Friday, March 4, 2011

REM: Collapse Into Now ? review

(Warner Bros)

REM's creative decline in the last decade coincided with the loss of drummer Bill Berry and their apparent need to make more keyboardy and acoustic albums, rather than the elemental rock that made them such a 1980s/90s force. However, Collapse Into Now continues the return to form of 2008's Accelerate by rewinding to their old classics to relocate their mojo. The sublime Uberlin sounds a bit like Drive; magisterial opener Discoverer vaguely echoes Disturbance at the Heron House ? and so on. Michael Stipe is even enjoying making wilfully enigmatic lyrics again ("I feel like an alligator coming up the escalator", anybody?) and there are some outstanding songs in the sincere, Katrina-aftermath ballad Oh My Heart and plangent Walk It Back. Collapse Into Now isn't groundbreaking, but feeling comfortable in their old skin has produced REM's best effort in years.

Rating: 4/5


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