R.E.M.

R.E.M. – Out Of Time
Artist: R.E.M. | Album: Out Of Time | Style: Alternative Rock | Year: 2005 [1991 original] | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 96kHz/24Bit, MLP 2.0 192kHz/24Bit, DTS 5.1, Dolby AC3 5.1, Dolby AC3 2.0) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 11 | Size: ~7.37 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Covers: in archive | Release: Warner | Athens. LCC (8122-73951-2), 2005 | Note: Watermarked

The supporting tour for Green exhausted R.E.M., and they spent nearly a year recuperating before reconvening for Out of Time. Where previous R.E.M. records captured a stripped-down, live sound, Out of Time was lush with sonic detail, featuring string sections, keyboards, mandolins, and cameos from everyone from rapper KRS-One to the B-52’s’ Kate Pierson. The scope of R.E.M.’s ambitions is impressive, and the record sounds impeccable, its sunny array of pop and folk songs as refreshing as Michael Stipe’s decision to abandon explicitly political lyrics for the personal. Several R.E.M. classics — including Mike Mills’ Byrds-y “Near Wild Heaven,” the haunting “Country Feedback,” and the masterpiece “Losing My Religion” — are present, but the album is more notable for its production than its songwriting. Most of the songs are slight but pleasant, or are awkward experiments like “Radio Song”‘s stab at funk, and while this sounds fine as the record is playing, there’s not much substantive material to make the record worth returning to. (more…)

R.E.M. – Monster
Artist: R.E.M. | Album: Monster | Style: Alternative Rock | Year: 2005 [1994 original] | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 96kHz/24Bit, MLP 2.0 88.2kHz/24Bit, DTS 5.1, Dolby AC3 5.1) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 12 + 3 videoclips | Size: ~5.45 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Covers: in archive | Release: Warner Bros. Records (8122-73949-2), 2005 | Note: Watermarked

Monster is indeed R.E.M.’s long-promised “rock” album; it just doesn’t rock in the way one might expect. Instead of R.E.M.’s trademark anthemic bashers, Monster offers a set of murky sludge, powered by the heavily distorted and delayed guitar of Peter Buck. Michael Stipe’s vocals have been pushed to the back of the mix, along with Bill Berry’s drums, which accentuates the muscular pulse of Buck’s chords. From the androgynous sleaze of “Crush With Eyeliner” to the subtle, Eastern-tinged menace of “You,” most of the album sounds dense, dirty, and grimy, which makes the punchy guitars of “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” and the warped soul of “Tongue” all the more distinctive. Monster doesn’t have the conceptual unity or consistently brilliant songwriting of Automatic for the People, but it does offer a wide range of sonic textures that have never been heard on an R.E.M. album before. (more…)

R.E.M. – Automatic For The People
Artist: R.E.M. | Album: Automatic For The People | Style: Alternative Rock | Year: 2002 [1992 original] | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 48kHz/24Bit, MLP 2.0 48kHz/24Bit, DTS 5.1, Dolby AC3 5.1, Dolby AC3 2.0) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 12 | Size: ~4.29 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Covers: in archive | Release: Warner | Rhino (R9 78175), 2002 | Note: Watermarked

Turning away from the sweet pop of Out of Time, R.E.M. created a haunting, melancholy masterpiece with Automatic for the People. At its core, the album is a collection of folk songs about aging, death, and loss, but the music has a grand, epic sweep provided by layers of lush strings, interweaving acoustic instruments, and shimmering keyboards. Automatic for the People captures the group at a crossroads, as they moved from cult heroes to elder statesmen, and the album is a graceful transition into their new status. It is a reflective album, with frank discussions on mortality, but it is not a despairing record — “Nightswimming,” “Everybody Hurts,” and “Sweetness Follows” have a comforting melancholy, while “Find the River” provides a positive sense of closure. R.E.M. have never been as emotionally direct as they are on Automatic for the People, nor have they ever created music quite as rich and timeless, and while the record is not an easy listen, it is the most rewarding record in their oeuvre. (more…)

R.E.M. – Around The Sun (2004) [DVD-Audio ‘2005]
FLAC (tracks) Stereo 24-bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 55:21 minutes | 1,1 GB | Genre: Rock, Alternative
Source: DVD-audio / MLP 2.0 track | Artwork: Covers

