviator Leonardo DiCaprioator sounds like a watered down version of Animal. And I at least enjoyed Animal because of the tug and pull feel of the song's hooks. Mine Smell Like Honey sounds pretty decent, but a song about Michael Stipe's farts smelling like honey is a bit much for me to take seriously. And I can't really recall off the top of my head the other 2 "rockers". I do really enjoy Blue, even if it directly reminds me of at least 2 R.E.M. classic songs.

 

Overall, I feel that this bunch of songs all suffer from a bit of meh. I won't say that it doesn't lack passion because Mike Mills is creating nice melodies, but that shouldn't completely fool people into thinking that these are all fantastic songs. It sounds like they took all of the "acoustic" sounding songs that didn't make an album since Up and threw them all on here. They really are indistinguishable to me after a first listen. At least with the rockers on Accelerate, I knew them pretty well after one listen. And then the 4 "rockers" feel a bit out of place to me. I don't know. Between this and The King Of Limbs, I'm a pretty sad camper. Although, I am willing to keep coming back here for the sole purpose of knowing the damn songs by name.

 

Edit: Oh yeah, I forget about one other thing. One of the songs reminded me a lot of New Test Leper.

[LouieB]

 

Kot writes snarky, condescending crap like "Patti Smith plays shaman-like muse to Stipe on the eerie soundscape “Blue” (which demands to be listened to once, then never again);" I can imagine Kot patting himself on the back after writing that.

I don't plan to buy this album, but I have to say, based on this particular comment, I am dying to hear that song, just to see if it is really that bad. Reviewers like Kot give high marks to some of the most pedestrian crap these days, but he clearly isn't in the mood to give REM benefit of the doubt.

 

There is just no way REM is going to break any new ground at this point in their career. Live with it and buy the album if you choose, but that is some mean shit to say (particularly about Patti Smith.) I can imagine him doing something else after writing that....

 

LouieB

[jakobnicholas]

None of the songs made me get a goofy grin on my face, meaning "I'm so happy that R.E.M. is back with something new and awesome."

 

 

That's too bad. For me, "Discover", "Uberlin", "Every Day is Yours to Win" and "That Someone is You" accomplished that. That's about the same number of songs that got me on "Up" and "Reveal". "Around the Sun" and "Accelerate" each had maybe 2 songs that made me feel that way.

 

Just curious, what songs since "Hi-Fi" have made you feel that way? I think it's a huge, nearly-impossible chore for a band like R.E.M. to keep their fans excited with with new songs after releasing 10+ albums of greatness.

 

I think it's fair to say the album lacks great "rockers", but I think the pop is great.

[auctioneer69]

Greg Kot's review is lazy, plain and simple. Also a cheap headline. He's taken familiarity and extrapolated it into the album being a carbon copy of previous stuff. "Uberlin" has the most passing resemblance to "Drive" and "Alligator..." similarity to "It's The End Of The World...." is non-existent. I could easily make the case that "It Happened Today" shares a lot with "New Test Leper" and that "Blue" is "Country Feedback" part two. But so what? My guess is that REM have always thrown a lot of ideas away over the years because they sound too familiar. Ironic he references U2's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" as a similar record. A more accurate review might have made that point that while that was released in 1999, REM have repeated themselves slightly for the first time ever 12 years later and on their 15th album.

 

Anyways, a great if not ground-breaking album for me. KEXP in Seattle has played Elbow's new album in its entirety today. Sounds really good on first listen. But boy I haven't seen one critic slaughter them for making exactly the same type of songs they have their whole career. On what? - their 5th album.

[u2roolz]

Just curious, what songs since "Hi-Fi" have made you feel that way? I think it's a huge, nearly-impossible chore for a band like R.E.M. to keep their fans excited with with new songs after releasing 10+ albums of greatness.

 

I'm probably in a rare breed that enjoys all 4 of those albums from Up through Accelerate. Although, I should say that I enjoy the 1st half of Reveal. So right now that album's 2nd half and this is near the bottom. At least with those 4 records it was a lot more engaging for the listener because they kept you hooked with different genres and the songs sounded a bit different from each other. Although, I remember last time I looked at Around The Sun I couldn't remember what half of the songs sounded like (Electron Blue, Make It All Okay, I Wanted To Be Wrong, Wanderlust, Aftermath).

