Google ‘popular college rock’ and inevitably REM is at the top of the list. The label doesn’t fit the band any more because it’s been more than two decades since this trio from Athens, Georgia – a quartet back then – built its reputation via US college students. However, the slimmed-down band’s attempts to continue veering away from mainstream rock on their last two albums (2001’s folk-ish Reveal and 2004’s politically charged Around the Sun) have met with decidedly diminishing returns. 

But after listening to their 14th studio album Accelerate – yes, we said 14th; yes, they are getting old – it seems that prior to recording, the middle- aged Michael Stipe and co found the fountain of youth and drank its water aplenty. The result is an arena-filling album that sounds like the good ol’ REM we know from the late ’80s and early ’90s. What’s more, these elder statesmen of alt-rock have also rediscovered how to have fun, amply visible in the video for Accelerate’s first single ‘Supernatural Superserious’.

And it doesn’t stop there. Album opener ‘Living Well Is the Best Revenge’ is a fast number that sets the album’s upbeat tone nicely (to REM standards, at least). ‘Horse to Water’ sees the band return to its uptempo sound, akin to festival favourite ‘Orange Crush’ off Green (1988). ‘Mr Richards’ has the crunchy, distorted guitar sound familiar from hit single ‘What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?’ from Monster (1994). And let’s not forget the ballad ‘Until the Day Is Done’, a political song suitably featured in the trailer for CNN’s environmental programme ‘Planet in Peril’; the track bears a resemblance to the band’s slow, emotional hit ‘Drive’ (Automatic for the People, 1992). REM aptly brings Accelerate to a close with an eloquent, anthemic rock tune, ‘I’m Gonna DJ’. 

So kudos to REM for returning to their alt-rock roots and making a record that sounds like a ‘Best Of’ with brand new songs. In Accelerate, we have finally found our candidate for 2008’s album of the year.