R.E.M.

[Weeping_Guitar]

i've only given the new record a quick skim listen on the drive home, but I'm a bit worried.

[ScottsyII]

Let it sink in Weeping... I listened to it twice today on headphones, and both times was absolutely fantastic.

My first listen left me a little more dry than I expected too... but repeated listens really flesh these songs out in your head, and then they can't escape... give it a chance! :-)

[Weeping_Guitar]

I've gotten through the whole thing and it's not the disaster I thought it may be, but it hasn't went very far either. It's just so......nothing. Every song settles to be someting totally middle of the road, they never go for the glory. As of now "Leaving New York" and "Around the Sun" are the only really good songs. Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to put it on the headphones and drift off to sleep with it.

[Proud]

first time i heard the record, i was bored to tears and extremely disappointed. i felt that r.e.m. drastically underperformed.

second time, i think it's a decent record. no, it's not r.e.m.'s best, or one of their top 5... maybe not even one of their top 10 records. but it manages to be like an underproduced reveal and play around with studio noises enough to add some interest.

i think i'll like it more as time goes on. it's not as good as i would have hoped so far, but i have faith that i'll uncover layers that i didn't initially realize. either way, it was well worth the 13 or so bucks and i thank r.e.m. for another good-at-worst album. i don't think any band comes close in the field of consistancy.

[Proud]

"electron blue" has become one of my r.e.m. favorites already. yay.

[ScottsyII]

On about 7th or 8th listen now.... in the car today, positively belting the thing out.

Seriously, this is grower.

It doesn't have the density of sound that Reveal had, nor the experimental wierdness of Up...

The songs just thrive on their own, and thrive they do in my opinion. I can't see how anyone can call them boring or nothing. They live with so much character and there's still so much intricacy to them, keep listening, teasing out the themes, there's conviction in the words.

I'm so tired of people complaining about Around the Sun Now. It's as good as anything they've done in my opinion. Virtually NO reviewers attacked U2 for All That You Can't Leave Behind which was a far simpler album sonically, and yet REM get reamed for it in the press... after being reamed for being too "sonically dense" on Reveal.

I just don't get it. This album is great. Every listen just opens it up further, and the songs just stick in my head, the themes of the lyrics timely and poignant. REM have still not put out a bad record in my opinion.

[Ryosuke]

Weeping's comments are starting to ensure that I most likely will not grab the new REM until it gets around to the secondhand stores at a (reasonably) cheap price. Which was precisely what happened with Reveal (in fact, I just bought it several months ago - and it wasn't as bad as some people said it was, though it didn't really blow my mind away or anything either).

[ScottsyII]

I am determined to praise the hell out of this album if i go down in flames for it... :-)

I think I like it better than Reveal. And I loved Reveal.

[Dr. Drum]

ScottsyII said:

I'm so tired of people complaining about Around the Sun Now. It's as good as anything they've done in my opinion. Virtually NO reviewers attacked U2 for All That You Can't Leave Behind which was a far simpler album sonically, and yet REM get reamed for it in the press... after being reamed for being too "sonically dense" on Reveal.

Scottsy, I think this results from a sense that R.E.M. is maybe past its due date. Perhaps that’s more a media vs. a fan-driven notion, with stories of intra-band strife and malaise, but I must confess that I’ve wondered at times over the last couple years myself. Even something as simple as Around the Sun’s generic cover art; there was a time when their visuals exhibited a distinct, off-kilter artistic sensibility but no more. You wonder whether the same kind of energy is being invested in the work now as there was at one time.

As for the music itself, I have the album now and I’ve given it a couple spins. Glad to hear you say it’s a grower and glad to be able to say that its worst detractors are off, because that's my sense of the record, too, for the most part. Couple songs, good and bad, have caught my ear so far – "Leaving New York" and "Electron Blue" in the former category and "The Outsiders" in the latter. I really like "Leaving New York", especially, not "Talk About the Passion" but solid nonetheless. "The Outsiders", though, ugh – like a bad Sting tune right down to the bland rap at the end.

