By Anthony DeCurtis
12.31.98
CDNow
R.E.M.’s latest album, Up, marks a dramatic shift in the seminal band’s sound. The group rose to prominence as a definitive rock quartet, but when drummer Bill Berry abruptly quit in September of 1997, singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills had no choice but to venture in new directions.
Enter [...]
By Chris Heath
12.24.98
Rolling Stone
Toward the end of one of R.E.M.’s more uncertain years, Michael Stipe can be found onstage in Vienna, performing with his bands mates in a small club. They reinterpret much of Up, their first album without drummer Bill Berry (”He’s growing hay,” Stipe says), then let their hair down. Stipe is given [...]
By Dino Scatena
12.10.98
Herald Sun
4 stars
As REM reminded us last time with New Adventures In Hi Fi, it usually takes a good six months to penetrate anything new from these gentle Texans. The inclusion of a libretto this time around might cut a few weeks off that.
So, some initial obvious observations of Up, the boys first [...]
12.09.98
Wall Of Sound
Even without a tour, it’s still a great time to be an R.E.M. fan. The band’s promotional sweep in support of the recently released Up rolls on, with Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and friends wrapping several weeks of U.S. and European TV performances with a slot on the Tonight Show With [...]