Up (R.E.M. album)

Up is the eleventh studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released on October 26, 1998, by Warner Bros. Records. It was the band's first album without drummer Bill Berry, who retired from the group in October of 1997.[6] In his place, R.E.M. used session drummers like Joey Waronker and Barrett Martin, as well as programming drum machines. The band has said that the album probably would have sounded much the same with Berry, as initial rehearsals with him had commenced, but his departure almost “broke” them and "hung over" the resulting recordings.[7]

Up
The album cover has a series of squares
Studio album by
R.E.M.
ReleasedOctober 26, 1998 (1998-10-26)[1]
RecordedJanuary–July 1998
Genre
Length64:31
LabelWarner Bros.
Producer
R.E.M. chronology
R.E.M.: In the Attic – Alternative Recordings 1985–1989
(1997)		 Up
(1998)		 Man on the Moon
(1999)
Singles from Up
  1. "Daysleeper"
    Released: October 12, 1998[2]
  2. "Lotus"
    Released: December 7, 1998[3]
  3. "At My Most Beautiful"
    Released: March 8, 1999[4]
  4. "Suspicion"
    Released: June 28, 1999[5]

Details
An elaborate light display
R.E.M. touring for Up in 1999

Up saw R.E.M. move into electronic music-influenced territory after delivering New Adventures in Hi-Fi in 1996. Ending a 10-year relationship with co-producer Scott Litt, the band engaged the production assistance of Pat McCarthy, who was assisted on most tracks by engineer Nigel Godrich, Radiohead's producer. The single "Daysleeper" became a Top 10 UK hit,[8] and "Lotus", The Beach Boys-influenced "At My Most Beautiful" and "Suspicion" were also released as singles.

"There are certain things I set out to do," Michael Stipe noted. "Rough ideas that I wanted to play around with. One of them was the religious-spiritual versus science-technology-modern-age. There are several songs on the record that, to me, address that. I don't know how other people are going to take them. It's taking off a little bit from 'Undertow' and 'New Test Leper', with the freedom of 'E-Bow the Letter' and 'Country Feedback' – songs that just come out. What I really wanted was more of that automatic, unconscious stuff… greatly inspired by Patti Smith and various others… Bert Downs said the record's about people falling down and getting back up again. He said there's a lot of that imagery. I'm like, 'Really?'"[9][10]

Breaking with a tradition that stretched back to the band's 1983 debut, Murmur, Stipe elected to have his complete lyrics included in Up's CD booklet, a practice he would maintain on all subsequent R.E.M. studio albums. "[Mike Mills] was reading the lyrics," he explained, "and he said, 'These are really great – we should print them on the record sleeve.' It was a really good night and there were eight or nine songs on the wall. I said, 'Yeah, we will'… I thought it was a nice way of saying that we are a different band now."[9]

R.E.M. subsequently admitted that they came close to breaking up while recording the album.[11]

A 25th anniversary edition is slated for release in November 2023.[12]

Sales and critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Blender[13]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[14]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[15]
The Guardian[16]
Los Angeles Times[17]
NME7/10[18]
Pitchfork6.1/10[19]
Q[20]
Rolling Stone[21]
Spin8/10[22]

Up reached number 3 in the U.S.[23] (with 16 weeks on the Billboard 200) and #2 in the UK, but didn't have the staying power of the band's previous albums, and thus had the band's lowest sales in years. "The things that we have to do creatively for the band may not be the most commercial things," Mike Mills observed. "That isn't the point. The point is to keep it fresh and interesting and alive."[9]

"It will certainly sound strange to those who only own Automatic for the People and repeat-play the hits," wrote Danny Eccleston in a 4-star review for Q.[20] "Conversely, anyone who has a healthy number of R.E.M. records – let's say four – and plays them regularly, should manage to listen to Up without his head exploding or tossing herself off a tall building or any of the weird things people are meant to do when faced with music they don't quite understand. This is R.E.M. after all. We couldn't even hear the lyrics until album five."[20]

Although R.E.M. initially intended not to tour for the album, after many successful promotional concerts upon the album's release, the band quickly arranged a four-month arena tour of Europe and America during the summer of 1999. As of March 2007, Up has sold 664,000 units in the U.S.[24]

In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Up 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.[25]

Accolades

In 1999, Nude as the News ranked the album at number 74 in its list of "The 100 Most Compelling Albums of the Decade".[26][27] That same year, Australian magazine Juice ranked it at number 38 in its list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the '90s".[28] In 2005, journalist Jude Rogers included the album in The Word's list "Hidden Treasure: Great Underrated Albums of Our Time", whose inductions were chosen by celebrities.[29] It also appeared in at least 22 magazine lists of the greatest albums of 1998.[27]

Track listing

All songs by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except "Hope" by Buck, Mills, Stipe and Leonard Cohen.

