Product Description
For Collapse Into Now, R.E.M., which is singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills, re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band's acclaimed previous album Accelerate. Lee is also noted for his work on albums by U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, and indie stalwarts Kasabian, Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party. R.E.M. and Lee recorded the album in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie's Heroes, U2's Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, were made. Additional recording and mixing was done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville. The band has also revealed that Collapse Into Now features some very special guests: Patti Smith, guitarist Lenny Kaye, Peaches, Eddie Vedder, and The Hidden Cameras frontman Joel Gibb.

1. Discoverer
2. All The Best
3. Uberlin
4. Oh My Heart
5. It Happened Today - Featuring Eddie Vedder
6. Every Day Is Yours To Win
7. Mine Smell Like Honey
8. Walk It Back
9. Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter - Featuring Peaches And Lenny Kaye
10. That Someone Is You
11. Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando And I
12. Blue - Featuring Patti Smith

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G5ZXVQ/?tag=imwan-20

Hmmm, material not chosen yet, but producer is already a go. Too bad about the choice.

I loved Accelerate, so I'm looking forward to this follow-up. Except for the Warner Bros. greatest hts collection from 5-6 ago, I had not bought an R.E.M. album since Automatic For The People due to bad reviews of more recent albums. If they continue in Accelerate's direction, I'm back in for the long haul.

REM start work on new album with Jacknife Lee
Michael Stipe posts two videos of the sessions online

November 18, 2009
http://www.nme.com/news/rem/48448

REM have started work on their new album, with frontman Michael Stipe posting two behind the scenes videos of the band in the studio online - watch them by clicking below.

Producer Jacknife Lee, who worked on the band's 2008 album 'Accelerate', is again with them in the studio according to a post on the band's website, Remhq.com.

Although Stipe does not speak in either of the videos (below), fans are able to hear snippets of music the band are working on.

R.E.M. is one of those bands for me that i have all of their albums but i never ever listen to them at all. i don;t even have a comp CD-R for the car. i keep expecting something that i never get. i have bought the last 3 or 4 used and will probably do the same with this.

REM name new album
Band to release 15th studio album next year

October 15, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/53435

REM have named their forthcoming new album 'Collapse Into Now'.

Michael Stipe and co's next effort is set to be released in the first half of 2011. They were aided by producer Jacknife Lee, who also worked on the band's last album, 2008's 'Accelerate'.

The album news was revealed by the band's manager Bertis Downs during an appearance at the In The City music conference in Manchester. He later tweeted to confirm the news.

REM's new album to feature Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith and Peaches
'Collapse Into Now' will be released in early 2011

November 4, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/michael-stipe/53709

REM have revealed that their new album will feature collaborations with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith and Peaches.

Due for release in early 2011, 'Collapse Into Now' is set to be more "expansive" than 2008's 'Accelerate'.

"With 'Accelerate' we were trying to make a point by making the songs as short and as fast as possible," multi-instrumentalist Mike Mills told Spin.com. "So we wanted this new one to be more expansive."

"We wanted to put more variety into it and not limit ourselves to any one type of song," he continued. "There are some really slow, beautiful songs; there are some nice, mid-tempo ones; and then there are three or four rockers."

Although the band have yet to announce a tracklisting, Mills did reveal that a song called 'Blue' will feature Patti Smith, Peaches is on a track with the word "alligator" in its title and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder will appear on 'It Happened Today'.

The band worked on their fifteenth studio effort in Berlin, Nashville and New Orleans, which saw the group sample the local food and drink of each city.

"It's also fun for us to go to the cities we really love and spend some time," admitted Mills. "After a day's work in the studio, the band would go out to dinner. It's really important to go out, get great food, shrug off the debris of the day, and just be friends and have a good time."

He added: "In Berlin you drink beer and eat wurst. In New Orleans you eat Cajun food and drink sazerac. In Nashville we ate a lot of fried chicken."

Never a big R.E.M. fan, but if Patti is on it, I'll buy it.

Accelerate was a step in the right direction. This sounds interesting at least.

REM announce new album release date and free download
Band to release 'Collapse Into Now' in March

December 15, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/54269

REM are set to release their new album 'Collapse Into Now' on March 7.

They are set to make the first song from the album, 'Discoverer', available as a free download from http://www.remhq.com.

The record will be Michael Stipe and co's 15th studio effort. It was recorded in Hansa Studios in Berlin with producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Bloc Party, Weezer).

Guests on the album include Patti Smith, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Peaches and Lenny Kaye.

The tracklisting of 'Collapse Into Now' is:

'Discoverer'
'All The Best'
'Uberlin'
'Oh My Heart'
'It Happened Today’ (featuring Eddie Vedder)
'Every Day Is Yours to Win’
'Mine Smell Like Honey’
'Walk It Back’
'Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter’ (featuring Peaches and Lenny Kaye)
'That Someone Is You’
'Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I’
'Blue’ (featuring Patti Smith)

I signed up and didn't get my free download...?

