Click on this page to reveal the main R.E.M. Speedwagon page... Conceal Overall Album Score: 8.0 out of 10 This is really a bit of a disappointment for R.E.M. For the first time in their long career, I get the feeling that the band isn't writing music from their heart! Perhaps the sole purpose of this album was to make money and nothing else ... but even so, R.E.M. hadn't forgotten how to write a song. There are plenty of tracks in here that are well worth your 15 bucks. ... Of course there are plenty of albums out there that are MORE worth your 15 bucks, but if you're an R.E.M. fan, what can you do? This album seems to take the sonic synthscapes leftover from Up and tries to electrify them with the classic R.E.M. sound. But it doesn't work most of the time! Many of these songs, while lovely, fail to excite me even in the slightest! Grrrr! ... There are some really good songs in the album, though. "The Lifting" is the band's best song that gives a backbone to the style Up. I also really enjoyed "Imitation of Life." That song doesn't have much of a connection to Up -- it's just a really good pop song. All in all, R.E.M. isn't down in the crapper with Reveal, even in the slightest. They're the ones who, after all, released Monster, so you've got to be appreciative even of this! ... But really, this is a good album. It's just not one of their best. And, since the band took obvious care and consideration when creating the synthscapes, it would prove to me that R.E.M. still cared about what they were doing ... even if their hearts weren't totally into it. Overall Album Score: 8.0 out of 10 (This is clearly not the band's shining moment, however, it does have its fair share of moments.) Average Song Score: 8.4 (There's some nice songs intermixed with dull songs. They seem to be equally distributed!) Album Tilt: 7.5 (This album seems dull, calculated, and purposeless. A huge disappointment!!) Artist Rating: 8.0 (They get some kudos for the instrumentation work. They at least proved that they wanted to remain artistically valid. Artistic invalids don't spend so much time polishing up a song!) Track Reviews The Lifting 10/10 Hey! This is a good song! ... Since the stupid band can't go back to making songs that sound like Lifes Rich Pageant, you had might as well go all Flaming Lips! ... Well, actually, this song sounds a lot like the stuff from Up, except it has more of a backbone. The melody is pretty good, but even better is the mesmerizing synthscape! Mmmmmm... Mesmerizing synthscapes... I've Been High 7.5/10 Hmmm... This is a pretty good song, even though it's kinda boring. Overall, it's kind of pretty, though ... but that's it. This song is kinda boring. Hmhmirmohei! Thank goodness it's not 8 minutes long or anything stupid like that. Reno 8/10 Eeek! This song has more of an exciting rhythm section, but it's still boring! Grrrr! ... I really like the song overall, though. The melody is kind of nice and I like the instrumentation. It's just BORINGIRNIGNINININNNNNNNGGGGGG. She Just Wants to Be 8.5/10 Ho hum! ... This is another song that seems to have a nice enough backbone, but it's just not that exciting. The melody is okay ... I suppose the instrumentation, though creative, could have been spruced up a bit. I really like the end of this song, though. That was done very nicely! ... If only the beginning of the song was better, this thing would have been a 9.5 or maybe a 10. Disappear 8/10 Again, the song doesn't seem to start off well, but it picks up steam toward the end and starts getting interesting. That's really kind of annoying! I want my songs to be interesting throughout!!! Saturn Return 6/10 YAWN!! Seriously, dudes, you've got to be more exciting than this! You guys used to be the awesomest band on the planet, pretty much. Why are you trying to pass this stuff off??? BORING! The backdrop sounds aren't even that good. BOOOO! All I Want 8.5/10 Better. The song still isn't that great, though! I want it to be more EXCITING! I'M SCREAMING OUT AT YOU! MORE EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!! At any rate, this is a soaring and pretty song throughout, and I like the chorus. It's still not great, though. Imitation of Life 10/10 Oh, thank goodness! A good song!!!!!! This time, there's finally an exciting rhythm and a SOLID tune. The instrumentation, this time, serves only to support the solid tune. Therefore, this is one GOOD song. I was beginning to suspect that these guys were washed up. Summer Turns to High 9/10 This isn't a GREAT song. As it starts out, it feels like it's going to be boring. But, surprisingly it works. It doesn't seem like it should work, but it does. Cool. Those synthscape sounds leftover from Up seem to be abused a little bit here, though. Chorus & the Ring 7/10 Boring! Although, I can certainly tolerate it. ... It's just not very much fun. The melody seems to want to be Celtic or something weird like that. Other than enjoying aspects of the instrumentation, this song is a big fat PLOP. I'll Take the Rain 9.5/10 Well, hey! This is a pretty good song! ... It has that nice soaring quality about it that makes me quite excited to listen to it. ... Boy, R.E.M. is sure being spotty these days. Beach Ball 8.5/10 Oh, this song isn't bad. It borders on the BORING level, but I do enjoy it. It trudges along a little bit too slowly, but it's a pretty song. I can't deny it anything more than that! It has a decent melody, and the instrumentation is nice. Okay. Album over. The End. Time to go back to the important things like baking pies. If you're a baker of pies, then reveal your thoughts about this album here!

All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He does the Monster Bop.