REM Accelerate Album Review

Are there actually any bad reviews of Accelearate by R.E.N. out there? Even tough aussie critic Bernard Zuel seems to like the album.

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The standard critical wisdom on R.E.M. is that since drummer and vital songwriting contributor Bill Berry left in 1997, one of the few great American bands of the '80s and '90s has been in accelerating decline. The standard critical wisdom on R.E.M. with this, their 14th album, is that they have rediscovered their mojo and returned to their late '80s pomp.

You would be wise to be wary of such collective wisdom for a couple of reasons. One is that Berry's last R.E.M. album, New Adventures In Hi-Fi, and the first post-Berry album, Up, were hardly universally loved, though they are fine albums. On the other hand, the most recent R.E.M. album, 2004's Around The Sun, was easily their weakest, with too many half-baked and/or half-alive songs showing the band stuck in a rut.

The first thing to say about Accelerate is that Peter Buck has fallen in love with his electric guitar again. For the first time in a long while that instrument is charging, slashing, jangling and serenading. The second thing to say about Accelerate is that it is faster, louder and their most decidedly "rock" collection in more than a decade, while the renewed, bright backing vocals and big hooks also make it their most "pop" album in more than a decade.

The third and, in the end, most important thing to say about Accelerate is that the band seem energised once more. I don't mean because they are playing louder and faster - after all, making more noise can only obscure weaknesses for a while and, anyway, the ballads Until The Day Is Done and Houston are two of the best tracks. But because the songs and playing have drive, there is palpable freshness to the tunes. They are also being silly again, with the album closer, I'm Gonna DJ, continuing the tradition of Shiny Happy People and Superman.

Almost all of Michael Stipe's lyrics are touched in some way by the reign of George Bush - from the self-explanatory Hollow Man and Living Well Is The Best Revenge to the self-referencing slow burn of Sing For The Submarine. The lyrics are direct but not predictable and have a strong streak of defiance. His singing is once again alive with possibilities, too.

I don't know that Accelerate is R.E.M. returning to greatness. But I do know it shows them returning to being a band you can think of in a future, and not just historical, context

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