REM is Back with "Collapse into Now"

The very beautiful REM



REM's newest album, Collapse into Now, is finally out after months of anticipation sparked by reveals along the way.  First the song titles, then some individual tracks, and then last week's listening party.  I've been nervous as the memory of listening to the disappointing (to say the least) Around the Sun still hurts just a little.  Would this album live up to the reputation of a band I consider second only to the Beatles?

Well, upon more listens, I'd say the answer is yes.  I was initially concerned as I listened to each released track, but having a chance to hear the album in its entirety shows why iTunes is such a dangerous thing.  In the old days (wow, I'm officially old enough to say that without irony) you listened to an album as the artist and producers intended, from start to finish.  There was no Chinese food menu approach, I'll take this song here and that one over there. 

When you listen to the entire album, you feel and hear a sense of purpose again to their music.  There's emphasis of finding a memorable hook and yet Stipe still allows himself to use his words to paint sometimes abstract, sometimes poetic, and occasionally clear pictures.  I love how he focuses on the sound and cadence of the words, not just their meaning, One fan has put up the lyrics to all the songs here on his website, check it out. 

Right now my favorite song is Uberlin.  There was an initial video released which I posted earlier, but a new video has been released which is part of a project that Michael Stipe is working on bringing in a variety of filmmakers to direct their own vision of the songs. Read here for more info on other upcoming collaborations.

Another new short film has been released for the song Mine Smells Like Honey.  As always, love Mike Mills vocal support, he is a perfect counterpoint to Stipe.  I'm not quite sure what to make of the video other than I don't like my Stipey being tossed around like a ragdoll.  But he seems fine with it, no worse for wear by the end, and there is a stunning shot of his intense, sparkling blue eyes.  So that works for me. 



Last is a live video of a really gripping, powerful song, Oh My Heart.  There is no one whose voice can cut through like Stipe's.  There is so much meaning in the way he chooses to enunciate certain words (something he was not known for at the beginning of his career) and then when he voice goes up during the second part of the "Oh My Heart" chorus, it just kills me.  And we have Peter Buck on mandolin again.  Listen to how he so effortlessly has that instrument sing.  It just doesn't get any better than this.

I listen to a lot of music, but there is no other artist -- not even the Beatles -- that can do to me and for me what REM does. Listening to REM revitalizes me, builds me up, sustains me. It's like a missing piece coming back to fill the hole. Recently, I've had to rely on older songs to satisfy that need, that hunger. It's particularly sweet to have a new set of songs that can do that.

Okay, one more picture of Stipe...

...at his most beautiful.

More New Songs from REM's Upcoming Album "Collapse into Now"

Any time REM announces a new album I'm filled with exalted expectations and inflated hopes.  This will be another Fables, another Reckoning, a masterpiece.  Then I'm hit with the panicked thoughts, what if it's another Around the Sun?  Finally, reality sets in and it's okay, fine, but nothing memorable.  How many "okay, fine" albums am I willing to listen to before I have to put my love of REM in the past tense? 

It was with these conflicting thoughts that I approached the first releases of songs from their upcoming 15th album Collapse into Now.  I've posted and reviewed some of the songs as they came in and was either greatly disappointed or unimpressed.  But finally there is a song that makes me smile.  That reminds me what it feels like when Michael Stipe's voice can burrow into my  heart and Peter Buck's guitar can make me feel all dreamy and floating. 

Uberlin was an unfortunate title (complete with umlauts!) for a song that is giving me hope.



The lilting melody is back.  Stipe is singing from his heart again.  It's warm and enveloping, like a hug from an old friend.  I'm happy.

So I'll do my best not to think about this song, the first single off the album:


It's not horrible.  But I expect much more from REM than not horrible.

For great:

New REM Song from Upcoming CD Collapse into Now -- Hear "Oh My Heart"

REM has released another cut off their upcoming album "Collapse into Now" due in stores on March 8th.  Following the preview of Discoverer and It Happened Today late last year, the next new tune is called Oh My Heart.



