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Accelerate
by
Accelerate Image
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 139 Ratings

  • Summary: The rock band's 14th album is promised to be more rocking than its last release, Around the Sun.

Top Track

Living Well Is The Best Revenge
It's only when your poison spreads Into the life you hope to live And suddenly you wake up In a shaking panic, now You set me up like a lamb to... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    Heavyweight champeen or not, Stipe's got his fighting spirit back, and so does his band.
  2. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    80
    When in doubt, crank the amps. This is the philosophy behind R.E.M.’s new album, Accelerate, their best, and certainly their loudest, in years.
  3. Mojo
    80
    It really does seem that a decade-long period of interbal artistic crisis has been resolved, beautifully, even triumphantly. [Apr 2008, p.98]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Accelerate is by some considerable distance REM’s best and most cohesive album since Berry left, and crucially echoes a time when they made their best music, if not necessarily their biggest-selling.
  5. Village Voice
    70
    'Sing for the Submarine's' winking nods to old song titles ("electron blue," "gravity's pull," "high-speed train") are painfully self-aware. It's a sharp contrast to the rest of Accelerate, on which R.E.M. stop overthinking things--and start roaring toward the future.
  6. Paste Magazine
    70
    There’s good rock ’n’ roll here, and it’s vital and raw enough to be memorable. But there’s something calculated too, something demographically researched and meticulously executed in these songs.
  7. NOW Magazine
    40
    There are a few jangly throwbacks for nostalgia’s sake interspersed throughout Accelerate, but they’re overshadowed by blustery guitar blather that shouts “anachronism” at every turn.

See all 33 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 78
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 78
  3. Negative: 3 out of 78
  1. [Anonymous]
    Apr 1, 2008
    10
    Music that resonates with their past albums without repeating the sound. This sounds like a band that made LRP and Document matured over 20 Music that resonates with their past albums without repeating the sound. This sounds like a band that made LRP and Document matured over 20 yrs. to deliver Accelerate.… Expand
  2. JohnN.
    Apr 4, 2008
    10
    Excellent album. Their best in over a decade!
  4. MichaelH.
    Oct 2, 2008
    10
    Greatest Band in the world!!!!!
  5. CarlosD.
    Apr 2, 2008
    9
    It's great.
  6. Peter
    Apr 19, 2008
    8
    Most rocking REM album since Document, best REM album since Automatic For The People (my personal favorite). I think they recognized that a Most rocking REM album since Document, best REM album since Automatic For The People (my personal favorite). I think they recognized that a time of retrenchment will allow them to move forward, whereas constantly striving for growth just stretches you too thin. Let's hear it for Jacknife Lee, who squeezed the best possible comeback albums from U2 and REM. Maybe Pearl Jam should talk to him.… Expand
  7. PaulL.
    Apr 3, 2008
    8
    The divisive comments are a testament -- this band is still vital, and still has something to say. Great energy on this record.
  8. MarcG.
    Apr 2, 2008
    0
    After hearing this s**t I wonder how this band could have been great one day...Deccelerate is the right word.

See all 78 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Most Discussed Album of 2008
42
#42 Most Shared Album of 2008