REM return from their trip Around The Sun at godspeed. The songs are faster, conceptually edgier and, thanks to the help of grunge producer Jacknife Lee, more rock-and-roll than anything they’ve released in the past several years. If those last few albums were polished down to a nice elegant sheen, this one is, right out the gate from the opening guitar riff, a throwback to the old dirty garage band days. While I have no problem with the relaxed post-party digression REM began once Bill Berry fell from the tree, there’s a certain nostalgic charm to this sudden return to form.
Lacking are the songs. In the way of sonics, the album sounds like vintage REM. The guitars are set louder in the mix, sometimes with a mild distortion effect to give them a hardcore rock vibe. Michael Stipe is still a wonderful, if ambiguous, wordsmith, but, even with Mills harmonizing softly in the background, there are few melodies to match. Until The Day Is Done stands as one of their best songs, the chorus on Man-Sized Wreath is fun and Sing For The Submarine is catchy, but, at a mere 34-minute stretch, the album doesn’t have enough melodic gas to go the distance.
my rating : 3 of 5
2008