R.E.M.: Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck.

Additional personnel: Hahn Rowe, Ken Stringfellow, Q-Tip, Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin, Jamie Candiloro.

Audio Mixers: R.E.M.; Jamie Candiloro; Patrick McCarthy.

Recording information: Compass Point, Nassau, Germany; Criteria Studios, Miami, FL; The Hit Factory, New York, NY; The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, British Columbia, Cana.

Photographer: Thomas Roman Dozol.

The follow-up to 2001's laid-back REVEAL, AROUND THE SUN finds R.E.M. mining a similar vein of dreamy, mellow rock. "Leaving New York" sets the tone with Peter Buck's chiming guitar and Michael Stipe's plaintive vocals at the fore, while "Electron Blue" continues the band's occasional forays into electronic territory with keyboard-driven atmospherics. Other standout tracks include the haunting "The Outsiders" (which features rapper Q-Tip, recalling OUT OF TIME's "Radio Song" with KRS-One in execution if not in tone) and the folky, defiant "Final Straw," a blatant condemnation of fear-instilling governmental policies.

Not as exploratory as other latter-day R.E.M. albums NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI (1996) and UP (1998), AROUND THE SUN occasionally echoes the ensemble's lauded AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE's laconic feel, though it doesn't quite match that record's gravitas. In any case, this outing displays the 24-year-old band in a surprisingly relaxed and comfortable mode, and who says that's a bad thing?

Rolling Stone (p.99) - 3 stars out of 5 - "R.E.M. here resemble their classic selves."

Rolling Stone (p.151) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[A] disc of frankly spiritual and acutely topical protest ballads, draped in futuristic PET SOUNDS strum and hum."

Spin (pp.112-14) - "AROUND THE SUN is R.E.M.'s return to folk-rock chamber music..." - Grade: B-

Uncut (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 - "These 13 songs are sung by people exhausted by the trials of their country, haunted by ghosts of its promise, tentatively hopeful of renewal or reconciliation."

Uncut (p.75) - Ranked #16 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[A] set of powerfully reflective songs populated by the walking wounded rather than shiny happy people."

Alternative Press (p.113) - "Thirteen studio albums into their career, R.E.M. can still throw listeners for a loop. 'The Outsiders' is as velvety smooth as Massive Attack..." - 4 out of 5