Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

R.E.M. Collapse into Now

If you read the interview from '95 it was clear that R.E.M. were fully intending to be here now, in their 50's, still making records and trying to knock themselves out in the process. But they ain't going to play this Collapse LIVE (according to Peter Buck) and that SUCKS! But unlike the last LP I'm not going to sulk I shall review it away but you may just hear me grinding my teeth as I do.

To live in a world where you have the money to do what ever you please whenever you please must be wonderful. But be warned! A life of ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES should not be confused with a life of absolute FREEDOM.

R.E.M. album no.15 then, the tenacious three are still hanging tough with a deal of ability, an abundance of craft, and with experience spewing forth from their ears. They've done it all before, seen it all before, shagged it all before and invariably got the t shirt. Surely musically R.E.M. are faced with a blank canvas of ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES. Yep, it doesn't get any easier. But coming three years after "Accelerate" on which R.E.M. regrouped, went back to basics, got over the leaving of Bill Berry and ground themselves right down to a fine base metal "Collapse" finds them retaining the visceral immediacy sound of "Accelerate" as a spine and more importantly retaining Jacknife Lee to produce. Whilst the flesh and bones of the LP goes wondering off revisiting other chapters of R.E.M. past. "Collapse into Now" is actually a misnomer the record actually "Expands into the Past", stepping forward whilst looking back.

There's nothing to be scared of on "Collapse", most of it is very familiar. The doors have been flung open this time to let in a multitude of guests but ostensibly this is R.E.M. being R.E.M. rather than what they were on "Around the Sun" and "Reveal" which for me was something most definitely other. The whole spectrum of the R.E.M.'s oeuvre is rubbed up against here. What d'you mean you don't know what the full spectrum of REM oeuvre is? Well let me draw you a diagram then. Think of a semi circle. Yeah. Then at 9 o'clock on the left hand side there's Don Mclean, follow the arc up past Ultra Christian Folk to Country Folk to Zimmerman Folk past Jonathon Richman and the Modern Lovers to where we have Popular AM radio Indie Rock & Roll at 12 o'clock. Then slip down the other side of the arc past the New Wavers, The Furs, Patti Smith, Post punk, Velvet Underground and finally finish up with Gang of Four circa '79 at 3 O'clock. Got it? Good, it may help later.

The simultaneous ringing and chiming Pete Buck's guitar heralds in the fantabulous "Discoverer" and the thrash and go of "All the Best" both could have come straight off the compact concise sound of "Accelerate", as could the wee but perfectly formed "That Someone Is You" and "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter" where Peaches (who ever she is) does a Kate Pierson. Find these tracks residing around 2 O'clock on the REM spectrum.

Swing over to the folk side of the rails for the next four ditties "Überlin", "Oh My Heart" "It Happened Today" all about 10 o'clock. Then "Every Day Is Yours to Win" which follows in the same vein and is lyrically about as near to "My Way" as Michael Stipe has as yet gotten "With the brilliance and the light, with the sting and the hide and the road ahead of you. I can not tell a lie. It's not all cherry pie. But it's all there waiting for you. Yeah you" A moment of FM indie-ness follows with "Mine Smell Like Honey" its found at 12 o'clock dead. And then there's a big chunky anthemic piano ramble called "Walk It Back" lighters in the air - oh sorry their not doing the LP live so cancel that.

And to close there's "Blue" which is perhaps best described as "E Bow Part II", "Son of E Bow" or "E Bow Returns". Stipe narrates in a part Bukowski part Martin Sheen from Apocalypse Now way (oh shit I forget to mention Me and Marlon Brando not to worry no one reads this shit and anyway and REM ain't playing LIVE so who cares). Patti Smith pops up as she did on "E Bow" like a disembodied presence crying out from the electronic wilderness, it should be called "Blue Venus Furs E Bow The End" really; it neatly concludes with a segue back into "Discoverer" just to prove that there is still some one out there trying to make a complete artistic object called an album.

"Collapse into Now" works! All the way through. It's a neatly crafted collection of R.E.M. remembrances. The only pisser is that REM have no intention of playing the LP LIVE or have I already mentioned that? I'd run out of ink if I started to tell them why that is just fundamentally wrong. A band that doesn't play this good LIVE? Oh my heart whatever next.


done & done ed