PunchBook

Grade - C-

R.E.M. is arguably one of the most influential alternative rock bands of 80’s, 90’s, and today. However, in my humble opinion, these guys have lost the energy that made people fall in love with their music. This is their 14th album and after 14 albums most artists are just pumping out new stuff and going through the motions. In R.E.M’s last few albums they’ve strayed away from what worked for them in the 80’s and 90’s, partially because of the loss of drummer Bill Berry. However, this album does echo shades of their former sounds……and they have been getting a lot of accolades for that.

Not at PunchBook though!

There is very little innovation and reinvention going on here. The sound of this album exactly mirrors their first 7-8 recordings, which is boring for me. I’m not saying their first decade and a half of work was boring….but this album is. Take U2 for instance, they are similar to R.E.M. in a lot of ways (era, musical style, etc.) and they continue to come up with new ways to improve their music. It’s not groundbreaking or cutting edge - at sometimes it can be interpreted as safe, but they are reinventing every album and still maintaining their power band status.

Enough whining about the band, let’s talk about this bad boy.

The album actually starts off pretty well with two very powerful songs. Living Well Is The Best Revenge has a good sound and the lyrics talk about a struggle with balancing what is taught in religion how the character’s actions might be interpreted as immoral. Man-Sized Wreath is the other song and is worth a listen. These songs got me excited and really into the album, but my interested quickly dissipated after hearing the other nine tracks. Michael Stipe’s voice just mushes together with the twangy guitar strumming and the lyrics have as much content as a cheese sandwich.

My favorite track on the album is I’m gonna DJ, not just because it’s the last song on the album but because it’s got a different sound than the rest. It’s upbeat and fast paced and sticks out like a guy wearing a tie dyed t-shirt in Pamplona during the running of the bulls. If you are going to download songs off this album they should be I’m gonna DJ, Living Well Is The Best Revenge, and Man-Sized Wreath.

I really hate to hate on these guys since they are bona fide musical greats, but I’m more or less wishing that these boys dig deep and pull out a memorable album that invigorates their followers sometime soon.