I have thought about posting a review of R.E.M.’s new album “Collapse Into Now” a bunch of times since its release in early March. Lord knows I have listened to the album a bunch of times. The problem is, I have also read and listened to other people’s reviews and didn’t feel the need to add my two cents worth.

So this is less my review of the album and more my review of the reviews and where they sit in relation to my review. In other words, just a mess of thoughts pouring from my head.

The album has met with fairly good reviews, but many have the same undercurrent – the band can and has done better. I’m unabashed in my love for the band so I don’t compare each release with their other work. Therefore, I don’t really find these reviews useful.

My good friend Dave Lifton said something along the lines of “it sounds like R.E.M. covering R.E.M.” The Sound Opinions radio show/podcast had a similar take, saying the band had covered the same groun previously in a much better fashion.

So? Yeah, I like the stuff with Bill Berry much better, but that doesn’t prohibit me from enjoying and appreciating these songs on their own. This isn’t like sports where time visibly diminishes the skills of the participants and renders their later contributions useless. It’s not like being derivative is something new for the band.

“It’s the End of the World” is “Bad Day” re-packaged. “Burning Down” rescued the remnants of “Ages of You.” “Imitation of Life” relies mainly on the same chord progression as “Driver 8.” They have built their career on covering the same ground with brief forays into a magical territory that mesmerizes those who are not ardent followers of the band.

So just as they turned off their art school friends in college by including “Hippy, Hippy Shake” and “Route 66” in their early sets, they are cheesing over the musical cognescenti who don’t realize that “Losing My Religion” and the songs on “Automatic for the People” are the exception not the rule.

Stop worrying about whether you have heard the lyrics of “Mine Smell Like Honey” expressed in a similar way in another song and just soak in the excitement of the beat. I don’t really care if people like it. Just come up with a better reason for why I shouldn’t like it because when you start criticizing a band for sounding too much like themselves, maybe you’re the one who is treading on well-worn territory, not R.E.M.