REM - 'In Time: 1988 - 2003' (Warner)
4/5
By: Toby L
Remarkable - the past decade and a half in the fleeting, oafish, fickle and passing sensation of rock 'n' roll, and REM have this to show for us. Possibly the greatest batch of mid-tempo brood-a-thons to have nestled in the charts from a classic US act amid the entire period.
But they've got their critics - the purists that suggest the band's early-to-mid-80's, shaky, noisy and Smiths-like cinders were the alleged 'golden era'. Cobblers. Because Georgia's quintessential songwriters and icons of a large chunk of a century have remained consistently enthralling throughout.
No, honestly. Even new, top-ten single 'Bad Day' hovers and wriggles with the awkward geek-pop grandeur of their best, all beefy harmonies and gently rocking time-signatures.
If 'In Time' serves to inform us over and over, however, it's that Michael Stipe and co. are actually lower-key in tones and ambience than we seem to recall - remember, this is just the last fifteen years, so bears little in the up-tempo ilk of 'It's The End Of The World...'. Indeed, the only time the sweet, growling resonance of distortion molests our eardrums is within the slicing, overtly 80s classicism of 'Orange Crush', or rock-radio-friendly 'What's The Frequency Kenneth?', and even then it's hardly AC:DC now, is it?
Not that it needs to be - Stipey, Mills, Buck (and Berry, now departed) are artistes of understatement, as opposed to gross, crass clichι. They notch on experimental-art and still provide a viable top-three single (the eerie, yet no less riveting, 'E-Bow The Letter', as featuring haunting backing-vox from a brazen Patti Smith), confront the tackling issue of mortality and faith ('Losing My Religion'), and pay homage to great comedian, Andy Kaufman ('Man On The Moon'), and never fail.
Then there's the lesser-monumental (though no less valid) gems - the chilling, sombre glow of 'All The Way To Reno', minimalist, stark 'Electrolite', engrossing, piano-led 'At My Most Beautiful' and 'Automatic For The People' high-point, 'Nightswimming'. Only on the comedic, oompah-oompah stomp of 'Stand' do they mildly grate.
Capped with further, righteous, modern classics - 'Everybody Hurts', 'The Great Beyond' - this is an intelligently selected and frequently inspiring compendium to one of the world's most prevalent, ascending forces in commercial alternative-music. Only when the 75 minutes pass, does the experience bear a considerable disappointment - testimony, of course, to one of the world's most prolific and original talents of our age.
Artists in this article: REM, Remi Nicole
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