I lost interest in R.E.M. a long time ago and from what I'm reading here, I'm not sure there's enough to interest me. I'll pay attention to what's said about the album when it's released, but I'm really not that hopeful.

considering purging the R.E.M. that i have down to only those i might listen to again someday.

REM promise 'Collapse Into Now' will be a 'classic'-sounding album
Guitarist Peter Buck tells NME about band's forthcoming record

January 14, 2011
http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/54561

REM guitarist Peter Buck says the band have recaptured their "classic" sound on new album 'Collapse Into Now'.

Buck, speaking in the new issue of NME, said the band are feeling confident about the album ahead of its March 7 release.

"I've always tended to not say it's the greatest record we've ever done because that's what everyone does and it's usually bullshit," he said. "But this feels like every song all the way through is great."

He added: "I hate to say that, but that's just the feeling. It's got some beautiful, heartbreaking things and well as some really noisy rock and everything in between. It sounds really classic."

Oh Lord. Mine Smell Like Honey is horrible. Musically closer to their classic period than anything else in years but that chorus is just god awful. This may literally go down as one of my most disliked songs EVER. Possibly because it has so much potential, completely destroyed by a completely stupid chorus.

Usually the first single is the best track on the album. Wow.

What in the world happened to these guys!? It seems like literally to the day Bill Berry left, they went down the tubes. Could he really have been that influential of a voice within the band? I know that his leaving allowed them to feel free enough to experiment in different musical styles but is it possible he was the one keeping the train on the tracks for all those years?

i'd really like to hear a fan's perspective. I have most of their stuff (actually probably all of it, plus a few imports) but I don't have the perspective of a diehard and I'd really like to know from someone much more educated in the band than I am.

Bill Berry was a key band member insofar as when they worked up their songs, they worked them as a band. Losing 25% of your band leaves two options: try to replace said member and replicate your sound as it was, or mutate. For Up, Reveal and Around The Sun, the band decided to be different. Add a bit of electronics, try not to be so jingle jangle, more keyboards. I'm a fan since the Hibtone 45 and I thought both Up and Reveal (especially Reveal which is a truly great album) were brave albums and certainly more in keeping with the original renegade spirit of the band than standing in one place. They lost the plot a bit with Around The Sun, but even that has some fine moments. Accelerate was a very good return to form. Maybe the layoff from their typical sound re-energised them into wanting to try it again, and it worked. Also, Live at The Olympia is an excellent live album that reaches deep into the catalogue and does it justice. Very high energy, Stipe is in fine form. I think just one so-so album in such a long career is a pretty terrific track record. Of course this is just my opinion, but I've been listening to music since the late 50's and there are very few bands or performers who I've stuck with for the long haul and just buy each release without thinking about it. These guys earned my respect long ago, and their attitude of just getting on with it is to be admired. The fact that they still make excellent music makes following them all the more worthwhile.

I just cracked open my copy of Live at The Olympia, which has been sitting in a pile for a long time. What a great collection. Yes, truly does the band and catalog justice.

REM unlikely to tour new album 'Collapse Into Now'
Manager Bertis Downs tells reporters about their plans

January 25, 2011
http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/54687

REM are unlikely to tour their new album 'Collapse Into Now' - according to manager Bertis Downs.

The band release the album on March 7, and Downs is said to have spoken of their touring plans during an interview with the Athens Banner-Herald.

Writing on her Athensmusicandarts.tumblr.com blog, interviewer Julie Phillips explained that Downs reiterated to her that the band have not always toured their previous albums, and that they don't plan to hit the road to promote 'Collapse Into Now' either.

Speaking to NME in December, REM guitarist Peter Buck said the band were still deciding whether to tour the album or not. "I'd really like to do it, but we've toured a lot recently," he said, adding that they were due to meet in the New Year to decide properly.

As a long-time fan (since the "Chronic Town" ep, before their first album was out) I'll be buying this release, but the "... with special guests" aspect is never an encouraging sign, in my opinion. R.E.M.'s work with other artists in the past has been rather hit-or-miss, and while there were some inspiring moments, a lot of it just didn't work ("Shiny Happy People", for example). I am all for musicians trying to broaden their horizons and evolve, but my expectations for this are not very high, let's hope that I'm proven wrong.

To me, R.E.M.'s music lost a little of its edge when they started augmenting their live shows with additional musicians (around 1986, or so, years before drummer Bill Berry left the band). The original four members had an incredible sound live, but it lost a little something special when they added other people to the mix, IMHO. The band still puts on a great live show to this day, but there was just something magical in the sound of the original four-piece unit.

[/end of "living in the past" rant, LOL]