Beany

I think with a band like R.E.M. everybody has different favourite albums and opinions. They've just been around for so long. I think most of the reviewers are going back as far as Murmur and Reckoning when they're talking about how "exceptional" they were. I think most reviewers will say that anything after New Adventures(including Reveal) is poor by R.E.M.'s standards.

In my opinion though, I love Reveal. I think it's probably their most consistently good album from start to finish. Over anything they've ever done. It's not my favourite, I just think from start to finish its consistently great. People never give it a chance though.

I think Accelerate is an album they had to make. It's all noise and with the exception of Until The Day Is Done, there's not much room to stop and think with it. I think they had to make this type of album though. Just to say to everyone, ("We're still here, and we're gone back to guitars, drums and bass again!"). I hope the next album has the rock of Accelerate but a bit more heart. Like New Adventures. That's my favourite R.E.M. album. I don't think they've "lost that thing that made them a deep band" though. When you look at the last 10 years, I think Up and Reveal have the deepest songs the guys have ever made. Songs like Suspicion, Diminished, Falls to Climb, Parakeet, I've Been High, Chorus and the Ring, Beat A Drum and from Accelerate.. Until The Day Is Done. I also think even the rockier ones on Accelerate are deep. They're some of Stipe's best lyrics in a decade. There's a lot to them and there's double meanings to a lot of what he says. A classic Stipe trait down through the years.

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Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk