Through 30 years and 15 albums, R.E.M. has proven to be one of the most prolific bands of the twentieth century. With the addition of their latest compilation, Collapse Into Now, released March 8, the internationally famous alternative rock band has once again pleased longtime fans and new listeners alike with their distinctive sound.
The first couple of songs are a departure from the works of their major hit albums Out of Time and Automatic for the People, with a more rock feel to the guitar. By the time “Überlin” begins, however, it’s clear that R.E.M. is the same great band that made hits like “Nightswimming,” “Man on the Moon,” “Everbody Hurts” and “Losing my Religion.”
The steel-string guitar of Peter Buck mixed with the melancholy vocals of Michael Stipe create the familiar feel of R.E.M. The follow-up to “Überlin,” “Oh My Heart,” also has a city theme. During this song, the listener gets the feeling of New Orleans in its post-Katrina years.
The band recorded in both Berlin and New Orleans, according to The West Australian, while creating this album, so it’s nice to see their traveling had influences on their work.
Moving along at a decent pace, the album varies its tone from song to song. “Every Day is Yours to Win” achieves an inspirational message, without being cheesy or cliché, with lines such as “I cannot tell a lie. / It’s not all cherry pie, / But it’s all there waiting for you.”
The album falters on one song, and one song only. The message of the song “Mine Smell Like Honey” is unclear, and the music is the most pop-genre sound to ever come from the band.
It regains composure, however, with “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter,” a hard-driving, fast-moving song that captures the play-on-words of past R.E.M. hits like “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” “If I didn’t like the way you stared at me, / I could, sideways, I could knock you blind. / I could show you found to the lost and find,” sings Stipe.
“Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I” is the most typical R.E.M. song on the album, one for the die-hard fans to add to their current playlists. The enigmatic lyrics, coupled with the minor key of the music, creates the dream-like state in which the majority of R.E.M.’s work place the listener.
The final piece, “Blue,” is exceedingly powerful, and could be taken as an anthem for Generation Now, if Generation Now would turn off the rap and give it a listen. It describes with vivid clarity what it means to live in the early twenty-first century, almost as Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” captured the feeling of the Beat Generation. “Blue” is not as lengthy, but forceful nonetheless.
Ultimately, Collapse Into Now is a reminder of the greatness of one of alternative rock’s founders and an opportunity to hear something meaningful from the music industry. It is available on iTunes for $14.99.
Moriah Parrish can be reached at mparrish@spartans.ut.edu