R.E.M. Retrospective

So I bought the hype, and thus the new R.E.M. album Accelerate the other day. I haven't listened to it yet--except for "Houston," which made me hopeful. I hear it's political though, and marks their "return to greatness." We'll see. I'm skeptical.

All I can say is, they lost me at 2001's Reveal. Maybe it was that the world was not the same after 9/11 and that's what I was feeling. I don't know, but they just barely had me with '96's New Adventures in Hi-Fi. The standout being "E-Bow the Letter" which was one of their finer moments among a whirl of forgettable tracks. Then Reveal came along and that was it, they had officially turned too commercial-sounding, too poppy, too un-College Radio, too un-R.E.M. for me.

But today I would like to commemorate one of my most favorite bands in the world, although I probably haven't admitted it to anyone in over 10 years.

Here's to magical, coming-of-age songs like "Nightswimming," "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight," and "Strange Currencies" that make you want to eat popsicles on a big trampoline on a hot summer's day, stay at the fair past dusk, or, perhaps, go nightswimming with a schoolyard crush. Or to mysterious instrumentals like "Rotary Ten," "Zither," or "New Orleans Instrumental No.1" that seem to come straight out of a movie soundtrack. Or should have inspired someone to make a movie, at least.

Or to the just plain fierce, passionate songs like "Orange Crush," "Let Me In," or "Fall On Me." I'll never forget the day I caught an R.E.M. song on "Beverly Hills, 90210." I think it was Dylan who swaggered into the Peach Pitt all James Dean/Rebel Without a Cause-like, threw those quarters into the juke and brooded to "Loosing My Religion." It was hot, and I think it turned a lot of people on to R.E.M.

Here's a list of my favorites, with the exception of a few that could not be found ("Rotary Ten" is on Dead Letter Office and I could listen to that one all day long.)