R.E.M. news - yay

I'm strugging to think of bands 30 years into their career who've made better albums

The Fall. The Ex. Wire.

Well, at this point I'm long past agreeing with you about the Fall: think they're pretty awful most of the time these days. Wire have had long breaks: it's not a 30-year continuous career. And I don't know enough of the Ex's stuff to have an opinion.

You can get "UBerlin" for free today on iTunes.

Whole thing streaming here: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2011/03/01/stream-rem-collapse-into-now/

"Not bad" is kind of a backhanded compliment, but I'm enjoying it.

I'm kind of tired of 'not bad' REM albums.

I was flicking through Q magazine the other day and was really shocked to see the new album getting a really bad review, think it got 2/5. Q usually give them good reviews no matter what the album sounds like.

yeah this is pretty good so far (4 tracks in) better than the last few albums. lyrics suck a bit like.
it's on Spotify too by the way.

Haha Q hating this is really my first indication that this might be really good!

this feels like the first amazing album since bill left. maybe patti's stepped-up presence has filled the void of his absence a little? i don't know. so glad to like an rem album on first listen again. imho the call and response bookending of "discoverer" as "blue" closes out is the most affecting close-out since "me in honey"

"closes out" . . . "close-out" oops. these new songs have me pretty excited, have to admit

I think Stipe is a big part of the reason why. If you think about these songs, it's not so much that Buck and Mills have all of a sudden started writing significantly better music. But these songs just really came together and I agree that they've outdone themselves here. (If you want to say "recent selves" instead of just "selves," OK.)

I think I need to listen to this again. I was underwhelmed on first listen, though I did appreciate that the album felt a lot more varied than the last couple of efforts.

I think you guys must be listening to a different album to mine because all I hear is an obvious lack of effort from all concerned, especially Stipe. The bit where he sings "the storm didn't kill me, the government changed" made me wish I had a physical copy so I could throw it across the room.

Stipe's always written lyrics separately but now it feels like he just turns up in the studio and just barks them over whatever Mills and Buck have done. More than one note on the rock songs would be nice. I like 'Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter' (even though it's basically 'Revolution' shined up a bit) and 'Blue' is fantastic, but everything else just smacks of "will this do?"

I liked Accelerate quite a bit, but this one is just a more boring version of that album.

I'm not sure what's specifically CD-throwable about that line, but fair dos.

The songs are growing on me in a way REM songs haven't for a while. They're all quite superficially soprofic, but they have a certain pleasing edge that, say, "Until The Done Is Done" clearly didn't. There's a little more melodic effort, and less of Stipe doing his "I Took Your Name"-style fallback robot voice.

It's a shame, though, that Mike Mills seems to have taken a backseat on backing vocals after being over quite a lot of "Accelerate." And there's nothing as instantly lovable as "I'm Gonna DJ" and "Horse to Water".

I've been listening to this on Spotify and I like it quite a bit, it's got some really strong songs and nothing so annoying that I can't listen to it.
Uberlin is the first REM song since Parakeet on Up that's gotten stuck in my head and I've had to listen to over and over again.

i'm really scared to hear this ;_;

This album is making me feel like the past 20 years never happened--I like it.

It's not really a proper REM album till you've read the David Cavanagh review.

God help me, I'm really starting to like "Discoverer," though there is no way to deny it sounds like a dropped track from "Monster" or "New Adventures."

Discoverer is my favorite of the bunch too. Someone way upthread (or was it on twitter) called it a Finest Worksong retread, which it kinda is. It's the only track that's really stuck with me so far though. HATE the last track with the Stipe monologue.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2011/3/2/1299070673612/michael-stipe-REM-intervi-001.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/06/michael-stipe-rem-collapse-interview

Seems to be getting good reviews cos it has a 'classic' REM sound, but a lot of it sounds like a marginally less boring version of boring bands who've ripped off all the boring bits of REM. Uberlin reminds me of Idlewild at their most earnest, erk! There are a couple of nice enough tunes, but I don't know if I can be bothered letting it grow on me. REM has always self-plagiarised, sometimes improving on the originals (I'll take Strange Currencies over Everybody Hurts) but Blue is such a blatant rip off of Country Feedback it's almost funny - same chord sequence, tempo, guitar drones, everything. Except it's a bit boring, with none of the ache and burn of that classic. Oh My Heart is good though: has a bit of Swan Swan H (never a favourite) and Try Not To Breathe (a big favourite) to it, but it's quite affecting nonetheless.

That photo!!!

Stipe's not 50 yet, is he? Looks about 64.

http://i.imgur.com/6Tjzu.jpg

lots of lazy reviews knocking "blue" as a "country feedback" or "e-bow the letter" knockoff, as though the spoken word thing is some warner bros era development. hint: there's another rem closer that features prominent spoken word vocals. it's called "stumble." thanks

I think the country feedback comparison comes from the chord progression - it's nearly identical. You can sing country feedback over the top and it sounds fine.

i get that. and sure, it's got patti smith on it, too. just saying that if a writer's gonna diss a song for rehashing elements from a band's catalog, familiarity with the whole catalog doesn't hurt

That's silly. Bring back Patti Smith for a second moody cameo, and people will mention "E-Bow the Letter." If they brought KRS One back for a track, people would be comparing it to "Radio Song." It's the specificity of the similarities that can't be avoided. How much importance one places on such similarities is another matter.

i don't think it's that silly. lots of people know rem's music inside and out. j. michael's lyrics and delivery are such a huge part of rem's appeal that a pertinent nod to "chronic town" when discussing their new album, thumbs up or down, would boost a review's authenticity. complaining that "blue" is just like "e-bow the letter" but without mentioning "stumble," the only other rem song that closes an album (ep, whatever) with a prominent spoken word bit, is a blown opportunity

But it sounds nothing like Stumble.

