Accelerate (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  General Rock & Pop
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: April 1, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros. Records
• UPC: 093624988588
• WAPI (Tower ID): 111887874
• Average Customer Review:    (2 customer reviews)
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #3810 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #1732 in Rock & Pop (See Top 100 Rock & Pop Bestsellers)
• #1148 in General Rock & Pop (See Top 100 General Rock & Pop Bestsellers)

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Rolling Stone (p.63) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Guitars are front and center, in slashing-chord and rusted-arpeggio crossfires....Ultimately, the best thing about ACCELERATE is that R.E.M. sound whole again, no longer three-legged but complete in their bond and purpose."
Spin (p.95) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "ACCELERATE corrals 35 minutes of the fastest songs Stipe and Co. have written in decades, all performed with a sense of joyous purpose..."
Spin (p.48) - Ranked #26 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "A knowing grin cuts through nearly every major chord and confident lyric, delivering a well-earned sense of satisfaction..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.60) - "[Buck is] playing aggressively melodic riffs again, yet they're full of contemporary crunch and compression..."
Uncut (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he denseness suits REM, reconstructing their trademark intricate hedge of sound..."
Q (Magazine) (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is an album so drenched in exuberance and flair that it suggests pop's youth fetish is no substitute for experience."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "This is rock, not pop....This is the sound of R.E.M. going into the studio, plugging in and playing songs naturally...and very loudly."
Blender (Magazine) (p.78) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[F]ull of cascading jangle, candied power chords, lonesome harmonies, Southern-gothic protest poetry and roadhouse drum bash."
Pitchfork (Website) - "ACCELERATE's broad strokes, big riffs, and beefy production are admirable....Drummer Bill Rieflin plays with a Ministry-honed power, Mike Mills' backing vocals are absolutely key..."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The results are terrific. ACCELERATE is the most satisfying REM album since AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE..."

R.E.M.: Mike Mills (vocals, bass guitar); Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars).

On 2008's ACCELERATE, its first studio album after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, R.E.M. fittingly returns to its post-punk roots, offering up a taut, guitar-driven set that serves as the perfect antidote to the slow, snoozy AROUND THE SUN. Aiding frontman Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills in this convincing return to vintage form is U.K. producer Jacknife Lee, best known for working with Bloc Party and, appropriately, R.E.M.'s peers U2. While those acts often aim for widescreen majesty, however, Stipe, Buck, and Mills seem to have remembered that the group's strength lies in concise, pithy tunes, and Lee is quite willing to meet that aesthetic, as evinced on the restless opener, "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," and the raucous "Horse to Water."

Of course, the Georgian band hasn't forgotten its artistic evolution from MURMUR, nodding subtly to GREEN on the shimmering "Supernatural Superserious" and evoking AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE on the pensive "Until the Day Is Done." Easily R.E.M.'s finest album since NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI, ACCELERATE stands as one of the revered ensemble's most immediate and engaging records, and will undoubtedly please fans who have patiently been waiting for the trio to embark on a U2-like rejuvenation.

R.E.M - Accelerate

Twelve years have passed since R.E.M’s release of “New Adventures in Hi-Fi”; which also marks the last time we had the pleasure of hearing the troupe’s simple more instinctual sound. Accelerate may very well be the rejuvenation album for these alt rock pioneers that did not strike success with their last effort in 2004 “Around the Sun”.

This record’s stripped down guitar driven sound has fans reveling in R.E.M’s return to the proverbial good ol’days while still maintaining Stipe’s affluence for forward bound original ideas. As suggested or possibly insisted by The Edge (U2), the album was produced by the acclaimed Jackknife Lee who has in the past paired himself with the likes of Green Day, U2, Bloc Party and a plethora of other artists. Some may argue that working with Lee may have given the band the opportunity to express there nostalgic sound properly.

“Supernatural Superserious” and “Horse to Water” are a testament to the band retracing their roots and providing that true alternative rock sound, and Hollow Man delivers itself as a slightly more commercial sound of the band’s former self, while still following suit as a get up and sing tune that R.E.M fans will eat up.

In referring to the amount of time Accelerate took to make, the band says that it was the shortest they’ve ever spent on an album. In ignoring the once angsty teen in me and referencing a classic mom phrase, less apparently is always more.

Few bands of R.E.M’s grandeur take the time to assess a dwindling situation and make the necessary adjustments. Luckily for the hall of famers, there intuitive musical nature, persistence, drive and of course the fact that they had already done what they were trying to capture, made Accelerate roll off the tongue. Stipe spits lyrics that are reminiscent of his more visceral lyrical days and proves that an old dog can learn new tricks, or at least remember the old ones.

Favorite songs – “Supernatural Superserious”, “Horse to Water”, “Hollow Man”

- Danny “LIT”, Tower Pulse – 04/03/2008

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