In professional sports, one hears about find an athlete "playing for a contract." That is, in the year before their current deal runs out, performance is stepped up to make a new deal more lucrative.
In creating their latest CD release, "New Adventures in Hi-Fi," R.E.M. found itself "playing for a contract."
Listeners will appreciate R.E.M.'s effort, as "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" is a stellar performance.
Immediately following the release of the record early this month, the band signed a 10-year record deal with Warner Brothers reportedly worth $80 million dollars for six records.
Musically, it is somewhat difficult to pigeonhole the new album's sound. Most listeners will find a sound wedged somewhere between the band's highly-acclaimed "Automatic for the People" (1992) and "Monster" (1994) releases.
Portions of "New Adventures" sound enough like the band's early days to satisfy long-time fans.
Yet the album as a whole is fresh enough to create a contemporary sound rarely matched in rock music.
In the fashion of U2's "Zooropa" a major portion of the new R.E.M. album was written and recorded while the band was on the road in 1995.
To finish the record, the band entered a Seattle studio early this year to produce their cuts and record additional songs.
According to a promotional video for the record, lead singer Michael Stipe said, "My idea of the record is that we're somehow grafting together stuff that's recorded live with stuff that's recorded in the studio, and you can't really tell what's what."
The studio tracks have brought R.E.M. back to the basics of an laid-back acoustic sound.
Two of the four Seattle tracks, titled "E-Bow the Letter," and "Electrolite" will be radio releases from the album, along with "Bittersweet Me," recorded during a Memphis sound check.
Other songs recorded during the 1995 Monster tour include "Undertow," "Departure," and "Binky the Doormat," and "The Wake-Up Bomb." These tunes continue to crunch with the pure energy of the sounds of "Monster."
"The Wake-Up Bomb," written about the atmosphere at a New York glam club, exemplifies this sound captured on tour. Lyrically, vocalist Stipe examines the idea of a glam rock star with perhaps some ironic commentary:
"I've had enough, I've seen enough, I've had it all, I'm giving up. I won the race, I broke the cup, I drank it all, I spit it up ... Yeah, I'd rather be anywhere doing anything."
To get an idea of how loose the band was during the recording process, bassist Mike Mills simply referred to "The Wake-Up Bomb" as a, "big, loud, stupid rock song."
Moreover, one of the instruments on "Zither," the album's only instrumental track, was played in the bathroom of the band's Philadelphia dressing room as they recorded.
Mills said, "I like it that we can say: 'Yes, it was recorded live in a bathroom.' "
Throughout the record, Stipe and guitarist Peter Buck have cleverly commented about life on the road.
"Undertow" presents a vision of a person drowning, whether literally, or figuratively -- as the band apparently feels while on tour.
"Departure" is a more literal commentary on road life, beginning with the lyrics, "Just arrived Singapore, San Sebastian, Spain, 26-hour trip. Salt Lake City, come in spring."
Buck said, "Michael and I talked a little bit about trying to capture the whirling, chaotic aspect of touring without actually writing songs about being on the road."
Individual standouts on the record include "New Test Leper," a song painting a weighty image of an ailing victim's appearance on an American talk show, and "Leave."
"Leave" is the longest song in the band's recording career. Tour musician Scott McCaughey's keyboard playing is an integral part of the song, providing the insistent siren alarm that runs throughout this epic.
"Scott's holding down a key and moving the octave switch back and forth through the whole song," Buck said. "We could only play it once every other sound check, because Scott's wrist would be numb by the end of it."
"Electrolite" ends the album in the same light the tracks "Find the River" and "Nightswimming" did on "Automatic for the People."
Diversity is the key to this record. As the band hoped, it is difficult to tell where and when songs were recorded. They form something just short of a perfect musical union.
Thematically, R.E.M. touches on the reality of hopelessness, despair and fear of death -- "all the usual jolly stuff," as Stipe describes it.
The singer's lyrics continue the ethereal path they have found on the band's prior work, and sound more natural since the production effects of the "Monster" lyrics are gone.
The instrumentation is nothing short of the usual brilliance of R.E.M.'s work.
Rumors have abound concerning the band members' ambitions for solo careers, but now that a contract is under their belt, the band will continue to record as the unit they should be -- together.
The artistic integrity of R.E.M. remains as they move further into the second decade of their storied career. Thirteen years after they began, R.E.M. shows no signs of heading downhill. All the luckier for their faithful listeners.
