ROCK

"Accelerate."

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R.E.M. Warner Bros. 11 tracks.

Grade: B+

In case you hadn't heard by now, R.E.M. is back and they're bringing the rock with them.

The 28-year-old Athens band took a side trip into quieter, more textured realms after the 1997 departure of original drummer Bill Berry. The band's commercial fortunes have taken a downturn, too, at least in the U.S. (R.E.M. singles have risen into the Top 10 in the U.K. several times this decade). On the other hand, R.E.M.'s stature is such that the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility in 2007 — and no one had any doubt that they would be.

Still, the band's most recent work, especially 2004's "Around the Sun," felt cold and distant. R.E.M.'s best work is suffused with warm melancholy, emotional connections and restless, ringing guitars. That all returns with a vengeance on "Accelerate."

The chunky jangle of Peter Buck's guitar hasn't sounded this powerful in more than a decade, and first single "Supernatural Superserious" accurately forecast some of the biggest hooks these guys have delivered since the early '90s. "Accelerate" recalls some of the best moments from the band's back catalog, but it echoes one album in particular.

Album opener "Living Well's the Best Revenge" and "Hollow Man" hark back to one of the band's sturdiest chunks of rock, 1985's "Lifes Rich Pageant." Actually, "Accelerate" feels like an update of that high-water mark even when it doesn't rock. The beautiful New Orleans-diaspora ballad "Houston" — inspired, according to frontman Michael Stipe's live introductions, some statements made by former first lady Barbara Bush — contains aural hints of "Pageant's" "Swan Swan H." and, in fairness to another R.E.M. masterpiece, portions of "Automatic for the People."

When the band previewed many of these songs in Austin, Texas, a few weeks ago, Stipe said that if concertgoers didn't like one of the new songs, he suggested taking a bathroom break or getting a beer. No need. Grab that beer first and settle in before you pop this one in the player. They're all good.