Around the Sun
Around the Sun is the 13th studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in October 2004 on Warner Bros. Records. Description. The album was released in 3 editions: Being their final Release on Cassette. CD 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 was 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 Iraq War. 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"). The album was also a first for R.E.M. in that it was their first to feature Bill Rieflin, the band's de facto replacement for former drummer Bill Berry, who had 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 their 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", 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. 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", "Electron Blue" and "Wanderlust" 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" in 1985. After  the release of the following "Accelerate", guitarist Peter Buck 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. "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, 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". Track listing. All songs written by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe. Personnel. R.E.M. Additional musicians Technical personnel