Customer Reviews

Around Sun

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(76)
3 star:		(51)
2 star:		(38)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

R.E.M.'s 13th studio album, AROUND THE SUN, will strike most listeners as a throwback to the band's sound in the early 1990s. While I've always thought OUT OF TIME was a pretty disposable record (save for a few songs), AUTOMATIC is what hooked me on R.E.M. While REVEAL, though short on melodies, sounds very much like a classicist R.E.M. album, AROUND THE SUN sounds like the band's trying to rewrite AUTOMATIC, and in every department AROUND THE SUN comes up deficient when compared to its predecessor, mostly because of its lack of emotional depth and the directionless funk R.E.M. finds themselves in the New Millennium.

While AUTOMATIC is slow and built mainly on ballads and folk songs (albeit seen through a rock context), it had an emotional core that binds the record into a cohesive whole. AUTOMATIC never shies away from the heady themes, but it is a comforting record. Much of the album is largely mid tempo with one major exception. The political dirge "Ignoreland," where Stipe kicks the music and lyrics into high gear, bashing Reagan and the Republican Party, sounds both out of place and is rather jarring. Other than that and the rather bizarre inclusion of the throwaway two minute instrumental "New Orleans," AUTOMATIC mediates mostly on death, pain, and a search for solace. It is a tremendous set of songs, and is rightly regarded as one of R.E.M.'s masterpieces. It's mellow, soul-searching music. AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE is the one fo the best realisations of the power of folk and medative music played in a rock and roll context.

AROUND THE SUN, no matter what way you slice it, sounds like a directionless mess. The music is largely bland, hookless, and midtempo; the lyrics, while sometimes (entirely characteristic) oblique, never touches the listener like AUTOMATIC does. When listening to AROUND THE SUN, you get the very distinct impression that R.E.M. was grasping in the wind, trying to come up with an emotional powerhouse like the aforementioned AUTOMATIC. What's missing is the sense of purpose, both for the band themselves and the actual record. Given how active Stipe is in politics, you'd think the band could turn out an aggressive, politically charged album; all he can muster here is "The Final Straw." It's funny how little things have changed. In the early 1990s there was a Bush in office, war in Iraq, and Stipe and Co. venting their political angst. Stipe's political nightmares came true when George Bush won. In another way, things have changed a lot. The democratic nominee lost, George Bush did what his father could not (a second term), there's still war in Iraq, and instead of releasing a masterpiece R.E.M. rambles through the most directionless set of music they have ever recorded.

It helps to understand what has gone on before AROUND THE SUN.Ever since 1997 (and I would argue before that), R.E.M. has been desperately trying to find a cutting edge sound to hang their hat on. MONSTER, AUTOMATIC's followup, is needlessly noisy and uneven, though there are some great songs on it. NEW ADVENTURES, their most consistent post IRS album next to AUTOMATIC, stands as their most underrated album. With UP, after Berry's acrimonious departure, finds R.E.M. overcompensating with meaningless experimentation. What saves UP is they manage to write a few good songs, even if the experimentation feels very forced. REVEAL sounds like the band's trying to go back to the core of their older sound, making a very atmospheric, shiny album.

AROUND THE SUN, however, sounds like they just don't know what to do anymore. They've returned to the highly stylised folk-rock of AUTOMATIC for SUN's foundation. But where that album always sounded compelling, challenging, and intriguing, SUN sounds like they're going through the motions. That doesn't mean the album's horrible, or there are no good songs on it. The band's been around for over twenty years; they can turn in a professional set of music when they want too. And that's the core problem with SUN. SUN never catches hold because it has such a processed, calculated feel to it, making it a stilted affair. Just like UP, SUN feels like it's spent too much time in the studio and not enough time in the band's heart and soul. AUTOMATIC is such an emotionally charged and naked album that you just connect to it; here, the band never lets you get close emotionally to the music. The music, as it drifts lazily by, is just slow, faceless adult pop. That's what makes it such a step down from AUTOMATIC

There are certainly good songs on AROUND THE SUN. I enjoy the album (see the rating). But that doesn't change the fact it's their most artistically adrift album R.E.M.'s ultimately turned into sleepy, adult pop band, the likes of which you hear in offices and dentists' waiting rooms. Given their overall body of work (especially the early years), it's just sad that R.E.M. feels so directionless, and how far they're truly removed from their earliest output. You may like this album; you may not. The old school fans (the IRS years) won't like it (do yourself a favour if you never heard any early R.E.M. and buy MURMUR or RECKONING; it's amazing how much they've changed). Fans of their 90s work will be more sympathetic.

