Pickleloaf.com : Music : Accelerate


Music : Accelerate In association with Amazon.com Rating: - Very disappointing bid to return to the band's roots It's sad to see REM trying to return to their roots to produce a good album and then turning out a work that's significantly worse than their early works. This is nowhere near as good as Murmur, which came out almost 20 years ago. "Around the Sun" was disappointing but this is worse. Perhaps Mr Stipe and pals should concede that they've already achieved all they could in the world of music and retire. If they issue many more albums like this they're going to start seriously tarnishing their heritage. Rating: - R.E.M. - Accelerate 8/10 Accelerate is just what its name implies: the sound of a band approaching middle age, a band whom many critics and fans had written off as past its prime, reaching back to their early records and restoring their music with a sense of fire and vigor that had been missing for well over a decade. Singer Michael Stipe has said in an interview with Spin that the band "spent less time making this record than we have in twenty years," and it shows. Accelerate charges out of the gate with "Living Well is the Best Revenge," an up-tempo, guitar-and-bass-driven rock number that recalls the band in their `80s heyday. The music turns away from the studio experiments that many considered R.E.M.'s downfall in the new millennium to what made them famous: guitar, bass, drums, and Stipe's distinctive wail. His lyrics are just as sharp as ever, and with the Iraq War still going strong after five years, he has no shortage of targets, bemoaning the "vacuum between his ears" of our outgoing president on "Man-Sized Wreath" and political deceit on "Mr. Richards." After so many years, R.E.M. has finally rediscovered what made them great in the first place: simple, angry, and impassioned rock `n roll. Rating: - Pint-sized album packs a nice punch This little fireplug of a CD hits the ground running with "Living Well is the Best Revenge" and doesn't come up often for air. It's good to hear Michael Stipe fired up on rockers like the aforementioned tune and "Man-Sized Wreath," where he rails against political pundits, the vapidness of TV and "pomp" and "odious conceit." It's great stuff, and amid Stipe's aggressive vocals and Peter Buck's equally in-your-face guitar work, there seems to be a sense of liberation and joy within the band which I can't recall since the mighty Monster back in 1994. The mellow and short "Houston," a beautiful song about the Hurricane Katrina refugees, fully displays Stipe's penchant for climbing inside the body of another human being, similar to the morose but sublime "Daysleeper" on the underrated Up. In the song, he boldly attempts to extract some brightness amid a horrible situation. "Until the Day is Done" is similarly quiet compared to the rest of "Accelerate," and its despondent lyrics tell of a dying America, one that the lyricist is far from proud of. Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, the stately sound and sincerity of the song hearkens back to the greatness of Automatic for the People, no small feat. Truly, I didn't grasp the songs's specialness until I really gave it a solid listen. Mostly, though, "Accelerate" is one punchy rocker after another. I can't help but wonder if the popish "Mr. Richards" is a friendly ode to President Bush, but more important, "Horse to Water" contains a march-to-your own-drummer message, fed-up lyrics and an irresistible chorus that ranks as my favorite on the CD. And not since "It's the End of the World as We Know it" has there been such a stadium-like, fun vibe from R.E.M. as heard on the pumped-up, free-flowing, let-it-all-hang-out "I'm Gonna DJ." Stipe's voice may be a tad roughened up from natural aging and cigarettes, but it matches up well with the fiery guitars and is ably backed up by Mike Mills' formidable pipes that never seem to go out of style. Come to think of it, after releasing some questionable fluff preceding this album, R.E.M., as a unit, seem to have mastered the art of never going out of style. Rating: - R.E.M. - Accelerate Accelerate (2008, Warner Bros.) R.E.M.'s fourteenth studio album. ***1/2 The fourteenth album of these veterans isn't exactly a revival, but it is nice to listen to. R.E.M. have their cheesy moments on Accelerate, the fastest album they've made to date, not to mention a very short, but very wise, running time. The album starts off with a bang and doesn't lose momentum until we enter into the second half. Once the title track rolls around, the ears of everyone except the fan becomes tired. But they still got it, as the opening track and the excellent "Supernatural Superserious" demonstrate. A very welcome update from an old friend. -Stephen www.politicianrock.blogspot.com Rating: - wow, almost 33 minutes... pitiful sound quality, OK Music overall, and wow, an entire 33 minutes long. Maybe next time after a few years off they can come up with 40 minutes of music.