REM / Accelerate (2008)

So where to begin, I guess some sort of praise should be offered to the trio that is REM. It seems that after a serious case of “Decade Comatosis” (1997-2008) following the departure of Bill Berry they have finally woken up and decided that perhaps it is time to serenade the world with a return to the music that made them great. The album which was released in 2008 begins with the track "Living Well is the Best Revenge". I’ll admit that my expectation for this album was very low, and who could blame me after such a period of creative drought from REM. That bar of expectation I had set was blown away, I was amazed to say the least and when "Supernatural Superserious" came along I had difficulty composing sentences. The first side plays out extremely well, though the fourth song could have remained slow rather then starting so and then taking off. Side 2 begins with the slow song I had been searching for on Side 1, nice to see it found a place somewhere other than the cutting room floor. Then the album gets a serious case of "Long Album Blues" which is odd for an album so short. Still it is a good album when you factor
in the crap they produced in the last decade, but they have a far way to come to return to Lifes Rich Pageant.

Rating = Neptune Record

Sincerely;

T.R.Z. Oswald