[Proud]

i've listened to it in completion again. i do think it's a good record, but i can't put it in the same tier as reveal, out of time, and document. i enjoy "leaving new york", "electron blue", "wanderlust", and "the worst joke ever" quite a bit... but i think that the album as a whole is somewhat underwhelming, mostly because it doesn't feel new. i don't feel r.e.m.'s added onto themselves, personally and musically, with this record. i give it a solid B-, or if we're going by R.E.M. standards, C+.

maybe i'll end up liking it more than i do now... i don't know. but i do feel like they're capable of more, especially after a three year wait.

[ScottsyII]

Dr. Drum, I can understand the notion you are putting forward. What I can't understand is how the exact same criticisms really aren't thrown at the likes of U2 or Depeche Mode or other 80's companions, all of which have had inner band tensions, have produced what I would call "middling" standard albums like ATYCLB, Exciter, etc...

I think Around the Sun is a particularly focussed album, and the past Use By Date has been levelled at them since Monster wasn't a blockbuster seller.

I think If you strip back the perceptions of the band... and lets face it, the only things that have happened is Berry leaving, under good circumstances, and Peter Bucks fairly trumped up air rage case... the rest has been pretty choesive, they've been touring writing working together, as they always have... sure they've had hiccups, but U2 had their tribulations with Pop and surrounding events but everyone didn't jump ship.

I say give them a fair go... Around the Sun is not that underwleming if you listen from the right angle.

And i think I better stop labouring this point before I get too boring.

[Proud]

scott, as a fellow r.e.m. fan, i admire your fanship and your ability to listen with open ears and an open mind.

i stand by around the sun as far as being a decent album and one worth a listen or two. it is not a bad record, or even a mediocre record. i think a C+ was a bit too low, actually. considering how many blegh albums there are in the mainstream, i think the album's more like an A- by pop standards, and a B+ or B by historical standards... i just went overboard, probably because of my fanship and ridicuously high expectations.

i really like "the worst joke ever"... something about the instruments blending with the lyrics. i guess when i see that title i'd think of something upbeat and silly, but instead it just... well, it's kind of on a down note, but it's still enjoyable and fun in a way that only r.e.m. can create.

[Weeping_Guitar]

It really isn't a bad little record after a whlie, but it still isn't where someone should want it to be. It might be equal to Reveal, but luckily this one got better on listens while that one lost a bit. It still doesn't have the number of knockout tracks one hopes, which at least the last record did have. It's still kind of hard to believe that the band had dozens of songs and these were the absolute best of the bunch.

[Dr. Drum]

ScottsyII said:

Dr. Drum, I can understand the notion you are putting forward. What I can't understand is how the exact same criticisms really aren't thrown at the likes of U2 or Depeche Mode or other 80's companions, all of which have had inner band tensions, have produced what I would call "middling" standard albums like ATYCLB, Exciter, etc...

I keep telling people ATYCLB is U2’s worst album, Scottsy.

I was trying to offer constructive criticism but I do agree with your point – forget all that peripheral stuff and give the record a chance on its own merits. I’ve listened to it a few more times since my last post and I do enjoy it generally. It’s a "keep in practice" record as opposed to a career highlight; say 3 out of 5 stars, but I don’t penalize them for that – artists have to make those kinds of records to get to the next career highlight.

[Weeping_Guitar]

I think a lot of the criticisms of this record can point to the fact that people haven't given up on REM giving us a great record so we can still have great expectations. I'm certainly not to the point where I want to settle for an REM record that is simply decent or not embarrassing.

And Around the Sun isn't nearly as good as All That You Can't Leave Behind. The U2 record had a number of great singles, maybe a little too made for FM rock stations, but great singles nonetheless. Plus, there are a few other really solid tunes on that album.