New Adventures In Hi-Fi [Digipak]

Performer: R.E.M.
Artist: Patti Smith; Scott McCaughey
Engineer: R.E.M.
Producer: Scott Litt
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Most of the songs on NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI were recorded live, or during pre-concert soundchecks, on R.E.M.'s 1995 MONSTER tour. R.E.M.: Mike Mills (vocals, piano, organ, Farfisa organ, Mellotron, keyboards, synthesizer, bass); Michael Stipe (vocals, synthesizer); Bill Berry (acoustic guitar, whistle, synthesizer, bass, drums, percussion); Peter Buck (guitar, banjo, mandolin, bozouki, electric sitar, bass). Additional personnel: Patti Smith (vocals); Nathan December (slide guitar, guitar, tambourine, guiro); Andy Carlson (violin); Scott McCaughey (autoharp, piano, ARP Odyssey synthesizer, Farfisa organ). Recorded at Bad Animals, Seattle, Washington; John Keane Studio, Athens, Georgia; Louie's Clubhouse, Los Angeles, California. NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. R.E.M.: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitar); Mike Mills (bass guitar); Bill Berry (drums). In the wake of the raging, guitar-fueled MONSTER, R.E.M. has made an album dominated by disconsolate ballads and acoustic instrumentation. NEW ADVENTURES has a stately, elegiac feel. It's punctuated by a few all-out rockers, but the overall mood is dusky and introspective. Michael Stipe's stream-of-consciousness imagery has developed into an incisive, poetic style of great power and resonance, from the religious overtones of "Undertow" (which reveals a Can influence) to the breathless travelogue of "Departure." The opener, "How the West Was Won And Where It Got Us," sets a dark tone, with an eerie organ backdrop and a mournful piano providing a staccato riff. Punk goddess Patti Smith guests on "E-Bow the Letter," a wordy ramble that finds Stipe questioning, and ultimately denigrating, "this fame thing." A similar theme is explored on "The Wake-Up Bomb," a MONSTERish raveup that attacks celebrity star trips. NEW ADVENTURES is loaded with musical surprises, including a zippy synthesizer that sparks "Leave," a campy instrumental called "Zither" and various discordant touches throughout. Lyrically and musically, R.E.M. stands its ground throughout, remaining as fresh and innovative as ever.

Rolling Stone (1/23/97, p.44) - Ranked #4 on Rolling Stone's list of the "Ten Best Albums" of 1996. Rolling Stone (9/19/96, pp.79-80) - 4.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...R.E.M.'s most ambitious album to date....there's a sense of spontaneity here that's rarely been heard on an R.E.M. record....a sense of ambition and liberation that R.E.M. haven't displayed since 1985's FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION..." Spin (1/97, p.59) - Ranked #11 on Spin's list of the "20 Best Albums of '96." Spin (10/96, pp.129-131) - 6 (out of 10) - "...While the tunes seem banged out, as if the band forced itself to keep having a jammin' good time despite the aneurysms and whatnot, the arrangements are thoroughly tarted up, often by various sidemen. This is a mixed blessing, as NEW ADVENTURES pays greater attention to hip sounds than to happening songs..." Entertainment Weekly (12/27/96-1/3/97, p.146) - Ranked #4 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "Top 10 Albums And Singles Of 1996." Entertainment Weekly (9/13/96, pp.128-131) - "...if the arena-designed, occasionally forced MONSTER felt like a midlife crisis, NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI finds R.E.M. returning to their joyful idiosyncrasies....not in years has an R.E.M. album showed such breadth..." - Rating: A Q (10/96, pp.166-167) - 5 Stars (out of 5) - "...it's easily the most diverse set of tunes R.E.M. have yet chosen to deliver....a seamlessly assembled mix of live performances...soundcheck reditions...'live' studio takes....hits many and varied targets virtually every time." Village Voice (2/25/97) - Ranked #11 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Mojo (Publisher) (p.59) - Ranked #58 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "[They sound] refreshed and enriched." New York Times (Publisher) (9/11/96, p.C13) - "...a beautiful hodgepodge....Some songs look back at phases of R.E.M.'s career while others suggest new directions....R.E.M. spends half this album experimenting, turning songs into soundscapes with...synthesizers, sitars and bouzouki, Mellotron and Autoharp..." NME (Magazine) (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #16 in NME's 1996 critics' poll. NME (Magazine) (9/7/96, p.44) - 8 (out of 10) - "...one of the most disillusioned albums ever made....Every lyric...is harrowed from a soul so empty all it seems to hear is the echo of its own resignation....It's a litany of trouble beyond despair....not an easy album but...a great one..."

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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