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Around the Sun | 
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| Artist: R.e.m.
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $14.99
You Save: $3.99 (21%)
New (63) Used (43) Collectible (4) from $2.33
Rating:  275 reviews
Sales Rank: 32820
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.3
MPN: 48894
UPC: 093624889427
EAN: 0093624889427
ASIN: B0002W4UVG
Publication Date: 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Leaving New York | | • | Electron Blue | | • | The Outsiders | | • | Make It All Ok | | • | Final Straw | | • | I Wanted to Be Wrong | | • | Wander Lust | | • | The Boy in the Well | | • | Aftermath | | • | High Speed Train | | • | Worst Joke Ever | | • | The Ascent of Man | | • | Around the Sun |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Having delivered their last great album with 1992's haunting Automatic For the People, R.E.M. spent more than decade attempting all kinds of reinvention, from the pointlessly noisy Monster to the painfully dull Up. But with Around the Sun it feels like the band is getting its bearings back. Not only is it the Georgia trio's most consistent album since the 1997 departure of drummer Bill Berry, but it also sees the return of the lush imagery and intricate playing of the band's vintage years. There are trains, mandolins, Man Ray skies. More importantly, it seems heartfelt. Witness the gorgeous disquietingly dark opener "Leaving New York," the rapturous folk of "I Wanted to Be Wrong" and the solidly intense "Boy In the Well." At 13 generous tracks, it's far from perfect but--just when everyone thought R.E.M. was down for the count--Around the Sun is an unexpected bruiser of a comeback. --Aidin Vaziri
Album Description
Around The Sun, R.E.M.'s first new studio album since 2001's gold Reveal, is as emotional and ulti- mately uplifting as its "Leaving New York" single. With a renewed band dynamic and songs influenced by world events, Around The Sun surprises and satisfies and is both political and poignant. Says Michael Stipe: "Even the most depressing R.E.M.song is going to have a glimmer of hope." For fans of one of rock's most acclaimed bands, hope revolves around R.E.M.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 270 more reviews...
 Re-visited. August 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The album should of been titled "Around the Sun" by Michael Stipe. Peter Buck's guitar chimes through here and there but you can tell his heart just isn't into it. Half of the album sounds "similar" and may induce drowsiness. Also by the end you may want to throw Stipe off of his 'High Speed Train' as his lyrics which used to be sublime are now so upfront that they are annoying.
With that said Around the Sun does have some beautiful melodies buried within. After quickly burning out on Accelerate I decided one evening to re-visit this album. Wow, it's like nectar to the ears. Accelerate is produced in such a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am manner that repeated listenings are somewhat painful. Around the Sun on the other hand washes over you like a chrysanthemum bath of notes. At it's best the melodies are haunting yet soothing.
In the end however the album feels like a mis-fire. It can't make up it's mind if it's angry or just melancholy. In the end it's both. With Around the Sun, R.E.M. has proved again the mastery of their craft. Yet the album is a benign effort that is sadly irrelevant as much as it tries.
 am i missing something? July 21, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
im always surprised by the mixed reviews for this album. i think r.e.m. lost its fan base because they started doing krautrock on Up and Stipe came out which pissed off their mostly yuppie/ex-frat hetero fan base they picked up with Out of Time, but its not because the music started to suck. There are moments on this album that equal that of any r.e.m. album which is saying a lot. "The Outsiders" is a brilliant song, along with "Electron Blue", "Boy in the Well" and "Worst Joke Ever" - the entire album is stunning in that almost every song sounds like it was effortlessly written and recorded plus the melodies are really imaginative and catchy. I think some of these critics are spoiled by the high quality of r.e.m.'s work and if they're not emotionally overwhelmed after listening to a new record they get disappointed - but how many records can you say that about?
 May cause drowsiness April 5, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are 2 amazing songs ("Leaving New York" and the title track) on this album. "Electron Blue," "I Wanted To Be Wrong" and "Ascent of Man" are also extremely good. The remaining tracks are all also solid and could fit easily as a change of pace tune onto even the best REM albums. Why only two stars then? "Around the Sun" is a collection of change of pace songs. Throw them together, and you have a beautiful, long snooze fest.
 Bad...check out Accelerate instead April 3, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Not much to say about this one. The band itself thinks it's crappy! Nuf said. So much better available from REM. I'm a fan from their earliest days, but also like their early to even mid 90's stuff, so I am a fan...but this should never have been released (given the fact that they were not happy with it, knew it was bad).
Underrated and discarded unfairly March 21, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
There are a handful of today's working bands who have created a legacy years ago, and though they continue to make music (because once you start, it is impossible to stop), their past work which comprises their legacy and created their fan base is often used as the foundation for decrying whatever new record they put out. One example that comes to mind involves U2's most recent records being called "corporate" and "out of touch" in comparison to their more politically charged 80s output. Another example is, of course, the last decade of R.E.M. records when compared to everything that came before "Automatic for the People."
Bottom line: such comparisons are unavoidable; critics do it all the time - in fact, they almost have to in order to seem elite and all-knowing. Hating on new output essentially establishes critical credibility.
I was too young to be into R.E.M. in the 80s before they "sold out"; back then, I was still in diapers listening to whatever my parents put on the radio. Still, songs like "Losing My Religion" and "It's the End of the World As We Know It" trickled down from popular culture to my sheltered ears. These are songs that many people don't have to listen to anymore because they overplayed them over a decade ago.
I got into R.E.M. sometime in college, and I wasn't burned out on their albums from the 80s, and as I listened to records like "Reveal" and "Monster" among the rest, I fell in love with this incarnation of the band. Then, I listened to "Around the Sun," really just for kicks because I had already read the reviews telling me how much it sucked.
I found after a few listens that I completely disagreed with all the critics and a sizable number of people who might as well call themselves R.E.M. purists. Songs like "Leaving New York," "Make it All Okay," and "Wanderlust," seem to me to be just as relevant as anything else so long as you close your eyes and still believe in R.E.M. as a creative force. Of course, this mindset requires a predetermined ignorance of what the elitists perpetuate.
Generally, I am an indie kid, eating up everything put out by people like David Bazan and Jason Martin, but certain really big, really "corporate" bands have caught my ear, and I think the reason for this is that they carry with their success a certain universal weight - a monumental appeal. Of course such tremendous bands are always at odds with the legacy for which people remember them; it's really up to the bands to move past this and ignore the haters. After all, most of the elitists got into R.E.M. when I was still in diapers, so naturally anything else the band puts out sounds stale to them.
I can already see the reviews for the upcoming R.E.M. release "Accelerate." "A return to form." "R.E.M. still rocks in spite of the last decade." Stuff like that. To all the critics and R.E.M. naysayers, I say this: whenever you are trying to decide whether or not it is socially acceptable to like the R.E.M of the mid-90s through the new millennium, first slap yourself for trying to fit in. Next, take off your Gap Jeans and mess up your styled hair a little bit. Then put on "I Don't Sleep, I Dream" from "Monster," "Imitation of Life" from "Reveal," "At My Most Beautiful" from "Up," "Leaving New York" from "Around the Sun," and especially "Leave" from "New Adventures in Hi-Fi."
After hearing these wonderful tunes, don't be too hard on yourself for being a former member of the hater crowd. We all fall prey to the establishment from time to time.
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