R.E.M.

A self-conscious return to "rock." But R.E.M. never exactly rocked: they just invented their own form of folk music and played it really fast. A few tunes are convincingly exuberant, but come saddled with distracting production that makes the band sound hopelessly lost. The more stripped-down cuts on "Life's Rich Pageant" and "Document" are far tougher than anything here.

Not so long ago, Rolling Stone's David Fricke asked the late Kurt Cobain whom he admired
among "established" rock bands. Cobain unhesitatingly named R.E.M., using the occasion to
send the band members a virtual mash note for remaining true to their muse and to
themselves and for refusing to be swayed by the shifting winds of fashion and
commerciality. The comment was unexpected; R.E.M.'s decade-plus track recor... More >

Sick of dummies claiming they can't rock, the old Zepheads deliver the first power-riff album of their highly lyrical career. Peter Buck's sonic palette is rainbow grunge--variegated dirt and distortion as casual rhetoric--and he's so cranked even the slow ones seem born to be loud. As for Mr. Stipe, he's in the band, where he belongs. Message: guitars. Which after years of politics and sensitivity is well-timed. (Grade - A-)