Accelerate - REM album - March 31 2008

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Sometime in the 80's, Adam made the comment in an interview that he tended to be the only U2 member in the studio when Bono was singing his vocal tracks, and that he never actually listened to the WORDS of what he was singing, but to the sound of it, and if the sound of what Bono was singing was wrong, then he would comment. The actual words were not the issue.

Anyway, even Stipe admits the first 2 REM albums are all mumble and even he often has no idea what he was singing about :wink:
 
I think in relation to the whole abstract thing in Stipe's lyrics, I think people can be over romantic about it. ("He was way better in the good old days! when he just mumbled!") Yes, one of the bands strangths was how 10 people could listen to the same song and all come up with different interpretations but I don't believe they've lost the ability to do that. Regarding the actual lyrics themselves, I've got to agree with people who say that some of the lyrics are cringeworthy. Especially I'm Gonna DJ.("With a kickin' playlist", "Hey steady steady, hey steady steady, I don't wanna go until I'm good and ready") And Man Sized Wreath ("Kick it out on the dancefloor like you just don't care").However, despite his continueing tendencies to write sappy lines like these, overall, I think this album is one of his soundest in terms of lyrics for a good ten years. And he still has a unique way of describing a scene without actually spelling it out to people. Some of my own favourite lyrics are ;

Living Well Is The Best Revenge;
"You work it out. Let's hear that argument again. On camera 3! Go. Now!" (In relation to a news reporter reporting on the Bush administration that Stipe wasn't impressed with.)

Man Sized Wreath;
"Wave the palms, steal the alms, a fist in the air. A motorcade of benign strength shows the people that you care" (Describing protestors at a Martin Luther King memorial service against a George Bush public speech")

"Well I'm not deceived by pomp and odious conceit"

Supernatural Superserious;
"And you realise your fantasies are, dressed up in travesties"

Houston;
"Belief has not failed me and so I am put to the test"(Written from the point of view of a Katrina victim I imagine.)

Accelerate;
"Uncertainty is suffocating"

Until The Day Is Done is one of the most interesting to me. While it seems like a straight out song aout the environment, it seems to have a lot of religious elements to it. For instance, it's not, "facing the sun", it's, "facing the son". He goes onto say "a voice whispers son, the blessed vision comes" Then again in, "Forgive us our trespasses, Father and Son" Not that straightforward as on the first listen.

I'm Gonna DJ;
"Music will provide the light you cannot resist." (I don't care how sappy it might sound, that's a great way to end an album!).
 
Final Straw said:
I think in relation to the whole abstract thing in Stipe's lyrics, I think people can be over romantic about it. ("He was way better in the good old days! when he just mumbled!") Yes, one of the bands strangths was how 10 people could listen to the same song and all come up with different interpretations but I don't believe they've lost the ability to do that.
Click to expand...

I for one am not talking about Murmur or Reckoning, but the period from Fables through Green. You may not know WHAT he's talking about all the time, but you can certainly understand most of what he's singing.

Final Straw said:
However, despite his continueing tendencies to write sappy lines like these, overall, I think this album is one of his soundest in terms of lyrics for a good ten years.
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Well that's not saying much. There have only been 2 albums in the last 10 years, and the lyrics on them were pretty bad. I don't think what's on Accelerate is even close to what he did on Up, for the most part.


Final Straw said:
Until The Day Is Done is one of the most interesting to me. While it seems like a straight out song aout the environment, it seems to have a lot of religious elements to it. For instance, it's not, "facing the sun", it's, "facing the son". He goes onto say "a voice whispers son, the blessed vision comes" Then again in, "Forgive us our trespasses, Father and Son" Not that straightforward as on the first listen.
Click to expand...

The environment? Where are you getting that from? It seems to me to be about the Bush Administration in general, the Religious Right that drove it to power, and the Iraq War. To me, "father and son" is likely referring to Bush Senior and Bush Junior, though there is certainly a religious metaphor being used as well.
 
lazarus said:

The environment? Where are you getting that from? It seems to me to be about the Bush Administration in general, the Religious Right that drove it to power, and the Iraq War. To me, "father and son" is likely referring to Bush Senior and Bush Junior, though there is certainly a religious metaphor being used as well.
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My mistake about the environment link. I've just always linked the song to an environmental element since it was used on the Anderson Cooper show. Got lost half way through my own post.
Never thought about the father and son reference being about Bush senior and junior. Looking at the lines in context to the song, I still think it's more about a religious reference but definitely works for both.
 
Lancemc said:
I don't ignore writing, it's just never much of a make-or-break factor in what or how I listen to...
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That's how I feel, and better said than what I'd previously posted.

I also think it's pointless to be disappointed by or analyze lyrics in what are obviously silly, fun songs like I'm Gonna DJ.
 
