REM - Accelerate [review]

1fastdog.

Posted to Music on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 07:28:44 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

REM finds the guitars and brings the rock on their latest.

File this one under Who'da Thunk It. REM have, for whatever reason, emerged from the self-imposed blanket of musical mediocrity that's been covering them up for oh-so-long. Fans that have largely passed by everything REM have released since the Automatic For The People/Monster years, will find Accelerate to be a welcome return to form.
Clocking in at a trim, fit, and easily digested 35 minutes, Accelerate finds the band bypassing the slower, lugubrious, and often boring and hard to remember tuneage of their past four albums for what could easily pass as a long lost album from REM's days at the top of the alt-rock pile back in the late '80s and early '90s.
Peter Buck's guitar rings out loud and clear; Michael Stipe's vocals are front and center and beg to be shouted along with; Mike Mills is right there beside Stipe with sparkling background vocals; new(ish) drummer Bill Rieflin makes a mockery of what passed for drumming on the last several REM albums with his engaged pounding of the skins. This album is nothing if not taut, my friends.
Tracklist, final thoughts and a video to follow:

 1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
 2. Man-Sized Wreath
 3. Supernatural Superserious
 4. Hollow Man
 5. Houston
 6. Accelerate
 7. Until The Day Is Done
 8. Mr. Richards
 9. Sing For The Submarine
 10. Horse To Water
 11. I'm Gonna DJ

This is a damn good album, folks. All killer and no filler comes pretty close to an apt description as you're gonna get. No song on this album sucks. A lull here and there to be sure, but nothing that ever stops the momentum. A concise, straightforward, and catchy disc that absolutely does not wear out its welcome. Considering the meandering nature of the last few discs, the band deserves huge props for looking backwards to get a glimpse of where they needed to go, not only for this album, but future releases as well. 8 out of 10 and very much recommended for fans that enjoyed the REM that ruled an earlier era.