review: R.E.M. - Accelerate

Wow, what a difference three terrible albums will make. 1998's mope-fest Up, 2001's knob-twiddling Reveal, and 2004's chewed bubblegum Around the Sun all led us to believe R.E.M. had finally morphed into modern day U2. Failed experimentation, middle-aged ballads and calculated mall pop abound on all three. It was almost as if they were scared to plug in their guitars for a decade. So the up-tempo, reverb-driven pace of 2008's Accelerate comes mostly as a complete shock.

Compact and in-your-face (by R.E.M.'s standards), almost every song on Accelerate shares the same genetic make up. Which could be its undoing. While it's fantastic that they decided to plug-in and crank-up, there's only so many three chord rockers one can stomach from a band of such superior talent as R.E.M. Destined to be blared by every modern rock station this side of the sun, "Supernatural Superserious" does have some catch to it, and might even get your foot tapping. The problem here is that any bar band could pull this off (heck, The Toadies made a living off stuff like this). And then there's the disturbing "Horse to Water", which might as well be credited to Green Day; skip this song like your life depends on it.

The other discouraging development is Michael Stipe's delivery; once upon a time his voice played off Peter Buck's brilliantly intricate arrangements. Now it seems that verse-chorus-verse over a 4/4 beat has become his modus operandi. A shame, because lyrics such as "All your sad and lost apostles/hum my name and flare their nostrils /"Choking on the bones you tossed to them" would have some serious gravity if not for textbook diction.

But all is not lost. Toned-down tunes such as "Houston" and "Until the Day is Done" definitely harken back to the R.E.M. we know and love. You might even find yourself playing them on purpose.

Look, this is not your father's or your kid's R.E.M. I couldn't be happier that they remembered the relevance of rocking, but I wish they'd remembered that too much of a good thing could be a bad thing. It's a step, but I'm not sure in what direction.

2 out of 5 stoli vanil & cokes.