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Accelerate (REM)
Warner Bros. Records Inc., Rs.395
REM’s Accelerate, the band’s first studio album in four years, has been a shot in the arm for the American rock group, which appeared to have lost its way. Getting back to their familiar rock-heavy style, with plenty of guitar, REM has pr
oduced an album which took them to the top of the charts.
After zooming to international stardom following the release of their album Green by Warner Brothers, the influential American alternative rock band enjoyed almost an uninterrupted decade of success, when they couldn’t do wrong. But then followed a number of years, where they couldn’t get it right, it’s only now that they appear to have got their act together.
Accelerate consists of 11 songs and a little more than a half hour of very loud rock ‘n’ roll. From its first track, the highly-charged ‘Living Well Is The Best Revenge,’ on the evils of the media, the album is a stinging commentary on the state of things.
Lyricist and vocalist Michael Stipe commented on the album, saying, “I’m so angry about what I imagined as a teenager that the 21st Century would be like and now seeing that sad reality. This record comments on the future I wanted, and I’m going to say, ‘I want my future now!’”
‘Hollow Man,’ one of the slower songs in the album, with an uncharacteristic slow piano start, before revving up the tempo, is also one of the best, a wonderful song about self-alienation.
In the title track, Accelerate, Stipes sings, “I saw the future turned upside down/ and hesitated.”
And the last song, ‘I’m Gonna DJ’, features the magnificent lyrics, “Death is pretty final/ I’m collecting vinyl/ I’m gonna DJ at the end of the world.”
Bottomline: All in all, a good album from a band which had something to prove. REM’s fans will rock.
SHIV S KUMAR
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