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R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi
- The narrative of R.E.M.’s progression as a band is usually very straightforward. Four friends get together in the early '80s in Athens, Georgia and make several albums of jangly rock music that helps shift the sound of America from the punk of the late '70s to more alternative rock. R.E.M.’s singer, Michael Stipe, starts out his career mumbling hushed vocals with cryptic lyrics that fans are still trying to piece through today. But gradually, he becomes more comfortable in his role as the front man, and the band grows into its melodies, slowly rising up into the mainstream.
Ironically, the band finally achieves megastardom with the song “Losing My Religion,” a single from what is otherwise one of their worst albums, “Out of Time.” Yet, regardless of their newfound chart success, it’s the '90s and one can only wonder how a band that seemed to define and be defined by the texture of the previous decade can remain relevant in this new decade. After all, it’s the '90s – the decade that gives rise to grunge, kills hair metal, dethrones the King of Pop and provides space on the airwaves for massively popular female solo artists like Alanis Morissette and Shania Twain.
Then, in the very next year, the band produces the best album of their career, bar none, “Automatic for the People.” This dense and brilliant work should have once and for all shattered any preconceived notions critics had about the band. That was 1992. And yet, many of those critics would have you believe that R.E.M. never again put out a worthwhile work in the rest of that decade (and maybe not even in this one). Instead, they floundered around, sometimes trying to streamline the magic of their earlier successes, and other times trying to expand into rock territory that no one else seemed interested in venturing to with them.
If this is the story of R.E.M. until now, it does omit one important artistic “comeback” that the band made. After releasing “Monster,” the dismal follow up to “Automatic for the People,” the band put forth one more stellar record under a bit of duress. Cobbled together from tapes recorded on the road and in the studio, “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” is a vibrant and lush record. It runs a bit too long and may feature one too many dull tracks, but the good tracks are among the band’s best, and there are many good tracks.
There is no better illustration of how far their sound had evolved by this point than the epic “Leave,” the longest song they have ever recorded. It features a clear guitar riff rising above a looping siren sound while Stipe belts out clear vocals. Then, there’s the haunting song, “E-Bow the Letter,” which features songstress Patti Smith on backing vocals and beautiful lyrics like, “I’m dreaming of Maria Callas, whoever she is.” And of course, there’s the catchy “Bittersweet Me,” filled with moody lyrics and heavy electric guitars, and it feels like this album’s version of “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?”
Finally, there’s the uber-melodic “Electrolite,” which features Stipe trying to lay the decade and the century to rest, repeating the lines, “Twentieth century, go to sleep.” This is a band that has always been ready to move onto bigger and better things. The question is whether or not we are always ready to move there with them.
Reviewer: Seth Fiegerman
new
Reviewer's Rating: 8
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
Added: 28-Jun-2009
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