In a lot of ways, the R.E.M. story ended with 1996's underrated New Adventures in Hi-Fi. That was the final R.E.M. disc to feature drummer Bill Berry, and in retrospect, Berry brought a lot more to the band than simply his drumming. But that hasn't stopped R.E.M from awkwardly furthering the plot. First came the often pretty but not quite rewarding Up. Next, the pleasant but uneven Reveal, and then Around the Sun, which even most hardcore fans disdained as lackluster at best.
But if rock-star longevity is at least partially political, the savvier-than-ever R.E.M. took it upon themselves to control their message. As the band's studio output dragged, it presented itself as a revitalized live outfit, turning out inspired performances that seemed wildly disproportionate to its increasingly dull LPs. Reveal didn't warrant a tour, but tellingly, the band's 2006 greatest-hits collection did, and on stage, R.E.M. relished the opportunity to disprove naysayers with blistering sets that spanned their entire career.
Accelerate is the name of R.E.M.'s new album, the band's 14th, and it attempts to port that newfound vigor to the studio, not just by trading longtime producer Pat McCarthy (on board since 1998's Up) for U2 associate Jacknife Lee, but also by paring down the excess and sharpening the focus. Accelerate might as well be called Reverse, as it self-consciously aspires to recapture the spirit (if not necessarily the sound) of R.E.M.'s prime. Throughout its 11 songs and 35 minutes, only two tracks top the four-minute mark, and many run less than three. But velocity is not the same thing as vitality, and brevity is not the same thing as urgency. Accelerate ultimately isn't so much a back-to-basics move as a redefinition of what "basic" even means to an arena rock band. Accelerate's broad strokes, big riffs, and beefy production (the album was reportedly recorded in "just" nine weeks) are admirable, as is the disc's concision, but its success is still more as a step forward than a slam dunk.
Still, the very fact that R.E.M. recognized a problem and made an effort to remedy it is pretty impressive from a band of their stature. You can immediately hear the results on the lead song "Living Well Is the Best Revenge": Jacknife Lee has given the track (and the rest of the album) a refreshing sense of grit that's at odds with McCarthy's fussier studio constructions. Peter Buck's guitar rings and chimes with a layer of aggression one step beyond that of Monster, the band's previous "rock" record. Drummer Bill Rieflin plays with a Ministry-honed power, Mike Mills' backing vocals are absolutely key, and Michael Stipe's vocals are gruff, pissed off, and mixed low enough to make the lyrics tricky to make out.
But "Man-Sized Wreath" is no match for that airless rush-- its vague 60-isms might make a solid B-side, but it's hardly a continuation of the opener's call to arms. The same can be said of the slick, safe single "Supernatural Superserious", the kind of song R.E.M. could write in its collective sleep. "Hollow Man", aside from its piano intro misdirection, might as well be the Gin Blossoms, Counting Crows, or any other middle of the road band R.E.M. influenced. "Houston" is about as weird as R.E.M. allows themselves to get these days, but against the odds the track's a highlight. It's a curious 6/8 dirge adorned with what sounds like a wheezing organ, featuring some nicely enigmatic lyrics and a musical toughness that updates the insular world the band introduced with Automatic for the People. Again, like "Living Well Is the Best Revenge", it unfortunately highlights the relative mundaneness of the next two songs, the title track and "Until the Day Is Done".
Accelerate make a surprise finish, though, with its last four songs pushing the band to fresh places. "Mr. Richards" is a vaguely blurry hybrid ballad that hints at shoegaze, invoking the band's staid studio experiments but connecting them to the group's more aggressive origins. Similarly, the self-referential "Sing for the Submarine" recalls an Up-era waltz while name-dropping some blasts from R.E.M.'s more distant past. "Horse to Water" is pure rush, just over two minutes of condensed energy unlike anything R.E.M. has done to date, a kick in the nuts to anyone not impressed by what came before it. And as closers go, "I'm Gonna DJ" is an oddball but memorable choice, perfectly selected for its gonzo agitation.
If you forgot the last couple of R.E.M. discs as soon as they were released, love it or not, "I'm Gonna DJ" and much of what precedes it at least ensures that Accelerate won't be forgotten quite as quickly. But, like any act of rehabilitation, it's no seismic shift, just a move in the right direction. It's as if the band strived for resonance but settled for a satisfactory glimmer of renewed relevance.
