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R.E.M.
Around the Sun
(Warner Bros.)
The Music Box's #3 album of 2004
First Appeared in The Music Box, November 2004, Volume 11, #11
Written by John Metzger
In the wake of its career-defining masterpiece Automatic for the People,
R.E.M. nearly fell apart. To its credit, the band avoided the pitfall that has
sunk many ensembles after an unmitigated success — that is the tendency to
become lost in a static hell of endless regurgitation — but its shape-shifting
approach wasn’t terribly successful either. As the collective tinkered with its
sound, each outing ventured in a different direction, but the summation of it
all amounted to little more than an uneven mess. With its mangy, post-grunge,
arena rock, Monster was nearly forgettable; New Adventures in Hi-Fi
was intriguing, though it also was quite scattered; in perfecting the sonic
textures of its predecessor, Up became the lone bright spot; but the
subsequent Reveal fell flat in its attempts to merge the group’s past and
present into a functional whole. Indeed, fans hardly could be blamed for turning
their backs on this once legendary act as its restless fiddling became
tiresomely dull.
There is a positive conclusion to the story, however, and R.E.M.’s 13th
studio outing Around the Sun is, quite frankly, the album that Reveal
should have been. In essence, the effort is a refinement of the band’s
explorations over the course of the past 12 years, one that essentially merges
the melodic intonations of Automatic for the People with the lushly
atmospheric orchestrations of Up. There are touches, too, scattered here
and there throughout the set, that recall, however faintly, the magnificence of
Reckoning, Murmur, and Life’s Rich Pageant, and although
the drum machines and electronic effects persist, the group finally has found an
organic home for them within its songs.
Full of introspective contemplation, Around the Sun features
masterfully intertwined tales of political and romantic isolation that, at first
glance, appear universally accessible to R.E.M.’s fans — no matter on which side
of the ideologically polarized spectrum they happen to sit. Instead of hitting
its supporters over the head with a blunt, lyrical sledgehammer, the band
cleverly takes a more subdued approach, one that reaches out to middle America
and speaks to more than those who already have seen the light. While its songs
easily could be about relationships, buried inside them are earnest
supplications for change as well as barbed comments directed at the Bush
administration’s hasty march toward war in Iraq and its unprecedented assault
upon the environment. Is it any coincidence that Berlin, Kyoto, and Marseilles
are name-checked in High Speed Train or that Aftermath alludes to
The Clash’s London Calling? On The Outsiders, the band addresses a
frightened American public and attempts to heal it with a mantra of "I am not
afraid," while Leaving New York, a hazy ode to the Big Apple, is draped
with a somber spirit of post-9/11 melancholy.
That R.E.M. has been able to stage a comeback that is so strong after more
than a decade of nearly aimless meandering is undoubtedly a pleasant surprise.
Indeed, the band has often seemed as tired, lost, and adrift as the nation that
it now is addressing. However, by so perfectly capturing the pain, the sorrow,
the hopes, the fears, and the uncertainties of the American public and merging
it with its most infectious batch of melodies since Automatic for the People,
R.E.M. has concocted its finest outing since that aforementioned classic. This
is the new R.E.M. in all its resplendent glory.  ½
Around the Sun is available from
Amazon. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please
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Around the Sun is also available as a CD/DVD-Audio
set from Amazon. The DVD includes a surround sound
mix of the album as well as lyrics, a photo gallery, and
unreleased video footage. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2004
The Music Box
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