R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi Fi – 1996
When New Adventures came out my brother asked me what I thought about it and my answer was “I wish REM would stop recording their sound checks.” That was my initial response. Turns out I was right about that, too. Unbeknownst to me at the time.
There have always been 3 or 4 tracks from it that I adore but I don’t think I’ve given the album anything more than a cursory listen. I know that I did hear the whole thing once, cause I brought it with me to the gym and played it while on the treadmill. But I think Jerry Springer was on at the same time and I was more than likely distracted by that….
The plodding drums, rhythmic piano, low toned vocals all building to a lush chorus usher in this album. Is it just me or does “How the West Was Won and Where it Got Us” remind of Big Audio Dynamite and Tom Tom Club? Regardless, it’s a splendid mood piece. And that’s a lot of Hi Fi. Moody, stark, moving and odd. To start the record off with this is bold and strange as the song isn’t most inviting piece. On the contrary, it’s haunting and off-putting.
Then the album opens up. I have to wonder if I would like Monster better if the two tracks “Wake Up Bomb” and “Undertow” had been included instead of held off and put here. And, given that this album clocks in at an hour, perhaps they were included to break up the monotony and give the record a couple of places for fans to hold on to something beyond mid to low-tempo mood pieces. The former being a fine piece of work and the latter being…well, not so.
The 3/4 time anti-talk show, anti-religious hypocrisy screed, “New Test Leper” is perhaps one of the best singles the band has ever recorded. From PopSongs: The song isn’t really about this specific debate, but rather how commercialized forums tend to reduce serious discourse to reductive “us vs. them” binary conflicts fought out with quick, harsh sound bites between advertisements for car dealerships and laundry detergent.
“E-Bow the Letter” is pretty much the saddest thing in REM’s catalog. Based on a letter Stipe had written to his friend, River Phoenix, but couldn’t send because of the latter’s death, it’s wrenching. And brilliant. Wow. Tears are actually welling while listening to this song…
In many ways Hi Fi is the natural follow up to Automatic. Both are stark and dense and etched in sadness, loss and moving on. Perhaps we needed a Monster in between but Hi Fi effectively wipes away the sour taste of that album. The real shame is that it comes on the heels of an album fraught with expectations so high that since it wasn’t the answer fans were looking for, it gets the short shrift. You only need listen to “Leave” to realize just how incredible the heights reached on New Adventures are.
The single, “Bittersweet Me” is as pedestrian REM as you’re ever gonna get. REM by the numbers. Driver 8 kind of stuff. easy to write, easy to do, easy to sell.
For me, the real trouble with NAiHF comes around “Binky the Doormat”. (Oh, that title…cringe) By this point I’ve already put in the length of Murmur plus. The obsession with filling CDs with as much music as possible was a real problem in the 90s. The labels were charging more and more for plastic discs but who would want to pay $18 for 30 minutes of music? So we got a LOT of filler. By the middle of Hi Fi, I’m just ready for the entire proceeding to be over. Actually, Zither is supposed to be a transition song, but I could do without it. On the other hand, the “encore” “Electrolite” is lovely and a paean to their past, even if it sounds just like “Nightswimming”. It’s the last song in the “real” REM’s catalog and when Stipe sings, “I’m not scared, I’m outta here” a fitting goodbye it is.
All in all, New Adventures in Hi Fi is one of REM’s better albums. It would be one of their best if it was 15 minutes shorter. It’s also notable that this is the last record that would include the original line-up. Bill Berry would quit to be a farmer after this album.
Grade: B+
ASide: How the West Was Won and Where it Got Us, New Test Leper, E-Bow the Letter, Bittersweet Me, Electrolite
BlindSide: The Wake Up Bomb, Leave
DownSide: Binky the Doormat