Ten years after the commercial zenith of Monster and seven years after the departure of linchpin Bill Berry, R.E.M. have never seemed as directionless as they do on their 13th album, Around the Sun. To a certain extent, R.E.M. have seemed unsure ever since Monster – sporadically brilliant as it is, New Adventures in Hi-Fi was an effort to clear the decks and redefine the band in the wake of its breakthrough to superstar status. It pointed in a few directions the group could follow, but Berry left the band before they could follow those paths, leaving Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe at a bit of a loss on what to do next. They initially responded with the overly experimental, overly serious Up in 1998, which gave way to the classicist Reveal in 2001. While these two records were of a piece – heavy on keyboards, containing far more deliberate performances than anything recorded with Berry – they had different characters and feels, which was not unusual for R.E.M.; since the careening, ragged Reckoning followed the hazy, dreamlike Murmur, each album had an element of a surprise, offering something different than what came before. That’s not the case with Around the Sun, which refines and polishes the blueprint of Reveal to the point that Q-Tip’s rap on “The Outsiders” fades into the background as if it were another overdubbed keyboard or acoustic guitar. This is as slow and ballad-heavy as Automatic for the People, but where that album was filled with raw emotion and weird detours, Around the Sun is tasteful and streamlined, from its fussy production to its somber songwriting. Automatic may have been obsessed with death and regret, but it was empathetic and comforting. In contrast, Around the Sun offers no weighty themes – it dabbles in politics and relationships, but the lyrics never seem to mesh with the music – and it’s emotionally removed, keeping listeners at a considerable distance. Here, R.E.M. write songs like craftsmen without distinction – the songs are sturdily constructed but bland, lacking musical and lyrical hooks. The band sound as if they were going through the motions, hoping to save the tunes in the mix. With their layered, low-key production, R.E.M. seem hell-bent on leaving behind anything that could be construed as their signature sound, so keyboards and drum machines are pushed to the front as Buck’s guitar strums instead of jangles and Mills’ background vocals are buried in the mix under Stipe’s double-tracked harmonies. Change is all well and good, but this doesn’t feel like organic change; it feels like the end result of too many hours in the studio tinkering with synthesizers and overdubs, resulting in a record as studiously serious as Wilco but as radio-friendly as U2. By straddling these two extremes, R.E.M. wind up with a record that’s neither fish nor fowl – all the quirks in the production have been sanded down and glossed over so it can slip right onto adult alternative rock airwaves, but it’s too insular, too overthought to appeal to either a wide audience or R.E.M.’s dwindling cult following.

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R.E.M. – New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996) [DVD-Audio ‘2005]
FLAC (tracks) Stereo 24-bit/48 kHz | Time – 65:32 minutes | 823 MB | Genre: Rock, Alternative
Source: DVD-audio / MLP 2.0 track | Artwork: Covers

Recorded during and immediately following R.E.M.’s disaster-prone Monster tour, New Adventures in Hi-Fi feels like it was recorded on the road. Not only are all of Michael Stipe’s lyrics on the album about moving or travel, the sound is ragged and varied, pieced together from tapes recorded at shows, soundtracks, and studios, giving it a loose, careening charm. New Adventures has the same spirit of much of R.E.M.’s IRS records, but don’t take the title of New Adventures in Hi-Fi lightly – R.E.M. tries different textures and new studio tricks. “How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us” opens the album with a rolling, vaguely hip-hop drum beat and slowly adds on jazzily dissonant piano. “E-Bow the Letter” starts out as an updated version of “Country Feedback,” then it turns in on itself with layers of moaning guitar effects and Patti Smith’s haunting backing vocals. Clocking in at seven minutes, “Leave” is the longest track R.E.M. has yet recorded and it’s one of their strangest and best – an affecting minor-key dirge with a howling, siren-like feedback loop that runs throughout the entire song. Elsewhere, R.E.M. tread standard territory: “Electrolite” is a lovely piano-based ballad, “Departure” rocks like a Document outtake, the chiming opening riff of “Bittersweet Me” sounds like it was written in 1985, “New Test Leper” is gently winding folk-rock, and “The Wake-Up Bomb” and “Undertow” rock like the Monster outtakes they are. New Adventures in Hi-Fi may run a little too long – it clocks in at 62 minutes, by far the longest album R.E.M. has ever released – yet in its multifaceted sprawl, they wound up with one of their best records of the ’90s.

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