| Around the Sun | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 5, 2004 | |||
| Recorded | Early 2003 – early 2004 | |||
| Studio | Vancouver [1] | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 55:16 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Pat McCarthy, R.E.M. | |||
| R.E.M. chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Around the Sun | ||||
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Around the Sun is the thirteenth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on October 5, 2004 [6] [7] on Warner Bros. Records.
The album was released in four editions: Double vinyl, cassette (the band's final release on the medium), compact disc, and a limited-edition box set with the CD and fold-out posters by 14 artists illustrating the songs. [8]
"The Outsiders" features a guest appearance by rapper Q-Tip. When the song was performed live, Michael Stipe carried out the rap, as he did on a later B-side release of the song.
"Final Straw" is a politically charged song. The version on the album is a remix of the original version, which had been made available as a free download on March 25, 2003, from the band's website. The song was written in protest of the U.S. government's actions in the Iraq War. The song evolved from an instrumental demo titled "Harlan County with Whistling," recorded during the sessions for the band's 1994's album Monster and released with its 25th anniversary edition in 2019. [9]
Around the Sun was the first of only two R.E.M. albums to include a title track (the second being its follow-up, Accelerate ). The album was also a first for R.E.M. in that it was their first to feature Bill Rieflin, the band's de facto replacement for former drummer Bill Berry, who'd retired in 1997. Although Rieflin was never officially inducted into the band as a member, he would serve as a regular auxiliary musician for R.E.M. until the band's dissolution in 2011. [10]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 56/100 [7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
| Blender | [11] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B− [13] |
| The Guardian | [14] |
| Los Angeles Times |  [15] |
| NME | 6/10 [16] |
| Pitchfork | 5.2/10 [17] |
| Rolling Stone | [18] |
| Spin | B− [19] |
| Uncut | [20] |
Around the Sun received mixed to negative reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. It has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 27 reviews. [7]
Despite hitting #1 in the UK, it became their first studio album to miss the U.S. Top 10 (reaching #13 during seven weeks on the Billboard 200) since 1988's Green , and still awaits a gold record. As of March 2007, Around the Sun had sold 2 million copies worldwide and 232,000 units in the U.S. [21] This is less than R.E.M. sold in the first week of an album's release while at their early to mid-1990s commercial peak.
Lead single "Leaving New York" became a UK Top 5 hit, while "Aftermath," "Electron Blue" and "Wanderlust" became minor hits. Around the Sun had no singles success in the United States. It was the band's first studio album to fail to chart a song on the Hot 100 since Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985.
After the release of the following Accelerate , guitarist Peter Buck said Around the Sun "just wasn't really listenable, because it sounds like what it is: a bunch of people that are so bored with the material that they can't stand it anymore." [22] "The songs on Around the Sun are great," remarked singer Michael Stipe. "But, in the process of recording, we lost our focus as a band." [23] The album's songs were largely excluded from the band's live setlists after the release of Accelerate.
Retrospectives of the band's career cite this album as their nadir. In 2023, Rolling Stone marked this as number 44 on their list of 50 horrible albums by brilliant artists, calling all of their post-Bill Berry studio albums "stellar" except for this one. [24]
In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Around the Sun which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.
A remix of the song "Final Straw" appeared earlier in 2004 on the compilation album Future Soundtrack for America .
After being out of print for several years, the vinyl LP edition was re-pressed in 2023. [25]
All songs written by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.
R.E.M.
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [53] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria) [54] | Gold | 15,000* |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [55] | Gold | 20,000^ |
| Germany (BVMI) [56] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| Italy (FIMI) [57] | 2× Platinum | 200,000* |
| Sweden (GLF) [58] | Gold | 30,000^ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [59] | Platinum | 40,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) [60] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| Summaries | ||
| Europe (IFPI) [61] | Platinum | 1,000,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on March 25, 2003, through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on their 2000 debut studio album Hybrid Theory. The album was produced by the band alongside Don Gilmore. The title Meteora is taken from the Greek Orthodox monasteries originally bearing the name. Meteora has a similar sound to Hybrid Theory, as described by critics, and the album took almost a year to be recorded. It is the first Linkin Park studio album to feature bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell after he rejoined the band in 2000 following his temporary touring with other bands.
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Monster is the ninth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released on September 27, 1994, by Warner Bros. Records. It was produced by the band and Scott Litt and recorded at four studios. The album was an intentional shift from the style of their previous two albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), by introducing loud, distorted guitar tones and simple lyrics.
In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 is the second official compilation album released by R.E.M. Issued in 2003, it includes tracks from their Warner Bros. Records era, from 1988's Green to 2001's Reveal, as well as two new recordings and two songs from movie soundtracks. The album was the tenth-best-selling album of 2003 in the UK, and the 50th-best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK.
