I picked up the R.E.M.'s Accelerate yesterday night, and like it a lot after two and a half listens (okay, two and 5/11ths listens). This should have been the post-Bill followup to New Adventures in Hi-Fi. It's not really fair to compare an album I've been listening to for 24 hours to albums I've been listening to for 24 years, but if I were to redo my R.E.M. ranking now, I'd put Accelerate in the top ten, just below New Adventures and bumping down Up. Maybe that entire Pat McCarthy era was just a ten year diversion for the guys in R.E.M?.
This album really does bring The Rock. I prefer the acoustic video version of "Living Well Is The Best Revenge" to the recorded version, and some of Stipe's lyrics are less than stellar, but everything else about this album is a return to old school R.E.M.
When I was buying the album last night at Rasputin Music, I was reminded of the quote from the New York Times article I linked to over the weekend by the program director at SF's Live 105 that most of their listeners consider R.E.M. "their dad's band" because the young kid behind the counter called me "pops" as I was walking out of Rasputin with my copy of Accelerate. Don't call me "pops", sonny! Back in my day we had respect for our elders! Just tell me where I can get some Andy Williams on those newfangled "Compact Disks", you little whippersnapper!
3 comments:
I'm digging it, too. Stipe seems to be the weakest link this time--his singing sounds great, but the lyrics aren't as strong as i'd like. Some of the melodies are a little half-baked. Nice to hear those soaring Mills background vocals, though.
I really love the first three songs--they're funny and short and energetic. After only a couple listens, i'm curious how the rest will age for me.
And, yeah, it rocks!
Did you see R.E.M. on Colbert last night? That's the first time I heard the new material, and I thought it rocked and the band sounded good. I'll have to pick up the CD. They also held their own against Colbert in the interview segment.
I recorded last night's Colbert but haven't watched it yet.. That show's on too late for me!
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