i've always preferred adult contemporary r.e.m. (i heard "losing my religion" played back to back with "unforgettable" at the dentist recently) to the irs stuff, so am late catching on.

i love this album though. exhuming mccarthy & oddfellows local 101 are my new two favorite songs by this band. or they're at least high on the list.

have just ordered lifes rich pagaent.

is the new album a big deal yet? i don't really see that happening. there seemed to be this huge pr push about how this was r.e.m.'s return to form , their best album since automatic for the people blah blah blah.

i hate how the band is sacrificing up & reveal to push this new one. they keep grouping those two with around the sun, and chalking it all to as post-berry disorientation which they've apparently remedied with accelerate.

yet there are some great songs on those albums. reveal is actually quite strong straight through, despite the polish and occasional long-windedness.

but whatever. the new one is still pretty good.

Document and New Adventures In Hi-Fi are my favorites.

About new albums... I liked Around the Sun a lot. It was just perfect for me at that time and what I was going through, it still gives me chills to listen to those songs.

I haven't really heard much about Accelerate, maybe one or two songs and they were ok. Haven't looked into that much. I'm thinking about going to see them live again so maybe I'll buy the album before that.

R.E.M. is just one of those very few bands that I will always love.

Document is the most polished of the IRS albums, obviously being the last and having quite a following by then. Oddfellows is pretty creepy, in a good way - apparently its about a real guy?

If you like it I'd also suggest Green which has a similar vibe, infact I get what's on which album mixed up a bit.

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His last request was a bulletproof vest or a god

I absolutely love this record.

document is a wonderful album!

i personally really like Accelerate- i got the CD/DVD version- it has alot of the stuff from ninetynights but in a way that makes sense and i really enjoy that- plus when you put it in your computer you get the 2 bsides
id say its worth the bucks
maybe preview the songs befor eyou buy the album?