No one can debate that R.E.M. is rock royalty. As the “original” indie/college rock band, they’ve sold out stadiums and topped the charts. Heck, they’re still big enough to drag Modest Mouse across the country as an opening act for their upcoming tour. But seeing as the band hasn’t released a good album since I was in third grade (!), 1996′s New Adventures in Hi-Fi, it was looking as if the band was done putting out any relevant music. Their latest effort, Accelerate, proves that there’s still a little creative juice left in R.E.M.
Accelerate is a journey back to the roots of R.E.M. Their past few albums have felt like collections of half-hearted, mailed-in tunes, and the band has publicly admitted that that was indeed the case. This new record feels like it was made by a refocused and re-energized band of guys who knew how mediocre they’ve been recently. Lead singer Michael Stipe returns to spitting out vocal lines that actually feel like they mean something with more aggression than he’s ever displayed. Guitarist Peter Buck seems almost freed from the boredom of recent efforts on Accelerate, playing up-tempo licks that give off a feeling of emotional exuberance. The result is a faster, sharper and sleeker R.E.M. Four of the eleven tracks on Accelerate clock in at under three minutes, which is a very good thing. Most importantly the band sounds like they’re having fun playing music again, which makes for a far better listening experience.
The album starts in full throttle with “Living Well Is The Best Revenge,” a track that features Stipe at his raspiest with rabble-rousing vocals. Unfortunately, the album’s title is drenched in irony, as the album gradually decelerates, both in tempo and song quality, after the first song, and doesn’t actually start picking up speed again until the very end. It’s not to say that any of the songs are bad, they just don’t live up to the sonic level that kick-started the whole thing.
There are select high points that can be found in the middle tracks. The single “Supernatural Superserious” has just enough bravado to carry itself, and “Houston” starts off with the slyly clever lyrics: “If the storm doesn’t kill me the government will. I’ve got to get that out of my head.” But tracks like “Hollow Man,” “Until The Day Is Done” and “Sing For The Submarine” seem to just trudge slowly along without a single interesting aspect in them.
Just as the album appears to be falling into the same patterns of lazy slumber that’s plagued the band recently, along comes the second-to-last track “Horse to Water” to provide a sonic kick to the face It is easily the best song on the entire album. It is as close to a punk song as R.E.M. can get, with an unrelenting cadence and some fantastically simple guitar work by Buck. Plus, how can you go wrong with an ultra-hooky chorus that isn’t even 10 seconds long? Oh that’s right, you can’t.
The final track “I’m Gonna DJ” is no slouch either. As the title may imply it’s a blissfully danceable rock jam. Perhaps most telling thing about the song is the gleeful background vocals chanting, “Whoo-hoo!” It’s the sound of a band that is happy to be enjoying making music once more.
In the end, Accelerate is good old-fashioned straightforward rock album. While it is by no means anything groundbreaking or amazing, it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s far better than almost anything being churned out by mainstream rock these days. Accelerate finds R.E.M. in a place it seemed they’d never find again – a land called relevance.
Review Score: 7.0
*Originally published in April 11, 2008 issue of The Gonzaga Bulletin*
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