58 replies to this topic

[Colinzeal]

I havevto say I have been one of the harshest critics of that album,so much so that I didn't buy "live" when they split.
Since the split I decided to buy it and have to say how much better a lot of those songs sound live especially Final straw and I wanted to be wrong. Due to this I decided to give the album another listen and have to say I really enjoyed it.  The opening 3 songs are great. Make it all okay and wanderlust are still dire and final straw and Aftermath are still really bland on the album. But now they have split I seem to have made my peace with a few cringy lyrics and really enjoyed the rest of the album.
Yes the production is a bit pedestrian at times especially in the Mills parts of I wanted to be wrong,but overall it is much better than I remember!

It is also the last album Stipe sings without the gravely voice which I'm not a fan of!

Anyway a better album than I remember. Anyone else revisited this album and changed their opinion? Or even another album?

[Colinzeal]

Ruddy phone,I meant to say I hadn't bought it before they split.

[2headedcow]

I have been a visitor since it was released.  In fact I liked it so much I moved in at one point.

I have always enjoyed ATS probably because It was around the time I met my wife.  She loves it too.

[kizmatica]

It would be cool if someone remixed it. I certainly feel it could have been pretty good. Anyone fancy doing it? haha. I remember Michael saying he'd love to see what someone could do with it.

[bluemookie]

I never understood the hate for this album.  When you look at the rating poll that going on in the forums right now, this album is number 15 for most people.  Granted, it's low on my list too, but I still love it.  Up was difficult to swallow, because it sounded like an album full of unfinished demos and what sounded like a drum machine on several tasks.  Way too much keyboard action.  No good pop rock songs.  Reveal was better, but still was very low key, for the most part.  Around the Sun was even better than Reveal, in my opinion.  I'm probably the only one here that loved Wanderlust and Aftermath.  I never cared for Electron Blue, and the Outsiders kinda sucked.  Around the Sun and Aftermath sound glorious in 5.1 DTS surround sound, with the wall of harmony vocals.  Then they came out with Accelerate, which is the greatest Warner Bros period album in my opinion and made up for the less than stellar previous albums.  Collapse into Now, kinda dragged it back down.  Pink nearly ruins AAAA (I prefer the rehearsal version with Mike on backing vocals) and I skip Blue every time (Patti's voice get's on my nerves, and yeah, E-Bow the Letter is another one that I skip).  I listen to Around the Sun probably once ever couple months, so it's safe to say that I really dig that album.  And no, I wouldn't remix it.  Except to take the rap part out from the end of The Outsiders.  In face, I did trim that part off when I ripped it to MP3 for my iPod.

[frotus]

Turn the guitars up and distort them. Remove synths and strings.  Favor the room mics on the drums.  Replace some of the piano parts with guitars.  Remove three songs.

[Binky1978]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I didn't think there was anything wrong with the production on the Pat McCarthy albums. In fact, I like it. A lot. Up is my favourite album, and Reveal is high on my list too. I loved all the drum machines and clicks and whistles and synths. Those three albums were creative, inventive, and in parts absolutely beautiful. I far prefer his production to Jacknife Lee's.

The problem with Around the Sun was that the songs just weren't good enough. Electron Blue is my favourite R.E.M. song, and there are a few others on there that I like a lot, but I think Around the Sun was the first and maybe only album where there were a significant number of bad songs. No producer could save songs like Make it All Okay, Final Straw, Wanderlust and the horrible, horrible title track from being bland and uninspiring.

All that said, in the last year or so I've started to really quite enjoy the album. It flows quite well. The whole is definitely better than the sum of its parts. I rate it better than Accelerate for definite, and perhaps better than Collapse into Now as well. It was the last album the band made where they were still pushing the boat out and trying new things. It's just a shame that it was probably their songwriting low point (though Accelerate pushes it close on that score). I'd say it's also the album that suffered most from Bill Berry's absence. If they'd had his songwriting, studio, and editing input there might have been a really good ten or twelve song album in there.

[bluemookie]

Binky1978, on 13 October 2011 - 06:19 AM, said:

It's just a shame that it was probably their songwriting low point (though Accelerate pushes it close on that score). I'd say it's also the album that suffered most from Bill Berry's absence. If they'd had his songwriting, studio, and editing input there might have been a really good ten or twelve song album in there.

Wow.  You though Accelerate was the worst for songwriting?  I would have said Collapse into Now, without hesitation.  And the album that suffered most from Bill's departure?  How is Up NOT the obvious choice there?  I mean, sure, these are just our own opinions and all...

