While it might have been interesting to hear Bill Berry s beats on a few tracks, for the most part the album holds up quite well. Again REM has chosen to reinvent themselves. I really had the feeling that this was in many ways a new group. It reminds me a lot of some of the more gorgeous tracks on Radiohead s OK Computer. A laid-back computerized drum beat, a wash of keyboards and Stipes voice floating somewhere in the middle.
Several tracks see the band incorporating more electronic noises in their music.
However, they always put the song above the technology. Michael Stipes' multi-tracked voice sounds very eerie, and Peter Buck s guitar sounds powerful. This is one of the few straight forward rock tracks. And the album fades away.