Just don't let all those comparisons with AUTOMATIC fool you though. While AROUND THE SUN certainly sounds like they're were trying to come up with a comparable masterpiece, the record never once approaches the emotional heights and comforting undercurrents that make AUTOMATIC such a vital, vibrant work of art.

Better luck next time boys.

[2.5 stars]

On their previous album, Reveal, REM revisted the orchestral pop perfected in their early-90s apex, combining it with splashes of modern FX they expirimented with on Up. With Around the Sun, REM polishes that blueprint to an emaculately produced high-tech sheen. ATS is musically simpler (fewer elements), with mostly understated strings, which accentuates the synthetic elements.

ATS seems like an unapologetically modest album. Each track is characterized by somnolent tempos and varying degrees of pathos. ATS is book-ended by the two strongest songs (the mournful "Leaving New York", and the tentatively hopeful title track), and taken individually, most of the remaining 11 songs are fine (if unspectacular) and well-crafted. But unfortunately they all plod along at the same tempo, and most emote the same somber mood. Consequently, most individual tracks are undistinguished, and as a whole the album is homogenized; the musical equivalent of processed food. To some extent, this was a problem with Reveal, but it's even more pronounced on ATS. At least Reveal contained a few great, inspired songs; ATS is just consistently bland (emotionally, lyrically, and musically), and, as the title suggests, it just goes in circles.

Around the time Reveal was released, I started to suspect REM was only staying together to fulfill their contract (ATS is album 4 in a 5-album deal they signed in 1995). My suspicion no longer seems so cynical. ATS sounds like an album made out of a sense of obligation, not inspiration; not lazy or incompotent, but rather the work of diligent craftmen who are motivated more by necessity than enthusiasm. To some extent, a sense of ennui has infused all of their work since Bill Berry left, but REM has never sounded as automated and comfortably weary as they do on Around the Sun.

If you're among the millions who think R.E.M. peaked in '92 with "Automatic For The People", and that everything since has been an intermittently interesting but ultimately fruitless search for a new sound, then this album might appeal to you more than the last few. It's slick, lyrical, often radio-friendly, but has enough political edginess and lump-in-the-throat moments to be credible nonetheless. That's the cynical review, I guess. But this isn't some finely calibrated attempt at re-entering the mainstream. R.E.M. has long been characterized by a steadfast refusal to rest in a certain style. Each album has offered a departure from the last, sometimes a radical one - their breakthrough album, "Out of Time", was itself a bizarre detour. This time around, they've given the tracks a kind of folk-electronica lushness; tricked them out with keyboards and drum machines and pushed Peter Buck's guitars into the background for a change. There's also a renewed confidence and clarity in Stipe's foregrounded voice. Lyrically, there's an engaging fusion of the personal and political, with the themes of relationship breakdown (or false start) and self-discovery frequently doing double duty as political metaphors. It's refreshing that on an album full of love/hate songs and political musings R.E.M. hasn't just fallen back into what would have been the easy options - the chamber-pop aesthetic of "Automatic" or the rattling righteousness of "Document".

It isn't a total success, however. In some cases, the mix has dulled the passion and buffed off too many rough edges, almost to the point of inanity. "The Outsiders", while lyrically sinister, is too smooth to really get under your skin. "Aftermath", which might have been as crisp and joyous as any R.E.M. classic, is too flat to be uplifting - Bill Berry and Scott Litt are sorely missed on tracks like this. "High Speed Train" sounds more like a lumbering bulldozer with Stipe asleep at the wheel. But overall, the good outweighs the bad. On the best tracks - the beautiful "Leaving New York", the brooding and insistent "Final Straw" (pick of the album, for me), the eloquently savage "I Wanted To Be Wrong", and the wonderfully weird "The Ascent of Man" - the richness of the arrangements and Pat McCarthy's intelligent production values achieve an adult sophistication entirely appropriate to the song's themes. These aren't just college boys ranting anymore. If you want that, go buy "American Idiot" (which I love, by the way). R.E.M. have increasingly subtle and sophisticated things to say, and they've found a surprising and beautiful way of saying them.

