R.E.M. – Accelerate (2008)

I'm not really much of a fan of R.E.M. albums that have been released after mid-90's. Most of those albums are quite boring to be honest. Of course there are some exceptions, but mostly R.E.M.'s best times were around the turn of the 80's and 90's. Accelerate is a nice exception to this development. It's probably the most rock-oriented album by the band with the growling guitars and proper rock drumming. I was especially impressed by the title-track of this album and when I saw this album being sold with a couple of euros in a sale box in Helsinki, I bought it. And to my surprise, I've actually listened to this album a lot more than some other R.E.M. albums I own. In a way, this album is a return to R.E.M.'s roots as the band started of as an alternative rock band with some punk influences. The songs on this album a re a lot more straightforward pop songs than on the couple of albums that came before it.



Even though the first paragraph kind of portrayed this album in a positive light, I must say that this album is, by no means, anything special. It actually sounds quite a lot like Gin Blossoms in the early 90's. There are some excellent pop tunes and great background singing, but not enough interesting hooks to keep you interested for a long time. Even Michael Stipe's vocals are quite low and trembling on this album which doesn't give his vocals full credit.

Anyway, if I hadn't heard about the band before I would've probably been quite impressed with this album. It reminds me of great 90's alternative rock bands such as The Lemonheads or Teenage Fanclub. And as already mentioned, especially the song Hollow Man sounds a lot like Gin Blossoms. Of course anyone who knows R.E.M. (which is pretty much anyone I guess), will recognise Stipe's nasal vocals.

Of course you might expect from a band that has as much money as R.E.M. that their music videos are quite impressive. That really is the case. I am going to link here the music video for Man-Sized Wreath that shows a futuristic city story full of computer game graphics. This song also has excellent bass lines, which I encourage you to pay attention to.

The reason why I like the title track Accelerate so much is maybe because of the guitar riffs that remind me of some more modern Sonic Youth albums that I really like. I mean, the song is far more conventional rock than Sonic Youth, but the dark mood and the heavy sounds are very much to my liking. I'm Gonna DJ is a great ending song for this album. It's energy is quite unique for R.E.M.

I have never been a huge R.E.M. fan, but they have been an important influence to many bands that I've absolutely adored and that's why they are quite important for me. Accelerate is a positive album in R.E.M.'s later career where other albums have not really raised that many feelings in me.

Listen to the album on Spotify.