REM new album "Around the Sun"

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HeartlandSoul

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Album is released tomorrow here in the U.S. I can't wait to get my copy :love:

I'll admit this album still is on the mellow side, in the vein of Up and Reveal, but I still love it. It's got a bit more of a band feel than the last 2, however. "Electron Blue" gives me goosebumps. I also like "I Wanted to be Wrong". It's one of those albums that grows on you more each time you hear it.

Soon it will be mine :evil laugh:

Can't wait to see Stipe and Co. in Indy in 2 weeks :hyper:
 
Love Leaving New York. Other than that, I dunno. I love the band but it sounds so ballady and...well...sort of....boring. There, I said it.

Maybe it will grow on me.
 
Could it really be that Bill Berry was the driving force behind REM? They miss him alot. LNY is a good tune, but they could do with some nice bash and pop.
 
I can't comment on the new one but I was sorely disappointed by Reveal (while remaining a lonely fan and admirer of UP).

I'm not sure it was just the Bill Berry thing, even New Adventures in hi fi felt pretty damn tired (although E-Bow the Letter was fantastic).

Still, will be interesting to see what they do this time.
 
new adventure is amazing

especially Leave
great great song
 
Kieran McConville said:
I can't comment on the new one but I was sorely disappointed by Reveal (while remaining a lonely fan and admirer of UP).
Click to expand...
Don't worry, I'm with you on it. That cat can walk like a big bad man.
Basstrap said:
especially Leave
great great song
Click to expand...
Am I the only one who thinks the beginning sounds like an acoustic "Thong Song"? Great song on a great album, still.

As for Around the Sun, I'm still getting into it. I have to agree that it's kind of boring. It's also weird how direct Stipe has gotten with his lyrics and how jangly their sound isn't. I'm also getting sick of the drum machines.
 
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From AJC.com




R.E.M.: "Around the Sun"

By NICK MARINO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/04/04

R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck believes that some songs on his band's new album could've fit onto "Up," the band's chilly and quasi-electronic (and poorly received) 1998 record, and that others could've fit onto "Automatic for the People," the warm and organic (and much loved) record the band released in 1992.

That's an accurate assessment since "Up" and "Automatic" were about feel, and so is the band's 13th full-length studio album, "Around the Sun." Don't expect Buck's strongest lead riffs or Michael Stipe's most urgent vocals this time around. Their musical gestures are subtle these days, and their rewards come with patience. More than a rock record, "Sun" feels like an impressionist painting — there's beauty here, but it won't leap from the canvas in sharp relief. If you're going to enjoy it, you need to allow yourself to be drawn in, to appreciate the whole watery picture until the details make themselves clear. You need to linger awhile.
 
U2dork said:
Their musical gestures are subtle these days, and their rewards come with patience. More than a rock record, "Sun" feels like an impressionist painting — there's beauty here, but it won't leap from the canvas in sharp relief. If you're going to enjoy it, you need to allow yourself to be drawn in, to appreciate the whole watery picture until the details make themselves clear. You need to linger awhile.
Click to expand...

:yes:

I got my copy yesterday, my thoughts exactly.

It's not gonna jump out at you, you've got to listen to it several times before it slowly seeps into your soul.


(Coming from a die hard REM devotee who loves every album in its own special way :D )
 
the song with Q tip is probably the worst song REM ever recorder
as well as one of the lamest songs of 2004

this is fact
 
Am I the only one who sees paralells between Michael Stipe's moves toward non-elliptical directness, and Bono's shedding of his once-compelling flights of poesy?

It's like they both just woke up one day and decided to not be ambiguous. This is, not surprisingly, both good and bad.
 
I got Around the Sun yesterday and love it. The Outsiders "the lame with Q-tip" is a fabulous track. Boy in the Well, The Ascent of Man, and Aftermath are my favorite on the album. It has such subtlety to it, that it DOES take many listens for eveything to appear to you. That being said, I acctualyl liked this album from the first time i heard it on the internet a couple weeks ago.

Brilliant.
 
I seriously don't understand the negative buzz :shrug: They're talented musicians, the lyrics are awesome. Yeah they don't sound the same as when they did Automatic for the People. Maybe some people wish they did. But they've changed since then. Personally I think their music is just as powerful as ever.
 
Kieran McConville said:
I can't comment on the new one but I was sorely disappointed by Reveal (while remaining a lonely fan and admirer of UP).
Click to expand...

I think UP it's thei best record. It's so intense...
Don't like reveal too much as well
Will surely get around the sun soon without great expectations. keeping releasing albuns every two years after twenty five years on the business makes it impossible to keep the music on its highest leve. However, even an uninspired album of rem must be able to be one of the albuns of the year.
 
Lancemc said:
I got Around the Sun yesterday and love it. The Outsiders "the lame with Q-tip" is a fabulous track. Boy in the Well, The Ascent of Man, and Aftermath are my favorite on the album. It has such subtlety to it, that it DOES take many listens for eveything to appear to you. That being said, I acctualyl liked this album from the first time i heard it on the internet a couple weeks ago.

Brilliant.
Click to expand...

that is the most absurd rap cameo ever
it ruins everything

an aquaintance said it best:
"Imagine an aging, increasingly irrelevant Q-tip rapping over Suzanne Vega. Now listen to track 3 and make it reality."
 
I like it, its certainly not one of my favourite REM albums but its got some good music. I think it will be more of a grower!

Leaving New York is beautiful :heart: Cant wait to see them in July.
 
I just saw them on Tuesday with Bruce. They were really good live and played a lot of rock songs. While I like ATS, it just is not as good as past work. And the concert just proved that they really should make some rock songs again.

I actually heard that they deliberately removed all rock songs from ATS as they did not fit the mood, but they expect to have a fairly quick follow-up album which will include them and be a rock album. :yes:
 
got it a week ago. not brilliant, very enjoyable. not a musical revolution, neither i was expecting that. it's just a rem album, that makes it good. far better than reveal but not enough to reach up.
 
I don't like it. I've tried, but I'm just not hearing it. And I even liked parts of <i>Reveal</i>. The songs are so uniform in tone and tempo that they're laregly indistinguishable. It seems to lack any kind of purpose for being.

I hate to say it, but it's just really dull. It's like a parody of what the naysayers have been saying about them since Berry left.
 
Unfortunately I'm not inspired to get it although I am trying to score a ticket to the Denver show. But last night I rented the DVD Perfect Square and it was really great. I have to say, though, that the DVD version of one of my favorite R.E.M. songs, Begin the Begin could not hold a candle to the version they performed on the Vote to Change tour that was aired on Sundance. Something about Stipe's energy that night really got me (he seemed happy I guess). I really enjoyed the bonus film on the show in Stirling, too. Rent it if you haven't seen it. :up:
 
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