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Rating: Peter Buck wears a horrendous flashy pink shirt, with lace: it's likely he paid a thousand dollars for it. Peter Buck no longer laughs; I look at him and see an aged man, I – who had believed that heroes will always live young and beautiful.
Sitting at a table in the venue, we drink American beer, like in a Six By Seven song. Devendra Banhart is playing on stage, strumming an enchantment called "Little yellow spider." Peter nods, as if to appreciate; I look at Devendra, and he never seemed so young and beautiful to me. Peter knows, he knows everything about me, I've opened my heart to him many years ago. And he knows that it is the same for me: Hey, man, I could surprise you with how much I know about you – I once told him. And he nodded, as if to appreciate, even then.
It was me in Bologna, Peter, in the front row: I moved sweaty, seeking your gaze; it was me in Naples; it was always me in the end, a few steps from you, I had waited for you for a long time and now here we were, you and me. You didn’t talk to me, but you looked at me one last time, and it was worth more than a thousand words.
Devendra is playing the melancholic "A ribbon." Hey Peter, do you realize? R.E.M. have been everything to me. They've been my youth, my lost innocence, and my anger that still remains. They have been "Country Feedback" and "Gardening At Night", they've been the beginning of "Reckoning" and the end of "Document". R.E.M. have been me singing drunk "Find the river." I always sing "Find the River" when I'm drunk. They have been the lyrics of "World Leader pretend."
There are albums that need time to fully reveal themselves to you, they open up to you slowly. "Around the sun" opens up to you so slowly that it seems stationary. The harmless ballad of "Leaving New York", the useless litany of "Aftermath", the cheap electronics of "The outsider", the lightness of "The ascent of man", the mediocre tension of "High speed train", aimed at irritating me.
We leave the venue before Devendra finishes. I had seen "Fight Club" on TV a few days earlier, what a great film. I look at Peter and say: Hey, friend, aside from your shirt, try to hit me straight in the eyes. We're just two old, very old friends facing the reckoning, we can't stand each other anymore, just the way we are. Time passes, and the paths divide. The weight of the past remains, as big as a boulder.
When I'm drunk, I will still sing "Find the river" in the rain. But today, not today. Today it doesn’t rain, it’s a delightful evening: I battle for one last time with my last hero and then let him go, watching him as he walks away from my path. Then I go back inside the venue, happily listening to Devendra Banhart. I watch him play his guitar and enjoy it.
One day – I think – his time will come too, to hang that guitar on the wall.
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Other reviews
By francis
"'Leaving New York' is the best song of the year and would alone be worth the price of the CD."
"Around The Sun presents R.E.M. as melancholic minstrels in a world moving too fast, forgetting life's true meaning."
By enryka1
It is a slow and harmonious album, in which one can find a subtle vein of hope.
Stipe’s voice emerges once again, that voice that continues to deliver emotions, that continues to accompany the listener on a mental journey towards the world of hidden dreams.
By mantaray
Listening is always pleasant, but it lacks the depth that allowed other R.E.M. works to endure over time.
The melodies are often a bit predictable, and the presence of 'Leaving New York' as the first track gives the unpleasant sensation that the best course is served first.
By STIPE
R.E.M. is now like a three-legged dog, but still a dog that manages to walk.
Not the best R.E.M. album but not a bad one either.
By Starblazer
From the first note to the last I was simply Mesmerized. Hypnotized. Fascinated.
I bow and take my hat off to the ugliest and least inspired album by R.E.M., the lowest point in their career, a true misstep.
