R.E.M. And Their Summer Album...Re-Revealed

Reveal isn't an album that is generally held in particular high esteem. No one hates it, like, say, a good part of the  people who bought Monster, which means that that album lined second hand stores with severeal copies for years. But not too many R.E.M. fans will go to bat for this one as a great record either, more of a nice but otherwise unremarkable addition to the discography. Me? I'm weird, so I'd probably put this in my Top 5 of R.E.M. albums, though probably just sneaking in on the 5 spot (after Automatic, Reckoning, Murmur,and Pageant). 

There are legitimate caveats with this album. After the electronic exploration of Up, Reveal was seen as a return to form and to a recognizable R.E.M. sound, which is true,  but the band's then-penchant for burbling and flirring electronics is still there, and, as the Allmusic review correctly points out, at this time the band "emphasizes sonic construction over the songs". And it's also fair to point out that these aren't all lean numbers, and a couple could've probably stood to have a minute shaved off. As could the album as a whole, which is where this Rerevealed version of the album comes in. To make it a bit leaner and eminently more listenable I kicked off two tracks and resequenced the album from the ground up. And whatever else you think of what I did here, I don't think anyone can deny that this album runs better at ten tracks and 44 minutes than at 12 and 54. 

With that out of the way - caveats shmeats, if you will - this is an album that has a ton of great songs on it. The three singles drawn from the album - "Imitation Of Life, a dead ringer for "The Great Beyond" from their 1999 soundtrack to Man On The Moon, "All The Way To Reno" and "I'll Take The Rain" were some of the lmost accessible, and hook-laden songs in years from the band. Album tracks reveal hidden treasures, led by the barely hidden Beach Boys obsession that drove a lot of these Reveal songs: "Bang A Drum", "Summer Turns To High" and "The Lifting". "The Chorus And The Ring" seems to look way back to their I.R.S. period, even if it's much cleaner in singing, playing and production. 

The original track list showed the issues of haphazard sequencing made worse by some long-ish songs. "Disappear", after its long, moody, electronic intro turns into a pretty good song, but coupled with the dour "Saturn Return" in the middle of the record, there is a ten-minute dead spot from which the album had trouble recovering. "Saturn Return" is one of the two tracks not to return, the other being - maybe surprisingly - "Beachball", which for some might be a highlight of the album, but I have never taken to its breezy bossa nova rhythm, which to me still sounds like somewhat listless cocktail bar music, and a song that is barely there. 

Anyway, as already done once or twice before,  I'm taking an 'all killer no filler' 'addition by substraction' approach to this remodeled version of Reveal. Ten tracks which were the best R.E.M; had to offer at the beginning of the millenium (and for a good bit afterwards, seeing how they followed up Reveal with the clueless, boring Around The Sun), and in these dying days of summer it's an album well worth revisiting. So, revisit the rerevealed R.E.M. boys' trip to the beach...