It seems like REM has been around forever. With a career now pushing three decades, REM has certainly proved they’re not a fly-by-night band; and their latest studio album (their 14th) proves that the boys from Athens Georgia still know how to rock.
The new album, Accelerate, is an obvious departure from 2004’s “Around the Sun,” or pretty much anything the group has done since drummer Bill Berry left the band back in 1997. Since that time, REM records have had their ups and downs, but they certainly couldn’t be accused of “rocking out.” After the departure of Berry, REM records began to sound resigned and even mellow, a word most longtime fans would never have associated with the band.
But Accelerate sees REM in excellent form, and rocking harder than they have in at least a decade. The band brought in producer Jacknife Lee, who is known for bringing out the aggressive tendencies of other perennial rock giants, such as U2. Accelerate succeeds in bringing out a rougher and faster REM, with Michael Stipe spitting out spiteful lyrics that reek of disillusionment and revenge, without falling into clichés.
Taken as a whole, Accelerate sounds more like REM circa 1984, than the subdued, mellow and introspective REM of the late 90s and beyond. And that is definitely a good thing. The record never gets nostalgic — the band isn’t trying to become a parody of what they used to be. Accelerate is first and foremost a contemporary record; the crunchy production and over-the-top compression keep the record firmly up to date. But stylistically, it may be the most interesting collection of “thinking man’s anthems” in REM’s history.
One big problem with the REM records of the late 90s and into the new millennium was the loss of their drummer, Bill Berry. Well, let me clarify that: the real problem was that REM refused to replace Berry with another musician, and instead simply used a collection of studio musicians to fill in on recording sessions. Even worse, when none of their studio drummer pals seemed to fit the bill, they simply left the drums off altogether, resulting in a mellow and overly “twangy” sound that REM fans barely recognized.
The new album puts the backbeat back into REM. Although the band still hasn’t hired a full-time drummer to replace Berry — perhaps they never will — they have re-embraced the concept of a pounding rock drummer laying down a solid foundation for the band to work off of. This subtle shift in attitude makes all the difference on Accelerate, and returns REM to the world of the living.
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