I’ve been trying for months now, and at times trying pretty hard, to dislike the latest R.E.M. album, Collapse Into Now. It’s admittedly a rather odd position for this quarter-century+ fan to be in,and I’m concluding that it’s a position which doesn’t quite fit. I like this record, as much as I tried not to. I like the reminiscent touches of mandolin, accordion, and Rickenbacker jangle and drone. I like the varying styles and points of view found in Michael Stipe’s lyrics. I like the reliability of Peter Buck and Mike Mills, and the certainty that as much as the sounds and songs sometimes seem to come from left field, they all have their antecedents in R.E.M. history.
In fact, it’s that very diversity which makes Collapse Into Now such a rewarding listen in this era of cyber-noise and hypertext attention spans. From the “Turn You Inside Out” drone of the opening track, “Discoverer,” to the choral sweep of “Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I,” this seems not so much a departure as a reckoning of all that came before (and apologies for all the hidden references to the R.E.M catalog). It makes sense somehow for R.E.M. to be releasing this record in 2011, as much as it made sense for them to release Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985 or Life’s Rich Pageant the following year. This record and it’s predecessor, 2008′s Accelerate, make it fun to follow R.E.M. again. It’s not a landmark record; it’s just another twist for a band whose point has always been the journey, not the destination.
And the best part? R.E.M. never makes the same record twice. In a couple of years, God willing, there will be another new album to come to terms with. And we’ll begin the begin, all over again.
