Album Review – R.E.M. "Accelerate" (2008)

Many years ago, my friends and I were listening to this new album by a band from Athens, Ga., and debating the lyrics. "Did he just sing 'inside a moral kiosk?' What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

More than 20 year later, no debating is necessary. We can hear the words Michael Stipe is singing these days – and, for the most part, we know what they mean.

At least we do with Accelerate (2008), R.E.M.'s 14th album and its first release in four years, which is due in stores this Tuesday.

Do I like this album? Yes, I do. Very much.

A few months from now, will I reach for it rather than my personal favorite releases from the band, Murmur (1983) or Life's Rich Pageant (1986)? I'm not sure.

For one thing, as you might have heard, this is an out-and-out rock album. The trademark jangling guitars have mostly disappeared, replaced by crunching power chords, fuzzbox effects and other forms of musical rawness. This is not a bad thing in and of itself. But, again, this somewhat personal: I've always preferred when R.E.M. goes folkier with songs like "Perfect Circle," "Fall On Me" or "Near Wild Heaven" rather than the harder-driving "What's the Frequency Kenneth," "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and "Finest Worksong." In my perfect world, Peter Buck would always channel Roger McGuinn, rather than Jim Hendrix. And Stipe's voice would softly drip with aching passion, rather than sound like it's coming out of a megaphone.

That being said, Accelerate works in ways that the band's more recent efforts have fallen short.

There is a lot of raw power in these songs, thanks to the band working through them in concert before heading to the studio. But the emphasis on power hasn't really affected the band's sense of melody and musical creativity. I'd argue that standout track a like "Man-Sized Wreath" and "Hollow Man," with all of their shifts, are some of the most interesting pieces of music that the band has recorded in years. I'll be humming them for months, which is always a good sign.

Play "Man-Sized Wreath" by R.E.M.

Now about those lyrics. Stipe recently told Spin magazine: "When the empire is going down the toilet, it's easy to write great, angry songs." Indeed, Stipe's seething fury with the Bush administration infects the entire album. And that's not a bad thing. Stipe's lyrics have never been one of his strengths – in fact, it has been one of his weaknesses, I'd argue – but it's easy to see that the newfound passion of the formerly apolitical lead singer has helped him write lyrics of unsurpassed (for him) cogency and poignancy. The paean to Hurricane Katrina survivors, "Houston," includes the opening line "If the storm doesn't kill me/The government will." But then Stipe goes on to capture the mixture of hopelessness and necessary optimism felt by many so hurricane survivors: "I was taught to hold my head high/Collect what is mine/Make the best of what today has"

Play "Houston" by R.E.M.

Almost every song from the album is haunting in its own way. But despite all the seriousness, band can still have fun with "I'm Gonna DJ" – kind of a weird combination of the "It's the End of the World…"and "Radio Song" from 1991's Out of Time.

I'm sure I'll be listening to Accelerate for weeks and even months to come. But I'll keep my copy of Murmur close at hand.

Besides, one of these days, I got to figure what the !@#$% Stipe is singing…

Cover of the Week – Yael Naim "Toxic"

Weren't we at this point a few weeks ago?

Yes, as a matter of fact, we started this "Cover of the Week" feature with the traditional bluegrass trio Nickel Creek doing a live version of the Britney Spears "classic."

But I had to post this song again. Because I was so impressed with this version of "Toxic" as performed by Yael Naim, a new artist that you may not familiar with but have definitely heard.

Naim is the one singing "New Soul" on all those ubiquitous MacBook Air ads. From that fragment, you might characterize her as new breed of "fragile" singers a la Sia. But what you don't hear is how the song eventually kicks in with hand-clapping, a rollicking marching band and full-throttle backing vocals that culminates with an acapella choir. (OK, many of you have heard the full version: I just learned that it actually entered the Billboard Top 10 earier this month)

To my ears at least, Naim is an artist in the Fiona Apple mold, albeit a little more on the melodic and mainstream side. The child of Sephardic Jewish parents, the French-born Naim now lives in Israel. You see a lot of her multi-cultural influences in "Toxic," which is softer than "New Soul" and proudly states its uniqueness with Middle Eastern flutes performing the closing coda. She also performs it as a slow ballad (no surprise) dripping with sexual yearning and sensuality.

Play "Toxic" by Yael Naim.

And here's the YouTube Video of her performing it live as a solo piano piece. The sexual tension within the song, completely missing from Ms. Britney's version, just drips off the keys, I have to say.

Record Review – Joe Jackson "Rain" (2008)

Four years after his last album, one of pop music’s most eclectic and often frustrating performers returns to the scene with an album due out on Rykodisc next week.

And as this album shows, despite being 52 and nearly 30 years removed from his angry debut in 1979, he hasn’t lost either his cynicism or his musicality.

Recorded in his new home of Berlin, Germany last year with his longtime musical sidekicks, bassist Graham Maby and drummer David Houghton, the 10-song set gets back to the classic Jackson pop of 2003’s “Volume Four.” It’s almost the same classic lineup that Jackson assembled for “Volume 4” in 2003 – with one crucial difference.

And that may be the difference that prevents this latest effort from being a truly great Joe Jackson album.

Guitarist Gary Sanford is MIA and, indeed, there is not a single guitar on the entire album. Which is both a blessing and a curse. Because while no one can string together a series of tuneful piano fills quite like Jackson, the listener can’t help wish for a more filled out sound that might give his latest songs some necessary heft. Truly, Jackson, who has said in interviews that one of his greatest frustrations is that he never learned to play guitar, needs a little variation now and then.

It’s not as if these are lightweight numbers. Jackson’s weary worldview never seemed fresher than on numbers such as “Invisible Man” and “Citizen Sain.” But few would dispute that part of what made Jackson such an interesting performer in the 80s was all the musical interaction he had on classic albums such as “Night and Day” and “Body and Soul.” Where would "You Can't Get What You Want" be without the really amazing pseudo-George Benson solo in the middle of it?

That said, “Rain” has several songs that are among the strongest Jackson has ever written. Lyrically,“Wasted Time” doesn’t stake any new territory in terms of its story about a love affair going bad, but Jackson’s falsetto vocal helps the song soar to new places musically.

“The Uptown Train” takes a “Song for My Father” groove and meshes it with more than a few flourishes that hearken back to “Night and Day.” And the lovely “A Place in the Rain,” with its dissipating piano, ends the album on a perfect note.

Say it is so. Joe Jackson is back.

Download "King Pleasure Time" by Joe Jackson