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Here is my current ranking of the Accelerate tracks:

1. Living Well
2. Sing For The Submarine (I'm LOVING this one)
3. Houston
4. Mr. Richards
5. Horse To Water
6. Man Sized Wreath
7. Accelerate
8. Supernatural Superserious
9. I'm Gonna DJ
10. Hollow Man
11. Until The Day Is Done

Redhead Walking is also pretty damn cool
 
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I like Until the Day is Done. The lyrics aren't subtle, but I enjoy the music. Anyways, my ranking:

1. Living Well is the Best Revenge (best R.E.M. song in a long time IMHO)
2. Houston
3. Horse To Water
4. Accelerate
5. Until the Day is Done
6. Man-Sized Wreath
7. Supernatural Superserious
8. Sing For the Submarine
9. Hollow Man
10.I'm Gonna DJ
11.Mr Richards

I like the first 5 or 6 songs (Houston and Horse To Water are great), those on the bottom list are listenable, but cheesy as hell (hello Hollow Man and I'm Gonna DJ). Mr Richards is simply dull.
 
Decent sales at 115,000. But being beaten by a country relic still hurts, although #2 is certainly the highest they've reached since New Adventures peaked there as well in 1996.
 
Hey, U2's comeback album debuted at #3. Granted, it was behind two of the biggest and best hip-hop acts at the time, but still. They should be glad to even make the Top 5 after those last two turds.

Also, I thought the numbers weren't usually in until 2 weeks after?
 
Final Straw said:


Wow didn't know All that you can't only went in at number 3. Did it hit number 1 at all? (Sorry to derail the thread! lol)
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You know, I remember being pretty pissed at the time, but in retrospect I feel Stankonia and The Blueprint are both better albums than ATYCLB (and so is PJ Harvey's Stories From the City...which came out the same day), and arguably the best either artist put out.

The point is that U2 didn't get beat by crap like George Strait.
 
Thanks.


Hasn't ATS just sold about 250,000 copies in the US to date? I know that figures been brandished about a lot in the reviews anyways. In that case, Accelerate in its first week has almost sold half of what ATS got in almost 4 years? I know that's no indication of how it will continue to sell given that "real" fans will usually purchase in the first week. Still though, pretty cool it's doing so well. Got to number 1 in Ireland last week and is still number 1 and 6 in the itunes chart this week..
 
lazarus said:



You know, I remember being pretty pissed at the time, but in retrospect I feel Stankonia and The Blueprint are both better albums than ATYCLB (and so is PJ Harvey's Stories From the City...which came out the same day), and arguably the best either artist put out.

The point is that U2 didn't get beat by crap like George Strait.
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Yeah, getting beaten out by those two albums is nothing to be ashamed of. All three ended up being blockbuster albums anyway.

And, in the end, a huge chunk of ATYCLB's sales came after 9/11. It ended up having a lot of staying power.
 
LemonMelon said:
And, in the end, a huge chunk of ATYCLB's sales came after 9/11. It ended up having a lot of staying power.
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I think McGuine$$ sent out a press release at the time that basically said, if you don't buy the album, then the terrorists win.
 
Accelerate is constantly growing on me, it might very well be in my top 3 REM albums right now. My current favorites are:

Sing for the submarine (which is amazing)
Accelerate
Hollow Man
Houston
Living Well
Man-Sized Wreath

Horse to water doesn't do much for me, and I'm gonna DJ is still an annoyance and out of place.
 
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For me it looks something like this, it ranks higher than anything post-Berry, but it'd be hard for me to say its better than any of the first 10, maybe above Monster.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Automatic for the People
Green
Lifes Rich Pageant
Document
Out of Time
Fables of the Reconstruction
Reckoning
Murmur
Monster
Accelerate
Reveal
Up
Around the Sun
 
Accelerate is at least as good as Up, which means it's the best thing they've done since Monster. At least as far as I've heard.

And yes, I say "GFY" to New Adventures for reasons I've mentioned on several occasions, including (but not limited to) its sheer indulgence. I just can't make it through that record very often, especially since there are only about 6 good songs on it.
 
I don't think Stipe is necessarely bad on Accelerate
but Hollow Man and Sing for the Submarine are the only 2 songs where he's sounding truly compelling to me
in Supernatural the vocals are important
all the other songs he's just there

my "problem" with New Adventures is that, to me, Stipe is completely brilliant on that album why the music most of the time is just ok or good (with some exceptions of brilliance of course)

Stipe is actually the reason why Accelerate reminds me more of Around the Sun then any other R.E.M. album (though with 761% more guitar)
since I didn't really have a problem with Around the Sun I also thoroughly enjoy Accelerate
and I have to say the Accelerate does keep getting more enjoyable every listen
and it's been a while since I heard an album from any artist I can say this about
 
Salome said:

Stipe is actually the reason why Accelerate reminds me more of Around the Sun then any other R.E.M. album (though with 761% more guitar)
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I really don't see any similarity in the vocals at all, especially considering he doesn't sing on the new album a lot of the time, it is more stream of conscious yelling. To me, the vocals on Accelerate are the opposite of Around the Sun. I am happy he actually has an edge to his vocals again.
 
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