R.E.M.
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It's tough being the guitarist for one of the world's best rock bands... everything is going great and once you've reached the top, there's no gust of wind that can knock you down... but one day your drummer comes to you and says: "I'm leaving... I'm tired of traveling, of spending three months in a recording studio that doesn't even have a window, I'm tired of the music biz, I'm tired of the music we make...", it seems like a valid justification, but it's hard to swallow! What do you do? Disband the group? Never! The desire to create is there and it's strong, too strong to hang the guitar on the wall; and while your friend Thom Yorke learns to use technology to breathe life into his masterpiece "Ok Computer", what do you do? You go to the attic and dust off an old synthesizer to create the demos for "your" masterpiece.

And so you sit there, like a child playing with his first Bontempi, and create strange new sounds that taste old and vice versa; they will be the hallmark of some tracks ("Hope", "Airportman", "Falls To Climb"); but the guitar is your number one instrument: hence here are the scratching riffs ("Lotus"), distorted electric guitars ("Sad Professor"), arpeggios ("You're In The Air"), distorted feedback ("Why Not Smile"), e-bow ("Walk Unafraid"), clear acoustics ("Daysleeper")...

And meanwhile, as if that wasn't enough, the leader has "writer's block"! "Damn, what bad luck" you think... but instead the damn block chasing your friend trips; and only poetry flows from his pen. In the lyrics, there's an impulse for guilt and apologies ("Sad Professor", "The Apologist"), there's the life of those who work at night and during the day turn on an "ocean machine" to go to sleep ("Daysleeper"), there's the first true declaration of love ("At My Most Beautiful"), there's a desire to leave doubts about the future of the band ("Falls To Climb"), irony towards the media ("Diminished"), the desire not to be intimidated ("Walk Unafraid"). In short, the lyrics whisper a lot of culture from a voice that is increasingly reflective.

And the power of the sounds you've created contrasts with the tranquility around: like a plane crashing into a cloud but not affecting its softness... and that's when you realize there's nothing wrong with what you've done! You've created another masterpiece.

PS This review is dedicated to Peter Buck, as it's often forgotten that he is the true driving force of REM...