Around The Sun (studio album) by R.E.M.

Around the Sun" is, like the recent "Reveal" and older albums like "Out of Time", a soft melodic album, with an overall acoustic atmosphere. The opening track and big hit "Leaving New York" is the perfect opener and obviously one of the stand-outs, but the high standards continues throughout the album - at least until track 9 "Aftermath", which was also a minor single-hit.
There is a nice mixture of fine ballads like "Make it Easy on Me", "I Wanted to be Wrong" and "Boy in the Well", and more upbeat and catchy songs like "Aftermath" and "The Outsiders" - both songs all-time R.E.M. favourites of mine.

The two other singles "Electron Blue" and "Wanderlust" are also great tracks - and generally it's a nice album in the easily recognizable R.E.M. style.

https://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDrem.html

Most underrated album of REM.
For me it is one of the best albums they made. The worst joke ever, Electron blue, Leaving New York, The Ascent of man: all classics.

From poppmusic 02/05/2021 22:24

It's not that bad, but still it's SO BORING. UGH.

It has taken me fifteen years of listening to this album fairly regularly to recognize Boy in the Well as the epic it has revealed itself to be to me. Is there any other song where Michael Stipe shows his vulnerability more, through not only the lyrics but their delivery? (Only The Wrong Child comes to mind). I have learned to understand that the lyrics could apply to admitting your homosexuality and leaving your unsupportive family for an adopted "family" of friends, not just leaving a lover in a depressing town, as I understood it for years. Knowing a bit about Michael Stipe's private life, this explains why the delivery seems so heartfelt and personal. Other standouts on this album are Leaving New York, Electron Blue, The Outsiders, Aftermath and Final Straw. Basically half the album is great. The other half, not so much...

REM themselves have berated this album

And general consensus is that it is substandard for them

However - I love this album and choose to play it more often than some of their other 'classics'

I would bin 'wanderlust' but otherwise I think all the songs are well crafted and 'leaving New York ' is one of their best ever.

Give it a listen - it's not as bad as you'd think

From Brad1770 08/31/2017 09:53

Easily REMs worst album , a genuine stain on a stellar cateloge . Uninspired, lame and dull . In a word no....

"Leaving New York" is quite good; however, it's all downhill from there. "Electron Blue" is pretty decent but foreshadows how mundane the rest of the album is. Really sad, just for the fact that all the band members sound passionless.

This is really underrated. Alright, it's not their best, but it does contain, leaving new York, a genuine REM classic. One complaint i hear is that the album is too plodding, but I think that adds to the experience of it, instead of taking it away. There are some really good songs here. I've already mentioned the best track, but other stand outs are, I wanted to be wrong, which wouldn't have been out of place on Automatic for the people, there's the excellent, the boy in the well and the electronica of, electron blue. I'm not a great fan of wanderlust which sounds like she's electric, and, high speed train, is ok, but it's certainly not a bad album, much better than, collapse into now, seven years down the line. Other tracks like, the outsiders, aftermath, and, the ascent of man, are all good songs. REM were obviously past their best at this point, but they certainly weren't over the hill. An overlooked album, worth a second glance.

This is one lame record by one of the greatest bands ever. I get the feeling they recorded this because they needed another album for their contract. Insipid and uninspired you can skip this one.

A very middle aged record, quite nice, but there’s not much passion. Their weakest album