Tuesday, May. 20, 2008

R.E.M. the latest dramatic return

By Jeremy Dutton, Herald staff writer

It's become en vogue over the past few years -- time-honored bands putting forth a dramatic return to form after slowly drifting from what their loyal fan base coalesced around in the first place.

In 2006, it was Pearl Jam. After the subdued Binaural and disjointed Riot Act, the Seattle boys released a self-titled album that cranked up the amps and delved back into something that could have followed Yield. This was nearly a decade-long trip to get back to where most thought they never should have veered from.

Then in 2007, it was Bruce Springsteen's Magic that did the time traveling. The Boss's vacation into character study on Devils and Dust and his transformation into a folk hero on We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions was a little more short-lived if you count the uplifting post-9/11 ruminations on The Rising (2002). But the vintage Magic was far more triumphant in recapturing the E Street Band days of old.

This time around it's R.E.M., and after a heaping of praise Tuesday, it seemed like an April Fools' joke that the band could even hope to harken back to their Monster days after the one-and-done replayability of Around the Sun.

But Accelerate does -- and remarkably well.

There's a little bit of everything -- but it all rocks. They look back, with the Electron Blue reference on Sing for the Submarine. And they recapture the political venom they spewed in Bad Day, but this time hedge it with optimism as on Houston. Michael Stipe, in a plaintive tone, sings "If the storm doesn't kill me/ The government will/ I've got to get that out of my head/ It's a new today/ And the coffee is strong/ I've finally got some rest.” A tenfold increase in Mike Mills' amazing harmonies also paints the songs in familiar and more emotional light.

Stipe has been quick to say that the band didn't want to go out with a lackluster album like Around the Sun. Not in content, but in focus. The widely panned record had several gems but sounded like an overproduced carbon copy of what R.E.M. was -- a band. Accelerate puts the pieces back to something in the realm of what it was before drummer Bill Berry's departure tore them apart.

Stipe also made a more salient point Wednesday on the Colbert Report. Provoked by Stephen Colbert, Stipe said he does sometimes feel like punching critics in the mouth who say this is the band's comeback. On the surface, they never left. They just made albums that only a handful of fans appreciated. But this speaks more to the point that the evolution of any good band has to be marked by missteps and a chance to expand on what they've got -- musically or lyrically. Sure, Pearl Jam's Binaural was the polar opposite to Ten. Same goes for the electronic Up to the seminal Murmur.

But if our favorite bands never left those pop culture placemarks they've created, that's where they would remain. And there's little doubt that without that room to grow they wouldn't even be around to show they're still relevant.

Remix Radiohead

Radiohead, who've taken fan interactivity to a whole new level with their you-pick-the-price release of In Rainbows, are taking a new step in making you the producer too. While it's not necessarily a new idea, on iTunes you can now download five-layer tracks and remix their single Nude, then upload it on the website. There already are 266 remixes on the site, and you can listen and vote for your favorite.

Get to scratchin'.