Reveal - R.E.M.

This album was released in 2001 and while it is not the best album ever released by REM it is still a good solid album with some great songs on it however it suffers slightly as there is not the consistent high quality that you come to expect from such a great band. On the plus side the obsession with heavy guitar feedback and the heavy electronic echos that appear on other albums are not present here and as a result of this there is a clearer, sharper quality to the vocals of Michael Stipe and the album is all the stronger for it. There are also more ballads on this album and this is reflected in he opening track The Lifting and is also reflected ...  Read the complete review

Finally R.E.M are sound comfortable being R.E.M again. After Automatic for the People R.E.M made a conscious decision to deconstruct their sound and go for heavier guitar based rock tunes. First with the average, disappointing Monster, then with the slightly better, but still not great, New Adventures in Hi-FI, and finally with Up, a good album in it’s own right with a few great tunes e.g. At My Most Beautiful. This is the final step back to times when songs like Losing my Religion, Everybody Hurts, and Country Feedback. Reveal is a masterpiece in my mind, not just on its song merits, no, it makes me feel like its 1991 again, and I’m kicking back ...  Read the complete review

Here is a synopsis of the 12 tracks: THE LIFTING - a superb opener, possibly the finest of any REM album. The middle eight is perhaps the main hook in the song, consisting of a repeated refrain (the old REM trick that is usually reserved for choruses) - 9/10 I'VE BEEN HIGH - another superb song with one of Stipe's finest ever vocals - 9/10 ALL THE WAY TO RENO - a great guitar tune from the greatest guitar band of their generation - 8/10 SHE JUST WANTS TO BE - an epic and the best song on the album. Superb acoustic intro and coda and a anthemic chorus - 10/10 DISAPPEAR - another outstanding song, similar to Daysleeper on Up but with better ...  Read the complete review

REM are back with their first album of the new millennium. Charged with being The Greatest Rock Band in the World™, can they still justify that title? I’ve been a fan of REM for a long time. I thought they were quite superb up until their 1992 album, "Automatic For The People", producing consistently brilliant songs in their own unique style. "Monster" (1994) was a big disappointment for me, even though I'm usually a fan of noisy guitars and their following two albums, 1996’s "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" and 1998’s "Up", climbed progressively back towards their previously unmatchable heights, but ...  Read the complete review

On first hearing - as with so many R.E.M. albums - this appears to be solid, yet perhaps unexceptional. After the third listen, it appears to be nothing short of a masterpiece. Opener "The Lifting" is a driving, upbeat and powerful number, and the delicacy of "I've Been High" offsets this very well. While the synth-dominated sound of this track calls 1998's "Up" to mind, the ethereal melody recalls "Automatic for the People"'s music. "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna be a Star)," as well as being one of the longest R.E.M. titles since "It's the end of the World as we Know it (and I ...  Read the complete review