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THE YEAR OF ACCELERATE

It’s time to say goodbye to 2008 and welcome in the new year. It was an undeniably great ’08 for R.E.M: ACCELERATE reached number one in several countries, the world tour was a giant success, and the recently-released Murmur Deluxe Edition has continued to receive high marks all over the place.

The band will take some time off over the coming months, but there are still a number of things brewing in the world of R.E.M., including the Tribute Concert at Carnegie Hall, the Reckoning re-issue, and, according to Bertis, “there might also be some sort of live show digital release forthcoming in the new year.” This should be plenty to tide fans over until the band gets back in the studio, so stay tuned for more details on the Reckoning re-issue and the potential live digital offerings. We’ll let you know more as soon as possible.

In the meantime, please have a look at the following links which include reviews of the Murmur Deluxe Edition as well as critics’ thoughts on ACCELERATE and how it stacks up with some of the best of 2008. You can also link below to Q’s recent five-star review of the Murmur Deluxe Edition and click here to see which R.E.M. track made Q’s 50 Essential tracks to download in January :

Happy New Year everyone!

Bayarea.com

Denver Post

Taunton Gazette

NPR.org

Playbackstl.com

Newsday

Spin.com

Phoenix New Times.com

Q Murmur Review (pdf)

Q Murmur Review photo (pdf)