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| Accelerate | 
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| Artist: R.e.m.
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $13.98 (74%)
New (74) Used (41) from $5.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  211 reviews
Sales Rank: 489
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
Condition: in good condition , has light scratches , plays great , inventory g20
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| Customer Reviews:
 Best album of the year so far. April 3, 2008
18 out of 22 found this review helpful
Love this album. It rocks hard for the most part (Living Well Is The Best Revenge, Man-Sized Wreath, Accelerate, Horse To Water, I'm Gonna DJ), but also includes a couple classic R.E.M. style folk rockers (Houston, Until The Day Is Done). They held rehearsals for most of these songs in Dublin, Ireland. In front of great fans who never turned there back on R.E.M. when they released Up, Reveal and Around the Sun. Up, by the way is a great album and if you don't have it yet, you must get it. That said, those of you who gave up on them will once again fall in love with these great songs. Yeah, it's not Automatic For the People, so if you don't like to rock, I would suggest at least downloading Supernatural Superserious, Hollow Man, Houston, Until The Day Is Done, Mr. Richards and Sing For The Submarine.
Believe it: Another Great Album April 3, 2008
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
REM's new album plays like an REM retrospective with all new songs: jangley guitars and Mike Mills' harmonies recall Reckoning and Life's Rich Pageant; the mandolin conjures up Green and Out of Time; the insistent nature of the songs and rapidly spat-out lyrical delivery call to mind Document and Monster; and lyrically Stipe seems to be in the mode of New Adventures in Hi-Fi and the more recent post-Berry albums (he even says "electron blue" in "Song for the Submarine," borrowing from their last cd, Across the Sun).
In truth, I was a bit skeptical when I heard REM had cut a fast-paced cd that was very self-referential to their earlier cds. For some reason, REM's last post-Berry albums have all failed to connect with the public imagination, and the critics have tended to praise their cds upon release only to bash the previous album when the next came out. It's a shame, because, while none reached the heights of Document, Out of Time, or Automatic for the People, I think they're each really cool albums in their own way. (Sometimes, my wife and I feel like we're the only two people in the world who really like Across the Sun.)
Still, it was time for REM to reconnect with their audience, much like Pearl Jam did with their self-titled cd. And, like the pros they are, they pull it off. It's an energetic album - calculated, but energetic. It's great to hear Mike Mills singing his trademark harmonies. Buck's guitar jangles and crunches and demands you turn your stereo up to 11. And the songs are tight. Occasionally almost too short, the songs fly by one after another, but this is the kind of thing Bill Berry used to bring to the band (he was the one, according to interviews, that pushed the "don't bore us, get to the chorus" philosophy). The cd clocks in at just under 35 minutes for eleven songs, so you know no one in the band was given any time for meandering self-indulgence.
The production, playing, and singing is strong throughout, as is the song-writing. I was worried that REM was taking a step back, but they've done what few artists have been able to pull off (U2 and David Bowie come to mind): they've recalled their past while still playing music for today. REM is still as good a band as there is out there. Accelerate is the proof.
A perfect album for less-than-perfect times April 4, 2008
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
I don't fully get the "throwback" tag that so many people seem to apply to this album. Yes, this album is a rocker, and some of REMs other albums have been rockers, but I really feel like Accelerate could only have come out of the times we're in. 80% of the Americans think this country is on the wrong track and the rest of the world had lost a great deal of the respect they once had for us. What better way to deal with it than to turn up the volume and rock!?! And where past REM rockers have still noodled around a little, these songs start fast, get to the point, and drive it home with hardly a wasted motion.
Just like the tongue-in-cheek pop of "Shiny Happy People" and the angsty drama of "Everybody Hurts" were ideally suited to the national mood at the closing of the Reagan-Bush era, I feel like the loud and fast songs on Accelerate are perfect for the end of this disastrous Bush II administration. They seem to scream, "hurry up and get this sh** over with!"
While they may have missed the national pulse with their last few albums, I feel like Accelerate really hits home. Like most artists, REM seems to produce their best work when times are tough. If anything, I'd like to hear them play even louder and faster--maybe they could somehow speed up time until January 2009.
Short and sweet April 6, 2008
18 out of 21 found this review helpful
Usually, I'm the type of listener who grumbles about a monetary transaction that results in ponying up $11.00 for only 35 minutes of music. But given the down-tempo moodiness and soul-searching of the past three R.E.M. albums, I suppose I should've checked my doubts at the door. "Accelerate" is a work of masterful brevity, leaving in its scorched trail a longing desire for just a bit more of that savory sound. Only the finest albums in your library have this power.
My initial attitude toward "Accelerate" was marked mostly by skepticism; I was, afterall, the guy who openly preferred the electro-pop glitch of "Up" (still my favorite R.E.M. record) and "Reveal" above the party vibe of "Life's Rich Pageant" or the distorted crunch of "Monster".
But you've got to hand it to the boys from Athens: having been more or less musically derailed by the loss of drummer Bill Berry and a slew of mediocre responses to their subsequent releases, it was unlikely for these aging rock icons to push the envelope again. It was worth the wait.
Opener "Living Well is the Best Revenge" showcases more group confidence than the band has shown in a decade. "Man Sized Wreath" includes a bassline far catchier than anything Mike Mills has pinned down since "Man on the Moon". Michael Stipe's stream-of-conscious lyrics are at their best in "Horse to Water" and "I'm Gonna DJ". Out of its 11 tracks, only "Until the Day is Done" indulges a more acoustic texture not heard since "Automatic for the People" hit shelves in 1992. Even if there was a misstep here (which there isn't), it would probably pass in less than three minutes.
All the hype is true.
A C C E L E R A T I N G ROCK April 1, 2008
17 out of 23 found this review helpful
It's impossible not to be hypnotized by this album! Sounds like a dose of drug in your veins...
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