R.E.M. Plan To Rock On New Accelerate Album

By Gerard McGarry on Wednesday, 2 January 2008.
Filed under News. Tags: R.E.M.

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They’ve been off my radar for quite a few years, but I hear R.E.M.’s forthcoming album, Accelerate, is going to rock.

Apparently, in an interview with Uncut magazine, Michael Stipe hinted that relationships within the band were at a low point over the last few years and that they have reclaimed their mojo by working out their issues:

I feel like there’s a confidence in the material, and a communication between the three of us that hasn’t been there for some time. We didn’t talk to each other for a couple of records — as friends or as bandmates. And we reached a point before this LP where we just sat down at a table and hashed it out.

The last R.E.M. album that I really got into was 1994’s Monster, and 13 years is a long time. I still have fond memories of Automatic For The People and Out Of Time. And I’m feeling nostalgic for those albums.

Accelerate will be the band’s 14th studio album, and apparently much of the material has been given a brief outing in Dublin over summer 2007. The band’s manager, Bertis Downs has said “We’re going to pretend these are ballads. These are rockers.”