Andy Stuhl Reviews Accelerate by R.E.M.
by Andy Stuhl
World Contributer
For semi-neurotic R.E.M. fans at Burroughs, only one of whom did not write this article, April 1 was far more than just another occasion to mess with Mr. Front. This April Fool's Day marked a promised change of eras, a monumental event in musical history, and the arrival of perhaps the most blatantly stated change-of-direction album ever.
The event in question is, of course, the release of Accelerate, R.E.M.'s fourteenth studio album and its first since 2004's rather tepid Around the Sun. The band made it quite clear--and does so in the album itself--that this record was to be a deliberate departure from the rut of comparatively bland music that has characterized their once riveting career for the last decade, and hinted at a return of sorts to the style of their earliest years. Promotional efforts were more aggressive than ever, with three separate websites devoted to the record and its single, "Supernatural Superserious." A big deal was made over R.E.M.'s hiring of famed producer Jacknife Lee. By the album's release date, most of the pop music community was aware that R.E.M. was out to seize their career by the horns and steer it onto another track, and substantial curiosity existed as to whether they could pull it off this time.
For those unfamiliar with R.E.M.'s history, the band has charted a diverse and at times uncertain track since their inception in the early 1980s. Releasing their first slew of records on the independent label I.R.S., they were one of the first participants in the "indie rock" scene. As important to this status as their rejection of offers from major labels was their unique, raw sound. This style, though often lacking the polished feel of major label records, left ample space for vocalist and lyricist Michael Stipe to deliver the sheer power of his songwriting. Many critics look back at this period of the band's life as their best, and R.E.M. has recently, it seems, caught on; it is no coincidence that the band released a compilation of "The I.R.S. Years" and their first live album, including many early songs, in the interval between Around the Sun and Accelerate.
The image for which R.E.M. abandoned their early persona, and from which they seem ready to depart, arrived with their switching from I.R.S. to Warner Brothers in 1988. While the band's ability remained intact, there was a definite shift toward pop music. R.E.M. produced pop masterfully--1991's Out of Time, perhaps their most overt pop record, is widely considered their best--and brought an unprecedented lyrical intelligence and political sensibility to the genre, but something of the magic their early records had evoked was gone. The band underwent another shift with the departure of drummer Bill Berry, falling into the period of generally acknowledged creative lapse which lasted through Around the Sun. Accelerate was to be a reawakening for the band, and one that everyone involved recognized was direly needed.
R.E.M. was, indeed, successful in their stated mission. The first track of the album, "Living Well is the Best Revenge," sets a blistering pace rife with heavy guitar riffs and in stark contrast to the slow, contemplative progression of their recent records. The tempo is maintained throughout the next two tracks--"Man-Sized Wreath" and "Supernatural Superserious"--and is enough to convince any listener of the album's deserved place among R.E.M.'s finest. These three songs aren't so much the expected imitation of the band's early records as an entirely new sound for R.E.M.; for this first segment of the album, it seems as if they have finally produced the real rock and roll record they've been intent on making for years. The guitar work is awesome and the lyrics aggressive but intelligent, and the band makes ample use of their secret weapon--Mike Mills' intricate bass lines and goofy backing vocals.
But as fun as the first three songs are, the pace is much too rapid to sustain a full-length album, and R.E.M. knows this. Sadly, they lapse into just the kind of plodding ballad with "Hollow Man" that we have seen far too often in their last slew of records. It does not make for a bad track, per se, but a fairly big disappointment given the excitement of what precedes it. The comparative mediocrity continues through most of the record's remainder; the strongest track of the middle set is the Katrina-themed "Houston," which nonetheless fails to bring back the album's urgency (Stipe can pull off a great political vibe in his more aggressive songs but doesn't fare so well when he tries to get political in the slower ones), and the self-referential "Accelerate" and "Sing for the Submarine" are a bit tiresome. It's great that R.E.M. is headed in a new direction, but we would rather see them just do so than tell us about it.
Then, suddenly, the urgency returns with the final two tracks: "Horse to Water," an angrier continuation of the album's initial style, and the highly unusual but incredibly cool "I'm Gonna DJ," a track truly unlike anything that R.E.M. has ever done. One wonders whether R.E.M. would have been better off ditching the middle section and just hitting listeners with a 5-song, high-intensity EP. Maybe the band is only comfortable with the full-length studio album at this stage of their existence; but maybe they unwittingly mapped out their own career in Accelerate as a premature commentary on their retirement: a series of excellent, groundbreaking works, a period of meandering lack of emphasis, and a final return to excited relevance. If Accelerate itself can be called an analogue to "Horse to Water," then anyone who's heard the final track knows we're in for a pretty stupendous exit.