Accelerate (R.E.M. album)
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Accelerate is the fourteenth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on March 31, 2008 in Europe,[1] and a day later in North America.[2] Produced with Jacknife Lee, Accelerate is intended as a departure from the band's poorly-received 2004 album Around the Sun.[3] R.E.M. previewed several of the album's tracks during a five-night residency at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, and recorded the album in a nine-week schedule. The first single from the album, "Supernatural Superserious," was released in February 2008.
Background and recording
R.E.M.'s previous record, 2004's Around the Sun, was a commercial failure for the band, selling 300,000 copies and facing critical negativity.[4] The band members later expressed displeasure with the album. Guitarist Peter Buck told Q, "I personally hated it. [Quickly] No, hated is too hard. I hated the fact that it wasn't as good as it should've been." Buck admitted the band felt pressure to subsequently make a better record; he told Q, "Even Michael [Stipe] was going, 'Y'know, if we make another bad record, it's over.' It's like, 'No kidding.'"[5]
Buck and bassist Mike Mills began working on instrumental demos in winter 2007, assisted by touring members Bill Rieflin and Scott McCaughey. The music they wrote was faster and more aggressive than other material they had written in years.[6] Mills suggested the band work out its new songs in a live setting before recording them, as it had done in its early years.[6] Between June 30 and July 5, 2007, R.E.M. played a five-night series of shows at the Dublin's Olympia Theatre. In this series of shows--dubbed "working rehearsals" by the band, many songs on Accelerate were debuted, with many of them still as works in progress.[7]
At the urging of The Edge of U2, R.E.M. chose to record the album with producer Jacknife Lee. Following the Olympia Theatre residency, R.E.M. scheduled three-week recording sessions in three different cities in order to keep its focus. The tight recording schedule prevented Stipe from spending too much time working on his lyrics and vocal parts. Stipe told Spin, "I work really well under pressure, and the guys know that all too well [...] So the pace forced me to kind of spit stuff out."[6] The group mixed the album in a London studio in ten days. Regarding the recording process, Stipe said, "We spent less time making this record than we have in 20 years".[8]
Music
R.E.M. has been reluctant to pin down the style of their new album so as not to create wayward expectations.[9] The new material featured in the Dublin concerts demonstrated a much more stripped-down, guitar-driven sound than was featured on the band's recent releases, and Mike Mills has indicated that these shows give a good indication of the band's direction. Stipe said his lyrics on Accelerate are inspired by the contemporary state of the nation, saying, "When the empire is going down the toilet, it's easy to write great, angry songs."[6]
Promotion and release
On January 1, 2008, R.E.M. launched the website NinetyNights.com, on which a new short clip from Accelerate was posted daily until the album's release.[10] In February, R.E.M. launched the website supernaturalsuperserious.com with eleven videos to promote the album. A week later, R.E.M. launched remaccelerate.com, a web page for promoting and aggregating news about the album itself.
In late March 2008, the band released Accelerate as a digital web streams on iLike six days prior to the American release of its physical album in April. Michael Stipe said R.E.M. wanted to experiment with its distribution system, citing the change in the music industry since the release of Around the Sun.[11] A deluxe edition of the album was released in addition to the standard edition; it includes a DVD featuring filmmaker Vincent Moon's film 6 Days, which includes behind-the-scenes footage and performances of various songs on the album. Two B-side tracks, "Red Head Walking" and "Airliner," are included as MP3 bonus tracks, along with a 64-page booklet.
Reception
Accelerate has been generally well-received by critics. Rolling Stone gave the album four out of five stars, with critic David Fricke praising the group's aggressive sound, writing, "Stipe has not sounded this viscerally engaged in his singing and poetically lethal in his writing since the twilight of the Reagan administration."[12] NME, similarly applauding the group's return to their previous sound, gave Accelerate an eight out of ten rating, and concluded, "Accelerate is by some considerable distance R.E.M.'s best and most cohesive album since [former drummer Bill Berry] left, and crucially echoes a time when they made their best music, if not necessarily their biggest-selling."[13] Q reviewer Keith Cameron wrote that unlike Around the Sun, "Accelerate is the sound of a band having enjoyed a good word with themselves - and us." Cameron described the album's first three songs as "powerful as the first half of 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant", but commented that the album suffers through a "midway dip that afflicts even the best R.E.M. album".[14]
Time reviewer Josh Tyrangiel praised guitarist Buck's "resurgence" and "propulsive riffs", but wrote, "R.E.M.'s 14th album never quite generates the moody atmospherics of their first 10; it's a little hard to lose yourself in something that doesn't pause long enough for you to get lost."[15] Uncut gave the album three out of five stars. Reviewer John Mulvey singled out the song "I'm Gonna DJ" as "the only outright dud" on the record and stated, "Accelerate is a simple, pragmatic record built on an uncomfortable truth: sometimes, even the best bands have to retrace their steps, if only to remind themselves what they're really good at."[16]
Track listing
- "Living Well Is the Best Revenge" – 3:11
- "Man-Sized Wreath" – 2:32
- "Supernatural Superserious" – 3:23
- "Hollow Man" – 2:39
- "Houston" – 2:05
- "Accelerate" – 3:33
- "Until the Day Is Done" – 4:08
- "Mr. Richards" – 3:46
- "Sing for the Submarine" – 4:50
- "Horse to Water" – 2:18
- "I'm Gonna DJ" – 2:07
Notes
- ^ REM premiere new album in the UK | News | NME.COM
- ^ Montgomery, James. "R.E.M. Accelerate Into The Future After 28 Years Of Songwriting". MTV.com. March 26, 2008. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
- ^ Kelly, Rose. "R.E.M. Impress Fans, U2, Debuting Guitar-Heavy New Tracks In Dublin". RollingStone.com. July 2, 2007. September 25, 2007.
- ^ McLean, Craig. "R.E.M. reborn". Telegraph.co.uk. March 8, 2008. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
- ^ Doyle, Tom. "R.E.M.: The Q Interview". Q. April 2008.
- ^ a b c d Azerrad, Michael. "R.E.born". Spin. April 2008.
- ^ Cohen, Jonathan. "R.E.M. Prepares To 'Accelerate'". Billboard.com. January 2, 2008. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
- ^ MacInnes, Paul. "Hey, critics: get ready to step on REM's Accelerator in April". Guardian.co.uk. January 2, 2008. Retrieved on January 5, 2008.
- ^ Graff, Gary. R.E.M. Reluctant To Pin Down New Album Direction". Billboard.com. August 31, 2007. September 25, 2007.
- ^ Cashmere, Paul. "R.E.M. To Start 90 Night Countdown To New Album". Undercover.com.au. December 22, 2007. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
- ^ Letkemann, Jessica. "R.E.M. Launching New Album On iLike". Billboard.com. March 10, 2008. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
- ^ Fricke, David. Accelerate review. RollingStone.com. April 3, 2008. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
- ^ Accelerate review. NME.com. March 28, 2008. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
- ^ Cameron, Keith. Accelerate review. Q. April 2008.
- ^ Tyrangiel, Josh. "Finding Their Religion". Time.com. March 27, 2008. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
- ^ Mulvey, John. Accelerate review. Uncut.co.uk. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
