Record Rebound: R.E.M. reissue 2001 album ‘Reveal’
Anchored by Michael Stipe’s distinctive vocals, R.E.M. made several genre excursions during their three-decade run as a recording act. Perhaps the most adventurous of these was 1998’s Up, a polarising foray into experimental electro that leant on drum machines in Bill Berry’s stead. Reading the room, the band made a widely welcomed return to their associated sound in 2001 for their 12th studio album, Reveal.
Reveal returned to analogue percussion with Joey Waronker on the stool. Still welcoming contemporary electro-influences, the album was bright and propulsive with insightful and often poignantly juxtaposed lyrics. The release was buoyed by its lead single, ‘Imitation of Life’, a soaring classic from R.E.M.’s road trip sing-along roster.
Inspired by Douglas Sirk’s 1959 film of the same name, the lead single explores associative themes of adolescent aspiration and Hollywood hope. “You want the greatest thing/ The greatest thing since bread came sliced/You’ve got it all, you’ve got it sized/ Like a Friday fashion show teenager/ Freezing in the corner/ Trying to look like you don’t try,” Stipe sings in the second verse.
The album’s final two singles, ‘All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star)’ and ‘I’ll Take the Rain’, were released after the album’s first issue. The former is a soaring, kaleidoscopic update on R.E.M.’s much adored mandolin-infused country rock as mastered in ‘Losing My Religion’. Meanwhile, the latter is a more humble offering with an acoustic structure deftly adorned with orchestral strings and Ken Stringfellow’s keys.
In its underbelly, Reveal contains several sonic homages to The Beach Boys, a band to which bassist Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck are particularly indebted. ‘Beat a Drum’, ‘Summer Turns to High’ and ‘Beachball’ borrow from the surf rockers’ trademark sound of bright chords and sentimental vocal harmonies.
Albeit under more experimental circumstances, these Beach Boys-inspired progressions had been pre-heated in the Up sessions. Although the 1998 release was otherwise sonically dissimilar, ‘The Lifting’, the opening track on Reveal is a narrative prequel to ‘Daysleeper’, Up’s lead single.
Reveal is by no means R.E.M.’s most popular album, but for many, it’s an underappreciated continuation of the band’s sterling work from the early-to-mid-1990s. “I think our hidden gem is Reveal; there’s some true beauty on that record,” Mills reflected on the album in a 2023 interview with Vulture. “It’s not a rock record per se, but it’s a beautiful music record. It’s the one that might best reward a further look. It’s supposed to feel like summer.”
Continuing, Mills noted how the record’s tone differs from The Beach Boys’ summer sound. “Obviously, we’re not looking for The Beach Boys here, but it is a summer record that’s supposed to catch the feeling of no school,” he said. “You’ve got endless possibilities because it’s summertime, and you can go anywhere and do anything, and you’re not bound up by the rest of the year’s restrictions. I think it’s just joyful and captures that in a nice way.”
On Friday, November 17th, R.E.M. will reissue Reveal for the first time since 2001 via Craft Records. The 180g vinyl pressings are available for pre-order now from £30.99.
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