REM- ACCELERATE
RATED 4.5/5

The godfathers of mainstream alternative rock have pulled a Lazarus.

Just as they appeared to be going gently into that good night, REM have erupted out of the slow crooked jaunt toward sponge baths and romance novels with the appropriately named album “Accelerate.”

In all fairness, it’s been a while since I’ve paid attention to REM, but my ears were perked once again when I heard a clip on NPR and it rocked like a hurricane...or about a hurricane anyway.

The politically-charged album unveils their most hyperkinetic material since “Star 69” from 1994’s “Monster.”

“Living Well is the Best Revenge” and “Horse to Water” would find a suitable home on a punk rocker’s iPod. The sleepy reverb-drenched sound of heartland desolation that lorded over 1992’s “Automatic for the People” is transfused into tracks like “Houston” and “Until the Day is Done.”

Start to finish, it recalls the best moments of old REM and breathes new life into an abandoned ghost town of sound. Whether it was fleeting relevance or political vigor that produced an album of this caliber I can’t say. Perhaps REM has once again peered into the crystal ball to see the end of world on the horizon. Who cares? If Michael Stipe can maintain this kind of awe-inspiring intensity, he can spin records at my Armageddon house party anytime.