Tom Moon gives Around the Sun a pretty lukewarm review in the Philly Inquirer. Besides the comment about "Aftermath" being "bombastic arena music," I have to agree with a lot of what he says. The album's growing on me, but when he says "Rather than offer unruly, giddily unhinged songs, R.E.M. now favors a fussbudget aesthetic that renders the recordings flawlessly beautiful, but strangely free of joy," I think he hits the argument in the sweet spot. Another good point, about Stipe's lyrics: "Turns out he's better off not observing love's torments with such specificity."

Update: Man, oh, man. Even the MediaMix section of the Washington Post's Sunday Source section is down on Around the Sun. C-fucking-plus? Man, I can take that from Tom Moon, but the MediaMix is like the UMass creative writing department: no one gets anything below a B ("I think you copied from a 'Goofus and Gallant' cartoon, but it was a good cartoon nonetheless. A-"). This is a section that gives regular A-minuses to Helen Fielding novels ("What You'll Love: Bridget's pluckiness! What You Won't: All those British terms. What's a flat?").