This isn't the '80s flashback R.E.M.'s long-suffering original fans might have been anticipating on the strength of recent releases such as "Bad Day" and "Animal", but for those willing to give it the time and attention it demands, "Around The Sun" is a nonetheless rewarding album.

Around the Sun has been met with mixed reviews. Either the listener is expecting something R.E.M. has done in the past or the listener is expecting to discover yet another facet of R.E.M., who has shown through the year they are anything but static. There are comprehensive reviews of the album available so I want to concentrate on why you should chose this edition over the standard CD issue, which many of you may already own.

The 5.1 sound of the re-issues has blown me away. If you are not the type of person to "experience" the music this may not be a must have. If, however, you are like me and enjoy listening to the music with the lights off and candles lit, you must experience the 5.1 sound as the subtle sounds come through adding another dimension to the album. ATS has not been out for very long and I was tempted to pass, but I do not regret the decision to purchase simply because of the clarity.

As for bonus materials, you get "LNY" and "Aftermath" videos, a very short 5 minute documentary, and live performace videos of "LNY" and "Imitation of Life."

Because "LNY" and "Aftermath" videos have not been released on DVD this adds to the incentive to pick up the CD-DVD-A.

I think this is a must buy if you do not have the CD and are looking to pick it up, even if you do not currently have 5.1 equipment.

Though I warmed up to it after a few additional listens, I sympathize with complaints that this is a "dull" or monotonous record. As with REM's previous album, the songs on "Around The Sun" tend to melt into one another in a way that prevents any one song from lingering in the mind for very long. Stipe & Co. seem to hone in on a particular kind of sound and production these days that they cling to for dear life throughout the entire recording session, and this makes for work that is more challenging and subtle than, say, "Orange Crush" or "Losing My Religion." "Around The Sun" is indeed a remarkably boring first listen, but it is very kind to the patient fan, rewarding persistence with a surprising abundance of taut vocal hooks, engaging melodies and some arresting bursts of guitar from the usually reliable Mr. Buck. You've got to give this album at least a few spins before understanding it enough to pass judgement; the songs begin to stand out on their own and even Stipe's somewhat uninvolving vocals become more emotive and interesting (especially on "High Speed Train" and "Leaving New York"). At once hopeful and sincere, mature and compelling, "Around The Sun" comes across as precisely the kind of record one might expect from a post-Bill Berry REM in 2004, and that's not a bad thing.

A really beautiful record, similar in vein to what Avalon was for Roxy Music. Whereas, Up and Reveal tended to meander and plod along, there's a real cohesiveness and strength to this record, and the individual songs contribute to the album as a greater whole. The vocals are way up front, accentuating the emotive quality in Michael Stipe's voice.

R.E.M. is one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. No one but the Beatles and the Stones and possibly U2 have made so many fine records, so many fine record sides, so many fine songs. They've woven themselves into Americana where they will remain for centuries.
Their earliest records were miracles of sincere yet clever guitar jangle, with impressionistic lyrics. They've given us brassy up-tempo rock, quirky anthems ("It's the End..." "Stand"), brooding meditations ("Try Not to Breathe," "Half a World Away," "Disappear"), larky outbursts ("The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite," "Man on the Moon"). They've been very, very smart and unstintingly excellent.

They haven't made solo records or taken time off. Their career is a thru-line, and it is hard (rarely done) to keep up the intensity and maintain quality.

Some of the last few albums have begun a slide, and I'm sad to say they've really reached the floor with "Around the Sun."

Others have said it: the songs are safe, precious; they are too similar; they lack life. Stipe's voice is too langurous, shy, without vigor. It recalls "Up" and "Reveal." Nothing new or radical really flowers.

Lyrically, Stipe is always sharp and interesting. He continues, on this album, to twist phrases and keep a person guessing. In "I Wanted to Be Wrong," his oblique phrase "the weevils and the wheat" is signature Stipe from any era. In "The Boy in the Well," he gives us, "look at you drowning/on display" a 90's-era caustic phrasing we've become accustomed to. It gives us just a hint, yet more than we got in the early 80's, when he may have offered, "drowning/displayed" if we could make the words out. But his phrasings "This town is going wrong/it's turning away," "memory fuses in shadows/like glass" are becoming pat after a few albums of them. Sometimes it seems dismissives, too neatly evoking, then abandoning an idea, as opposed to some more robust images created in say "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" or "Belong" or "Life and How to Live It." Boy, it was nice when REM sketched out characters are offered at least partial narratives in their songs.

