R.E.M. – Up – 25th Anniversary 180 Gram Double Vinyl Record

Description

R.E.M. – Up – 25th Anniversary 180 Gram Double Vinyl Record

R.E.M.’s Up begins with “Airportman,” a subdued, atmospheric piece that immediately signals a change in the band’s working language. Released in 1998, the album was their first after drummer Bill Berry’s departure, leaving Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills to reconsider how the group could sound as a trio. Drum machines, keyboards and electronic textures became important parts of the arrangements, alongside the guitars and melodic instincts that had long defined R.E.M. The result is an unusually inward-looking album, full of unsettled characters and unexpected musical detail. Its quieter passages are central to its identity, allowing the listener to hear a familiar band learning to work in a different way. The transition gives even its most melodic moments an undercurrent of vulnerability.

Produced with Pat McCarthy, Up makes its changes audible without abandoning songwriting. “Lotus” provides a more forceful early statement after the opening atmosphere, while “Suspicion” explores a softer, more nocturnal mood. Stipe’s voice remains a strong point of continuity, carrying the songs through arrangements that can feel deliberately suspended or mechanically precise. Buck and Mills have different kinds of space to occupy when a conventional rock rhythm section is no longer the default. A keyboard phrase, a repeating pattern or a carefully placed guitar part can become the structural center of a song, giving the album a distinctive combination of intimacy and studio experimentation.

“At My Most Beautiful” is one of the clearest examples of melody drawing these new methods together. Its piano and vocal arrangement reveal the band’s affection for richly layered pop, offering a tender moment within an album often preoccupied with uncertainty. “Hope” takes a different route, building its effect through repetition and electronic movement. “The Apologist” and “Sad Professor” introduce voices whose self-explanations are not entirely reassuring, continuing Stipe’s interest in narrators who reveal more than they may intend. The contrast between a beautiful musical surface and an uncomfortable thought gives Up much of its depth. Even the more accessible songs leave something unresolved beneath the melody.

The later sequence includes “Walk Unafraid,” “Why Not Smile” and “Daysleeper,” songs that show how much emotional range the album can accommodate. “Daysleeper” brings a particularly recognizable R.E.M. melody to a portrait of life outside the usual daily schedule, connecting the record’s sense of dislocation to an ordinary human experience. “You’re in the Air,” “Diminished” and “Parakeet” explore other corners of its atmosphere before “Falls to Climb” brings the program to a reflective close. Heard together, these tracks show a band willing to let fragility become part of its sound. The record’s searching quality comes from the relationship between the songs and the circumstances in which the musicians were finding their new balance.

This 25th-anniversary Craft Recordings edition presents the remastered original album on two 180 gram black vinyl records, with packaging that follows the original release. The fourteen-track sequence is preserved across four sides, from the unusual opening of “Airportman” to the closing “Falls to Climb.” Up occupies an important place between the expansive rock of New Adventures in Hi-Fi and the more luminous studio pop of Reveal. For listeners who know R.E.M. mainly through their biggest singles, it offers a different view of the group’s abilities: patient arrangements, detailed character writing and a willingness to let uncertainty shape the music rather than resolve it too quickly.

Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic

Track Listing

Side A
Airportman
Lotus
Suspicion

Side B
Hope
At My Most Beautiful
The Apologist
Sad Professor

Side C
You're in the Air
Walk Unafraid
Why Not Smile
Daysleeper

Side D
Diminished
Parakeet
Falls to Climb