Accelerate
Warner Brothers
4/1/2008
There's an excitement building through the first track of the album, one that seems to impossibly reach a climax mid-way through the second… by the time the opening notes of I'm Gonna DJ kick in, you may feel that your head is going to explode. Folks, R.E.M. isn't just back, they may have done something not seen since Bruce Springsteen released The Rising, they have made a career defining album nearly 30 years in.
The explosive nature of the album's opening tracks settles in a bit for the head-bobbing, almost Sonic Youth-esque "Mr. Richards," which blends beautifully into "Sing for the Submarine," a track that could have been a stand-out on the nearly flawless Automatic for the People. But, it's not just a track here and there; Accelerate is almost like a time capsule, a reminder of exactly what made R.E.M. great. Whether it's "Hollow Man" echoing Document or "Living Well is the Best Revenge" sweeping you back in time to Monster, this album is everything that an R.E.M. album should be: pitch-perfect college rock from a band that surely has to have finished that master's thesis by now.
An album without one single throwaway track isn't just a rarity these days, it's almost unheard of. Some of the greatest albums of the last decade, while no less impressive, have their share of mediocre tracks. Somehow, amazingly, Accelerate has absolutely none of them. The album is a consistent, cohesive piece of work without one single moment of disappointment. While band after band has attempted to follow in the footsteps of Athens' finest, aping sounds and guitar licks as if they were common property, we're finally given a reminder of exactly why it never really worked. There is only one R.E.M., and even though they seem to have been on hiatus since 1996 (face it, the last three albums didn't exactly set the world on fire), they are inexplicably back and better than they've been in decades.
To put it bluntly, Accelerate is a masterpiece… the jury may have reached a verdict for album of the year even before the snow has melted.
[editor's note - track order may vary]
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