'Sun' sets on R.E.M.'s reign

R.E.M. has been around the block quite a few times - musically speaking, at least.

That said, the band's newest release, Around the Sun, hardly conveys its experience or talent, and instead jumps on the bandwagon of groups that follow up greatest hits CDs with poorly done comeback albums.

While bands such as the Cure, have managed to avoid this fate, R.E.M. follows the longer list of bands that should've thought longer and harder before trying to cash in on their dedicated fan base.

It's sort of like the sports hero - say, a Carolina alumni who used to play for the Chicago Bulls - returning from retirement only to wish that he had just remained a well-missed icon.

The album opens with "Leaving New York," a weak, piano-saturated ballad lead singer Michael Stipe described as a love song to New York written shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

That's about as far as R.E.M.'s usual brand of social commentary goes on this album, the rest of which seems uncharacteristically sappy for the politically and socially outspoken band.

"The Outsiders" features the group's trademark tambourine backbeat but is awkward in that every line seems to have one too many syllables in it.

The track also features Q-Tip, former MC for A Tribe Called Quest. Q-Tip is a talented musician in his own right but an out-of-place addition to this album.

It's an indication of dwindling musical mojo when a band recruits a rapper to guest on its alternative-rock album. And didn't they learn from "Radio Song"?

"Wanderlust" utilizes a bizarre Christmas-like jingle; as with most of the songs on the album, it lacks the deep lyrical introspection and metaphorical musings R.E.M. usually provides.

By simply reading its title, the song "The Worst Joke Ever" might seem on the surface like an extension of R.E.M.'s Andy Kaufman deification, but with Around the Sun, it's more likely referring to the album itself.

On a positive note, it provides the first song on the CD where the chorus is actually worthy of a singalong.

In "The Ascent of Man," Stipe repeatedly wails and howls in an off-key voice that makes even the most hardcore R.E.M. fan cringe and yearn for the days of Automatic for the People.

Maybe it's Stipe's all-too-familiar cadence that's holding back R.E.M. from astounding listeners with this latest release.

Maybe it's the pervasive absence of gifted drummer Bill Berry, who has been missing from the band's last three albums.

Maybe it's the simple fact that R.E.M. just can't top themselves.

Regardless, Around the Sun falls sadly short of the traditional success of an R.E.M. recording.

The tracks all sound the same, and it lacks the oomph that fans have come to expect from the band.

But hey, they can always cut In Time 2: The Best of R.E.M. The first one was missing "Shiny Happy People."

Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.