Up (R.E.M. album)

Up is the eleventh album by the American band R.E.M. It was their first album without their original drummer Bill Berry, who amicably left the group in October 1997 to pursue his own interests. In his place, R.E.M. would use session drummers or drum machines to fill the void.

Details

Moving into electronic music-influenced territory after delivering the challenging New Adventures in Hi-Fi in 1996, Up alienated both critics and fans of the band's 1980s work and casual listeners who were used to their more commercial early 1990s output. However, some saw it as one of their bravest and most sonically daring records to date, and the record was even cited by Radiohead, who would release their own largely electronic and highly acclaimed effort Kid A in 2000. Ending a ten year relationship with co-producer Scott Litt, R.E.M. engaged the production assistance of Pat McCarthy, who was assisted on most tracks of Up by engineer Nigel Godrich, Radiohead's producer.

With Berry's departure, the sessions for Up were indeed strained, with R.E.M. subsequently admitting that they came close to breaking up during its recording. Not surprisingly, the album is considered to have a labored and melancholic feel to it. In spite of the tension, "Daysleeper", which recalled Automatic for the People's "Try Not to Breathe" somewhat, became a Top 10 UK hit, and was followed by "Lotus", The Beach Boys-influenced "At My Most Beautiful" and "Suspicion", which is reminiscent of the song "Tongue" from their Monster album.

Breaking with a tradition that stretched back to their 1983 debut Murmur, Michael Stipe elected to have his complete lyrics included in Up's CD booklet, a practice Stipe has maintained on all subsequent R.E.M. releases.

It was rumored at the time of the album's release that "Hope" was written for Thom Yorke, "At My Most Beautiful" for Patti Smith, and "Why Not Smile" for Bill Berry. Michael Stipe denied all three in an interview for Britain's Q magazine in 1999.

Sales and critical reception

Up reached #3 in the U.S. (with 16 weeks on the Billboard 200) and #2 in the UK, but didn't have the staying power of their previous decade's albums, giving them their lowest sales in years. Although they initially intended on not supporting the album live, following many successful promotional concerts upon the album's release R.E.M. quickly arranged a four-month arena tour of Europe and America during the summer of 1999. As of March 2007, Up has sold 664,000 units in the U.S.

In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Up which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.

In 2006, Q magazine "saved" this album from their "50 Worst Albums Ever" list, saying that it is "superior to Monster" and claiming it "a start of renaissance". It received 4/5 stars.

Track listing

All songs by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe unless otherwise stated.

"Airportman" – 4:12
"Lotus" – 4:30
"Suspicion" – 5:36
"Hope" (Leonard Cohen, Buck, Mills, Stipe)¹ – 5:02
"At My Most Beautiful" – 3:35
"The Apologist" – 4:30
"Sad Professor" – 4:01
"You're in the Air" – 5:22
"Walk Unafraid" – 4:31
"Why Not Smile" – 4:03
"Daysleeper" – 3:40
"Diminished" – 6:01
Includes a brief piece entitled "I'm Not over You", with Stipe soloing on acoustic guitar, after the song's conclusion.
"Parakeet" – 4:09
"Falls to Climb" – 5:06

Studio B-sides

Two non-album tracks from the Up sessions appeared as single-only releases, as well as three alternate versions of album tracks.

"Emphysema"
"Surfing the Ganges" – 2:25
"Why Not Smile" (Oxford-American version)
"Suspicion" (live in the studio) – 5:39
"Lotus" (Weird Mix)

Personnel

R.E.M.
Peter Buck – bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, percussion
Mike Mills – keyboards, guitar, bass, backing vocals
Michael Stipe – lead vocals, guitar

Additional musicians
Barrett Martin – percussion
Scott McCaughey – keyboards, percussion
Joey Waronker – drums, percussion

Technical staff
Nigel Godrich – engineering
Pat McCarthy – production

Sales chart performance

Album

Singles

Translation of "Up (R.E.M. album)"

Czech: Up, Spanish: Up (álbum), French: Up (album, 1998), Italian: Up (R.E.M.), Norwegian (Bokmål): Up (R.E.M), Norwegian (Nynorsk): Up av R.E.M., Polish: Up, Portuguese: Up (álbum), Finnish: Up, Swedish: Up (musikalbum av R.E.M.).