r.e.m. Archive
26 Jul 2023
Album Review: R.E.M. — Collapse Into Now
After the mixed reception that greeted 2004’s Around the Sun, R.E.M. seemed to rally with its studio followup, Accelerate, released four years later. Both critical response and sales figures seemed […]
25 Jul 2023
Album Review: R.E.M. — Around the Sun (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from Part One… Picking up after my last post’s lengthy contextualization, here’s my look at Around the Sun, newly reissued as a 2LP set. “Leaving New York” certainly comes […]
24 Jul 2023
Album Review: R.E.M. — Around the Sun (Part 1 of 2)
Artists evolve; that’s what they do. Unless they’re outliers (Oasis inevitably comes to mind as the exception that proves the rule), the music they make at the start of their […]
22 Mar 2022
March Through Time: R.E.M.
I grew up in Atlanta, so R.E.M. was considered a local band (Athens is just over an hour’s drive). One didn’t even have to be particularly hip or plugged into […]
01 Aug 2019
Book Review: Begin the Begin: R.E.M.’s Early Years
Considering the influence which the group exerted on popular music – most notably in the category once known as “college rock” – it’s remarkable how much little of consequence has […]
05 Nov 2018
Album Review: R.E.M. — The Best of R.E.M. at the BBC
There was a time – a pretty long time, actually – during which R.E.M. was among the most popular groups on the planet. Without being pretentious or self-important (I’m lookin’ […]
22 Sep 2017
Mike Mills: R.E.M. and Beyond
I grew up just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, so when R.E.M. got together in the nearby college town of Athens and started making noises in 1980, my friends and I […]
22 Dec 2016
Album Mini-review: Mike Mills and Robert McDuffie – Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra
File next to: R.E.M., E.L.O. Hybridizing rock ‘n’ roll and classical is nothing new: arguably, the Beatles did it in 1965 with “Yesterday.” And many others have attempted since, including […]
13 Dec 2016
Mike Mills Bridges the Gap Between Rock and Classical
Most people know Mike Mills as the bassist in R.E.M.; he was a founding member of the band and remained with them until their 2011 breakup. Since that time, he’s […]
20 Jun 2013
Album Review: R.E.M. – Green 25th Anniversary Edition
If you’re at all like me, and fondly remember the days when albums came jam-packed with an assortment of goodies, you may appreciate the new 25th Anniversary deluxe reissue of […]