I have waited for this album for a very, very long time. This album captures the REM-ness that REM hadn’t really had in their last few albums (don’t get me wrong, I loved “Around the Sun,” but this is much different). Michael Stipe and Mike Mills have brought back those amazing melodies and countermelodies with interlacing lyrics that I loved so much back in the day. To this day, “Fall On Me” is one of my favorite REM songs and this reminds me a lot of that song. Highlights on the album are “Supernatural Superserious,” “Living Well Is the Best Revenge,” and “Hollow Man.” I liked the lyrics to “Horse to Water” but reading them before hearing the song disappointed me. I was almost hoping for slow and creepy, and instead it was a loud, angry song. It completely changed the tone and meaning for the lyrics for me once I heard them.
All in all, get this album. Put it on your iPod, and walk around in the beautiful late spring/early summer afternoon weather. Hit up a college campus while “Supernatural Superserious” is playing. You won’t be disappointed, and guaranteed you’ll get caught singing along.