Accelerate [Digipak]

Performer: R.E.M.
Engineer: Tom McFall; Sam Bell
Producer: R.E.M.; Jacknife Lee
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: R.E.M.: Mike Mills (vocals, bass guitar); Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars). Audio Mixer: Sam Bell. Recording information: Armoury Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Grouse Lodge Studios, Co. Westmeath, Ireland; Mike's Music Room, Athens, GA; Seney-Stovall Chapel, Athens, GA; The Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. Authors: Harry Houdini; George Herbert; William S. Burroughs. On 2008's ACCELERATE, its first studio album after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, R.E.M. fittingly returns to its post-punk roots, offering up a taut, guitar-driven set that serves as the perfect antidote to the slow, snoozy AROUND THE SUN. Aiding frontman Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills in this convincing return to vintage form is U.K. producer Jacknife Lee, best known for working with Bloc Party and, appropriately, R.E.M.'s peers U2. While those acts often aim for widescreen majesty, however, Stipe, Buck, and Mills seem to have remembered that the group's strength lies in concise, pithy tunes, and Lee is quite willing to meet that aesthetic, as evinced on the restless opener, "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," and the raucous "Horse to Water." Of course, the Georgian band hasn't forgotten its artistic evolution from MURMUR, nodding subtly to GREEN on the shimmering "Supernatural Superserious" and evoking AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE on the pensive "Until the Day Is Done." Easily R.E.M.'s finest album since NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI, ACCELERATE stands as one of the revered ensemble's most immediate and engaging records, and will undoubtedly please fans who have patiently been waiting for the trio to embark on a U2-like rejuvenation.

Rolling Stone (p.63) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Guitars are front and center, in slashing-chord and rusted-arpeggio crossfires....Ultimately, the best thing about ACCELERATE is that R.E.M. sound whole again, no longer three-legged but complete in their bond and purpose." Spin (p.95) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "ACCELERATE corrals 35 minutes of the fastest songs Stipe and Co. have written in decades, all performed with a sense of joyous purpose..." Spin (p.48) - Ranked #26 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "A knowing grin cuts through nearly every major chord and confident lyric, delivering a well-earned sense of satisfaction..." Entertainment Weekly (p.60) - "[Buck is] playing aggressively melodic riffs again, yet they're full of contemporary crunch and compression..." Uncut (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he denseness suits REM, reconstructing their trademark intricate hedge of sound..." Q (Magazine) (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is an album so drenched in exuberance and flair that it suggests pop's youth fetish is no substitute for experience." Mojo (Publisher) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "This is rock, not pop....This is the sound of R.E.M. going into the studio, plugging in and playing songs naturally...and very loudly." Blender (Magazine) (p.78) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[F]ull of cascading jangle, candied power chords, lonesome harmonies, Southern-gothic protest poetry and roadhouse drum bash." Pitchfork (Website) - "ACCELERATE's broad strokes, big riffs, and beefy production are admirable....Drummer Bill Rieflin plays with a Ministry-honed power, Mike Mills' backing vocals are absolutely key..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The results are terrific. ACCELERATE is the most satisfying REM album since AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE..."

This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into the money-making "alternative rock" sound, the group refused to stand still, constantly changing and developing without ever abandoning their underground principles. Somehow they became superstars along the way, but it's never affected their commitment to their music. In 1997, drummer Bill Berry left the band, but Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills soldiered on in his absence.

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