Reveal (R.E.M. album)
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''Reveal'' is the twelfth 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 May 14, 2001, on
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
After having adjusted to former drummer Bill Berry's departure and releasing '' Up'' to mixed response in 1998, R.E.M. released the more upbeat ''Reveal'', co-produced with long-time collaborator Patrick McCarthy. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. In 2002, R.E.M. allowed each track of the album to be remixed by different producers and members of the music industry. The resulting remix album, '' r.e.m.IX'', was available as a free download from R.E.M.'s official website. In 2005,
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 ...
issued an expanded two-disc edition of ''Reveal'' which includes a CD and a DVD, as well as the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.


Music

After the electronic experimental direction of '' Up'' (1998), ''Reveal'' was referred to by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
as "a conscious return to their classic sound," although Matt LeMay of ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' noticed that ''Reveal'' relies "more heavily on synthesized sounds than any of their past albums" with an "increased reliance on burbling, jittering synthesizers". Erlewine himself later acknowledged the album is "heavy on keyboards," whilst ''Pitchfork''s Stephen M. Deusner said it was "effects-heavy." The lead single, " Imitation of Life", became a UK Top 10 hit as well as the band's first number one single in Japan, but floundered at the bottom of the U.S. singles charts. Additional singles from ''Reveal'' were "
All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star) "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. It was released on July 23, 2001 as the second single from the band's twelfth studio album, '' Reveal'' (2001). The single did not chart on the US ''Billbo ...
" and " I'll Take the Rain". Building on examples from their previous album ''Up'', "Beat a Drum", "Summer Turns to High", and "Beachball" are musical homages to
The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...
, of whom both
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
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 ...
are major fans. Radiohead's
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been descri ...
was going through a period of extreme depression during the late 1990s, which led to severe
stage fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...
. Around that time, Yorke and
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 ...
were close friends, and Stipe advised Yorke to tell himself: "I'm not here, this isn't happening" whenever he felt he was losing emotional control. This motto eventually became the chorus of Radiohead's "How to Disappear Completely", from ''
Kid A ''Kid A'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and their hometown of Oxford. After th ...
'' (2000). In turn, this song supposedly inspired Stipe to write ''Reveal''s "Disappear". In a 2019 interview with ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', Stipe recounted telephoning Yorke after realizing the shared inspiration, apologizing for supposedly stealing the concept behind their song, only for Yorke to respond by stating that it was more R.E.M.'s song than Radiohead's upon hearing Stipe recite the lyrics to "Disappear". The album's opening track, "The Lifting", is a prequel to " Daysleeper" from R.E.M.'s 1998 album, '' Up'', and features the same character.


Critical reception

Initial critical response to ''Reveal'' was positive ("Probably because it's more melodic than the one before," remarked
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 ...
). At
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an
average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
score of 76, based on 20 reviews. Q Magazine gave high praise to the album, awarded it the full 5 stars, and listed it as one of the best 50 albums of 2001. ''
Kludge A kludge or kluge () is a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain. This term is used in diverse fields such as computer science, aerospace engineering, Internet sla ...
'' included it on their list of the 25 best albums of 2001. With early comparisons to ''
Automatic for the People ''Automatic for the People'' is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released by Warner Bros. Records on October5, 1992 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and on the following day in the United States. R.E.M. began pro ...
'', the critical reaction to ''Reveal'' was warmer than the notices which greeted ''Up'' in 1998, particularly in the UK, where it reached #1 with healthy sales, reaching platinum status there. In the United States, ''Reveal'' peaked at  6 (with 10 weeks on the Billboard 200) and was certified Gold (500,000 units). The album was also certified Gold in Canada (50,000 units) in 2001, and Gold in Germany (150,000 units). In 2004, the German version of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' ranked the album at number 483 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In April 2021, almost exactly twenty years after the album's release, Michael Stipe stated that ''Reveal'' had possibly overtaken ''
New Adventures in Hi-Fi ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' is the tenth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was their fifth major-label release for Warner Bros. Records, released on September 9, 1996, in Europe and Australia, and the following day in ...
'' in being his favorite R.E.M. album.


