Music : Accelerate

Rating: - "Monster" part 2
This CD has to be one of the biggest bright spots in music over the last ten years. Why? Because it marks the return of REM to their sound of the late 1980s and early 1990s, a sound that was guitar driven and had an edge. Recent albums had gotten rather overproduced and rather sappy. They were not horrible albums, but they did not sound like REM. REM decides to finally rock again and what they deliver is an album that reminds me very much of Monster.

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Rating: - This is what albums should be like.
Not a big review here.

This is the first album I've heard in a while that is definitely an album and not a series of songs. One thing that makes this an album, oddly enough, is that some of the songs aren't the greatest. Of course, this is offset by numerous wonderful songs. Some of the songs will do more for you than they did for me, and vice-versa; I didn't like Hollow Man, but that seems to be a fan favorite. This album is worth $10. Maybe not the list price, but certainly $10.

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Rating: - Living Well IS the Best Revenge
They're back and they're at their best. In my opinion, there's not a bad number on this CD. They've tightened their playing and gotten Jacknife Lee, the producer of U2 fame, to help them out.

"Supernatural Superserious" first got everyone's attention. It's a strong lead-up single that got people's attention. From the first song, "Living Well is the Best Revenge," to the closer, "I'm Gonna DJ," the group proves they're back rocking and hopefully will have more to come.

My favorites, "Mr. Richards," the deceptively soft opening, "Hollow Man", "Houston", and the final cut, "I'm Gonna DJ," which talks about the eternal nature of music:

Death is pretty final
I'm collecting vinyl
I'm gonna DJ at the end of the world

My only gripe is that at 11 songs and 34.5 minutes, this is a short CD. I would have appreciated a couple more songs. Despite that, it's still a 5 star CD. Just can't find a song that's not worth repeating!

Rebecca Kyle, May 2008

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Rating: - REM Accelerate
I've been an on-again off-again fan of REM's for awhile. I liked their older stuff, kind of got turned off somewhere in the middle/ more recently, and only bought this because of an alleged "return to form". Plus, it was only ten bucks (seriously, every cd should be ten bucks or less - they'd sell a lot more of them that way).

REM's newest "Accelerate" is really good. It's definitely an older school REM record, which is a great thing. I liked just about every song, which is more than I can say about a lot of albums today. The faster songs definitely rocked, and the slower ones were really pretty/ beautiful.

I've always liked how REM has the ability to make music with some feeling behind it, some passion. I definitely feel like this one succeeds in that aspect. They didn't mail this one in. My only complaint is that it's almost too short - it's over too fast - but that's better than just tossing in some filler material. Overall I would recommend it if you're kind of iffy on buying it.

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Rating: - Love it!
Never was a huge REM fan but have a few of their albums, add this one to my list. Great music for all the right reasons!