Maps of Music
Around the Sun (2004)
Where the lyrics of Around the Sun take you, and where it was really made.
The album that marked R.E.M.'s commercial low point was recorded across three studios in three countries, with a mastering session in New York.
View on the mapKey places
Recording at The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver (2004)
Recording site Warehouse Studios — The album was recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. The studio is listed among the album's recording locations in its release credits. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: See the map for directions.
Recording at Compass Point, Nassau (2004)
Recording site Compass Point Studios — Part of the album was recorded at Compass Point in Nassau. The studio appears among the recording locations listed in the release credits. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: See the map for directions.
Recording at The Hit Factory/Criteria Studios, Miami (2004)
Recording site Criteria Studios — The album was also recorded at The Hit Factory/Criteria Studios in Miami. The release credits list it among the recording locations. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there: See the map for directions.
Album story
Overview
- Thirteenth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M.
- Released in October 2004 on Warner Bros. Records
- Released in four editions: double vinyl, cassette, compact disc, and a limited-edition box set
- The cassette edition was the band's final release on that medium
- The box set included the CD and fold-out posters by 14 artists illustrating the songs
- Supported by several singles and a world tour
- The first of only two R.E.M. albums to include a title track, the other being its follow-up, Accelerate
- Track listing credits all songs to Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe
- Guest rapper Q-Tip appears on The Outsiders
Background
- Bill Rieflin joined as the band's de facto replacement for drummer Bill Berry, who retired in 1997
- Rieflin was never formally inducted as a member but served as a regular auxiliary musician until the band's dissolution in 2011
- Final Straw was written in protest of the U.S. government's actions in the Iraq War
- Final Straw evolved from an instrumental demo titled Harlan County with Whistling, recorded during the sessions for the 1994 album Monster
- The album version of Final Straw is a remix of a version offered as a free download from the band's website on 25 March 2003
Recording
- Recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia
- Recorded at Compass Point in Nassau
- Recorded at The Hit Factory/Criteria Studios in Miami
- Mastered at Sterling Sound in New York
- Engineering by Jamie Candiloro, with assistant engineers at each studio
- Mixing credited to Jamie Candiloro, Pat McCarthy and R.E.M.
- Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills all credited as producers and mixers
- Additional musicians include Scott McCaughey, Ken Stringfellow, Bill Rieflin, Hahn Rowe and Q-Tip
- Stipe handles the rap on The Outsiders in live performances, as he did on a later B-side version
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Artist
Formation
- American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe, all University of Georgia students
- Released the single "Radio Free Europe" in 1981 on the independent label Hib-Tone
- Signed with I.R.S. Records in 1982
Members
- Michael Stipe (lead vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass, vocals), Bill Berry (drums) until 1997
- Bill Rieflin served as touring drummer from 2003 until his death in 2020
Career
- Breakthrough hit "The One I Love" in 1987 from Document; signed with Warner Bros. in 1988
- Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992) made them leaders of alternative rock
- Continued as a trio after Berry left in 1997
- Broke up in 2011 after selling more than 90 million albums worldwide
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2024
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Reception
At release
- Critics gave mixed to negative reviews, according to the review aggregator Metacritic
- Metacritic weighted average: 56 out of 100, based on 27 reviews
- Some critics found the album unfocused compared with the band's earlier work
- Several band members later admitted in interviews that the recording process had lost the band's focus
- Mike Mills later said the songs were good and that the live versions of several of them sounded much stronger
Reappraisal
- Retrospectives of the band's career cite this album as their low point
- Rolling Stone placed it at number 44 on its 2023 list of 50 horrible albums by brilliant artists
- Rolling Stone called the band's other post-Bill Berry studio albums stellar but excluded this one
- The album is often regarded as the weakest in the R.E.M. catalogue
Records
- Reached number one in the UK
- Lead single Leaving New York became a UK top 5 hit
- Aftermath, Electron Blue and Wanderlust were minor hits in the UK
- Reached number 13 on the Billboard 200 over seven weeks
- First studio album since 1988's Green to miss the US top 10
- No singles charted on the US Hot 100
- First studio album since Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985 with no Hot 100 entry
- As of March 2007, sold two million copies worldwide
- As of March 2007, sold 232,000 units in the US, fewer than the band sold in the first week of an album during its early to mid-1990s peak
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Trivia
- The title track is one of only two R.E.M. songs to give the album its name, a distinction shared with Accelerate.
- The Outsiders features a guest appearance by rapper Q-Tip.
- Final Straw began as an instrumental demo titled Harlan County with Whistling, recorded during the sessions for Monster.
- A 2005 expanded two-disc edition added a DVD-Audio disc with a 5.1-channel surround mix done by Elliot Scheiner.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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