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| Popmatters |
 After a decade of increasingly underwhelming albums following the departure of drummer/founding member Bill Berry in 1997, R.E.M. forcibly pulled itself out of its creative doldrums with the energetic 2008 release Accelerate. That record was a long-hungered-for revitalization for the veteran alt-rock group by longtime fans and wistful critics, who knew that the boys from Athens, Georgia were capable of far better efforts than they had been turning out lately. Now that the remaining trio of singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills have proven that they still have the faculties to churn out a solid long-player, its Jacknife Lee-produced follow-up Collapse into Now has arrived to help us determine whether R.E.M. can maintain its reinvigorated fire, or if Accelerate was an anomalous blip in the once-brilliant group’s progressive slide into complacent mediocrity.So has R.E.M. remembered the lessons learned from Accelerate? Well, kind of, if what you actually mean is “does it sound like the last album”. The first thing music fans will notice about Collapse into Now is that it essentially duplicates its predecessor’s vigorous, guitar-dominated approach, with the key differences being that there are more ballads and more famous guest musicians this time around. As on Accelerate, much of the album is inhabited by heady uptempo rockers like “All the Best” and the lead single “Mine Smell Like Honey” that clock in at four minutes or less, where Peter Buck’s crashing guitar chords (the man rarely deploys his once-trademark jangly picking style these days) often make it hard to hear what Mike Mills is playing underneath. Aside from the ultra-brief “That Someone Is You”, none of the Collapse into Now rockers are of the same quality as those on the previous record, instead morphing together into a vaguely-distinguishable mass of power pop-inspired romps. The most disappointing selection from this pack is the opening salvo “Discoverer”, which in its vain attempt to invoke the anthemic this-is-our-moment weight of its Document counterpart “Finest Worksong” instead comes off remarkably like something by the long-forgotten ‘80s modern rockers World Party....full text |
| Shout4music |
| The release of R.E.M.’s album ‘Collapse Into Now’ is set to be one of the most important musical events of 2011. The new record – their fifteenth album in a career that has spanned thirty years – is released on 7th March. Such is the anticipation that, to minimise the risk of leaks, no promo copies of the album have been made available. So in order to get a preview of R.E.M.’s latest offering I attended the advance playback party in a Soho club last week. Once my credentials had been confirmed and my mobile phone handed in at the door (for a moment, I felt like I was about to sit an exam) I was admitted to the venue. Classic R.E.M. hits were playing in the background as I entered, but it wasn’t long before the volume was cranked up and ‘Collapse Into Now’ was piped into the club. Hopes for the new album were high – even guitarist Peter Buck has declared that it’s one of the best that R.E.M. have recorded. But expectations were less definite, as fans tried to predict whether ‘Collapse Into Now’ would follow in the same vein as their well-received 2008 release, ‘Accelerate’, or whether it would see them revert to the less focused style that characterised their work in the early 2000s. This is R.E.M.’s second collaboration with producer Jacknife Lee, and the sound he has leant to the album means that comparisons with ‘Accelerate’ are hard to avoid. But with ‘Collapse Into Now’, they develop the hard-hitting style of ‘Accelerate’ and showcase the full extent of their talents. The powerful stadium-fillers are all present and correct in the shape of tracks like ‘Discoverer’ and ‘Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter’, which is as in-your-face as its title. However, the new record is not short of softer songs: ‘Every Day Is Yours To Win’ is the most delicate, while on ‘Oh My Heart’ and ‘It Happened Today’ more of a folk influence is noticeable....full text |
| Shout4music |
| After they freshened up their sound with the visceral ‘Accelerate’ in 2008, expectations for R.E.M.’s fifteenth album were high. Would they continue in the same more stripped-back vein, or would they reintroduce more nuanced – but potentially inferior – sounds? As it turns out, they have struck a very successful compromise. Opener ‘Discoverer’ certainly delivers, grabbing your attention immediately, and this is followed by the even punchier ‘All The Best’. But R.E.M. prove their worth with the quieter, more folksy songs too. Touches of accordion and mandolin on ‘Oh My Heart’ enhance the texture, while the more pared down ‘Every Day is Yours To Win’ is another highlight. The closing track, ‘Blue’, is the album’s most intriguing. Here, we hear what sounds almost like a dalliance with post-rock, and spoken lines harmonising with sung parts. The input of Patti Smith on this song also contributes to making it a winner. Several tracks have a classic R.E.M. mood to them and, after fourteen previous albums, it’s easy to dismiss this as unoriginal. However, on ‘Collapse Into Now’ we hear a band who are able draw on the strengths of their past while deftly adding more forward-thinking elements. Believe the hype: this is R.E.M.’s best since the early nineties....full text |
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