R.E.M.
Out Of Time

Perhaps, at the release of this album, it was expected that the Athens quartet had already reached the peak of their career with the previous "Green." That album marked the triumph of college rock with politically engaged anthems like ''World Leader Pretend'' and ''Orange Crush'' and more carefree tracks like ''Get Up'' and ''Stand''. The triumphant Green World Tour, which characterized much of 1989 and brought R.E.M. around the world (including Italy, for the first time), indeed marked the end of an era. Revisiting today, with hindsight, the images of Tourfilm, which faithfully documents those concerts, has a certain impact. Not so much because it contained clues about the future (the brief snippets of Low and Belong hidden between songs), but because the clear separation the group made with the past is evident. Although this shouldn't surprise: as demonstrated by the band's career, up to "Up," turning points are a constant.

Yet the clues for this turning point were already in the grooves of Green. Not so much in the epic quality of "Orange Crush," but in "You Are The Everything." It is in that song that the four begin the game of 'musical chairs,' swapping places and instruments. A game then repeated every night on stage. Stipe dedicates the song to the audience. Peter Buck holds an instrument: the mandolin. Bill Berry moves to bass, and Mike Mills to drums. The song is part of a triptych, also including "The Wrong Child" and "Hairshirt". Acoustic atmospheres where the mandolin took the spotlight.

When, in 1990, R.E.M. gathered to start working on the album, the direction was set: melancholic atmospheres and a deliberate confusion of roles. To increase the possibilities of controlled chaos in the game, a good number of friends were involved, so much so that it was necessary to include a 'who - plays - what' in the liner notes. The first is Peter Holsapple, recognized at that time as the 'fifth R.E.M.'; then Kate Pierson of the B-52's, Kidd Jordan on woodwinds, rapper KRS-One, John Keane, producer Scott Litt, plus a string section. The game even led Mike Mills to take on lead vocals on two songs from the album, ''Near Wild Heaven'' and ''Texarkana'', where Stipe limits himself to backing vocals. The result is an album that truly marks a turning point in the band's career.

"Out Of Time" is a 'baroque' album, meticulous in its sounds and melodies, melancholic but not sad, because it is imbued with an over-the-top lightness. From this point of view, one of the manifestos of the album is ''Endgame'', the semi-instrumental piece placed roughly in the middle: a game between guitar, clarinets, and absolutely passé vocals compared to the grunge explosion that was about to materialize with Nevermind and Ten and that would have overwhelmed all music, American and otherwise.

The album manages to combine experimentation, like the almost whispered ''Low'', and nods to the past, like the more classic ''Me In Honey'' and ''Shiny Happy People''. The latter, based on a typical Rickenbacker arpeggio, is preceded and interrupted by a waltz turn that makes it somewhat anomalous. The second single from the album, it is a blatantly cheerful song, later disavowed by the group for its 'too' carefree tone. Another of the most significant episodes is ''Belong'', based on the contrast between Stipe's spoken word and the very 'R.E.M.' musical structure that culminates in a chorus seemingly designed to be sung in unison. The absolute masterpiece of the album remains ''Country Feedback''' along with ''Losing My Religion''. The former is an anguished stream of consciousness whose title is meant to be taken literally, played on the contrast between a slide and a distorted guitar. Of course, the album is remembered for ''Losing My Religion''', the absolute anthem of the group. A simple and straightforward ballad, dominated by the sound of the mandolin, where Stipe embodies the monologue of a depressed person. Not 'a song centered on the decline of great ideals', as someone has written, making clear a widespread misunderstanding of the title and amplified by Tarsem's video that shows ambiguous pseudo-religious images of a modern Icarus.

"Out Of Time" is also the album where R.E.M., longtime champions of independent filmmaking, open up to more audience-oriented videos. In 1991, the video for Losing triumphs at the MTV Awards; much of the album's success is also due to the clips of other singles. The group's visual omnipresence mitigates an unexpected decision: the refusal to tour the album. R.E.M. realizes that another world tour would have wiped them out, and they prefer to devote themselves to sporadic promotional appearances, like the memorable MTV Unplugged or the Milan showcase broadcasted at the time. A decision, that of not going on tour, interrupted only in 1995 with the mammoth Monster Tour. The cover features the R.E.M. trademark in the foreground, a unique logo that remains unique even today.