This time, the songs are either about breaking up or being mad at George Bush. "The Final Straw" is a fiercely unimaginative rant ("I Wanted to Be Wrong" is much more literate and interesting, one of the album's redeeming tracks.)

The band makes some interesting moves in the jaunty "Wanderlust," and the swaggering "The Ascent of Man" which delights with Stipe's beery cries of "ye-ah-yeeeeeeaaah."

I want R.E.M. to make one more brilliant album.

Around the Sun is one of the most enjoyable CDs that R.E.M. has released in years. As a long time fan, I feel that this album ranks right up there with Murmer, Life's Rich Pageant, Document, Green, and Automatic For The People. With the exception of Murmer, I remember that these albums were also heavily criticized when first released. LRP wasn't "alternative enough", Document and Green were supposedly "sell-outs", and much of AFTP was initially criticized as being "too mellow and boring" (sound familiar?)

ATS is coherent and interesting from start to finish, and all of the songs grow stronger with repeated listening. The entire CD flows well, and I feel that the individual songs are better when heard within the context of the whole album. This is also probably REM's most political release, and I wonder if some fans are alienated by the band's message. (In fact, I just heard ATS trashed by a talk show host on the radio, who was angered by the lyrics.)

Maybe it's because I'm an older fan, but I don't have a problem with the fact that there are no out and out rock songs. Let's remember, these guys are in their mid 40's! If they were still doing 20-something rock it would be laughable at this point in their lives. This is a mature album with substance. Maybe the younger fans can't relate, and maybe there are older fans wanting a return to "the good old days", but I for one will keep playing this great CD for years to come!

I am a huge REM fan. Loved almost every track from Chronic Town to New Adventures. I staunchly defend Monster from those who slag it off and think New Adventures is a criminally underappreciated classic. Though the Bill Berry departure was disappointing, Up and Reveal contained enough great moments that I made my own killer CD containing the best half dozen moments from each (with a little Great Beyond as a gift bonus track to myself).

So where am I going with all this? There's a saying: one measurement gives you a data point; two measurements give you an average; but three measurements give you a trend. And I'm afraid the trend that has developed since Berry's departure is that of mediocrity. Other than Electron Blue, The Worst Joke Ever and the painful second half of The Outsiders, there's nothing on this album that's bad. It's just that there are very few moments that are great. Leaving New York might be a classic but after that everything is fair to good.

If I was ranking my REM albums from 1 to 13 this one would rank no higher than 11 (and could well be number 13).

If one thought that Bad Day and Animal were signs that REM were returning to the world of Peter Buck's "Monster" or jangling Byrds riffs of the past-Then you will sorely be disappointed. Thats not to say this album is a disaster either. Their are definite classic REM moments- Leaving New York is every bit as strong as any of the lead singles REM has released on any of their previous 13 albums. It has got a classic Peter riff and sounds like it could have been on Automatic for the people. If radio wasnt in such a sad state it would go Top 10 as it has in most other Euro territories. The album definitely flows cohesively, unfortunately it doesnt have a lot of punch too it. It has a cohesion like Automatic for the people except it is mostly electronic in sound and the tunes arent as strong as on that effort. One might question whether or not Peter has to be bored and Mike too for that matter. The truth is this album will be appreciated by a large amt of their core following and nothing more.This album will not be the comeback album it could have been; although REM have never necessarily catered to the general public. This album will likely follow the same electronic path as its predecessors. Perhaps another Gold album for REM and nothing more. This is still a decent rem album and a good album by anyone's standards with some great songs especially around the sun wanderlust, leaving new york, and final straw-but overall somethings is still missing. Bill Berry perhaps? Some big riffs like on Green-or some jangling driving numbers like on their earliest material!? REM'S days of 5 million sellers are gone in the states as they are now playing the theatres in the states except in the major cities where they can still sell out Madison Square Garden. Lack of sales means they will play where their fanbase is still massive and They are still a massive international act and pack the stadiums outside of the US. The only problem with this is -less shows in the states for the fans to enjoy and less likely that REM will come around as often as they used to. Whatever the problem is Michael, you are right -you have got to find that Wanderlust that made your band one of the truly great American bands! Keep your fingers crossed because these guys still have another great 1 in them somewhere (THIS IS A MERELY A GOOD ALBUM!),Im convinced!