Warner Bros / Wea
2001
Reveal
About This Album
The second LP of R.E.M. Mach II (post-Bill Berry) finds the 21-year vets exploring more of Up's sensual cosmos, only via their directly-melodic, early '90s writing. Like a warmer, more rainy version of their 1991 breakthrough smash LP Out of Time, the trio with hand-picked permanent guests seems totally inspired by the chamber-spiritual, subconscious elements they now favor. The opening "The Lifting" is a perfect example. Michael Stipe's epicurean, beguiling vocal comes out of swatches of looping, icy keyboards and strident, chiming pianos, encircling you like little planets revolving around your head, as feedbacky background touches bubble and burst like rocket flares to a delicious two/three-and beat. It's like some magic world beyond our grasp, one he's finally found the door to-totally irresistible. It's also the best pop single the band's given us since "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight," and further evidence of their ceaseless vitality. As Stipe trills, "If you hear these voices calling you," he seems to be foreshadowing an LP where one nearly is guided by them, via creative overdub-layering that would make one of R.E.M.'s recent mentors, the 1966-'67 Brian Wilson, smile.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,6,8 and 12)

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