Up

CD Details

Review

Even with the words written in black and white, the meaning of these compelling but impressionistic tunes remains elusive. The opening cut, Airport Man, is laced, as most of the tracks are, with odd sonic effects…. — People

For all the promised adventuring, it’s a strangely cautious record, Peter Buck oddly restrained, any sudden guitar flash sounding like he’s surreptitiously crept up behind songs and wrestled them to the ground. It feels like an REM compendium, a virtual reality “Best Of” picking and mixing their past…. They play it bad, they play it sad, they play it again and again–hell, sometimes they even play just like a bunch of guys in a room. But after [all these] years, REM can still play with divine fire. — New Musical Express

Peter Buck’s once-assertive guitars mostly have gone all liquidy or simply disappeared; a layered array of pianos, organs, string adornments and mechanically ticking synthesizers and beat boxes supersedes the old guitar-band approach to evoke twilight moods that are by turns unsettling and caressing. — Los Angeles Times

The songs are built around humming, gently throbbing electronic keyboards…. Peter Buck’s guitars don’t ripple; instead, they dart in and out of the songs like sound effects. Once [Bill] Berry left, we knew R.E.M. would never be the same…. Up is the sound of the band trying to reshape its sound and vision. — Entertainment Weekly

Product Description

Released in 1998, Up is the eleventh studio album from R.E.M., and the band’s first album to be recorded after the departure of longtime drummer Bill Berry. Up takes inspiration from electronic music, using a wide range of tools to create a dreamy pop landscape that is reflective and moody. Up was certified gold in the US and multiple European territories, while it want platinum in the UK. Features single “Daysleeper.”