After my first listen to R.E.M.'s new album Collapse Into Now, I thought, oh well, another uneven effort; a disappointment after their excellent previous release, Accelerate. And I thought, R.E.M. may be the Woody Allen of modern rock; artists who at one time could do no wrong; but lately, oscillate between mediocre and good.
I listened to R.E.M.'s Collapse Into Now several times during my drive to Florida and back; and it just got better and better with each listening. At first, the songs are so obscure and confounding, with flashes of grandeur, the album just seemed frustrating. But, once the beauty and complexity soaked in, I remembered, this is exactly the kind of stuff that made me so fanatical about them 25+ years ago.
Collapse Into Now is a great, frustrating, indefinable, complex, lovely album; on par with some of R.E.M.'s best efforts, like Out of Time and Murmur. And I thought, maybe R.E.M. is not Woody Allen, but, The Coen Bros.; after watching a Coen Bros. movie, sometimes you sit there and think, I love all their movies, but, what the hell was that? Until several viewings later, you realize, you just saw a masterpiece.
I listened to R.E.M.'s Collapse Into Now several times during my drive to Florida and back; and it just got better and better with each listening. At first, the songs are so obscure and confounding, with flashes of grandeur, the album just seemed frustrating. But, once the beauty and complexity soaked in, I remembered, this is exactly the kind of stuff that made me so fanatical about them 25+ years ago.
Collapse Into Now is a great, frustrating, indefinable, complex, lovely album; on par with some of R.E.M.'s best efforts, like Out of Time and Murmur. And I thought, maybe R.E.M. is not Woody Allen, but, The Coen Bros.; after watching a Coen Bros. movie, sometimes you sit there and think, I love all their movies, but, what the hell was that? Until several viewings later, you realize, you just saw a masterpiece.
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