I might as well say it, I see it, I feel it, this town is going wrong, its turning away

Boy in the Well [Around the Sun – R.E.M, Warner]

**** [out of four]

Haunting melodies, jangling guitars and indecipherable lyrics brings my mind one of the more influential bands of the modern era – the three-piece from Athens, Georgia R.E.M. Michael Stipe is no stranger to the political scene a quick tour through their catalogue reveals songs about Vietnam, the indigenous rights and American Foreign Policy. Indeed one of my favourite lines underscores the topic of this CD – Let’s put our heads together, and start a new country up (Cuyahoga) – and R.E.M. was one band among many touring the United States with a concert promoting the candidacy of Senator John Kerry for the President of the United States.

Many of the songs from Around the Sun draw their inspiration from this theme, dealing with topics from Michael’s response to 9-11, or perhaps a personal letter to America following 9-11 [Leaving New York], the War in Iraq, and more generally the attitude of the Bush Administration in general, Stipe perhaps taking particular issue with the Administration’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol?

On the CD, a number of tracks take the listeners mind to the military action launched against Iraq; in The Outsiders Stipe echoes the words of Bush; Either you are with us or you are with the Terrorists, Stipe adds his thoughts that this is perhaps too simple. On Final Straw, Stipe asks ‘look me in the eye, tell me why’. High Speed Train, Stipe, wants to go to Berlin, Kyoto or Marsielle –no doubt there is a message there for Bush. Boy in the Well again makes reference the direction his country is headed.

But for me – perhaps the saddest line is in Make it All Okay where Stipe is recounts a meeting with (it seems) a believer and in repeated lines says, Jesus love’s me fine, but His words fall flat this time, and then

If you offered me your world, did you think I’d really stay?
If you offered me the heavens, I would have to turn away.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say.
We don’t have a prayer between us.

Another line that stands out, a perhaps more so after our recent election – was ‘everyone is humming a song I don’t understand’.

Around the Sun is one of the stronger CD’s that R.E.M. has put out for some time. I have found with each listen the CD is grows on me a little more. Indeed given the re-election of Bush the CD has developed a new lease of life. R.E.M., tour Australia early next year, and now we know that George Bush has been re-elected it will be interesting to see how the set-lists change as the band works through their tour.

Postscript: I'm staggered by the number of reviews for the new U2 CD that have criticised R.E.M. I believe Around the Sun to be not only one of R.E.M's finer, but one of 2004's finer releases (now there's a topic for a new entry - The Drawn From Still Water Top 10 CD's for 2004), and I am disappointed by the reaction of the majority of reviewers to the R.E.M. CD.