[dtram]

I am also in the "I don't really like this album" club. Am I the only one who thinks the record gets bogged down by too many same sounding songs that sound like mandolin era Out Of Time meets acoustic New Adventures In Hi-Fi?

 

I think that's probably a good description for 2 of the songs, Oh My Heart and Marlon Brando. I totally love MB, really grew on me.

 

I think I said earlier in this thread that not liking this album is valid opinion, (i'm sure those of you who dont like it will thank me for allowing you to not like it )if you dont like REM, this is not for you. If you do though, its a pretty good collection of REM songs. IMO, REM's strengh always was writing good catchy songs. They would dress them up in different costumes but at the end of the day, it was always about the songs. One of the reasons why I always thought Monster suffered was they got too concerned about the form and forgot to write great songs.

 

Even if you are an REM fan, maybe these songs dont hit you now, maybe they will at some point, maybe not.

 

My problem with critics bashing the record is that their job is to critque whether a band accomplished what it seems that they set out to do. IMO, REM set out to make a diverse record or catchy songs, some softer, some louder. I think they accomplished that mission and deserve credit for it. To get snarky about it is uncalled for, I think their catalog gives them the benefit of the doubt.

[u2roolz]

Just curious, what songs since "Hi-Fi" have made you feel that way? I think it's a huge, nearly-impossible chore for a band like R.E.M. to keep their fans excited with with new songs after releasing 10+ albums of greatness.

 

Take 2. LOL

 

Up: Lotus, Hope, At My Most Beautiful, The Apologist, Sad Professor, You're In The Air, Walk Unafraid, Daysleeper, & Why Not Smile?

Reveal: The Lifting, I've Been High, All The Way To Reno, She Just Wants To Be, Imitation Of Life (I remember a close friend of mine bashed Stipe's lyrics, but I didn't care because it was new R.E.M. at the time. Now being interested in other bands I'm not automatically liking something because it is new.) & I'll Take The Rain.

Around The Sun: Leaving New York, The Outsiders, Final Straw, Boy In The Well, High Speed Train, Worst Joke Ever, The Ascent Of Man, & Around The Sun.

Accelerate: everything except for the title track, ironically.

In Time: Bad Day & Animal.

Collapse Into Now: Mine Smell Like Honey & Blue. It Happened Today & Oh My Heart more for the melody.

[dtram]

Accelerate: everything except for the title track, ironically.

 

Funny, felt exactly the same way although now that i have the vinyl rip of the record, I curiously like the title cut much more. Sing for the Submarine is actually staring to get on my nerves. I never loved it but felt it worked to break the faster louder songs. Now it just seems kind or dirgy to me and not that interesting. The record is short enough that I dont skip it but had it been on one of their 60+ minute opus' I probably would never listen to it.

[bleedorange]

Not really feeling this album aside from the opening track. And Kot is right about "Blue."

[jff]

NPR did a piece on this album yesterday afternoon. They said it's the best album they've done in 16 years, but every clip they played sounded like garbage.

[jakobnicholas]

NPR did a piece on this album yesterday afternoon. They said it's the best album they've done in 16 years, but every clip they played sounded like garbage.

 

 

What better way to judge an album than by listening to a few clips on the radio.

[jff]

What better way to judge an album than by listening to a few clips on the radio.

 

I wasn't judging the album, I was judging the clips that NPR chose to play.

[jakobnicholas]

I wasn't judging the album, I was judging the clips that NPR chose to play.

 

 

What specific clips did they play? I can't think of many parts of the record I'd describe as "garbage".

[jff]

What specific clips did they play? I can't think of many parts of the record I'd describe as "garbage".

 

One where Stipe goes "whoa, whoa whooooooaaaaa" over a generic soft rock backing track.

One where Stipe does a spoken word piece over some atonal noise and Patti Smith grunting.

And one that went in one ear and out the other.

 

To be fair to REM, I have heard clips from albums that I thought were bad, but then the album turned out to be great, and I have heard clips from other albums that I thought were good and the album turned out to be terrible.

