Around the Sun

Around the Sun is the 13th studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on October 5, 2004[6][7] on Warner Bros. Records.

This article is about the R.E.M. album. For the Jeff Watson album, see Around the Sun (Jeff Watson album).
Around the Sun
A blurred photo of three humans on a white background
Studio album by
R.E.M.
ReleasedOctober 5, 2004 (2004-10-05)
RecordedEarly 2003 – early 2004
StudioVancouver[1]
GenreAlternative rock
Length55:16
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerPat McCarthy, R.E.M.
R.E.M. chronology
Perfect Square
(2004)		 Around the Sun
(2004)		 iTunes Originals – R.E.M.
(2004)
Singles from Around the Sun
  1. "Leaving New York"
    Released: September 27, 2004[2]
  2. "Aftermath"
    Released: November 29, 2004[3]
  3. "Electron Blue"
    Released: February 28, 2005[4]
  4. "Wanderlust"
    Released: July 11, 2005[5]

Description
Mills singing and playing bass guitar with Stringfellow behind him on keyboards
Bassist Mike Mills with touring multi-instrumentalist Ken Stringfellow on the Around the Sun Tour in 2004; the light show was typical of the stage design.

The album was released in three editions: Cassette (the band's final release on the medium), compact disc and a limited-edition box set with the CD and fold-out posters by 14 artists illustrating the songs.[8]

"The Outsiders" features a guest appearance by rapper Q-Tip. When the song was performed live, Michael Stipe carried out the rap, as he did on a later B-side release of the song.

"Final Straw" is a politically charged song. The version on the album is a remix of the original version, which had been made available as a free download on March 25, 2003, from the band's website. The song was written in protest of the U.S. government's actions in the Iraq War. The song evolved from an instrumental demo titled "Harlan County with Whistling," recorded during the sessions for the band's 1994's album Monster and released with its 25th anniversary edition in 2019.[9]

Around the Sun was the first of only two R.E.M. albums to include a title track (the second being its follow-up, Accelerate). The album was also a first for R.E.M. in that it was their first to feature Bill Rieflin, the band's de facto replacement for former drummer Bill Berry, who'd retired in 1997. Although Rieflin was never officially inducted into the band as a member, he would serve as a regular auxiliary musician for R.E.M. until the band's dissolution in 2011.[10]

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic56/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Blender[11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[12]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[13]
The Guardian[14]
Los Angeles Times[15]
NME6/10[16]
Pitchfork5.2/10[17]
Rolling Stone[18]
SpinB−[19]
Uncut[20]

Around the Sun received mixed to negative reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. It has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.[7]

Despite hitting #1 in the UK, it became their first studio album to miss the U.S. Top 10 (reaching #13 during seven weeks on the Billboard 200) since 1988's Green, and still awaits a gold record. As of March 2007, Around the Sun had sold 2 million copies worldwide and 232,000 units in the U.S.[21] This is less than R.E.M. sold in the first week of an album's release while at their early to mid-1990s commercial peak.

Lead single "Leaving New York" became a UK Top 5 hit, while "Aftermath," "Electron Blue" and "Wanderlust" became minor hits. Around the Sun had no singles success in the United States. It was the band's first studio album to fail to chart a song on the Hot 100 since Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985.

After the release of the following Accelerate, guitarist Peter Buck said Around the Sun "just wasn't really listenable, because it sounds like what it is: a bunch of people that are so bored with the material that they can't stand it anymore."[22] "The songs on Around the Sun are great," remarked singer Michael Stipe. "But, in the process of recording, we lost our focus as a band."[23] The album's songs were largely excluded from the band's live setlists after the release of Accelerate.

Retrospectives of the band's career cite this album as their nadir. In 2023, Rolling Stone marked this as number 44 on their list of 50 horrible albums by brilliant artists, calling all of their post-Bill Berry studio albums "stellar" except for this one.[24]

Reissue

In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Around the Sun which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.

A remix of the song "Final Straw" appeared earlier in 2004 on the compilation album Future Soundtrack for America.

After being out of print for several years, the vinyl LP edition was re-pressed in 2023.[25]

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

  1. "Leaving New York" – 4:49
  2. "Electron Blue" – 4:12
  3. "The Outsiders" (feat. Q-Tip) – 4:14
  4. "Make It All Okay" – 3:44
  5. "Final Straw" – 4:07
  6. "I Wanted to Be Wrong" – 4:35
  7. "Wanderlust" – 3:03
  8. "Boy in the Well" – 5:22
  9. "Aftermath" – 3:55
  10. "High Speed Train" – 5:02
  11. "The Worst Joke Ever" – 3:38
  12. "The Ascent of Man" – 4:07
  13. "Around the Sun" – 4:28

Personnel

R.E.M.

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

  • Chris Bilheimer – packaging
  • Oswald "Wiz" Bowe – assistant engineer
  • Jim Briggs III – assistant engineer
  • DeWitt Burton – technical assistance
  • Alex Dixon – assistant
  • Bertis Downs – advisor
  • Thomas Roman Dozol – photography, cover photo
  • Bryan Gallant – assistant
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Patrick McCarthy – producer, mixing
  • Kirk McNally – assistant engineer
  • Javier Valverde – assistant engineer
  • Bob Whittaker – technical assistance

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[26] Gold 35,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[27] Gold 15,000*
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[28] Gold 20,000^
Germany (BVMI)[29] Gold 100,000^
Italy (FIMI)[30] 2× Platinum 200,000*
Sweden (GLF)[31] Gold 30,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[32] Platinum 40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[33] Gold 100,000^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[34] Platinum 1,000,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Charts

References
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  2. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. September 25, 2004. p. 37.
  3. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. November 27, 2004. p. 23.
  4. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. February 26, 2005. p. 25.
  5. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. July 9, 2005. p. 21.
  6. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Around the Sun – R.E.M." AllMusic. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  7. "Reviews for Around The Sun by R.E.M." Metacritic. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  8. "New Releases". MTV News. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  9. "R.E.M.'s 'Monster' Revisited, 25 Years Later". Tidal. 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  10. Legaspi, Althea (24 March 2020). "Bill Rieflin, Drummer for King Crimson, R.E.M., Ministry, Dead at 59". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  11. Christgau, Robert (November 2004). "R.E.M.: Around the Sun". Blender (31): 140. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  12. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  13. Brod, Doug (October 8, 2004). "Around the Sun". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 24, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  14. Lynskey, Dorian (October 1, 2004). "REM, Around the Sun". The Guardian. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  15. Hochman, Steve (October 3, 2004). "Poignant words, passable music". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  16. Mulvey, John (December 3, 2004). "REM : Around The Sun". NME. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
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