Around the Sun
Occupation
Vocals: Michael Stipe Electric Guitar: Peter Buck E -Bass: Mike Mills
Around the Sun is the thirteenth studio album by the American rock band REM It was published on 4 October 2004 and is the successor of 2001 brought out Reveal. One by one the singles Leaving New York, Aftermath, Electron Blue and Wanderlust were published from Around the Sun, but the German single charts only reached Leaving New York and Aftermath.
Title list
Style of music and texts
The album with the hit single Leaving New York is linked to the time of Automatic for the People ( 1992) and Reveal ( 2001). It is the 13th studio album by the band. and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200 The texts are both politically as well as personally held. In the song Final Straw deal R.E.M. to with the Iraq war under the then U.S. President George W. Bush. REM, who participated in the Vote for Change tour in the same year, are declared enemies of the U.S. president. In the other songs, quotations from George W. Bush to be although they are less likely held personally and politically used. For example, in the line " So am I with you or am I against " in The Outsiders. Frequently on the album text lines and motifs are found, the act of alienation and loneliness.
The rapper Q-Tip participated with Rapgesang on the play The Outsiders, a cryptic love song. The song, however, is blended into the background. More emotional, more personal songs are Make It All OK and Aftermath.
Criticism
Around the Sun received only moderate reviews. Many critics were disappointed by the album. Rezensator.de felt the album as " average and low tension " .. Mathias Möller laut.de wrote that the album " diehard fans playfully convince " but it hardly lend itself "to a new REM enthusiasm as in " Automatic for the People " to generate ". Similarly, Stephen Thomas Erlewine summed up well by Allmusic the album together. Although the album oriented to the classics of the band's history, but the album could not hold a candle to this. To be inconsequential to the style of music and the lyrics. In addition, the album was overproduced and not acts like a unified whole.
Chart positions
Album
The album debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 Unlike its big success in Europe, where the album could be far forward place in the charts, it became the first studio album by the band that did not reach the Top 10 charts in the U.S..
Singles
Although Leaving New York was a radio hit around the world, no single from the album reached the charts in the U.S..