Description:
`Accelerate` is the sound of a band tearing through an Athens, Ga., record shop snatching and smashing selected bits of rock history in a frantic, euphoric sprint... R.E.M. is burdened by some heavy baggage: 83s `Murmur` invented college rock; 91s `Out of Time` enthralled millions; 04s `Around the Sun` bored a generation of fans to tears. But youd never know it listening to `Accelerate.` The bands 14th album is a naked, furious, sublime 100-yard dash of 11 songs in 34 minutes... All around the half-century mark, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills have made music that reflects and dissects todays accelerated youth culture - yes, `Accelerate` is not just a witty title... The antithesis of `Around the Sun,` `Accelerate` is full of raucous and crude, yet intense and relevant songs. `Living Well Is the Best Revenge` jump-starts the proceedings with authentic fury; `Man-Sized Wreath` makes good on the openers energy with bubbly bass and red-lined guitar; and `Supernatural Superserious` completes the opening trifecta with R.E.M.s fiercest single since `Whats the Frequency, Kenneth?` And such jabs of real rock make the down-tempo, deeply introspective songs - including the brilliant Katrina rumination `Houston` - all the more vital... `Accelerate` may have trouble going gold in todays crumbling music market, but that wont keep it from becoming an R.E.M. milestone. An album this fun and relevant and plain good from an American institution cant and wont be ignored. -- Jeb Gottlieb, Boston Herald (Warner)
