Artist – Album: R.E.M
- Up
Released: 26th
October 1998
Sounds Like: Rarefied electronic music
R.E.M. didn’t find things easy after the massive success of
their career defining album Automatic for the People. In fact, after more than
a decade of carving out a niche sound all of their own, they began to suffer
from an identity crisis. Automatic was followed by the glam grunge of Monster;
still a special album in my book, but one with enough flaws and a hard enough
edge to alienate sections of their fans. Next up was New Adventures in Hi-Fi, a
pretty lost record which couldn’t really make its mind up on what it wanted to
be. And so we come to Up, an excursion into electronic music that baffled half
of its audience upon release. Uh-oh.
On first listen, there’s only two shining lights that pierce
the otherwise all consuming electronic fug: the Brian Wilson tribute ‘At My Most Beautiful’ and the typically
beautiful, old-school R.E.M. ‘Daysleeper’.
However, further listens reveal a stash of hidden gems: the ominous opener ‘Airportman’, the Casiotone for the
Painfully Alone-esque ‘Hope’, the
sarcastic ‘The Apologist’ and the
folktronica of ‘You’re in the Air’. It
is a hesitant, unsure album, but once it opens itself up to you, it is
incredibly well-crafted and ahead of its time. Well done again boys.
Albumaday... rating: 7/10
1. Airportman
– 4:12
2. Lotus
– 4:30
3. Suspicion
– 5:36
4. Hope
– 5:02
5. At
My Most Beautiful – 3:35
6. The
Apologist – 4:30
7. Sad
Professor – 4:01
8. You’re
in the Air – 5:22
9. Walk
Unafraid – 4:31
10. Why
Not Smile – 4:03
11. Daysleeper
– 3:40
12. Diminished
– 6:01
13. Parakeet
– 4:09
14. Falls
to Climb – 5:06
Listen
to ‘Daysleeper’: 
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