Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
2. Man-Sized Wreath
3. Supernatural Superserious
4. Hollow Man
5. Houston
6. Accelerate
7. Until The Day Is Done
8. Mr. Richards
9. Sing For The Submarine
10. Horse To Water
11. I'm Gonna DJ

Disc 2:

1. 6 Days (48-minute film)
2. PLUS TWO BONUS AUDIO TRACKS : Red Head Walking & Airliner

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95966 in Music
• Released on: 2008-04-01
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com
Accelerate the first studio album in four years from R.E.M., finds modern rock’s most acclaimed band returning to the stripped-down, guitar-driven power that first enraptured fans. Helmed by the band and, for the first time, Jacknife Lee (co-producer of U2’s ’05 Grammy® Album Of The Year How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, The Hives and Snow Patrol), Accelerate puts the 2007 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame group once again firmly behind the wheel of alternative rock, a genre R.E.M. helped invent.

Accelerate is available as a CD-only in a Softpak; a CD+DVD that features a 64-page book and the Vincent Moon film 6 Days (which includes behind-the-scenes footage and performance pieces of various songs on the album) plus two bonus tracks "Red Head Walking" and "Airliner."

R.E.M. Photos More from R.E.M.

Accelerate

Up (CD + DVD+A) (Dig)

Up

Reveal (Limited Edition)

Reveal (CD & DVD Audio) [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Reveal

Out of Time (CD + DVD-A) (Dig) [ENHANCED]

New Adventures in Hi Fi (CD + DVD+A) (Dig) [ENHANCED]

New Adventures in Hi-Fi

Monster (CD + DVD+ A) (Dig)

Monster

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (Special Edition)

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003

Green (CD + DVD-A) (Dig)

Green

Automatic for the People (CD & DVD Audio)

Automatic for the People

Around the Sun [SPECIAL EDITION]

Around the Sun [ENHANCED]

Around the Sun

R.E.M. Live 2CD/1DVD [LIVE]

Amazon.com
In the decade since the departure of drummer Bill Berry, R.E.M. could seem at times schizophrenic. Their albums of the era, which veered from the experimentalism of Up and reaffirmation of Reveal to 2004's more diffuse, reflective Around the Sun, often stood in stark contrast to the vibrancy of their live act. But here the alt-rock godfathers have resolved that dichotomy with their most focused and satisfying album in over a decade; a collection that doesn't so much revisit the bracing ethos of the band's '80s coming-of-age, as boil it down to its essence and supercharge it with the energy of their contemporary stage shows. That sensibility is evident from the opening track, "Living Well's the Best Revenge," where Peter Buck's aggressive, distortion-drenched riffs and Michael Stipe's gruff snarl set the tone for "Mansized Wreath," "Horse to Water," and "Supernatural Serious"; rockers that bristle with the abandonment and aggressive energy of a band half their tenure. Yet it's no mere blast-from-the-past. The inclusion of the band's recent touring musicians (Scott McCaughey on second guitar and drummer Bill Rieflin) into the session mix, as well as working out much of the material live onstage in Dublin, has yielded something more sonically akin to R.E.M. 2.2. Stipe's penchant for the lyrically opaque has been largely supplanted by an edgy, articulate passion that variously explores "Houston'"s displaced Katrina refugees, the bluegrass-tinged "Until the Day is Done," and the more typical, quiet self-examination of "Hollow Man," before exploding in the album's unlikely, upbeat elegy "I'm Gonna DJ," where singer and band find renewed hope in not only music, but themselves. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

R.E.M. RETURN TO ROCK
This album is not a return to form, as a lot of critics said, for this legendary group, but it represents just a return to rock! They've always been in form, and R.E.M. LIVE (2007)it's simply the best prove for what I'm writing! The previous two albums (Reveal 2001, Around The Sun 2004) were just too slow, but they anyway contains some pearls. Probably with a faster production and a little more of guitars and drums the average atmosphere of these two albums could have been more familiar to the band fans and even a bit more commercial. Up (1998) sounds like an incomplete album, and probably this is due to the suddenly departure of Bill Berry at the beginning of the recording sessions. It definitely sounds a little too different from anything else in 1998, but this is very R.E.M.! R.E.M. has often been very different from their contemporaries, like for example in 1983, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996 and this is what allows them to be considered so special and great!
They've always had an average creativity and quality level superior than any other band! Reveal and Around The Sun should sound a little less R.E.M.ish than the previous albums but to explore different patterns is what they've tried to do since the winter of 1979. They're R.E.M. and this is what they've always done!!!
Accelerate is a great return to rock, or to the kind of rock they have refined during the last quarter of century (alternative, indie, jangle, garage, sofisticated, post-punk/new wave as you prefer). It's probably the better album they've done since New Adventures In Hi-Fi (their best in my opinion) but this is very reductive for this album. Some critics said it sounds like Life's Rich Pageant and Document but it isn't at the same level. I think R.E.M. has never sound the same, only the quality level is often the same! Two random R.E.M. songs could sound the same only at first listen, but not everyone is able to catch exactly the differences: You have to feel their music more than listen to it to understand!
In my opinion Sing For The Submarine and Accelerate are simply two of the best song written in this millennium, Houston is a very deep song and Living Well Is The Best Revenge and Horse to Water are very catchy. The rest is on an high level, We will listen Supernatural Superserious and Hollow Man even in a not so close future!
The production isn't exactly what You expext from Jacknife Lee, the whole atmosphere is a little to loud, and artists like Mike Mills and Peter Buck always deserves the finest and clearer production it is possible to made. But this loud atmosphere fit very well with the usually great Stipe's lyrics, visceral as ever.
Someone said this album isn't as creative as they use to be until Reveal; I say that Accelerate sounds like R.E.M. Sounds in 2008 and this is enough for me!!!

R.E.M. Rocks Again!!!
R.E.M. a mainstay in the alt rock world for over 25 years now do it again with a tremendous album that rocks and doesn't take any tracks off. Reminding me of the glory days they laid back a couple of decades ago this album pays homage yet is extremely fresh as well. A must listen for every alt rock fan out there and of course any real R.E.M. fan will have listened to it several times by now. Can't wait for MSG and Jones Beach to see the fellas again!!!!!

REM is Back!!!!! Back to its roots with only one glitch.
This album represents what REM used to stand for, which is good old fashioned, angst ridden, cleverly phrased protests college rock. I have been an avid fan since 1982. I pickED up my first album at the age of 9 from an friends older brother. This band is the best band in the world and this album signifies a shift from the fluff of the late 90's into the creative and empowering music that they are capable of. Good job Mike and Company. Keep on rocking!!!!