No One Can See You Cry

Reveal - 2001

While I enjoyed most of Up and was getting used to the idea of an R.E.M. three-piece, I was initially excited about Reveal when it was first announced. I saw Up as the transition and was hoping that the next record would be the boys getting down to the business of making great music as they had in the past. R.E.M. had released a pretty decent single that was on the Man on the Moon soundtrack, "The Great Beyond" a year or so earlier. This positive outlook increased after I heard two tracks that were to be on Reveal, the lead-off single "Imitation of Life" and the opening track "The Lifting".

"Imitation of Life" was classic R.E.M., maybe too classic. It was more upbeat than anything on the prior album and was a little more guitar based. The entire piece was wrapped in strings like songs on Automatic for the People. Also, I couldn't help but sing along to it. There is the matter of the verse chords being the exact same progression of the verse chords for "Driver 8". I'm sure this wasn't intentional, but it helped reinforce the notion of this being a very R.E.M. song, even on a subconscious level.

"The Lifting" was a bit different. It's a swirl of keyboards and heavily effected guitars, and it pulled more from Up than "Imitation of Life" did. Still "The Lifting" felt like an R.E.M. song, just in different clothes. Michael Stipe's singing was clear and excellent and Peter Buck even got the opportunity to knock out a rather nice guitar solo in the middle.

And then the album was released.

Except for a handful of decent tracks, most of Reveal is like lukewarm bath water: not painfully uncomfortable, but far from perfect. Very few of the songs stand out from the pack. "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" manages to make itself noticed by invoking a old style "King of the Road" sort of guitar line, and the melody is hummable. Unfortunately, the bulk of the record is pretty unremarkable. The last five tracks on Reveal are considerably better than most of the first half, but they're not interesting enough to salvage the whole project.

Needless to say, Reveal was a big disappointment. Instead of moving forward, R.E.M. felt like they were running in place. Maybe the next record would be an improvement...

4 out of 10