R.E.M. - Collapse into Now
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CD Details
Artist: R.E.M.Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2011-03-08
Music Label: Warner Bros
Soundtracks:
- Discoverer
- All The Best
- Ã?Â?berlin
- Oh My Heart
- It Happened Today
- Every Day Is Yours To Win
- Mine Smell Like Honey
- Walk It Back
- Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter
- That Someone Is You
- Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I
- Blue
Music reviews of Collapse into Now
Music Review: A good album; not great
Rating: 3 Stars
I would like to preface this review by stating that I am a huge REM fan and have been for many years. I understand that the band has evolved and explored many different directions throughout its long career. I am also comfortable in the realization that as far as I am concerned, the band will most likely never be able to release anything that matched the brilliance of its late-80s/early-90s material. That stated, I am trying to listen to Collapse Into Now without any biases or preconceived notions, and just take it at face value.
Stylistically, this album picks up where Accelerate left off. It showcases the band's "middle-aged with a vengeance" attitude with loud, ferocious songs. However, while Accelerate seemed to get a little repetitive after a while, Collapse Into Now offers a variety of sound dynamics throughout the album. It goes everywhere from loud to light; from fun to moody; from fast to slow. As far as the style and overall feel of the album goes, I would place it somewhere in between Accelerate and Automatic for the People. Think of it as if Accelerate and Automatic got together and had a child... that child's name would be Collapse Into Now. The problem is that since both the parents are related [i.e., they're both REM albums... get it?], the child has a few issues. Problem is that the songs themselves just don't quite measure up to what REM is capable of.
Collapse Into Now starts off strong and angsty with Discoverer. It's not one of REM's best tunes, and certainly not the best on the album, but it is a strong, energetic start that sets the tone well for the rest of the album. It's like a good lead-off hitter that legged out a single and is waiting for the batters behind him to drive him in. Discoverer leads well into the next track, All The Best, which is a heavy, up-beat track that has a good driving groove to it. All The Best does not have a very catchy hook to it, so it certainly is not the best effort on the album, but when coupled with Discoverer, it becomes a great one-two punch to start the album off. Runners are on first and second with nobody out. Incidentally, as a production note, it would've been cool to not have any silence between the first two tracks and have Discoverer bleed right into All The Best... but alas, I was not the producer. All The Best would make a great opener to a live set as well.
In my opinion, the album's real strength comes on the back of the next two songs, UBerlin and Oh My Heart. Both songs showcase REM's ability to still write great melodies. Both songs are slower and lighter than the opening two, and feature the acoustic guitar. Both also feature passionate performances from Michael Stipe.
From here, the album begins to fall a bit. It Happened Today and Everyday is Yours to Win are decent songs, but are not quite on the same level as the opening four. Mine Smell Like Honey is an upbeat song that sounds like classic REM. This song probably features the strongest chorus on the album. Walk It Back is a ballad reminiscent in style to a song that could have appeared on Automatic for the People or New Adventures in Hi-Fi. It's a good song, but not as memorable as its counterparts that appeared on those two albums. Alligator... and That Someone Is You get back to heavier style that the band presented with the first two tracks. Unfortunately, these two songs have little to offer and will probably end up getting skipped when I listen to the album.
The album ends strong with a pair of well crafted songs. Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I is a slow, moody, melodic song that finds Peter Buck dusting off the mandolin. This is easily one of the best songs on the album. It leads into the final track, Blue, which features spoken-word lyrics from Stipe over droning distortion and a backing vocal from Patti Smith. Think E-Bow The Letter meets Country Feedback. Blue is an excellent close to the album. Toward the end of the track, the opening riff to Discoverer is repeated to give the album a complete, full-circle, feeling. Unfortunately, this sounds a bit contrived... it doesn't sound like Blue naturally flows into Discoverer. Instead of sounding like the conclusion to an album, it sounds more like the beginning of a thirteenth track. It doesn't, however, sound awkward enough to make me dislike the song, but I do feel like they probably should've left well enough alone.
All in all, Collapse Into Now is certainly not REM's best album.... actually, when compared to the rest of their catalog, I would probably put it in the lower 50%. It's certainly not a bad album either. I would still rather listen to Collapse Into Now than most of the music that is out there. This album is probably not going to produce any huge radio hits, it's certainly not going to introduce the band to new fans, and it is most likely not going to convert any causal fans into becoming hard core fans... but I kind of get the impression that the band doesn't really care about any of that anyway at this point in their careers. They just want to write and release whatever the hell they feel like, and after 30 years they've earned that right. Collapse Into Now is most likely an album that I'll have to listen to a few more times to truly appreciate [unfortunately with little promotion behind the album, most of the people that are going to buy it are the hard core fans that will pick it up in the first couple weeks after its release, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to post a review a month or so after buying the album]. Ultimately, again, the album can't really be compared to the material that was released while REM was at their peak. If you're looking for this album to be the second coming of Automatic For The People, you will be disappointed. If you have been able to appreciate the post-Berry albums and enjoyed the direction that they started to go in on Accelerate, then there will most likely be something on Collapse Into Now that you will enjoy as well.
Description of Collapse into Now
2011 album from the veteran Alt-Rock band. For Collapse Into Now, R.E.M. re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band's acclaimed previous album Accelerate. R.E.M. and Lee recorded the album in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie's Heroes, U2's Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, were made. Additional recording and mixing was done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville. The band has also revealed that Collapse Into Now features some very special guests: Patti Smith, guitarist Lenny Kaye, Peaches, Eddie Vedder, and The Hidden Cameras frontman Joel Gibb.Alternative Rock CDs
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