New Adventures in Hi-Fi - R.E.M. (CD 1996)

There is perhaps no band with a collection of material out there like R.E.M. that I personally am so hit or miss with. I've listened to all of their albums at various points in my life, although I have to admit my reaction to some of the earlier albums at 14 years of age would be decidedly different than it would be at 24. That being said, at one point back in 1995/1996 I even considered them one of my favorite bands, with no small reason for that being the three album stretch that began with 1992's Automatic for the People, continued with 1994's Monster, and concluding with this album, 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

While I consider Automatic to be the band's artistic highpoint, my opinion on Monster has dimmed in recent years. With that being said, for some reason, New Adventures in Hi-Fi reigns as my favorite R.E.M. album, and it reigns by far, although I'm not exactly sure why.

Maybe it's the fact that the songs seem to have a certain energy that is missing on many other R.E.M. records, an energy that can be easily explained by the fact that most of the album was recorded on the road during shows, soundchecks, and even the random dressing room (as Zither is attributed to being recorded in). The band went into a Seattle studio to finish off the album at the conclusion of the Monster tour, which proved to be a trying experience for the band thanks to the nearly fatal brain aneurysm suffered by drummer Bill Berry, and the other surgeries that bassist/keyboardist Mike Mills and lead singer Michael Stipe had to undergo in the middle of a hectic touring schedule.

There is not a whole lot of cohesion to this record; the songs jump around from a mix of 90s alternative rock and glam (my favorite R.E.M. song of all time, The Wake Up Bomb) to the sparse yet creative How the West Was Won And Where It Got Us.

I still remember hearing The Wake Up Bomb for the first time when the band played it on the MTV Video Music Awards. I was immediately obsessed with the song, to the point where I taped the performance off of the television so I could listen to it wherever. I love the drums on this track, and I especially love the swagger with which the whole band puts forward their performance. How this song did not make the cut for Monster I'll never ever know...

Another Monster outtake, Undertow, is a solid mix of bass, drums and static, and it's chorus is anthemic and passionate, with Stipe sounding positively energized, no doubt due to the live setting in which it was recorded.

The band still is able to explore other styles besides straight ahead rock and roll though, most notably on what was the first single, E-Bow the Letter, which features a guest spot vocal performance from Patti Smith. The song doesn't have much in the line of a hook, but what it lacks in that it makes up for in atmosphere and in Stipe's desparate vocal performance.

Bittersweet Me brings the band back to their jangly guitar roots, while Electrolite recalls the brilliance of the 1992 Automatic for the People piano ballad Nightswimming, as well as the atmosphere of that record, with it's dark undertones belying the somewhat upbeat and happy melody.

Lest we forget that there is more rock. The crunch and energy of Departure make for a fun rave up, and there's just something about Binky the Doormat that I find absolutely enthralling.

While New Adventures in Hi-Fi is not a perfect record by any means (it has a couple of duds, namely Zither and Low Desert, the latter of which tries much too hard to be melodic southern rock, and the album as a whole can be quite a jarring complete listen), but it is still a solid album, no doubt helped by the fact that most of it was recorded live, which means the band was giving it their all, something that could not be said about some of the tracks on Monster.

It's not their best album, but it is my favorite R.E.M. album. It is also a first rate showing of how much they miss Berry, who left the band in 1997 in order to spend more time with his family. They haven't been the same band since.

4 stars.

More on R.E.M.:

In Time...The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003
Reveal