It's not that want to discount your theory - it is quite interesting to think about artists making references to earlier work - but too often these naggingly familiar new REM tunes come across as slightly lazy retreads rather than ludic allusions to their back catalogue.

I actually thunk it sounds most like "Belong" from OOT.

i think it has the spirit of that song, too; patti's "cinderella boy, you've lost your shoe" bit is somewhat similar in sentiment to the mother whispering to her child "belong"

stew, "blue" closes with a coda that's a ludic allusion to the first song on the record. might that not suggest further referentiality? i only consider that, again, because michael has so often offered inspired lyrical moments over the years

Lept out at me like E-bow meets Country Feedback. Sorry.

But don't you see! The lyrics are totally different!

not to be obnoxious, but would you say that about hip hop? REM's a band whose lyrics are pretty important overall to how they've been celebrated over the years, wouldn't you say? i mean, first it was michael mumbles, you can't understand him, then it was, wow, he's a poet! i guess all i'm saying is, to beat a dead horse, it's kind of shallow to limit discussions of how song X on 'collapse into now' is a retread of song Y on another one of their major label albums, as though the IRS REM is a different band. i mean, i keep reading how "all the best" is a 'rock song,' like what's on 'monster,' as though "just a touch" doesn't even exist. i like REM enough that i'd appreciate a bit more perspective when i read reviews of their albums, that's all

The reason that Stumble doesn't get mentioned in reference to Blue is that the two songs are NOTHING ALIKE.

they don't SOUND alike. there's a spoken word thing in each, and each concludes its respective sets of songs. i really don't care enough to keep pointing that out, so whatever

Reprising the riff of the opening song at the end of an album is fairly common: Sgt Pepper being a famous example. And it works quite nicely on Collapse, taking things full circle. But I think the stumble thing is a coincidence. There are several spoken word REM songs which don't end albums. Furthermore, Stumble doesn't sound anything like Blue. Its spoken word section isn't what you immediately remember about it - you remember the tune and the fast, stumbling rhythm.
As I said, the intertext idea is interesting, but with REM it's a tricky one. They certainly have songs that self-consciously revisit elements of earlier ones - it's impossible to think of Strange Currencies without thinking of Everybody Hurts. But all too often they're rehashing old tricks, trading on the familiarity. In some respect they're playing to their strengths, but it does seem a little lazy, even cynical.

they don't SOUND alike. there's a spoken word thing in each

Perhaps the reviewers should have been mentioning 9-9 and Belong as well, for the sake of completeness?

This is all way too "intertextual" for my liking. Why would you want to listen to most of these songs when you could listen to the better versions from 10+ years ago?

"me, marlon brando, marlon and i" is "intertextual" with neil's "pocahontas." michael's updating the refrain from the last song on the last great album they made with bill, new adventures, "20th century go to sleep." "hipster town" and "collapse into now" are the last words spoken, stamping their first EP and this latest album, though sure "chronic town" is a better name. i could see how none of that's interesting though if you're just hearing a retread

-- reggie (michaelstipe)

Still really enjoying this record, Uberlin and, uh, Mine Smell Like Honey especially. Definitely seems like their most consistent and filler-free since Automatic.

Heard "Mine Smell Like Honey" on the radio for the first time (haven't heard the album yet), and while I enjoyed it fine, I was really struck by its ... genericness? Just a general lack of inspiration, I guess. I mean, not offensively so, but it still sounded kind of pro forma to me.

Surprised by how much I like this. Some serious auto-plagiarism going on but that's OK. The good thing about them having made Around the Sun is that everything since is an improvement.

Silver lining.

I've got this theory that the reason there is so much interesting stuff going on in earlier R.E.M. is that the constant tour/record/tour cycle more or less forced the band to accept the odder or more unusual aspects to their (rushed) songs and move on. Whereas now the band has the luxury of hammering away at things in the studio until all the quirky character edges get sanded off. Like, I wish I could hear more of Buck's guitar and not all the effects it's going through. I wish it didn't sound like it was all quantized to a click track. I wish the band threw in a few musical wrenches (and no, hiring Peaches doesn't count). Since "Up" (which would have been a sound swan song) R.E.M. albums have been light on inspiration or general reason to be. I mean, I heard "Nightswimming" for the first time in a while yesterday and I thought, jeez, what a simple, beautiful, unfussy song. It may have taken 100 attempts, but it may as well have been a perfect first take.

Basically, the band needs a vision.

Basically, the band needs a vision.

OTM x100.

Lack of "general reason to be" has definitely been the problem since Up at least so at this stage of the game I don't even expect it - soldily pleasurable is enough. The sound of Accelerate was obviously designed to signal hunger and renewed energy but it didn't make the record any more essential. The needy titles are beginning to remind me of Sly Stone's later albums though - Accelerate! Collapse Into Now! We Still Got It!