[dtram]

I gotta say, I think I liked the world better when there were 2 or 3 major music publications, you read the reviews, agreed or disagreed and that was that, you liked it or you didnt. I know I sound like an old man, I guess I am.

 

Reading all of these reviews, some positive, some negative and all these varied comments is starting to wear on me. And I know the answer, if it annoys you, dont read it, but it is kind of like crack, I cant stop.

 

I remember this scathing review of Green when it came out, Pop Song sounds too much like Exhuming McCarthy, Inside out is Finest Working, Hairshirt sucks, etc. This disagrement on CiN is nothing new. I guess it's cool that people care about REM so much to have such strong opionions one way or the other.

 

We all come at records at different times in our lives and I believe that can affect judgement. I have never anticipated a record more than Out of Time, but as a 22 year old, that was the last thing I wanted at the time, I would have much preferred something that rocked more. While I adapted and liked it anyway because it was REM, I had friends that tuned them out and never came back.

 

I actually have no idea where I'm going with any of this except that I've listened to the thing more than 15 times, love every song except Every Day Is Yours to Win (like the music, the lyrics not so much) and am thrilled REM have made a record in 2011 that I like this much.

[jakobnicholas]

I actually have no idea where I'm going with any of this except that I've listened to the thing more than 15 times, love every song except Every Day Is Yours to Win (like the music, the lyrics not so much) and am thrilled REM have made a record in 2011 that I like this much.

 

Ditto (mostly). Lyrically, I kinda agree about "Every Day's" lyrics. But something about the structure and sound of the song that I love. One of my favorites. But yes, I agree that "Collapse" is a very likeable record. It's been a roller-coaster for me since "Hi-Fi".

 

- UP: I like a lot because it's cool and interesting to hear a band struggle and experiment with how to make a record with a major band member gone. Buck and Mills created some nice sounds that maybe they never would have had Berry stuck around. I love the diversity of the record, and Stipe's lyrics of picking yourself up and moving on are inspiring and heart-felt. Only complaint is that it's probably a couple songs too long.

 

- REVEAL: Seems criminally under-rated, but I think that's due to a middle 4-song stretch (She Just Wants to Be, Disappear, Saturn Return, Beat a Drum) that likely bog down the record for most.

 

- AROUND THE SUN: Depressed me a bit, 'cause it's the first time I felt R.E.M. was lost. I still like many of the songs, but I've always felt the album as a whole just isn't good at all, despite many attempts to like it even a little bit. I have a few of my favorites on iTunes, otherwise don't listen.

 

- ACCELERATE: Nice attempt, nice energy, but not a good R.E.M. album to me. Seems musically and lyrically forced many times. I hardly ever (never) feel inspired to give it a spin.

 

- COLLAPSE INTO NOW: Sounds like a very confident band. Overall, it has a fun and positive vibe found that hasn't existed on an R.E.M. record since Out of Time.

[dtram]

- REVEAL: Seems criminally under-rated, but I think that's due to a middle 4-song stretch (She Just Wants to Be, Disappear, Saturn Return, Beat a Drum) that likely bog down the record for most.

 

- ACCELERATE: Nice attempt, nice energy, but not a good R.E.M. album to me. Seems musically and lyrically forced many times. I hardly ever (never) feel inspired to give it a spin.

 

Reveal, for me its the 3 songs stretch of Reno, Shes Just Wants to Be and Disappear with She being the major offender, can't stand it. I've always liked Saturn for some reason. I have solved the problem by omitting She and putting Fascinating between Beat A Drum and Imitation. Record works much better for me that way.

 

Accelerate - Liked from the 1st listen but the loudness killed it. Now that I have the vinyl rip I find I go back to it much more.

 

I've always thought Up was great ATS was shit, seems to be the one thing the majority of REM fans agree on.

 

Did you see that Matthew Perpetua ranking of the records? Has all the post Berry records ranked 11-15 and Monster 4th. That's what got me started on my post above, how anyone can rank Monster as the 4th best REM record is beyond me and gets to my point of when in our lives we hear something has such an effect on perception. I'd bet a lot of money if that wasn't the first REM album he got it's the first he deeply cared about. There just isn't any way that album can objectively be ranked over Reckoning. I'd put it 14th, right in front of ATS.