In 1996, just prior to their new album release, the band fired long-time manager Jefferson Holt following a sexual harassment charge leveled against him; Bertis Downs, who had served as the band's lawyer took his place.
New Adventures in Hi-Fi appeared in 1996, just as the band signed a new contract with Warner Brothers for a staggering $80 million. It also marks the beginning of a decline in the band's fortunes; it would appear that in this case Warners bought high and will be forced to sell low. The album itself is fairly good; the last solid offerening from the band to date. As the title suggests, it is an album of experimentation. Leaving behind Monster for the one-shot it was always supposed to be, the band immersed itself in studio trickery; overdubs are everywhere, as are a melange of studio and live tapes, tape manipulation, odd instrumentation, and the like. Not everything works; "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" gets too tricky for its own good, with its dissonant piano and hip-hop beat. But much of the good stuff recalls Automatic For The People, and some even sound like the I.R.S. years, in spirit, if not quite sound. "Electrolite" is an example of the former, "Bittersweet Me" an example of the latter. However, at 62 minutes, the band's material wears thin; the album would have benefited from more ruthless editing. It peaked at #2, but yielded no hit singles, and drifted off the chart fairly quickly.
Bill Berry's health had remained a concern since the 1995 tour, and in October 1997 the band announced that he was retiring, on friendly terms, to spend time on his farm. This instantly created break-up rumors, but the band promptly entered the studio as a three-piece, a drum machine filling in for Berry.
Faced with Berry's loss, the band had two choices; they could hire a drummer and go on as they had, or they could use his departure as an opportunity to explore a new sound altogether. Up, released in 1998, show R.E.M. choosing the latter course. The drum machine meant that electronic textures were the obvious avenue to follow, and R.E.M. did, with mixed results. Gone entirely is the jangle-pop of their I.R.S. days, gone also are the rich guitar textures of their early Warners albums. Instead, keyboards dominate a lot of the music, while the guitars are buried; it is R.E.M.'s electronic album. "Airportman" is a spooky leadoff, and "Suspicion" a pretty good paranoid piece. Stipe and Mills still sound like themselves, so despite the alien soundscape, it still sounds like R.E.M. However, too many of the songs are moody, down-tempo dirges; there's not enough excitement to bring the new textures into relief, and the album is weighted down by its own gloominess. Peaking at #3, it had an even shorter shelf-life than its predecessor.
There was a long wait for the next one, Reveal, released in 2001. Reveal is a logical record; realizing the pseudo-electronica of Up wasn't leading anywhere, they go back to the melodic basics of Automatic For The People, adding the lushness of Out Of Time, while retaining some of the outer limits experimentation of Up. While this reslted in an improvement of product, it also highlighted the fact that the band was no longer a trendsetter; like many long-lived bands it had retreated into recontextualizing sounds it had explored before. Consequently, Reveal is an album liked by latter-day fans, largely dismissed by old ones, and is hit-or-miss with its songs. "Imitation Of Life" and "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" are epic pop tunes; "Beachball" is a successful Beach Boys tribute. The band deserves props for continuing to try new effects, "Summer Turns to High" sounds credibly experimental. Where the mechanical beats were integral to Up, here, they're buried, bringing back the band's organic sound without going completely retro. At this point, those who have stuck with the band all along have got to be rooting for them, and Reveal is worth it in the end. But it is a mediocre album from a great group.
Around The Sun came out after another significant break, in 2004. It continues the transitional phase that became an emergency after Berry's departure, but really had been going on since Monster. It's a polished effort, carefully crafted, and like all R.E.M. albums is not without its merits. Still, the band seems adrift. The hole left by Berry remained unfilled; Stipe's vocals are double tracked in many places, pushing Mills' voice deep into the background. Buck's guitar returns to the forefront, but displays little of its reckless abandon or intricate latticework of yore, instead it's workmanlike and perfunctory. The production is dense and obsessive; and the songs remain overly gloomy. Lyrically, the myths are gone; in there place are relationship songs, vague political songs, joke songs. It peaked at #13, the band's lowest charting since Life's Rich Pageant.
Despite R.E.M.'s apparent decline over the past decade-plus, it's hard to count them out forever. There's no question about the talents of Stipe, Mills, and Buck. They've always shown a willingness to try new things, evolve, avoid pigeonholes. Back in the late 80's the band was asked how long they'd stay together; "until 2000" was their answer. In that light, Reveal and Around The Sun are bonuses in a career that would be worthy of remembrance had they never recorded another note after leaving I.R.S. Like many successful bands, time works against them; longer breaks between albums, more time spent with family than on the road helps break the intensity bands develop during formative years spent in close quarters. They can't be faulted for this; life comes first. The legacy of recorded work they've amassed so far is worthy of the rock 'n' roll Hall of Fame, and will assuredly be discovered by generations to come. The imprint they've left on the evolution of rock music is substantial, and their championing of competing and yourger bands is honorable.
Article comments
1 - Rob
Great overview. The Reconstruction album is still my personal favourite, with Murmer and Reckoning close behind. I did lose interest after Monster and haven't really followed them much since. They are still one of my bigger influences and have turned me on to other great bands (Indigo Girls, 10,000 Maniacs to name a few).
