New R.E.M. "Around The Sun"

[TimmyB]

The new R.E.M. album "Around The Sun" comes out today (October 5). It is their third album since the retirement of original drummer Bill Berry. After several listens of the album on www.myspace.com I found that this album has the laid back feel that was found on "Out Of Time" and "Automatic For The People." I'm not comparing "Around The Sun" to these masterpieces, I'm just saying that the material has a similar vibe. I feel that R.E.M. are the greatest American band of the last quarter century and I'm glad that they are still actively releasing new material and touring as well. I'll be picking up this album today and I'm looking forward to seeing them live at the Hummingbird Centre on November 10, 2004.

Here's a review for the album from www.rollingstone.com

New CD: R.E.M.

Review of "Around the Sun"

R.E.M. Around the Sun (Warner Bros.)

The first few seconds of R.E.M.'s Around the Sun nearly retrace the opening to rock's archetypal power ballad, Aerosmith's "Dream On." As the song, "Leaving New York," continues, R.E.M. sound remarkably like multiplatinum-era early-Nineties R.E.M. -- the band that knew how to combine diffuse lyrics and sonics with hooks and primal rock grooves better than anyone else.

On Around the Sun, that intrinsically R.E.M.-y vibe makes a tentative, muted comeback. Unlike 1998's Up, on which the band crafted beautiful but belabored studio experimentation, and unlike 2001's Reveal, where they relaxed but didn't deliver many memorable melodies, R.E.M. here resemble their classic selves. On its way back home, the band takes the road less traveled. "The Outsiders" coolly floats on a syncopated drum beat that comes to a premature stop, then starts again for Q-Tip to resolutely rap a noble third verse. "Make It All Okay" puts piano to the fore of a strikingly direct post-breakup song. "Jesus loves me fine/And your words fall flat this time," Michael Stipe argues, rejecting a lover's offer to revive a relationship. On the title-track closer, the threesome builds to a humble climax, then fades away on a dreamy coda.

Around the Sun is full of what are ultimately anti-power ballads, the kind that question rather than bluster, favoring maybe over might. It's another slow, meandering CD from a trio that refuses to fake a full recovery in the wake of drummer Bill Berry's departure in 1997. It would be too easy for R.E.M. to ride Coldplay's coattails on a rock-anthem remedy. They'd rather struggle on their own terms. (BARRY WALTERS)

[TimmyB]

I just picked up R.E.M.'s new album "Around The Sun" at BestBuy for only $13.99. Between getting Bob Dylan's first volume of his autobiography, baseball playoffs and the vice presidential debate I don't think I'll have much time to listen to it tonight.