In a lot of ways, the R.E.M. story ended with 1996's underrated New Adventures in Hi-Fi. That was the final R.E.M. disc to feature drummer Bill Berry, and in retrospect, Berry brought a lot more to the band than simply his drumming. But that hasn't stopped R.E.M from awkwardly furthering the plot. First came the often pretty but not quite rewarding Up. Next, the pleasant but uneven Reveal, and then Around the Sun, which even most hardcore fans disdained as lackluster at best.
But if rock-star longevity is at least partially political, the savvier-than-ever R.E.M. took it upon themselves to control their message. As the band's studio output dragged, it presented itself as a revitalized live outfit, turning out inspired performances that seemed wildly disproportionate to its increasingly dull LPs. Reveal didn't warrant a tour, but tellingly, the band's 2006 greatest-hits collection did, and on stage, R.E.M. relished the opportunity to disprove naysayers with blistering sets that spanned their entire career.
Accelerate is the name of R.E.M.'s new album, the band's 14th, and it attempts to port that newfound vigor to the studio, not just by trading longtime producer Pat McCarthy (on board since 1998's Up) for U2 associate Jacknife Lee, but also by paring down the excess and sharpening the focus. Accelerate might as well be called Reverse, as it self-consciously aspires to recapture the spirit (if not necessarily the sound) of R.E.M.'s prime. Throughout its 11 songs and 35 minutes, only two tracks top the four-minute mark, and many run less than three. But velocity is not the same thing as vitality, and brevity is not the same thing as urgency. Accelerate ultimately isn't so much a back-to-basics move as a redefinition of what "basic" even means to an arena rock band. Accelerate's broad strokes, big riffs, and beefy production (the album was reportedly recorded in "just" nine weeks) are admirable, as is the disc's concision, but its success is still more as a step forward than a slam dunk.
Still, the very fact that R.E.M. recognized a problem and made an effort to remedy it is pretty impressive from a band of their stature. You can immediately hear the results on the lead song "Living Well Is the Best Revenge": Jacknife Lee has given the track (and the rest of the album) a refreshing sense of grit that's at odds with McCarthy's fussier studio constructions. Peter Buck's guitar rings and chimes with a layer of aggression one step beyond that of Monster, the band's previous "rock" record. Drummer Bill Rieflin plays with a Ministry-honed power, Mike Mills' backing vocals are absolutely key, and Michael Stipe's vocals are gruff, pissed off, and mixed low enough to make the lyrics tricky to make out.