New Adventures in Hi-Fi is the tenth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was their fifth major-label release for Warner Bros. Records, released on September 9, 1996, in Europe and Australia, and the following day in the United States. New Adventures in Hi-Fi was the band's final album recorded with founding drummer Bill Berry, original manager Jefferson Holt, and long-time producer Scott Litt. The members of R.E.M. consider the recorded album representative of the band at their peak, and fans generally regard it as the band's last great record before a perceived artistic decline during the late 1990s and early 2000s. It has sold around seven million units, growing in cult status years after its release, with several retrospectives ranking it among the top of the band's recorded catalogue.
Up is the eleventh studio album by American rock band R.E.M. It was released on October 26, 1998, through Warner Bros. Records. The album was the band's first without drummer and founding member Bill Berry, who retired from the band in October 1997. In his place, R.E.M. used session drummers such as Joey Waronker and Barrett Martin while also utilizing drum machines. The album was produced by Pat McCarthy, making it R.E.M.'s first album since Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) not to be produced by Scott Litt.
Reveal is the twelfth studio album by American rock band R.E.M. It was released on May 14, 2001, through Warner Bros. Records and was the second of three albums by the band to be produced with Pat McCarthy. It was also R.E.M.'s second album as a three-piece following the departure of drummer Bill Berry, and includes contributions from the band's touring members Joey Waronker, Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow. The band recorded the album in various locations, including in Dublin, Miami, Vancouver, and their hometown of Athens, Georgia. The album saw R.E.M. continue to experiment with electronic music as they had on their previous album Up (1998), utilizing keyboards and drum machines, while also retaining elements of their earlier sound.
"Leaving New York" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released as the lead single from the band's 13th studio album, Around the Sun (2004). Although it was not as heavily promoted as earlier singles, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming their 11th and final top-10 hit there. However, the song failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the only lead US single from an R.E.M. studio album not to chart on the US Hot 100 besides "Cant Get There from Here" from Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985.
American alternative rock band R.E.M. has released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, fourteen compilation albums, one remix album, one soundtrack album, twelve video albums, seven extended plays, sixty-three singles, and seventy-seven music videos. Formed in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry, the band was pivotal in the development of the alternative rock genre. Their musical style inspired many other alternative rock bands and musicians, and the band became one of the first alternative rock acts to experience breakthrough commercial success. R.E.M. have sold more than ninety million albums worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
"Electron Blue" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released as the third single from their thirteenth studio album Around the Sun on February 28, 2005. Written by group members Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, the song features a synthesizer-heavy arrangement. Its lyrics describe an electric hallucinogenic drug made of light, a concept which was developed from a recurring dream of Stipe's. Upon release as a single, "Electron Blue" peaked at numbers 43 and 26 on the singles charts of Ireland and the United Kingdom respectively. Michael Stipe performed on the Around the Sun tour with a blue band painted across his eyes as a reference to the song, his personal favorite from Around the Sun.
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R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. was noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style; Stipe's distinctive vocal quality, unique stage presence, and obscure lyrics; Mills's melodic bass lines and backing vocals; and Berry's tight, economical drumming style. In the early 1990s, other alternative rock acts such as Nirvana and Pavement viewed R.E.M. as a pioneer of the genre. After Berry left the band in 1997, the band continued its career in the 2000s with mixed critical and commercial success. The band broke up amicably in 2011 with members devoting time to solo projects after having sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music acts.
Live at The Olympia is a live album by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was recorded during the band's five-night residency at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, between June 30 and July 5, 2007, and released on October 27, 2009. In this series of "working rehearsals" the songs on Accelerate were debuted, with many still works in progress. Every song from "Accelerate" appear on the album with the exception of "Hollow Man" and "Sing for the Submarine". The album is a two-CD release, and contains a total of 39 songs. In addition, a DVD with a documentary entitled This Is Not a Show directed by Vincent Moon is included. A special edition box set containing the album on four LPs as well as the two CDs and the DVD is also available.
Collapse into Now is the fifteenth and final studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on March 7, 2011, on Warner Bros. Produced by Jacknife Lee, who previously worked with the band on Accelerate (2008), the album was preceded by the singles "It Happened Today", "Mine Smell Like Honey", "Überlin" and "Oh My Heart".
Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 is a 2011 greatest hits album from alternative rock band R.E.M. Intended as a coda on their career, this is the first compilation album that features both their early work on independent record label I.R.S. Records in addition to their 10 studio releases through Warner Bros. Records. The double-disc retrospective was released through Warner Bros. on November 11, 2011, and was compiled by the band members; the existence of the compilation was revealed simultaneously with the group's announcement that they were disbanding on September 21, 2011.
R.E.M. at the BBC is a 2018 live album box set by American alternative rock band R.E.M. released on October 19, 2018. The eight-disc compilation features sessions recorded between 1984 and 2008, including a bonus DVD of videos. Additionally, a two-disc best-of collection was released on the same day.
