Blogcritics Comments on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Comment by Kit O'Toole on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:52:04 EDT

It seems like with every new R.E.M. release, their PR machine hypes it as their "comeback," their "return to form," and their "return to rock." As a longtime fan, I must admit that I became disenchanted with them from "Monster" onward. My first exposure to them was in high school, when a friend taped "Life's Rich Pageant" for me. Subsequently I bought all their earlier albums and later loved "Green," "Out of Time" and "Automatic for the People." Since I feel like the group was a part of my formative years, it's hard for me to divorce their earlier material from their recent stuff. Logically I know that I need to listen to their latest album without this bias, but somehow I've found it difficult. The PR machine's continual insistence that each new release will propel R.E.M. to their former glory doesn't help, either. Great piece; it gave me a lot to consider!

Comment by Connie Phillips on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 16:33:55 EDT

Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com.

Comment by Tom Johnson on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 12:44:02 EDT

It's a good album, for sure. I like it a lot - and a lot more than expected post Around the Sun. It sounds like the band is really trying again after years of coasting, and this is coming from someone who really liked Hi-Fi, parts of Up, and Reveal. I think I'm in the same boat as Kevin - neutral. I don't live by REM at all. I like them a lot, love a lot of their songs, but they aren't a band I live through, as many other things I listen to are. I don't have so much invested in their music. So I don't know what kind of longevity Accelerate will have with me. I am not feeling that pull (gravity's pull?) that makes me want to hear it over and over. I picked up Reckoning over the weekend - believe it or not, I have never owned this (I know, shame on me) - and I get that pull from that album. (It's not nostalgia - I didn't give a dump about REM until Out of Time came along.) Speaking of fan reactions, one I'm real tired of seeing is the one about how if Bill Berry was back in the band everything would be different and better and back to the old ways. No, plain and simple. I've even seen some suggest that Bill Reiflin's drumming is inferior. Sorry, wrong again - Reiflin is a great drummer (he's worked with Robert Fripp and Fripp does not work with slouch-drummers - he has difficult relationships with drummers, so why put up with inferior ones?) REM's musical issues are not sourced from the drum throne. It's simply a matter of a band aging and fans wanting more of whatever album they joined in at.

Comment by Kevin Eagan on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 12:17:21 EDT

I've always been neutral to R.E.M, and certainly haven't had the same experiences with the band as you have. With that said, I'm starting to really like this album. Hopefully, we'll see an R.E.M. resurgence for years to come.

Comment by Josh Hathaway on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 12:10:35 EDT

Good review, Mark. I think there is a place for "listening" history and "personal" history in the conversation, but too much of either can cause people to miss something. I contend there are similarities to Monster but they're not the same record; they are both good records, so there is another similarity. Mandolin pops up a couple times and I quite like it.

Comment by Chris on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 11:56:59 EDT

This is the first R.E.M. album I've listened to all the way through, and I quite enjoy it.

Comment by El Bicho on Music Review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 10:52:37 EDT

Good write-up, especially about "fan's preconceptions." I have read way too many reviews of this album by long-time fans and they all seem to run a similar track. I am hoping to see what someone new to the band or someone who didn't have R.E.M. at a key time in their life thinks of it, which gets harder to do the longer a band has been around.