''Around the Sun'' is the 13th studio album by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

band

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

, released on October 5, 2004 on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

Description

The album was released in three editions: Cassette (the band's final release on the medium), compact disc and a limited-edition box set with the CD and fold-out posters by 14 different artists illustrating the songs. "The Outsiders" features a guest appearance by rapper Q-Tip. When the song was performed live, Michael Stipe carried out the rap, as he did on a later B-side release of the song. "Final Straw" is a politically charged song. The version on the album is a remix of the original version, which had been made available as a free download on March 25, 2003, from the band's website. The song was written in protest of the U.S. government's actions in the

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. The song evolved from an instrumental demo titled "Harlan County with Whistling," recorded during the sessions for the band's 1994's album '' Monster'' and released with its 25th anniversary edition in 2019. ''Around the Sun'' was the first of only two R.E.M. albums to include a title track (the second being its follow-up, ''

Accelerate In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by t ...

''). The album was also a first for R.E.M. in that it was their first to feature

Bill Rieflin William Frederick Rieflin (September 30, 1960 – March 24, 2020) was an American musician. Rieflin came to prominence in the 1990s mainly for his work as a drummer with groups (particularly in the industrial rock and industrial metal scene ...

, the band's de facto replacement for former drummer Bill Berry, who'd retired in 1997. Although Rieflin was never officially inducted into the band as a member, he would serve as a regular auxiliary musician for R.E.M. until the band's dissolution in 2011.

Reception

Despite hitting #1 in the UK, it became their first studio album to miss the U.S. Top 10 (reaching #13 during seven weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200) since 1988's ''

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

'', and still awaits a gold record. As of March 2007, ''Around the Sun'' had sold 2 million copies worldwide and 232,000 units in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

This is less than R.E.M. sold in the first week of an album's release while at their early to mid-1990s commercial peak. Lead single " Leaving New York" became a UK Top 5 hit, while "

Aftermath Aftermath may refer to: Companies * Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing * Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre * Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company * Aftermath Services, an America ...

," " Electron Blue" and "

Wanderlust Wanderlust is a strong desire to wander or travel and explore the world. Etymology The first documented use of the term in English occurred in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering ...

" became minor hits. ''Around the Sun'' had no singles success in the United States. It was the band's first studio album to fail to chart a song on the Hot 100 since ''

Fables of the Reconstruction ''Fables of the Reconstruction'', also known as ''Reconstruction of the Fables'', is the third studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on I.R.S. Records on June 10, 1985. The Joe Boyd-produced album was the first recorde ...

'' in 1985. After the release of the following ''

'', guitarist

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his ca ...

said ''Around the Sun'' "just wasn't really listenable, because it sounds like what it is: a bunch of people that are so bored with the material that they can't stand it anymore." "The songs on ''Around the Sun'' are great," remarked singer

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

. "But, in the process of recording, we lost our focus as a band." The album's songs were largely excluded from the band's live setlists after the release of ''Accelerate''.

Reissue

In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of ''Around the Sun'' which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by

Elliot Scheiner Elliot Ray Scheiner (born 18 March 1947) is a music producer, mixer and engineer. Scheiner has received 27 Grammy Award nominations, eight of which he won, and he has been awarded four Emmy nominations, two Emmy Awards for his work with the Eagl ...

, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes. A remix of the song "Final Straw" appeared earlier in 2004 on the compilation album ''

Future Soundtrack for America ''Future Soundtrack for America'' is a benefit album for Music for America and MoveOn.org released in 2004 by Barsuk Records and McSweeney's and compiled by Spike Jonze and They Might Be Giants' founding member John Flansburgh. Each CD bore the ...

''.

Track listing

All songs written by

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., h ...

and

. ;The Mercury Side #" Leaving New York" – 4:49 #" Electron Blue" – 4:12 #"The Outsiders" (feat. Q-Tip) – 4:14 #"Make It All Okay" – 3:44 #"Final Straw" – 4:07 #"I Wanted to Be Wrong" – 4:35 ;The Sun Side #

" – 3:03 #"Boy in the Well" – 5:22 #"

" – 3:55 #"High Speed Train" – 5:02 #"The Worst Joke Ever" – 3:38 #"The Ascent of Man" – 4:07 #"Around the Sun" – 4:28

Personnel

R.E.M. *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, production *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, production, packaging Additional musicians * Jamie Candiloro – engineer, mixing, musician *

Scott McCaughey Scott Lewis McCaughey is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5. He was also an auxiliary member of the American rock band R.E.M. from 199 ...

– guitar * Q-Tip – rapping on "The Outsiders" *

– drums, percussion *

Hahn Rowe Hahn Rowe is an American violinist, guitarist, composer, and engineer/producer, involved in a wide range of projects. He also performs using the stage name Somatic. Career Originally a violinist and guitarist with New York City dream-poppers H ...

– musician *

Ken Stringfellow Kenneth Stuart Stringfellow (born October 30, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. Best known for his work with The Posies, R.E.M., and the re-formed Big Star, Stringfellow's discography includ ...

– keyboards Technical personnel * Chris Bilheimer – packaging * Oswald "Wiz" Bowe – assistant engineer * Jim Briggs III – assistant engineer * DeWitt Burton – technical assistance * Alex Dixon – assistant *

Bertis Downs Bertis Edwin Downs IV (born July 13, 1956) is an American entertainment lawyer. He originally provided legal counsel (particularly for initial contracts), and then became both counselor and manager, for the rock band R.E.M., taking over from the ...

– advisor * Thomas Roman Dozol – photography, cover photo * Bryan Gallant – assistant * Ted Jensen – mastering * Patrick McCarthy – producer, mixing * Kirk McNally – assistant engineer * Javier Valverde – assistant engineer * Bob Whittaker – technical assistance

Certifications

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Around The Sun 2004 albums Albums produced by Michael Stipe Albums produced by Mike Mills Albums produced by Peter Buck R.E.M. albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Pat McCarthy (record producer)