Track listing

All songs written by
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 ...
,
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
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 ...
. ;The Chorus Side: # "The Lifting" – 4:39 # "I've Been High" – 3:25 # "
All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star) "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. It was released on July 23, 2001 as the second single from the band's twelfth studio album, '' Reveal'' (2001). The single did not chart on the US ''Billbo ...
" – 4:43 # "She Just Wants to Be" – 5:22 # "Disappear" – 4:11 # "Saturn Return" – 4:55 ;The Ring Side #
  • "Beat a Drum" – 4:21 # " Imitation of Life" – 3:57 # "Summer Turns to High" – 3:31 # "Chorus and the Ring" – 4:31 # " I'll Take the Rain" – 5:51 # "Beachball" – 4:14


    "The Lifting" mastering defect

    In 2002, Warner Bros. released a
    DVD-A DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The st ...
    version of ''Reveal'' containing a new 5.1-channel mix of the album as well as the stereo mix presented in "Advanced Resolution" 96 kHz/24-bit. The 96 kHz/24-bit mix, however, has a mastering defect. The defect takes place on the first track "The Lifting", in which the beat skips at the 0:29 mark. This defective DVD-A was used in the 2005 CD+DVD-A reissue, and the 96 kHz/24-bit mix is used on the HDtracks store as well as the iTunes Store and Apple Music service. In 2017, Apple removed "The Lifting" from the iTunes Store and Apple Music service due to the defect. In a 2018 Twitter post, Mike Mills acknowledged the defect as well as the removal and stated that the issue was noted and should be fixed soon. However, as of 2020, the defective version of "The Lifting" has been added back to iTunes and Apple Music and is still present on the HDtracks store.


    Reveal Advance 2001

    The February 2001 master of ''Reveal'' differed from the March 2001 master of the album, which ended up being the final version. Compared to the official, the differences of the Reveal Advance 2001 disc include: * Two tracks that never made it to the finished version: "Fascinating" and "Free Form Jazz Jam". * An alternative version of "Beat a Drum" called "All I Want." * A longer version of "Imitation of Life." * A version of "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" with an alternate ending, and simply titled "Reno." * Slightly different mixes and/or instrumental changes in "I've Been High" and "She Just Wants to Be." Neither of the unreleased tracks or any of the alternative mixes have ever been released commercially. However, the band allowed th
    Murmurs.com
    fan community to offer downloads of "Fascinating," which had recently been covered by
    Fischerspooner Fischerspooner were an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in Chicago after meeting in school. The name is a combination of the founders' last names, Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. Career Originally a duo formed by clas ...
    . In September 2019, R.E.M. made a later version of the song "Fascinating" available to benefit global organization Mercy Corps' Hurricane Dorian relief and recovery efforts in the Bahamas; this version was rerecorded in 2004 at Nassau's Compass Point Studios.


    Personnel

    R.E.M. *
    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 ...
     –
    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 ...
    *
    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 ...
     –
    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 *
    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 ...
     –
    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 ...
    Additional personnel *Chris Bilheimer – art * Pat McCarthy –
    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 ...
    *
    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 *
    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 *
    Joey Waronker Jon Joseph Waronker (born May 20, 1969) is an American drummer and music producer. He is best known as a regular drummer of both Beck and R.E.M., and as member of the experimental rock bands Atoms for Peace and Ultraísta. Background Waronke ...
     – drums and
    percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...


    Charts


    Weekly charts


    Year-end charts


    Certifications


    See also

    *'' Not Bad for No Tour'' *'' r.e.m.IX''


    References

    {{Authority control 2001 albums Albums produced by Peter Buck Albums produced by Mike Mills Albums produced by Michael Stipe Albums produced by Pat McCarthy (record producer) Albums recorded at The Warehouse Studio R.E.M. albums Warner Records albums