To claim that Ireland is responsible for R.E.M.'s recent purple patch may not be strictly accurate, but we'll take the credit nonetheless. After all, the Irish have played a pivotal role in the rock stalwarts' recent handiwork - be it functioning as a collective sounding-board for their works-in-progress (their 5-night 'working rehearsal' run at the Olympia Theatre last year), having one of our own produce this album (Dubliner Jacknife Lee), or providing a place of solace for them to record it (Grouse Lodge Studios in Westmeath).
Whatever the reason, though, Accelerate is an album that recaptures the R.E.M. magic that's been missing for a large chunk of the past seven years. Fans will be pleased to discover that these are songs that harken back to the trio's golden era, when breezy guitar-driven pop tracks were regulation and the idea of a collaboration with a sub-standard rapper would have (rightly) been deemed ludicrous.
Perhaps it's down to Lee's incisive production, or the fact that the band's fourteenth studio album was recorded in just three weeks, but there's little room for the faffing that informed the awful Around the Sun here. Accelerate gets down to business immediately with the beefy punch of Living Well Is the Best Revenge, and continues its purposeful, scratchy vigour with Man-Sized Wreath and warm, upbeat single Supernatural Superserious. The title track provides further sophisticated menace later on, as does the jangly glitz of Mr. Richards - a song that provides an apt accompaniment to The Smiths' 'Frankly, Mr. Shankly', Stipe's gnarly, smoky growl snidely unleashing the lyric "Mr. Richards, you're forgiven / For a narrow lack of vision".
With R.E.M., there's always the worry that a good album will be deemed a great one, or that their failure to metamorphose with every new record is seen as a willingness to dine on past glories for the remainder of their career. What's important to remember, however, is that these are musicians who have perfected the sound they're sometimes accused of ripping off. Clocking in at a concise, focused 34 minutes, Accelerate is an enjoyable, fresh, guitar-driven album that snatches a glittering victory from the jaws of a potential career defeat.
