We obviously have a lot of big R.E.M. fans here at RM. I have always been a sort of half-assed R.E.M. fan myself. I hardly know anything that predates Automatic For the People (I know the hits like Orange Crush, End of the World as we Know it, Radio Free Europe, etc.). I have 6 studio albums (Eponymous, Automatic, Monster, Hi-Fi, Accelerate, Collapse). The two newest albums and Monster are my favorites.

I'd like to know what your thoughts are on Accelerate and Collapse Into Now. Favorite songs? Least favorites? Overall album thoughts? That kind of stuff.

Thanks for the insight.

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Skip to page 16 to read thoughts on the last 2 records.

Thank you sir. Just read every word.

i probably said this elsewhere.

I loved accelerate when it came out. it's still probably one of my favorite REM albums. Incredibly consistent from top to bottom with a number of killer songs. living well, man sized wreath, houston, and until the day is done are particular standouts. I am also a huge fan of I'm Gonna DJ, even though I know it's not that popular.

If you like that record it has been compared (fairly I think) with their album Reckoning, although it is a louder and more aggressive record.

Collapse into now was a fitting last album since it returns to the classic REM sound, sounding familiar without redundant. it is a wonderfully produced record too, where even the songs I don't care much for sound great, and a few mid tier songs like walk it back or every day is yours to win take on extra life. And Uberlin, Oh My Heart, It Happened Today, Blue, Mine Smell Like Honey, and Alligator... are all excellent songs

Most people (myself included) would probably say they are both middle-of-the-road R.E.M. albums. Decent ones to finish their career with, but not in the same league as their best work. At the very least, they had much better production than Reveal and Around The Sun.

My favorite Accelerate tracks: "Horse To Water", "Man-Sized Wreath", "Until The Day Is Done"
My least favorite Accelerate tracks: "I'm Gonna DJ", "Sing For The Submarine", "Hollow Man"
My favorite CIN tracks: "Oh My Heart", "Walk It Back", "Blue"
My least favorite CIN tracks: "Every Day...", "That Someone Is You", "Alligator..."

I'd say that accelerate is a top tier REM album. It's probably in my top 5.

That's a little surprising to me. I don't know if I'd be willing to say it's that good.

But Accelerate is awesome...I've made this comparison before, but Accelerate strikes me as accomplishing what PJ's self-titled wanted to achieve; an aggressive, intense experience that goes quick and is all the more powerful for coming out of some of their more muted, downbeat work.

I think Accelerate is good if only because of, and compared to, the previous 3 less-than-stellar albums (and that's being gracious). I try not to confuse a "return to the REM 'sound'" with awesomeness. Are there good songs on Accelerate? Absolutely. But does the album as a whole stand up to REM's truly awesome albums? I don't think so.

I have barely (if at all) listened to Up, Reveal, or Around the Sun. I have never owned any of those albums, and I love Accelerate. It is just an album that really sounded great to me. Not in comparison to anything, but on it's own merits. I feel the same way about Collapse Into Now.

I think the only records I prefer to Accelerate are Automatic, Hi-Fi, and Pageant.

I still haven't heard everything.

But I'd put Accelerate below Hi-Fi, Automatic, LRP, Monster, Up and Collapse. Maybe Out Of Time. Maybe.

I think I'd still have to most of their Bill-era stuff before Accelerate. That says less about any issues with Accelerate, and more about the consistency of the albums they put out.

which still baffles me about this band every time I think about it.

Joey Clark is a reasonable man.

How much more "love" would Accelerate and Collapse Into Now recieve if they had been released 10-20 years earlier? Do their merits get slightly diminished because they happen to be at the end of a historic band's remarkably consistent career? I'm not intending to imply that this is the case here but I do think that reasonable people can often romanticize albums from earlier time periods for a large array of reasons which can lead to overrating older material that would not be recieved as kindly if it were a more recent release. I am sure the opposite can also be true of newer material.

I listened to all the REM albums for the first time over the last two years. Accelerate, while very good and a welcome breath of fresh air following the previous two, doesn't come close to the greatness of the 80s and 90s records.

Fair enough, chud. I just listened to Reckoning for the first time today. I get the feeling that my preferences for later REM has a lot to do with the guitar sounds on the last two albums and on Monster coupled with my preference for Michael Stipe's more weathered voice. I don't know...? This whole REM fondness is pretty new for me so I suppose these preferences could change.

I think that this is a very good point, and one that I think about a lot. Bill Berry's leaving the band was a very big inflection point for me. I (as I'm sure like a lot of people) tend to divide the REM catalogue into 2 genres: (1) one with Bill Berry, and (2) post-Bill Berry. This is probably very unfair, but I can't help it. So we have everything through New Adventures with Bill Berry, and everything after post-Bill Berry.

Looking back, it's not hard to see which REM appeals to me the most. And no matter how good or not so good an album is, I will associate it with one of those two particular periods. Anything from Up to Collapse just doesn't hold up the same for me. That's why when I hear people talk about a particular album sounding very much like "early REM," I just don't hear it the same way.

To your point, I often wonder how people would react to songs like Catapult, Auctioneer, Cuyahoga, etc. if they were released today. I would tend to think that most people would think of them as after thoughts.

Using Bill Berry as the cut off point is a disservice to Up.