I've listened to the Around the Sun stream on myspace.com and it reminds me how much I wish Scott Litt was R.E.M.'s producer. If Bill can't come back, I'd happily settle for Scott. I'm no expert on record producing, but there's a real VH1-esque sheen on the last few albums, and especially this one.

Looking beyond that, there's a lot of little things to like on this. The Spanish guitar bridge on "High Speed Train". The ending of "Around the Sun". Peter's guitar at the end of "Wanderlust". The dread of "Boy in the Well".

And there are songs that are fully great: "Boy in the Well", "The Outsiders", "I Wanted to Be Wrong", "Aftermath". There are a few clunkers, a few interesting mistakes. Michael actually emotes pretty much throughout the album, unlike Reveal where he was as emotionally involved as a frat boy the morning after.

To focus on one song, I love "Aftermath", as slick as it sounds. There's a bounce to it, with those processed horns on the chorus, the backing vocals, the organ, piano, drum beat. Old R.E.M. songs were like a great meal, where all the ingredients were perfected blended. There was, and I'm going to sound like a car commercial or an investment banker, an attention to detail. One thing didn't make the song; it was the whole deal. And listening to the music, and the story about getting along post-break up, it's just a damn good song, and easy to overlook. Anyway, that reminded me why I love R.E.M. I think the foursome of "I Wanted to Be Wrong", "Wanderlust", "Boy in the Well", and "Aftermath" is as strong as any foursome on recent albums. Unfortunately, it's preceding by "Final Straw", which is a piece of crap.

I haven't been able to take it all in as a full album, with other things I had to do and the stream breaking down. But I like it. I guess I just miss being truly excited; now I'm just glad when they meet expectations.