The fifteenth studio album from R.E.M. finds the band at turns combative and mellow. The opening song, “Discoverer,” could have been a bonus track on “Accelerate.” It’s all hard-driving guitars and that classic Stipe growl. With ten of the dozen tracks under four minutes, “All The Best” follows quickly with a challenge to the younger generation: “I think I’ll sing in a rhyme/I’ll give it one more time/I’ll show the kids how to do it fine, fine, fine.”

The album then hits its stride with a quartet of contemplative songs: “UBerlin,” “Oh My Heart,” “It Happened Today” and “Every Day is Yours to Win.” This is the R.E.M. mainstream audiences love. Stipe’s lyrics are sung poetry over the top of Peter Buck’s simple chords.

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