I'm slightly more hopeful about this song than the previous two, which I discussed earlier in this blog post.  Discoverer is a non-starter.  It won't get better with more listens.  The lyrics underwhelm and there's no discernable melody.  It's like a beat poet reading arbitrary words over loud, unrelated music.  It won't be getting any stars on my iTunes. I liked the beginning of It Happened Today until it was ruined by the lyrical napalm that is "hip hip hooray." If you can overlook that flaw, the song has a great melody and Stipe actually sings rather than shouts, which is always a good thing.

Oh My Heart has passion and a retro-REM sound that could put the song on Life's Rich Pageant.  Although its verses are spoken, which I assume will be the norm for the now 51-year-old Stipe (Happy Birthday, Michael), there are glimmers of his voice at times in the second half of the chorus.  That sound can still tug at my heart.

In honor of Stipe's birthday, I give myself a gift.  Here are a few of my favorite Stipe performances:

The first two are from their first TV appearance on the David Letterman show.



From their first appearnace on MTV unplugged, in 1991:



Their second visit to MTV unplugged:



And finally, live versions of my two favorite REM songs:

R.E.M. Releases Preview of "Collapse into Now"

The last few days have been busy days for REM fans. First there was the release of Discoverer, the first song off their upcoming album "Collapse into Now."  I'm not terribly excited about this first song. It's a little too "shouty" for me and it's a bit of a bastard child of Crush with Eyeliner meets Finest Worksong disproving that two positives make another positive.

I refuse to believe that Stipe's voice is so shot that he can no longer sing and must talk-shout from here on out.  He started doing that live, most notably (and regretably) in So Fast, So Numb, one of their most beautiful songs.  Now it's a song sung by a carnival barker -- or a bad comedian upping the volume on the punchline.  It's sad if that's all his voice can do, sadder still if he can still sing but chooses not to. 


Today they are releasing a preview of a few more songs off the album and, after listening to it, I'm feeling a little more upbeat about this album's prospects than I did after the initial listen to that first song.

I particularly like two of the songs that are featured, the one starting at 0:38 (Mine Smells like Honey, perhaps?) and the one at 1:15. Both have good, memorable hooks and more soul than some of REM's most recent written-for-a-huge-stadium songs.  And in each case, I hear actual singing.  

Also available is a low quality version of a new song that way made available to people who preorder the album this week from iTunes.  It's another bit of insight into the direction of the new album and, like the teaser samplings from earlier today, left me feeling more optimistic than Discoverer did.  It's called It Happened Today.  It has the old jangly guitar we fell in love with so many years ago and a sensitive, gentle lead vocal from Stipe.  It purports to include Eddie Vedder, but except for a few notes near the end, I'm not hearing it.  I am hearing a lot of Mike Mills and, you know, I love the guy.  He's immensely talented and is an equal partner in the group, but he doesn't have the...how to put this nicely...strongest, most pleasing to the ears voice out there.  Less of him would have been more and more, much more Eddie, would have been divine. 

For the record, the "Hip Hip Hooray" is not an inspired lyrical choice.  I let it slide a few years ago when it found its way in the song, I Don't Sleep, I Dream.  But then it was a small bit of a larger, more lyrically interesting song, not the alleged payoff.  The album doesn't come out till March; perhaps they can change the lyrics before it comes out.  Let me offer some improvements:  Yippe yahoo yay?  Oh me, oh my, oy vay?  Anything would be an improvement.

"Collapse into Now" is scheduled for release March 8, 2011.  Here is the official press release concerning the album:

For Collapse Into Now, R.E.M., which is singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills, re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band’s acclaimed previous album Accelerate. Lee is also noted for his work on albums by U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, and indie stalwarts Kasabian, Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party. R.E.M. and Lee recorded the album in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie’s Heroes, U2’s Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life, were made. Additional recording and mixing was done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

The band has also revealed that Collapse Into Now features some very special guests: Patti Smith, guitarist Lenny Kaye, Peaches, Eddie Vedder, and The Hidden Cameras frontman Joel Gibb.

The track-listing for "Collapse Into Now" is as follows:
Discoverer
All The Best
Überlin
Oh My Heart
It Happened Today
Every Day Is Yours To Win
Mine Smell Like Honey
Walk It Back
Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter
That Someone Is You
Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I
Blue