Around the Sun

by

R.E.M.

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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.

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.