|
|
 - REM is backI can't say I'm a huge fan of REM but I recently picked up this CD and would rate it as very good. Like their old stuff. Starts off strong with this rocking "Living Well Is the Best Revenge". Continues strong with "Man-sized Wreath" and "Supernatural Superserious". Slows down into a melancholy track - (I've become a) "Hollow Man". Next track, "Houston", is solid: "Houston is filled with promise Laredo is a beautiful place and Galveston sings like that song that I loved Its meaning has not been erased" I really liked this CD. A good effort by a great band. Good to hear that they have produced a solid CD. The songs average about three minutes in length and the entire CD is short at approx only 35 minutes. I don't there is a bad track on this CD. Recommended if you are at all a fan of their past work. Rating: - Accelerating away from Around the Suncrap sound notwithstanding, this album is not only a return to form, but it rocks! and theres not one song to skip in the bunch. a top album from beginning to end. the band can't let an album go by without some political whining. surprised will they be that hurricanes will hit during the mccain administration too. but it's not overbearing. the album flies by so quick, you don't realize how good it is until you realize you've spun it a few times in a row. my top three: living well is the best revenge, until the day is done, hollow man. too bad the lyrics aren't included. welcome back r.e.m. we missed you. Rating: - Stepping On The Gas....So when we last left the boys they had just given us AROUND THE SUN, a somber, lackluster, lackadaisical trudge through synthesizer/overproduction hedes. Welcome the polar opposite, or shall we say, classic mode of R.E.M.. Don't have your volume up too high, as the mastering of this album is LOUD! Rightly so, as it's 90% electric! While the lyrics that Michael and the gang recite aren't the greatest in their catalogue, they also aren't their worst and are pretty good. "Supernatural Superserious" is a great song and a rightful tune for pop radio overplay. "Houston" flaunts a bit of high-powered organ that only comes up to breathe every few beats, but it adds to the humidity of the song. "Mr. Richards" is destined to become a forgotten classic. The downside on ACCELERATE is "Until The Day Is Done." It's a protest song, and it's unfortunate because you can tell 10 seconds in that it's a protest song. Aside from "...day is done", this is a mighty fine highway listen (or a workout soundtrack). Welcome back to the late 80s, R.E.M.. Rating:  - Very disappointing bid to return to the band's rootsIt'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 8/10Accelerate 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.
|