2 - Aaman
Humongous work - my vote for pick-of-the-week.
Why do you say that lyrically, the myths are gone?
3 - radio gnome
great write up, and nice pick for the concert poster with the Dream Syndicate. The second REM gig I attended had the Dream Syndicate opening, and I got to interview the Syndicate after the gig for my college radio station.
Those two bands appearing together were great. Fun times.
cheers.gnome
http://www.radiohidebound.com
if you liked listening to college radio in the 80's, you might just like radio hidebound
4 - Eric Berlin
Wow -- epic tour through the history of one of my favorite bands. It's a great piece, though I disagree in parts. For instance, I recently placed Life's Rich Pageant as my #3 album of my Top 100 (1985-2005). I also place New Adventures in my Top 25. Both albums just do it for me, I suppose -- brilliant and moving records.
5 - Tan The Man
A lot of people didn't like the Up! album, but I thought it was really good.
6 - Triniman
Excellent piece. I had the pleasure of seeing them in my city last year, for their first-ever performance here, in a 2300-seat theatre that sold out in a few minutes.
Will they ever recapture the glory of their landmark albums or will they become a nostalgia act? All I can say is that most bands are at heir creative peak for usually ten years or less, so maybe their best material is past them. I'll still be at the store on the first day, whenever their new releases arrive.
7 - Mark Saleski
nice writeup.
i was lucky enough to see REM on the Murmur tour. this was at the gym at the university of maine. Stipe was so introverted that he barely looked at the audience.
they were great though...
8 - uao
Thanks for reading;
Some thoughts and replies:
Aaman: The "myth" comment meant that the Southern Gothic reconstructed fables of the 80's seem to have largely been displaced by vaguer, more domestic concerns on the last few albums. Not entirely; I probably need to re-phrase that. But for the most part.
radio gnome: Glad the poster had meaning for you. It was a random choice; I wanted an early block-letters type poster, and Dream Syndicate was my favorite supporting act of the several I found; wish I had seen that gig.
Eric: Honestly, I was kinda bummed when Life's Rich Pageant came out, but it has grown on me over the years. I was totally enraptured by Fables, so anything would've been a comedown. Pageant is a likable album (as are all of their discs, although I never could get past the second song on Monster) R.E.M. albums really do mean different things to different people, and everyone really does have different favorites.
Tan: Up! does have its fans, I know. Another good album that for me was simply overshadowed by their greater ones.
I first heard of R.E.M. when the Village Voice reviewed it in '83, and I snapped it and Chronic Town both up on the same day unheard; the write-up had convinced me it would be what I had dreamed of hearing. They turned out to surpass my dreams.
A favorite early appearance they did was the Letterman Show in 1984, between Murmer and Reckoning. They did "Radio free Europe" and then Letterman asked them what the next song was called. Stipe didn't do any talking that night; Mills told him "It's too new, it doesn't have a name" before launching into an early "So. Central Rain"
There are precious few albums I listened to in the 80's more often than R.E.M.'s EP and first three albums, especially Fables.
I know this was a long post; thank you for sticking it out and leaving your thoughts. I was getting kind of nostaligic when I wrote it.
9 - uao
Dang! Forgot to close my italics tag again! I'll be more careful.
10 - Eric Berlin
There's a live acoustic version of So. Central Rain that I own, and I'm not sure where it's from. Possibly an MTV Unplugged album? In any event, it's one of the best things I've ever heard -- and I actually like it a lot more than the original version.
11 - uao
It's hard to guess, but the live "So. Central Rain" could be from the Canadian 2-track CD single "Animal" + "So. Central Rain [live]", released in 2003.
There are probably other live versions circulating too.
12 - Phillip Winn
Fantastic article. I thought I knew a bit about REM, but it turns out I knew very lttle indeed.
Thanks.
13 - stephen j
I stumbled onto this review after daydreaming about the trips over to Athens in the Fall of 1987-1989 to visit friends who went to UGA. That was when the members of REM still lived in Athens. Every night you would see them hanging out at a local bar or club, and you could talk to them without feeling threatend or intimidated. They were all nice guys.
I fall into the fan base that gave up on them after Green. I bought the next two albums after Green, in hopes that they would go back to the "pre-Document" sound, but it never happened. My favorites were Murmur through Document. I also saw them at the Fox theater in Atlanta, GA during the Lifes Rich Pagent tour. Incredible! I heard that Michael Stipe colored his hair with mustard when performing during that phase?
They seemed to loose it a little when the "southern" dissapeared from their lyrics and "style."
They are still one of my favorite bands of all time for sure. If you want to see a very good show, get the DVD that shows footage of the Green tour. They took versions of songs performed on the final three dates here in Atlanta and Macon, Georgia. Great Stuff! Also, keep your eye out for any REM bootlegs that have a version of "Bad Day." It was an out-take of one of their earlier albums, and it blows the recent version away!
Anyway, I felt compelled to write.
Awesome piece here!
sj
14 - uao
Thank you steven j. (and a late thanks to Phillip.)
stephen, you add a lot of intersting anecdotes in your comments to the post; I appreciate it.
I didn't seetheir 1989 tour, but I've heard many recordings from it; it was a good one (I kind of like their '87 tour better, but both are good).