Top Ten Albums of 2011
6. R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
Now playing: Oh My Heart
After 31 years in the music business R.E.M finally called it a day in 2011 but not before they released ‘Collapse Into Now‘ which we think was a real return to the heady days of their albums in the early and mid 1990′s.
Having continued as a three piece following the departure of drummer Bill Berry in 1997 the remaining 75% of America’s original indie band gone global wrote albums that were patchy at times and recent offerings like ‘Around The Sun’ seemed over long and under edited. Following ‘Accelerate’ in 2008 however, which was quicker paced and leaner on songs, Collapse Into Now saw the trio committing to tape some of their best songs in a decade or more.
‘Oh My Heart’, ‘uberlin’ and ‘Walk It Back’ are all worth the price of admission on an album that had nothing to lose, in light of their decision to split, but which proved irresistible in it’s simplicity and beautiful lyrical refrains. There’s a fair few great tunes on there too in case you hadn’t noticed.
R.E.M. haven’t been ‘fashionable’ or ‘relevant’ in musical terms for a long time but we don’t care about this one bit. They have been highly influencial, hugely successful on their own terms and produced a body of work that stands the test of time and ‘Collapse Into Now’ is a fine bookend to their album debut with ‘Murmur’ all those many, many years ago.
P.S. Yes, that’s Michael Stipe waving goodbye on the album cover above in case anyone doubted whether their intention to split was long standing…
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