Upside

  1. "Airportman" – 4:12
  2. "Lotus" – 4:30
  3. "Suspicion" – 5:36
  4. "Hope" – 5:02
  5. "At My Most Beautiful" – 3:35
  6. "The Apologist" – 4:30
  7. "Sad Professor" – 4:01
  8. "You're in the Air" – 5:22

Downside

  1. "Walk Unafraid" – 4:31
  2. "Why Not Smile" – 4:03
  3. "Daysleeper" – 3:40
  4. "Diminished" – 6:01
    • Includes a hidden track entitled "I'm Not Over You" starting at 5:00, with Stipe soloing on acoustic guitar, after the song's conclusion.
  5. "Parakeet" – 4:09
  6. "Falls to Climb" – 5:06

Notes Cohen was not directly involved in the writing of "Hope" but was given a writing credit by the band due to similarities in melody and lyrical pattern to his "Suzanne".

Studio B-sides

Two non-album tracks from the Up sessions appeared as single-only releases, as well as alternate versions of four album tracks.

  • "Emphysema" – 4:21
  • "Surfing the Ganges" – 2:25
  • "Why Not Smile" (Oxford American version)
  • "Sad Professor" (live in the studio)
  • "Suspicion" (live in the studio) (Toast Studios, San Francisco, 1998 – "Lotus" single)
  • "Suspicion" (live in the studio) (Ealing Studios, 29-10-1998 – "Suspicion" single)
  • "Lotus" (Weird Mix)

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Certifications and sales
Certifications and sales for Up
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[51] Gold 35,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[52] Gold 25,000*
Belgium (BEA)[53] Gold 25,000*
France (SNEP)[54] Gold 100,000*
Italy — 150,000[55]
New Zealand (RMNZ)[56] Gold 7,500^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[57] Platinum 50,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[58] Gold 50,000^
Sweden (GLF)[59] Gold 40,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[60] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[61] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[62] Gold 664,000[24]
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[63] Platinum 1,000,000*
Worldwide
Oct. - Dec. 1998 sales 		— 1,500,000[55]

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

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Up – R.E.M." AllMusic. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  2. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. October 10, 1998. p. 29. Misprinted as September 12 on source.
  3. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. December 5, 1998. p. 23.
  4. "New Releases – For Week Starting 8 March, 1999: Singles". Music Week. March 6, 1999. p. 25.
  5. "New Releases – For Week Starting 28 June, 1999: Singles". Music Week. June 26, 1999. p. 25.
  6. "R.E.M. Talk About Loss Of Drummer Bill Berry". MTV News. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  7. "Up Turns 20". October 29, 2018.
  8. "Official Singles Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  9. Cavanagh, David: 'Come On, He Was Only The Drummer', Q #146, November 1998, pp96–104
  10. "Mike Mills Tribute » Interviews: Come On, He Was Only The Drummer". mikemillsfan.com. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  11. "R.E.M. Rock Archives". www.remrock.com. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  12. "Up 25th Anniversary Reissue Coming November 10!". R.E.M. 2023-09-19. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  13. Schoemer, Karen. "REM: (various reissues)". Blender. Archived from the original on June 21, 2006. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  14. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  15. Browne, David (October 30, 1998). "Up". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  16. Sweeting, Adam (October 30, 1998). "R.E.M.: Up (Warner Bros.)". The Guardian.
  17. Boehm, Mike (October 25, 1998). "R.E.M. 'Up' Warner Bros". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  18. Segal, Victoria (October 21, 1998). "REM – Up". NME. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  19. Ambroz, Duane. "R.E.M.: Up". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on October 5, 2000. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
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