Maps of Music

Collapse into Now (2011)

Where the lyrics of Collapse into Now take you, and where it was really made.

Stipe later said the album carried hints of the breakup, and that nobody noticed them.

Key places

Berlin recording room (2011)

Recording site Hansa Studios — The band recorded seven or eight songs in a Berlin room called Meistersaal, with only friends and family present. Mills later said it was probably the last time they would play together as R.E.M. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Nashville sessions (2011)

Recording site Nashville — Part of the album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. The point is placed at the city centre, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

New Orleans sessions (2011)

Recording site Mobile studio, 1305 Soniat Street — Part of the album was recorded at The Music Shed in New Orleans, Louisiana. The point is placed at the city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Collapse into Now: fifteenth and final studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M.
• Released in March 2011 on Warner Bros.
• Recorded from November 2009 to September 2010
• Produced by Jacknife Lee, who had also worked with the band on Accelerate (2008)
• Preceded by the singles “It Happened Today”, “Mine Smell Like Honey”, “Überlin” and “Oh My Heart”
• Guest appearances by Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder, Peaches, Lenny Kaye and Joel Gibb
• The band did not tour for the album and never played its songs live
• R.E.M. officially disbanded in September 2011, six months after release

Background

• In 2008, while touring for Accelerate, the band discussed ending in the near future
• Entering the studio with Lee, the band began a final album intended to go out on a high note
• Mills: the Warner Bros contract forced decisions about continuing as a recording unit and touring together
• Buck: the final decision came when Stipe said he needed to be away from it for a long time; Buck suggested forever

Recording

• Recorded in Berlin, Nashville and New Orleans; demos made at Jackpot! Studio in Portland, Oregon
• Berlin session in a room called Meistersaal, seven or eight songs, with only friends, family and significant others present
• Mills: that Berlin day was probably the last time the band would play together as R.E.M.
• Mills: the band wanted the album to be more expansive, with slow songs, mid-tempo songs and three or four rockers
• Mills: the album is more personal than political, and its themes are more universal
• Stipe: the opening track “Discoverer” is one of his only autobiographical songs

Cover

• Photography by Anton Corbijn; packaging by Chris Bilheimer and Michael Stipe
• Stipe said in 2019 that this was the first record on which the band put themselves on the cover

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.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

• Metacritic: generally favorable reviews, based on a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 from 37 critic scores
• Pitchfork's Matt LeMay: Collapse into Now also hosts some unlikely successes of its own
• LeMay: “Mine Smell Like Honey” overcomes a water-treading verse to reach a majestic R.E.M. chorus, with Mills's soaring backing vocals and Buck's jangling guitars
• LeMay: “Walk It Back” alone is worth the price of admission, a gorgeous song that gives Stipe's vocals room to resonate
• LeMay: the album has more complexity than anything since Up (1998), yet still sounds like a band caught between old habits and new adventures
• Spin's Josh Modell: the band discovers the glow of middle age, warmly acknowledging the past while finding the present just as comforting
• Modell: Collapse mostly sounds like a familiar friend, reliable in all the best ways but still capable of quietly insinuating surprises

Records

• As of September 2011, the album had sold 142,000 copies in the United States
• The vinyl LP was out of print for several years and was re-pressed in 2023

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• In 2019 Stipe said the record was the first to put the band on its own cover, and that he had been waving goodbye on it without anyone noticing.
• Stipe performed “Every Day Is Yours to Win” without R.E.M. at the Tibethouse Annual Benefit Concert.
• On the French wiki's account, drum volume was reduced after Bill Berry left the band in 1998 for medical reasons.
• For 2011's Record Store Day the band released R.E.M. Three, a package of three 7-inch singles containing each commercial single from the album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

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