[sharathamm]

I have to disagree..I really tried to like ATS..But to tell the truth failed..For me it will always remain a  weak REM albums along with  Accelerate and CIN.Interestingly I sort of like  two of the most panned songs Ascent of Man,Worst Joke Ever..Ascent of Man has that interesting Ya Ya Ya(initially  I find it annoying)...Wonderlust is also OK..

[GabrielTripaldi]

it contains the worst rem song ever penned (highspeed train), imo

[bonnellio]

always liked it , never said so because there were som amny haters

[bonnellio]

or even so many haters

[michaels]

Up is one of their best in my opinion. It's the album that I refer to most of all. Compared to Up, Accelerate is a 2-dimensional theatre prop, musically and lyrically.

[rosie]

bluemookie, on 13 October 2011 - 06:27 AM, said:

  And the album that suffered most from Bill's departure?  How is Up NOT the obvious choice there?

again just my twopennorth but up didn't suffer from/because of bill's absence. sure, it was a very different album but i believe it's a masterpiece both lyrically and musically.

[bflood]

Electron Blue and The Outsiders are among my all-time favorites from the band.

Leaving New York, I Wanted To Be Wrong, Final Straw and Boy In the Well are solid.

Aftermath and Make it all OK are done in by the soggy production.

Around The Sun (track) seems half-baked or unfinished.

Wanderlust and Ascent of Man just seem like b-side material.

High-Speed Train is just wretched.

[e-botti]

It think it contains a nice moments.....i like Leaving New York very much and it sounds great live, i like Aftermath, The Final Straw and Boy In the Well.....but seriously is the worst in their career....

[wrong child- jr.]

I find myself listening to Around the Sun more than Accelerate or Reveal.

I love to sing along to Make It All Okay, I Wanted to Be Wrong, Wanderlust, Boy in the Well, and Aftermath and the title track.

It is hard  coming on here and saying nice things about this album when everyone else rips it so much. I love it!

[Driver Nate]

bluemookie, on 13 October 2011 - 04:26 AM, said:

Pink nearly ruins AAAA (I prefer the rehearsal version with Mike on backing vocals) and I skip Blue every time (Patti's voice get's on my nerves, and yeah, E-Bow the Letter is another one that I skip).  

I'm pretty sure that's Peaches you're thinking of and not Pink. Smile, it could have been Lady Gaga.

I actually prefer Around the Sun to Reveal and consider Up my favorite of the post-Berry R.E.M. records. That said, I still prefer the I.R.S. era over anything they did on Warner Brothers (with or without Bill Berry). Not sure why it took them so long to figure out their post-Berry material usually sounded better live but at least it had finally dawned on them by the time they started up the open rehearsals in Dublin that eventually led to Accelerate. Not long after Around the Sun was released, they put out an EP on iTunes that featured live versions of some of the songs from Around the Sun that sounded much better live than their studio counterparts.

[barnsleyjohn]

I've yet to re-visit it, though it's on my list of things to do this month. I'm still currently struggling with Reveal. Despite the presence of some undoubtedly awesome tracks - the first four in particular are absolutely phenomenal - I was never able to get into the album as a whole. At the time of release most of the second half of the disc sounded indistinguishable from track to track, Immitation of Life aside. I think that's the danger when pretty much every track on the album is the same pace. Up seems to split opinion on here much more than Reveal, yet in my opinion it is far more varied. I love Up, though find it quite hard to listen to all the way through in the same way that Automatic can be quite hard going, they're both albums that you need quite a specific mood for. I'm not really sure where this post is going, it's late at night and I seem to be going off at a tangent. So, I'll just end by saying to those in this thread who've been slating Accerlerate and CIN - you are of course entitled to your opinion, though you quite clearly have defective ears.

[barnsleyjohn]

Driver Nate, on 13 October 2011 - 10:18 AM, said:

Not sure why it took them so long to figure out their post-Berry material usually sounded better live but at least it had finally dawned on them by the time they started up the open rehearsals in Dublin that eventually led to Accelerate. Not long after Around the Sun was released, they put out an EP on iTunes that featured live versions of some of the songs from Around the Sun that sounded much better live than their studio counterparts.

Agreed. I nearly sold my ticket to the Manchester show in 1999 as whilst I quite liked Up on release, I couldn't see how it was going to work live. Obviously the show was mind-blowing, the way they had reworked tracks such as Lotus, Hope and especially Walk Unafraid absolutely knocked me for six. Completely changed the way I viewed the album from then on.