Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > January > 03 > Entry
R.E.M. Accelerates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Photo: Laura Noel/Staff
The upcoming R.E.M. album now has a title. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will release their 14th full-length studio album, “Accelerate,” in April.
The album was recorded in Dublin and Vancouver and produced by Jacknife Lee. Lee has worked with U2 and Snow Patrol, among others. Interviews and reports from some live shows in Dublin have indicated that the new album is a more rocking and guitar-oriented affair than its low-key predecessors “Reveal” and “Around the Sun.”
The only live date R.E.M. has booked for 2008 is the Langerado Music Festival, taking place on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation in the South Florida Everglades March 6-9. The band is expected to embark on a full-scale tour in the spring, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Are you looking forward to the return of an amped-up R.E.M.? Will you be lining up for tickets when tour dates are announced?
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By David
January 3, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
Hell yes! Rehearsals in Europe from last summer had been released on the Web (mostly YouTube). It’s going to be an awesome album - you’d think Bill was coming back to the band!
By David
January 3, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this
Hell yes! Rehearsals in Europe from last summer had been released on the Web (mostly YouTube). It’s going to be an awesome album - you’d think Bill was coming back to the band!
By David
January 3, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this
Hell yes! Rehearsals in Europe from last summer had been released on the Web (mostly YouTube). It’s going to be an awesome album - you’d think Bill was coming back to the band!
By SA
January 3, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this
I can’t wait!!
By Cranky
January 3, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this
Yawn…
By fan from '82
January 3, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
Let’s face it - they can do no wrong. Bring on the new stuff!
By rb
January 3, 2008 4:33 PM | Link to this
It’s about time they put out something with some energy.
By Stinky Pete
January 3, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
It shall rock thy world and blow thy tiny minds
By JIm
January 3, 2008 5:12 PM | Link to this
Looking forward to the new CD.
By race face
January 3, 2008 5:43 PM | Link to this
agree…. yawn. These days its less about the music and more about politics with these flaming libby’s!!!! Quit talking and play the old stuff!!
By jc_atl
January 3, 2008 6:53 PM | Link to this
I am interested in hearing the new material and hoping that it’s a return to form. “Around The Sun” was essentially a Stipe solo effort with seemingly very little creative input from Mills and Buck - I don’t think I was able to enjoy it more than like twice before I decided I just didn’t like it at all.
If the new album rocks, I’ll be at their shows.
By Syd
January 3, 2008 7:10 PM | Link to this
The last time they promised to ‘rock’, it turned out to be that sludgefest, Monster.
I’ll wait to hear…
By Grampus
January 3, 2008 8:09 PM | Link to this
A few years back I bought a couple of their albums because I thought I might have missed something. Turns out I was wrong. Boring and pretentious much like their public utterances. I’m stifling a yawn right now just thinking about them.
By mg
January 3, 2008 9:30 PM | Link to this
REM has become irrelevant. I like their really old stuff when they were on the IRS label. Oh, those were the days!
By john
January 3, 2008 9:44 PM | Link to this
Just the fact that we are talking about this - something new, an anticipation, a new direction - says something about this band. They are inventive and creative, you might not like all or even part of their music, but at least R.E.M. doesn’t just try to hang on to their hits
love the attitude and the effort
By jl
January 3, 2008 10:10 PM | Link to this
If cons could write any music better than Ted Nugent or Charlie Daniels, then maybe a putdown of REM being “too political” wouldn’t be so bothersome. REM at their most boring and pretentious are better than any music or political disourse written or uttered from any right-winged hack… You cons don’t understand art anyway. Why don’t you go put Eponymous on continuous play and leave delving into uncharted waters to people who do not fear change.
By H Greg
January 3, 2008 10:36 PM | Link to this
pretentious, boring, etc. why do you read an article about this band then? I think Mikey, Mike & Peter are a gift we should appreciate. I admit the last few albums have been a bit unenthusiastic, if underwhelming. I think they were trying too hard to recover from the loss of the unibrow, with no drums and too many loops, they weren’t the same. The last show in Atlanta was great though. They still rock, Stipe is still the all encompassing front man. I thought Monster was a welcome change, it did kick a little @ss, if an Athens type of kickin’. Thanks for the music guys.
By Dick Dickson
January 3, 2008 11:25 PM | Link to this
WTF!!! Those guys are still alive??? Oh, sorry I didn’t realize …
By falcon80
January 4, 2008 3:43 AM | Link to this
Hey fools, nobody is more of a “con” than me, but the worst of REM is better than the best of most bands. Obviously I get tired of celebrity moonbat rantings, but that seems to go with the territory. Having artistic skills seem to make artists think that they are wiser than thou. Once you realize that most artists are devoid of any common sense, it becomes much easier to just enjoy their art. I can’t wait for the new album and especially the tour. Bet they even play “con” Gwinnett!
By Bob
January 4, 2008 4:16 AM | Link to this
Another Eighties band nostalgia tour to make some $$$. No thank you.
By Blackadder
January 4, 2008 7:44 AM | Link to this
I’ll certainly be looking forward to the new CD as I do every one of their CDs. Some are better than others obviously but as an earlier post pointed out, R.E.M.’s worst material is still better than most of what is being shoved down our throats these days. Those of you who don’t appreciate it should leave well enough alone. Do R.E.M fans go on your Britney Spears threads and trash your idol?
By LaLaMeeka Chadwalli
January 4, 2008 7:46 AM | Link to this
I heard Snoop Dogg is singing back up on it! Fo shizzle.
By Bill Berry
January 4, 2008 8:08 AM | Link to this
I am so glad that I quit R.E.M. when I did. The music — which is the most important thing — just hasn’t been the same since Automatic. If I want a dose of R.E.M., I listen to the old stuff.
By Grampus
January 4, 2008 8:47 AM | Link to this
What the ** is this talk about “cons”? Someone doesn’t like R.E.M.’s music or give a crap about their opinions on socio/political issues, so that makes them a right-winger? Grow up you infantile weenies, someone not liking your favorite band is not the end of the world.
By mayretter local
January 4, 2008 9:17 AM | Link to this
Bang & Blame indeed, damned if you do, damned if you don’t
Keep up the vibe REM, you still got it in there somewhere.
yes, us old fogies long for the days of “All Songs: Berry Buck Mills Stipe”.
Vacation in Athens is coming… - Letter Never Sent