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| Accelerate | 
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| Artist: R.e.m.
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $4.48
You Save: $14.50 (76%)
New (71) Used (36) from $4.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  212 reviews
Sales Rank: 415
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.3
MPN: 418620
UPC: 093624988588
EAN: 0093624988588
ASIN: B0013BNY2Q
Release Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 After a long hiatus, R.E.M. is back and rocking April 3, 2008
19 out of 22 found this review helpful
Every artist needs a little time away from the spotlight so they can take a breath and prepare themselves to make a great and worthy comeback. This is what these three fine young men from Athens, GA did and the final product they delivered after a hiatus of four years couldn't be better. "Accelerate" is a subtle mix of old school R.E.M. from the IRS years to the mainstream appeal from Warner Bros. years. The CD-only version is relatively short (running 35 minutes or so only) and has great tunes. Michael's singing style is more passionate than ever. The band still plays consistently and vigorously. This is a top release for the Alternative Rock genre this year. Yes, they're mainstream for a while, but still makes alternative sound. Thanks God.
Return to greatness April 1, 2008
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
The sound of a band having fun and making an album from their gut and not their head. All the turgid, plodding chamber-pop of the past few albums has boiled off and given way to 35 minutes of greatness. Yes, you will hear the sounds of REM form 20 years ago in here, but that does not mean that this is a re-tread of the past -- it is the sound of a band older but wiser enough to know when to let it all go and trust in themselves to make a great album.
They sound young again April 1, 2008
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
So Michael Stipe is 48 years old? Doesnt sound like it here. And Mike Mills and Peter Buck both sound excited to be in a ROCK band again. Being beaten over the head with guitars has rarely felt this good. Sure, Stipe still tends to get a little preachy about politics, but that is who he is and at least he is fervently honest. He doesnt pick up a cause just because its cool.
The entire album spits anger and dismay about where we are and occasionally suggests where we need to be. The grinding and infectious rocker that opens the album, "Living well Is the Best Revenge" sounds better than anything off of Monster. "Until The Day is Done" is a brooding and pensive acoustic number that ranks up there with "Breathe" and "Drive" off of "Automatic for the People". "Hollow Man" alternates between a slow, keyboard driven pace and more anthemic, guitar driven choruses and features some of Stipe's best vocals.
My only complaint is that many of the songs are short (5 are under 3 minutes). The last song...I'm Gonna DJ...features a sarcastic look at the end similar to "Its The End of the World As We Know It" only a tad more angry. This song is one of the shorter numbers that I wish was about a minute longer...but maybe thats the point.
Overall, I think there a few REM cd's better than this one: Murmur, Automatic, Reckoning, Fables, and MAYBE Green. I also think New Adventures in HiFi had more good songs than people give it credit for. Accelerate is a very good CD but Im not sure if it will be considered an REM classic..we will need about a year to figure that out. But 2008 so far has given us a lot of great music releases from bands we still need to hear from, and this is no exception.
Probably the most pleasant surprise of the year April 2, 2008
18 out of 26 found this review helpful
Forgive me if, at first, I just didn't buy the hype surrounding R.E.M.'s latest studio album, "Accelerate", as a return to form. I remember when "Around the Sun" came out hearing pre-release murmurs that it was the rightful successor to their 1992 "Automatic for the People".
Well, as I'm sure everyone remembers who heard it, "Around the Sun" was no "Automatic for the People", and was the record that made it look like R.E.M. was officially done as a new musical recording act. "Up" and "Reveal" were forced but featured a few nice moments, but "Around the Sun" was boring and listless, drifitng in and out of the speakers without much consequence. I figured that R.E.M. would continue to release lackluster records while playing fairly stellar shows of their older material and that would be that.
Well, I was wrong. I can admit it. "Accelerate", the bands first studio LP since "Around the Sun", is, like many have claimed, the strongest R.E.M. album in over a decade, a raw, fun blast of guitar rock that the band perfected in the eighties.
To find a record closest in the R.E.M. catalog to compare this record too I would have to go with "Monster", only conisistant. This record rocks harder and faster than the bands I.R.S. catalog, even if it sadly lacks the mystique that made those records so great.
Both Peter Buck and Mike Mills, the groups guitarist and bassist respectivly, seem relieved to be back in rock territory, and the riffs and bass lines are all strong and melodic, a mix of sixties jangle pop played with the vigor of a punk band. Mills also offers many stong counter melody points vocally, which is nice to hear as those have been sadly lacking on the last few records.
On songs like "Living Well Is The Best Revenge", "Supernatural Superserious", "Sing for the Submarines" and the records stand out track "I'm Gonna DJ", the band pulls out all the stops musically, and the extra heft provided by the groups live band, playing as the backing section on the record, gives the record an immediacy that is appealing and nice to hear.
In fact, musically, the record only falters on "Houston", which feels like a better experiment from the last few records, but is the only song on the album that lacks a strong, consistant melody.
Michael Stipe has now officially become a great singer (on the first few records he was a great mumbler, and it was fantastic!), but lyrically he continues to falter a little. Stipe was more interesting when he was being vague and less open, and though "Accelerate" is less lifeless than the last few records R.E.M. lyrically, I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the more oblique Michael Stipe.
But that's more of a personal problem than a problem with the record. "Accelerate" is the best R.E.M. record since "New Adventures", and their most consistant since "Automatic". It reminds that R.E.M. where once a great rock and roll band.
And, if this record is any indication, they will be again.
Awesome tunes, easy download, NO DRM , I LIKE IT April 3, 2008
18 out of 24 found this review helpful
WHAT A GREAT ALBUM, THANK YOU REM. I was about to give up on the recording industry. I thought that I would be stuck with my 80's music (which turns out is timeless and still great) but this is really fresh, powerful, and the best new stuff I've heard in a while. And, the DRM-free download from Amazon was a snap. Amazon is my new number one stop for music. 5 stars REM and Amazon. (NO, I don't work for Amazon)
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