The tall shadow that has engulfed R.E.M.'s career is just that- their career. The first half of it was a thrilling ascension of critical and commercial acclaim as they managed to release
Document, Green, Out of Time and
Automatic for the People in the span of six years. Only U2 could stake an equal claim to alternative music's blueprint. The second half has been steeped in thematic missteps and crises of confidence.
With the release of
Collapse into Now, the tallest shadow looming over the band has to be 1987's
Document and this is a good, if not great, sign. The opening track alone, “Discoverer,” is oddly reminiscent of
Document's opening call to arms, “Finest Worksong.” Its urgent, its anthemic, and its a dare to listen further. Following up with less than a breath's space to pause, “All the Best” shows the band moving at full tilt as they deliver their own brand of pop punk cheekiness. Easily, this one two punch, full of vim and vigor, is the best opening they've put on an album in more than a decade.
Not content to rest on their laurels, though, the band switches attacks as they move into the elegiac tracks of “Uberlin” and “Oh My Heart.” And so it goes as they rifle through their bag of tricks, borrowing from
Out of Time's rural country flare at one moment and
Automatic for the People's mournful balladry the next.
Unlike the majority of the last decade's output,
Collapse into Now shows a confident understanding of what was missing from the other albums: abandon, sometimes reckless and sometimes not. The title alone makes the suggestion to give in to the moment and as the band does, they've managed to make an album that sprawls thematically but is musically engaging nonetheless.
This is the sound of a band in full control of their creative arsenal. They draw confidently upon the best of their tricks (such as the
Out of Time like “Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I”). They knowingly improve upon their faults and missteps (like speeding up
Around the Sun's country pluck for this album's “Uberlin”).
Few examples could be more indicative of this than the closing “Blue.” With Patti Smith in tow crooning over walls of guitar feedback squallor, the obvious swipe here is
New Adventures' “E-Bow the Letter.” But Stipe's vocals, which sound as though they're being delivered via bullhorn from a soapbox, is much more of an appropriation of
Out of Time's “Country Feedback.” Stealing from either would be inspired, but here, it's genius.
As is Stipe's voice, the obvious but potent anchor to R.E.M.'s music. It's everything you want it to be here as he hooks choruses into your brain for days to come. Whether it's “Mine Smell Like Honey” or “Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter,” Stipe's gleefully anarchic vocals mainline the bratty energy of “It's the End of the World (and I feel fine).” It's not afraid and it dares you to sing along.
