Arts & Entertainment

 

 

A few more adventures in hi-fi: REM resurrected

By Mark Fisher

 

I honestly didn’t think they still had
it in them.

REM turned college radio into a
juggernaut in the 1980s, and became one
of the biggest bands in the world during
the 90s. Throughout it all, the proto-indie
pioneers refused to be pigeonholed into a
single sound or genre. After such a long
and storied career, I was ready to give
REM a break if they never again reached
the quality of earlier albums like Out of
Time, Green, Document, New Adventures
in Hi-Fi, or the album that will always
stand above the rest, 1992’s Automatic
for the People.

Like so many bands before
them who made it to the top and then
never found their peak again, I expected
REM to end up as another act that gets
played on classic hits stations, has sell-
out tours, and makes songs that can’t hold
a candle to their earlier material. I could
name an endless list of bands that fit this
description: Aerosmith, The Tragically
Hip, Van Halen, Tom Petty, The Rolling
Stones, Neil Young—it’s not bad
company to be in. REM seemed to be on

 

an inevitable slide towards downwards

after the departure of drummer Bill
Berry in 1997. The three remaining
members—guitarist Peter Buck, bassist
Mike Mills, and frontman Michel Stipe—
—continued to record and tour as a three
piece, but the next two albums they
helmed—1999’s Up and 2001’s Reveal-
—didn’t seem to contain the same spark
as their earlier records.
Sales diminished and
the band’s relevance
seemed to wane. Even
the band members
themselves didn’t
seem overly interested
in REM anymore,
as each __ started
dedicating a lot of
time to side projects.
Peter Buck began
touring as a member of other acts such
as The Minus 5 and Robyn Hitchcock.
Mike Mills performed solo shows and
Michael Stipe started a film production
company, best known for the films Being
John Malkovich, and Saved!.

It was understandable for the

“Living Well is the
Best Revenge’ is
REM’s most uplifting
song since
‘Walk Unafraid.’”

members to take a step back after being
dedicated to the same band for over half
their lives. Still, there was always this
nagging feeling that it didn’t have to
be this way, that REM still had a great
album or two left in them. But did the
band have the motivation to put such an
album together?

I think it’s just human nature
that if someone is struggling through
life because they keep repeating the
same mistakes, they have to reach their
lowest point in order to see that they
need to change. For REM, this low point
seemed to come from 2004’s Around
The Sun. REM followed the same script
they used for their two previous albums:
they worked with the same producer
(Pat McCarthy), made songs in the same
musical vein (little use of electric guitar,
heavy reliance on keyboards and digital
effects), and repeated the same behaviors
in the recording studio (including
repeatedly experimenting with new
directions to take songs, leading to them
never finding a good finished product).
The end result was an album quite similar
to their previous two, and at that point
fans and critics alike seemed to have had
enough. Around the Sun failed to produce
any major hits, was critically panned,
and became the first REM record in 20
years to not go gold.
As a die-hard fan
of the band, I found
certain things about it
enjoyable enough to
not join in the parade
of negative criticism,
but I could tell that
REM had fallen
pretty far in a lot of
people’s eyes. Peter
Buck summed up the
band’s frustration when reflecting on the
world tour that followed Around the Sun:
“On the last tour we played better than
we ever had, we just didn’t have a good
album to perform live.”

Change was hinted at when
the band ditched their touring keyboard

player, hired producer Jackknife Lee,
best known for his work with U2 and
Snow Patrol, and had five nights of “open
rehearsals” in Dublin where they tested
out some new material. The new songs
suggested that REM had seen the need
to shake things up; they were all electric
guitar based and most were a return to
the sound of earlier albums, particularly
the energetic rock of Monster and New
Adventures in Hi-Fi.

The new album was released on
April 1, and it’s fittingly titled Accelerate.
After three slow albums that average
around 60 minutes, Accelerate flies
by with its wild energy and 40 minute
running time. The album leads off with
“Living Well is the Best Revenge,”
REM’s most uplifting song since “Walk
Unafraid.” The second song, “Man
Sized Wreath,” will surely produce a
lot of discussion over the meaning of its
title, just like “Losing My Religion” did
so many years ago. I’ve come to think
of it as a thought on how Christmas
incorporates the rituals of Pagan
religions that were eliminated by the
spread of Christianity, in effect making
Jesus into a man-sized wreath symbol
(Nothing personal Jesus! You rock!).
“Horse to Water” and “Mr.Richards”
are defiant messages from the counter
culture that birthed REM The title track
manages to rock so hard it doesn’t even
give the listener time to think about what
Stipe is saying. “Hollow Man” will leave
listeners with chills, and “Supernatural
Superserious,” the album’s first single, is
finally getting a new REM song played
on stations that aren’t just for classic
rock.

Every track offers something
to the listener, and Accelerate proves to
critics, fans, and the band themselves
that the weight of the years the band has
been together and the departure of Bill
Berry hasn’t put the band on the path to
mediocrity. REM is back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(BF Entrepreneur
Robert Kenfield

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