Concert Preview
R.E.M. slows it down on all-ballad "Around the Sun"

By Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times music critic

R.E.M. — Mike Mills, left, Peter Buck and Michael Stipe — will perform at the relatively intimate McCaw Hall tonight and tomorrow.

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R.E.M.'s two shows here in the relatively intimate confines of McCaw Hall (capacity 2,960) isn't so much a gift to Seattle fans — guitarist Peter Buck lives here, and so do back-up multi-instrumentalists Ken Stringfellow and Scott McCaughey and drummer Bill Rieflin — but may be more of an economic necessity.

The band, touring behind its new album, "Around the Sun," is playing smaller venues because it's not the powerhouse attraction it used to be. Since 1997, when drummer Bill Berry left the band because of health reasons, R.E.M. has not been very active, and its albums since then, "Up," "Reveal" and the new one, have failed to capture the interest of new, younger fans.

"Around the Sun" has been the worst-reviewed of R.E.M.'s 13 studio albums and will probably be its worst seller. It peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart five weeks ago. This week, it's slipped down to 116. It hasn't even gone gold (500,000 in sales) yet, as "Up" and "Reveal" eventually did.

"Around the Sun" is all ballads, which makes the disc drag. It also has an ill-advised rap from Q-Tip on the song "The Outsiders" that's embarrassing not only because R.E.M. is coming to rap so late, but also because the lame rhyme adds nothing to the song.

Concert preview R.E.M. and Bright Eyes, 8 tonight and tomorrow night, McCaw Hall, Seattle Center; $39.50-$75 (206-628-0888, www.ticketmaster.com or www.hob.com; information, 206-684-7200, www.seattlecenter.com, www.remhq.com).

But the disc also has some fine songs, like the lush, dreamy "Electron Blue" and the pleasant opening cut, "Leaving New York." Overall, lead singer Michael Stipe's lyrics on the album are not as murky as in the past (and there's a lyric sheet, for a change) and have to do with post-9/11 concerns, the band's near-demise when Berry left and disillusioning politics. But his eloquent writings are sometimes lost in lush arrangements. Some of the disc's songs may sound better in concert, especially if they're more energized.

While recording the new album in Vancouver, B.C., the group released a greatest-hits collection, "In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003," so the concerts tonight and tomorrow night will probably draw from it as well as the new disc.

R.E.M. provided the template for the indie-rock movement in the early '80s, setting the stage for the flowering of punk and grunge, culminating in Nirvana. R.E.M. moved from the college-radio underground to arena-rock superstardom in the '90s.

If the band seems out-of-touch now, that doesn't mean it won't roar back into the hit lists in coming years, because it has the talent and energy to do so.

Meanwhile, true fans can enjoy the band in smaller venues.

Opening act Bright Eyes features Nebraska singer-songwriter Conor Oberst. Bright Eyes was one of the bands that joined R.E.M. in the anti-Bush "Vote for Change" concert series prior to the election.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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