Track Listing

1. Lifting
2. I've Been High
3. All The Way To Reno (You're Gonna Be A Star)
4. She Just Wants To Be
5. Disappear
6. Saturn Return
7. Beat A Drum
8. Imitation Of Life
9. Summer Turns To High
10. Chorus And The Ring
11. I'll Take The Rain
12. Beachball

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18994 in Music
• Released on: 2001-05-14
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
REM have no right, at this advanced stage in their career, to be making such spirited and beautiful music as that on Reveal. Twenty years after "Radio Free Europe", they're still jiggy as year-old pups. Reveal is the sound of a band who have moved beyond feeling the need to change or to prove themselves to each new generation, but still want to make music that expresses a passion for life. Michael Stipe's voice has never been more evocatively beautiful than it is on "I've Been High", and Peter Buck's eclectic tunesmithery has continued in the highly accessible vein it was mining on their previous album, Up. Those who yearn to hear the Stipe of old, mumbling incomprehensibly behind murky Byrds-u-like chords, will remain disappointed by his increasing emergence as an upfront vocalist whose lyrics, if never entirely self-explanatory, now make ingenious use of phrases, images and vignettes that anybody can identify with. Hovering over much of the album is the spirit of Brian Wilson, whose melodic and harmonic genius is echoed in "Beachball" and almost transcended in the astonishingly plangent "Summer Turns to High". With so much to live up to from "Losing My Religion" to "Man On the Moon", it's not far short of astonishing that REM can still come up with a song like "Imitation of Life", whose gorgeously chiming and shimmering chorus sets the heart soaring and the eyes misting over. That song alone would be worth the price of admission but, fortunately, from the first synthesiser swirls of the album's opener, "The Lifting", there's not a dud to be heard in the entire dozen cuts. --Johnny Black

CD Description
'Reveal' is REM's second album since the departure of drummer, Bill Berry. Stipe, Buck and Mills are accompanied on this release by Ken Stringfellow of The Posies and the former drummer with Beck's band, Joey Waronker. The single, 'Imitation Of Life', is included.

Customer Reviews

Four Stars... & a half!
Up until now I was an REM virgin, having never previously owned anything of theirs before, although I loved many of their singles. After listening to Reveal, all that will change. The album kicks off with the spacey, electronic/rock of The Lifting, though the album, in my opinion, really starts to shine when I've Been High (Track 2) begins. A fragile, heartrending ballad, about coming down (not from drugs, but from life); it is a real standout. Next comes All The Way To Reno, a lightweight piece of fun, country-tinged rock. Following Reno, is She Just Wants To Be, a folkish ballad with a powerful, albeit short, repeated chorus. Disappear, a strangely uptempo, but melancholy song, follows maintaining Reveal's high standards. Next comes Saturn Return, the most experimental track on the album. Michael Stipe's beautiful voice is backed by sparse electronica and punctuated by piano and guitar chords.

With the exception of Reno and The Lifting, the album so far is quite bleak, but the mood changes on Beat A Drum, a summery, folkish tune. Imitation Of Life, Summer Turns To High and Chorus And The Ring follow, all more uptempo, and with the occasional Beach Boys influene thrown in. In my opinion, this is the weaker part of the album, but is still highly listenable.

The penultimate track is easily the highest moment of Reveal. The gorgeously sad ballad, I'll Take The Rain, rivals such REM classics as Losing My Religion, Everbody Hurts and The One I Love, with its anthemic chorus. Michael Stipe's voice sounds its fullest and richest on this track, complementing the soaring strings - pure REM class. While I'll Take The Rain would have made the perfect closer, the band opted for Beachball, a summery track, complete with horns. A happy end to a balanced and very good album. I'll be checking out the back catalogue very soon indeed.

An album of easy bliss
I'm one of those people who has to be doing something else while listening to music - be it reading, working, whatever. It's not often that you get an album that strikes so many chords in you with the lyrics particularly, that you have to stop what you're doing to listen to certain songs. Admittedly, this isn't REM's best album. There can be no decisive 'best' album for REM because they're all so different. However, this album does have stand-out songs, almost every one of them. "I'll take the rain" shows Michael Stipe's feelings on singing - "I used to think, as birds take wing, they sing through life, so why can't we?" as well as other meanings, obviously.

What Stipe seems to do is invoke a feeling in you that makes you think every song is delivered to you. Three REM songs stand out like this, 'Tongue' on Monster, 'Walk Unafraid' on Up, and 'I'll take the Rain' on this one. REM are unstoppable in their ability - to get through crisis after crisis and still make music this beautiful, 20 years after 'Murmur'.

In one word - outstanding.

Back to their best
Having ben an REM fan since I could barely spell the name I have followed with interest their rise to fame, super stardom and then begin the descent from n.o 1 band in the world to having a cult status as opposed to being evryone's favourite band of the moment. Throughout this illustrious career they have produced classic albums such as murmur, document and automatic for the people. I would have to (without a hint of bias) put reveal on this list of classic rem albums. There is the atmosphere of the experimental up mixed with the melodies of automatic for the people. Opener Lifting sets the tone for what is probably rem's most cheery album, at least from a lyrical point of view. Imitation of life is a typical rem song drivin with pete bucks jangly guitar and stipes obscure lyrics. Standout track She Just Wants to be, builds up to an explosive climax. This album whets the appetite. Go buy this album then see them live and you will begin to get a fuller picture as to why this band are one of the best in the business.