R.E.M. - "Horse To Water" (mp3)
I was generally much more excited about that other comeback album by Athens alt-rock icons, but there was enough genuine curiousity mixed in with my cynicism about the "best R.E.M. album since the last good one" hype surrounding Accelerate to want to check it out. I grew up with 90's R.E.M., and very gradually went back and checked out the early stuff beyond the two big Document hits, so I have no particular nostalgic attachment to overcome to give the new stuff a chance. New Adventures In Hi-Fi is one of my favorite albums of theirs (definitely at least top 2 or 3) and I generally liked Up, too, but like most people my tolerance for the post-Berry era sharply waned and I hated most of Reveal and have still not, as far as I know, heard a note of Around The Sun.
Of course, all of those points of comparison are kind of red herrings, since Accelerate is, seemingly by design, aiming to be more in the lineage of Green or Monster, the latter of which being probably the last bygone era most fans would like them to revisit (well, second-last: hopefully they won't be exhuming Pat McCarthy anytime soon). The problem, of course, is that that point of comparison is even more damning than you could expect: Monster actually had at least a few really good songs, and Accelerate doesn't once really reach that record's heights, even if it's not quite as aesthetically misguided. Hell, I'm not sure I even like any of these songs as much as the first track on Reveal. The big ugly stomp of "Horse To Water" is kinda cool, though, it brings me back a little bit to the jagged, off-kilter vibe of "Feeling Gravity's Pull."
I was generally much more excited about that other comeback album by Athens alt-rock icons, but there was enough genuine curiousity mixed in with my cynicism about the "best R.E.M. album since the last good one" hype surrounding Accelerate to want to check it out. I grew up with 90's R.E.M., and very gradually went back and checked out the early stuff beyond the two big Document hits, so I have no particular nostalgic attachment to overcome to give the new stuff a chance. New Adventures In Hi-Fi is one of my favorite albums of theirs (definitely at least top 2 or 3) and I generally liked Up, too, but like most people my tolerance for the post-Berry era sharply waned and I hated most of Reveal and have still not, as far as I know, heard a note of Around The Sun.
Of course, all of those points of comparison are kind of red herrings, since Accelerate is, seemingly by design, aiming to be more in the lineage of Green or Monster, the latter of which being probably the last bygone era most fans would like them to revisit (well, second-last: hopefully they won't be exhuming Pat McCarthy anytime soon). The problem, of course, is that that point of comparison is even more damning than you could expect: Monster actually had at least a few really good songs, and Accelerate doesn't once really reach that record's heights, even if it's not quite as aesthetically misguided. Hell, I'm not sure I even like any of these songs as much as the first track on Reveal. The big ugly stomp of "Horse To Water" is kinda cool, though, it brings me back a little bit to the jagged, off-kilter vibe of "Feeling Gravity's Pull."
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