Reveal - R.E.M. > Reviews

Advantages: Great lyrics and design
Disadvantages: none

...their first release. Its called Reveal if I had to reveal that to you or any thing. ~ History ~ The band recorded and released their first album in 1981. Since then they have 12 albums, the most recent being Up and others recent albums include Monster and Automatic For The People. Although it has been 11 years since their rise to world fame their 20 years in the business has been consistent but experimental and so they don't really get the acclaim ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic tunes that take you back to REMs earlier works
Disadvantages: none

...places and Green in others, Reveal is REMs strongest album in a long while. So what are the songs like? Well, the first thing you notice when hearing The Lifting, the first song on the album, is that although they are now using a drum machine for most of their work, the old 'laid back' sound is back in fasion and the lyrics are some of their strongest (and strangest) yet. I've Been High is the second song on the album and is a fantastic little ... Read review

Advantages: 12 great songs, a return to the popular Automatic for the People style.
Disadvantages: Track 4 isn't quite as good as the rest.

...first album in 1981 and Reveal is their 12th offering. It is a testament to their creativity and talent that they have achieved such enduring success. Their rise to the forefront of the music world began with the release of Out of Time some 11 years ago; this was followed by one of the finest albums ever with Automatic For The People. Since then they have received some criticism for their last three albums, unfairly in my view as I think some of the ... Read review

Advantages: Classic REM, hooks to die for, you can sing along!!
Disadvantages: Saturn Returns, still a great song though

...wasn't going to bother buying Reveal but it got a 5 star rating in Q and I loved the single Imitation Of Life so I brought it for £9.99 from Sainsbury's! I listened to it the same evening and have to say that I was a little disappointed, the whole album except the single went by without really being noticed. So I listened again next day, not bad I thought, one or two good tracks. But by the third play it was really starting to grab me, I found ... Read review

Advantages: Hmm...excellent, makes you think, you can just kick back and listen as these guys return to their best
Disadvantages: It'll be a while b4 the next album now...:(

...world, and with good cause, Reveal sees the trio back to their best, the haunting, melodic, often beautiful voice of Michael Stype offsets the musical excellence of this album to it’s full. REM at their best pure and simple, forget the boy bands, forget N*SYNC, Boyzone, Take that, East 17 and all the rest, REM are where the talent is at in the musical industry. They take their mantel along side the likes of the Beatles and U2 by producing yet ... Read review

Advantages: R.E.M back to their old selves
Disadvantages: Can be a bit Gloomy

...Everybody Hurts, and Country Feedback. Reveal is a masterpiece in my mind, not just on its song merits, no, it makes me feel like its 1991 again, and I’m kicking back listening to Out of Time. This album has quite a lot of, as another dooyooer so eloquently put it, non-songs (basically songs with out the chorus to verse to chorus to verse structure) and surprisingly this works well. So what this album presents you with is eleven, sombre, sad, ... Read review

Advantages: It's REM - they can never be BAD
Disadvantages: Too many 'non-songs'; too slow

REM are back with their first album of the new millennium. Charged with being The Greatest Rock Band in the World™, can they still justify that title? I’ve been a fan of REM for a long time. I thought they were quite superb up until their 1992 album, "Automatic For The People", producing consistently brilliant songs in their own unique style. "Monster" (1994) was a big disappointment for me, even though I'm usually a fan of noisy guitars ... Read review

Advantages: a great return to form
Disadvantages: -

After their outstanding album of 1992, Automatic for The People, REM went for a rougher guitar-rock based sound, which persisted though Monster (1994), New Adventures in HiFi (1996) and Up (1998), with many viewing them as a spent force. Their “unofficial” album, the soundtrack to Man on the Moon, starring Jim Carrie, which featured the hit single “The Great Beyond” indicated that perhaps they might be going back towards their ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful , melodic , immense and soft
Disadvantages: A few more Harmonies from Mike Mills would be nice.

When an album like this comes along , what do you expect ? Up was at best tunefall and at worst difficult, even after repeated listenings. So What next . The Sessions for Up had nearly destroyed the band , could they put themselves in that situation again . Well with some minor changes and help from Ken stringfellow and Scott Mccaugh they have produced an album of supreme beauty and magnificence. From the opening Chords of "The Lifting" to the final ... Read review

Advantages: better than what the chartes have to offer
Disadvantages: doesn't reach its full potentail

...well. Unfortunately I will remember reveal for some poor tracks as well. Before this album I didn’t think REM made bad tracks, I just hope they return to their best soon. The occasional twangy guitar doesn’t make up for the lack of rock that ‘Monster’ offered with songs like ‘what’s the frequency Kenneth?’ It also lacks the more meaningful songs that break into an exploding chorus that ‘automatic’ ... Read review

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

R.E.M are an excellent band, they have been successful over a long of period of time and there still going strong. This is album titled ‘Reveal’ is just a must for all REM fans out there, and any music fan. Twelve excellent tracks and not one that will be the ‘weakest link’ in the words of Anne Robinson. The album starts with ‘The Lifting’ and it’s a great track to start the album off with, the track is ... Read review

Advantages: R.E.M. still going strong
Disadvantages: Not strong enough

...be adding many tracks from Reveal to that list. I don’t know if REM have just run out of ideas, or this is a new direction in their music that I just don’t get, whichever way it goes, this CD is already near the bottom of the pile. I’ve really tried listening over and over, but the tracks just blend into one another, the lyrics, always a bit subliminal and quirky have reached a new level of sublime and quirk. The sound is most ... Read review