Liveblogging R.E.M.’s Accelerate
Posted on March 31st, 2008 by Josh Hathaway
I got my copy of R.E.M.’s Accelerate in the mail today — one day early — and I’m going to attempt to live blog the record. It shouldn’t take long. The album is 11 songs and under 35 minutes. The real challenge will be finishing my thoughts on a song before the next one starts. I’m going to have to work fast.
First thought? The packaging blows. It’s a big, blocky, black and white mess and the fonts are not eyefriendly. I’m not a graphic designer and I don’t even play one on the web, but that’s just awful.
First up: “Living Well Is The Best Revenge…”
Filed under: Tags: R.E.M.
First thought? The packaging blows.
This is my fear - I am a designer and I worry I’m going to get this and hate the packaging. That said, I’ve also hated pretty much all of their packaging/design for ages, so I’m not sure it matters. What makes me mad is that they’re punishing the people who didn’t want to pay over double for the dumb DVD that, as we discussed, will get watched maybe one time (and, of course, the two mp3s that are included - because Warner somehow couldn’t fit two wav files on a DVD(?!)) In the end, I think I will feel better being frugal because I think the push for these high-end packages is a rip-off. Stipe, who has always been interested in good packaging, should be ashamed at what he’s allowing to go on with the REM name attached (however, given what Around The Sun looked like, I’m not surprised - he’s clearly given up caring about package and design.)
As someone who still cares about having the tangible object, I hate it when a band misses the opportunity to do something with it. Albums are still special to me. The joy of unwrapping one. The fun of holding the liner notes in your hand as you listen to those first notes. All of that is great. I wanted to just chuck this cover and these liner notes. This will make me only too happy to listen to it exclusively on my iPod.
I mean, hell, I don’t want an all digital world but if this is all you’re going to do with it, why did you fuckin’ bother? An all B&W motif is fine, but do something with that font. An all B&W motif is fine on the cover, but make the interior at least readable and not painful to look at.