R.E.M.: Reveal

Yesterday marked the unofficial end of summer, and summer songs and beach books are fading away until Memorial Day. Maybe I’m a day late, but I’m squeezing in my favorite beach album while it’s still sunny and warm: R.E.M.’s (grossly overlooked) Reveal.

Is Reveal my favorite R.E.M. album? No, it’s probably fifth or sixth from the top of that list. But it’s a brilliant album — one that didn’t receive the attention it deserved, at least here in the U.S. — and its feel is perfect for this moment onthe calendar.

Released in 2001, Reveal is an album of bewitching, atmospheric pop songs and introspective, wistful ballads. It’s the album I want to listen to when the windows are open and a breeze floats through the room. When I’m on the porch, late at night, just me and a bottle of wine. When I’m driving late at night, the sunroof open, the windows down, the road empty. It takes me other places, across the world and deep inside myself.


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I love pomegranate afternoons. And "She Just Wants to Be." When I listen to the song, I wonder when Michael Stipe picked my brain for the lyrics. Backed by Peter’s lonely, sad guitar, it’s heartbreakingly close to my internal self. (In fact, Dan uses it as my ringtone on his cell phone.) And Peter’s opening and closing strums resonate to my core. (A bit of purple prose, yes, but that's how it feels.)


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Lovely laziness permeates “Beat a Drum.” Every time I listen I feel an ocean breeze on my arm. And what a divine rhyme in A bluejay hectors from the felled Catalpa tree / Doctorate in science and a theologians dream / The dragonflies are trying to lecture me / The seahorses as if we were in the sea. I love the cadence of “from the felled Catalpa tree.”


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Peter Buck and Mike Mills have long raved about The Beach Boys, and the Wilsons’ influence can be heard all over Reveal. So don’t tell me you listened to “Summer Turns to High” and didn’t think of “In My Room.” A wonderful homage to one of my favorite Beach Boys tunes.



Was there a more fun pop song released in 2001 than “Imitation of Life”? I just checked the Billboard charts — Train? Jennifer Lopez? I don’t think so. Alicia Keys is good, but not as much fun as this. And you gotta love Mr. Buck and his monkey. Captivating video, catchy tune.

I haven't been fair to Mike Mills in these R.E.M. posts. Music critics (and Warren Zevon) have called him R.E.M.'s secret weapon. He can play nearly every instrument, and his harmonies take Stipe's vocals to a different place. I promise to give him more raves in the next column.

Really, it’s hard not to rave about each tune on this album. Song for song, Reveal is a dazzling album, summer or winter.

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