Accelerate by R.E.M.

I've been too busy listening to this album to actually weigh in on it.

Funny, no?

Look, I know that R.E.M. has gotten a bad reputation after the last few albums. Reveal and Around the Sun weren't well-received. In fact, whatever the opposite of well-received is, that's how they were received. I know all of this.

R.E.M. has been my favorite band since the time between when Automatic for the People and Monster were released. I was a freshman in high school. And while my contemporaries were listening to bubble gum pop or grunge, I was falling in love with a College Rock icon. In fact, R.E.M. was alternative before there was even a name for that genre of music.

It is for this reason that I was willing to find the good in murky, muddy albums of the late 90s and early 00s. Up had its moments--it gave us "Walk Unafraid," after all. Reveal was unfocused, but had some great hooks. And I even found something to love about Around the Sun, with its dark melodies and jarring vocals.

It was rumored, though, that Accelerate was going to be a return to hard-charging straightforward rock songs. In fact, those who'd heard the record before its official release date dared to invoke the sacred name of Life's Rich Pageant.

After hearing all of that, it was hard to listen to Accelerate with an open mind. Instead, I had all of my hopes and dreams on this album. Having so much faith in something would surely leave me burned, right?

Nah.

It was totally awesome!

The album starts with the defiant track "Living Well is the Best Revenge," where Stipe's anger and wit are channeled into a single song, and continues thrilling until the fun would-be throwaway track "I'm gonna DJ," which proclaims "Death is pretty final/I'm collecting vinyl/I'm gonna DJ at the end of the world." I say "would-be" because though the track is short, it might actually be the best track on the album. It's concise, like a good poem, and has a ridiculously big hook.

What's not to like?

In between are songs that all clock in under 4 minutes and which convey the intensity of a band trying to rage against the dying of the light.

Stipe, Buck, and Mills are political, satirical, and seem desperate to prove that though they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their place in the music scene is not that of the retired elder statesmen of Alternative Rock. R.E.M. is, despite the past few albums, proving itself to be a thriving band with something relevant to say to those willing to listen.

The album lacked some of the polish that previous albums have had, and the rough-around-the-edges quality is what makes it so good. The whole album feels urgent, and that urgency is what makes it good.

In short, Accelerate met my ridiculously high expectations. It restored my faith in the future of R.E.M. It's as if the band members awakened from a slumber, not content to rest on their past accomplishments.

And, you know what? That's fine by me.