R.E.M.

Editor's Review:

Throughout R.E.M.’s long career, the group has been able to craft albums of specific and memorable character. Though rarely groundbreaking, the band has always seemed to be able to filter in the sounds and feelings of a brief period in time and distill them into potent pop songwriting. Around the Sun, R.E.M.’s latest, is memorable for being entirely unremarkable, which isn’t to say it’s a poor recording. Songs are imaginatively simple and spare, but given subtle, almost ambient, electronic textures (such as in “I Wanted to Be Wrong”); nothing feels overdone, and even an appearance by rapper Q-Tip on the pensive “The Outsiders” feels like a perfect fit; and Michael Stipe’s vocals sound distant and almost lost on songs like “Boy in the Well.” These elements give Around the Sun a spacey, ambiguous feel, which is perhaps poignant given the time of its release, but it doesn’t make for R.E.M.’s most engaging work.
- James Barone
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Record Label Warner Bros. Released November 2004

Tracks Leaving New York Electron Blue The Outsiders (feat. Q-Tip) Make It All Okay Final Straw I Wanted to Be Wrong Wanderlust Boy in the Well Aftermath High Speed Train The Worst Joke Ever The Ascent of Man Around the Sun

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