Out of Time

R.E.M. - Out of Time

Out of Time
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CD Details

Artist: R.E.M.
Brand: R.E.M.
Edition: Music CD
Audio: German (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 1991-03-12
Music Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Soundtracks:
  1. Radio Song - KRS-One, R.E.M.
  2. Losing My Religion
  3. Low
  4. Near Wild Heaven
  5. Endgame [Instrumental]
  6. Shiny Happy People
  7. Belong
  8. Half a World Away
  9. Texarkana
  10. Country Feedback
  11. Me in Honey

Music reviews of Out of Time

Music Review: Commercial success, artistically mixed
Rating: 3 Stars

Building on some of the experiments of 'Green', REM push into more acoustic and poppier territory with 'Out Of Time'. The more direct and political work of the late 80's has been replaced by a more upbeat and personal feel, which is something of a surprise. While grounded in folk-rock and country-rock, there is a much greater emphasis on pop hooks and infectious melodies. 'Out Of Time' is more accessible than any other REM album, although there is still the same sense of experimentation that was seen on 'Green'. The band add in guest vocalists, mandolins, and strings, with several tracks being a complete departure from REM's signature sound. While it is just as ambitious as 'Green', the results are not quite as successful. Perhaps they're trying to do too much, or perhaps it's just that REM sound a little out of place performing bright uplifting pop.

The first two tracks are a good example of the album's hits and misses: 'Losing My Religion' is driven by a lead mandolin and accompanied by strings. It's very different from REM's early work, and a brave choice for a single. But it works because it has an infectious melody that contrasts with the dark, affecting lyrics. On the other hand, 'Radio Song' sounds incredibly forced and awkward, a rap/funk-influenced collaboration with KRS-One that doesn't come off. At best, you could call it a fun throaway, but it's a disappointing and misleading introduction to the album.

This sort of sets the pattern for the album, with some songs greatly expanding REM's sound and others being slightly awkward mis-steps. The band themselves virtually disowned 'Shiny Happy People', whose irony seemed to be lost on most listeners. 'Country Feedback' is a real love-it-or-hate-it song, although Stipe's incoherent mumur is reminiscent of the band's earliest work. 'Near Wild Heaven' and 'Texarkana' are great pop, while a few of the more somber tracks such as 'Low' point the way forward to 'Automatic For The People'.

In some ways, 'Out Of Time' is a transitional album between the experimental 'Green' and the reflective 'Automatic...', but it also has its own distinctive style. The bright and sunny (for REM) pop/folk/rock on display here makes the album a unique one in REM's catalogue. It's not perfect, and not really reflective of REM's traditional sound, but it is still a good, listenable album. Just don't expect every track to reach the same heights as 'Losing My Religion'.

[3.5 stars]

Description of Out of Time

Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner.
Though R.E.M. titled a later album Monster, this 1991 smash was the true monster, with the little Athens, Georgia, quartet graduating once and for all from its jangling independent-rock roots. The confusion Michael Stipe communicates in the catchy "Losing My Religion" and the dark-and-dreamy "Low" hit the mainstream-rock audience when it was most primed for uneasy angst. (Nirvana's Nevermind was released a few months later.) There are also odd but successful experiments, like ceding the opening "Radio Song" to rapper KRS-One (with Stipe playing the moaning straight man) and going peppy for the surprisingly nonsarcastic "Shiny Happy People." --Steve Knopper
Matching their ugliest album cover with some of their most sublime music, Out of Time inaugurates the finest phase of R.E.M.'s work. This meditative yet sometimes seething album offers not only their greatest single since "Radio Free Europe" ("Losing My Religion," about which critics and programmers agreed for once), but a moodscape that ties together that song's ambivalence, the sneer of "Radio Song," the doom of "Low" and the sprightliness of "Shiny Happy People" and "Me in Honey." Their bestseller, and deservedly so. --Rickey Wright

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