Music : Accelerate (digipack)

Rating: - Interesting and great
Really enjoyed this fast-paced exhilerating album. It's actually the exactb album they promised after automatic but they gave us monster instead. Monster would be an interesting avant-guard sort of thing to be doing these days. Instead we get something so good we just don't deserve it. Unbelievably good and so reminiscent of lots of pre-green albums.

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Rating: - REM back on form
Rock 'n' roll as it should be - loud, noisy, defiant, aggressive, hook-laden, mysterious, sing-a-long, and above all, it sounds like the band are having fun playing it!
Yeah, I have not paid too much attention to REM's post Bill Berry albums, to the point that I thought that perhaps they should call it a day and move on - it all sounded too nice and polite for my tastes. However Accelerate (and the previous LIVE album) has really reminded me what they used to be like and they sound like they have discovered their true purpose again. I like the fact that it is a short album too - if it's good enough you don't need another 30 minutes of fillers. I've been playing it over & over and my 10 year old son loves it too. All those young bands who have knicked their ideas from REM over the years, take note - this is how it is done. Properly.

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Rating: - Excellent!!! Up there with their best!
Absolutely brilliant! In my opinion, the best REM album since Automatic For The People. Highly recommended.

It starts with a mighty blast - the first three tracks are on a par with REM's best work. The middle section slows down but the standard barely diminishes, before the album concludes with the rocking Horse to Water and I'm Gonna DJ. Not a dud amongst the 11 tracks.

Buy without reservations - this really is a return to form!

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Rating: - Not their best by a long way
There are a few tracks on this album I'd rate highly.. but the quality of the recording is awfull. The dynamics are so compressed that the meters on my McIntosh amp just don't move with the beat.

I'd enjoy this album much more if the sound quality was better.

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Rating: - don't believe the hype
I have never written a review of an REM album before even though I have loved them for years and am even in the fan club. Like a lot of others I was misled by all the reviews that said this was a return to form. It is not. This is the worst album REM have ever made. It has two decent songs on it. Horse to water and Living well. All the other's are rubbish and would not have even made a b side a few years ago. Listening to this made me realise just how good New Adventures in Hi Fi was. The last great REM album.