taken from nme.com:

REM have written some of the best songs of their career for their new album, according to guitarist PETER BUCK.

And the star says the new material is reminiscent of the band's classic 1987 album 'Document'.

Buck told MTV: "If we quit today, we'd have half of the greatest record we've ever made. Nine of the songs are as good as anything we've ever written."

He added: "It reminds me of 'Document' if it were more acoustic and crazier. There are already seven songs we've done that have to be on there."

Among the tracks expected to make the cut is the band's reaction to the war in Iraq, 'The Final Straw', a live version of which the band made available as a free download on their official website remhq.com.

The band's still-untitled follow-up to 2001's 'Reveal', which will be their third as a trio since the departure of founding member Bill Berry in 1997, is due next year. Buck revealed REM have recorded 35 tracks, with a few weeks of recording left before they begin a summer world tour. Buck, bassist Mike Mills and singer Michael Stipe have been joined in the studio by Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin and Young Fresh Fellows leader and regular collaborator Scott McCaughey.

Before the release of the new LP, REM will release a 'Best Of' compilation spanning their 15 years and seven albums at Warner Bros.. The collection, due on September 30, will contain at least two previously unreleased tracks, including fan favourite 'Bad Day', recorded in 1986.

Every album they've recorded since Monster has been said to "sound kind of like Document." I stopped believing that two albums ago. Document was the greatest album ever made, and I doubt they'll ever do anything like it again. That doesn't mean I won't like the new one, but it won't be like Document.

This is happy news. It'll be great to finally get a decent copy of "Bad Day." I've always liked that one. I need to get the DVD versions of Document and AftP

Peter Buck is always saying shit like that. You can take what he says with a grain of salt.

HAVING SAID THAT...I do have high hopes for their new album. I loved Reveal, and I think they're definitely back on the right track. I look forward to hearing this new one.

On another note - do most people consider Document to be their best album? It would be low in my top 5, if there at all.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 5:09 pm on Apr. 30, 2003)

Ditto TF and JC.

According to REM, every album they put out is the best stuff they've ever written. It will get compared to Document. As its release gets closer, you'll hear more reviewers say it's great and compare it to Out of Time and Automatic for the People. You'll get really curious.

Then, like the new album or not, it will get no radio play and they'll still be bigger than ever in Europe.

My REM enthusiasm isn't so high anymore. Maybe it'll go up when the new album is released.

Like TF said, it will be nice to have a copy of "Bad Day". Other than that, I do not have high hopes for the new album. I enjoyed UP and Reveal, but they are not near and dear to my heart. REM is still my favorite band and they will always excite me. I saw pictures of Stipe and Mills in Entertainment Weekly today and I squelled. I can't wait till September when I will finally see them.

This is gonna open up a large discussion but I have always wondered what everone's favorite REM songs/albums are. I just feel kinda bad always swaying topics towards Elvis Costello or REM all the time. But I am still curious, so do tell....

favorite album will always be murmur.

song..? that's a hard one.
it's between 4:
strange currencies
it's the end of the world awki
find the river
sitting still

My ranking of REM albums would be:

1. New Adventures in HiFi
2. Automatic for the People
3. Chronic Town
4. Out of Time
5. Monster
6. Up
7. Life's Rich Pagaent
8. Murmur
9. Reckoning
10. Green
11. Reveal
12. Document
13. Fables of the Reconstruction
14. Dead Letter Office, sans Chronic Town tracks

Yet despite my lack of Document and Reveal love, I'm pumped as Hell. A bad REM album is a damn sight better than most bands' releases.

Will

(Edited by Wiyum at 4:24 pm on May. 1, 2003)

Sir, you have excellent taste. If I tried to list my favorites, those would definitely be included. I thought I was the only person who really loved "Sitting Still."

Will,

You put Life's Rich Pagent twice. Where does Fable's go??

Although I do not like them like I used to, they have provided me with some timeless entertainment.

1. In '88 on their Green tour, I proceeded to get drunk for the very first time from three tall boys of Busch at the concert.

2. I was at the Cat's Cradle in Los Angeles and noticed Michael Stipe, Courtney Love, and Morrisey hanging out. I went over to talk to Michael and he was very nice and cordial. Halfway through my conversation with him Courtney interupted me and told me to piss off. Fucking Bitch.

Very nice. These are also my top two and only two REM albums that I consider GREAT albums.

did you say anything to morrissey?

Fixed the problem.

Will

I knew that Stipe and C.Love were pals, but Morrisey? Actually, I remember reading in Marcus Gray's REM biography, It Crawled From the South, that in the 1980s, Stipe attempted to contact Morrisey several times "for social purposes," but Morrisey would not return his calls. I guess, like Dylan says, things have changed.

My love of R.E.M. would go something like this:

5. Monster
4. Reveal
3. Murmur
2. Life's Rich Pageant
1 (by a mile!). Automatic for the People

Favorite songs? You'll have to give me a while on that. Off the top of my head...1,000,000...Fall on Me...What's the Freq Ken...Half a World Away...At My Most Beautiful...It's the End of the World...Pretty Persuasion...Driver 8...Imitation of Life...Near Wild Heaven...Finest Worksong...Turn You Inside-Out...Find the River...there are so many great ones...

Well if I recall correctly from the special REM Q thingy, Morrissey and Stipey were pen pals. I would give anything to read those letters.

murmur and out of time will a;lways hold a special place in my life.

i hope to catch the atlanta show in october.

as for reveal...it was way better than UP which was an extreme disapointment to me.

Ah, REM....so much to say.

REM albums that I used to love, but can't get into anymore, no matter how hard I try:
Out of Time
Monster
Murmur
Document

There's still a flicker with Reckoning, Fables, Dead Letter, Green, HiFi, Up, and Reveal.

I can always listen to and love Automatic, the Automatic Box, and Chronic Town.

Favorite songs include Beat A Drum, Sad Professor, Electrolite, and all of Eponymous.

I loved seeing them in Atlanta last time they were there, but I have no plans to see them in the Fall.

Albums:
Life's Rich Pageant
Green
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Document
Reckoning

Songs: Pretty Persuausion, Ages of You, Disturbance at the Heron House, Little America, Get Up, E-Bow the Letter, Strange Curruncies, Catapult, Camera, Feeling Gravity Pull, Nightswimming, Near Wild Heaven, I Took Your Name, I Believe, Turn You Inside-Out, Wendell Gee, Shaking Through, At My Most Beautiful

I could honestly go on and on.... Now favorite covers?? Has anyone heard Cameo's "Word Up". I still haven't, but would like to.

i have always loved "sitting still" too; i think the love of the song started when i realized they said my name. such things excite 13-yr-olds.

albums:
1) automatic for the people *****
2) murmur *****
3) green **** 1/2
4) chronic town **** 1/2
5) lifes rich pageant ****

I'm glad to see the high praise of Chronic Town. I think that it took the band several albums to top it. Murmur and Reckoning show that doing an EP first was a very smart move for REM. Chronic Town is magnificent. I think I'll listen to it again today.

Songs that I adore would have to include: Leave, Daysleeper, Half a World Away, Find the River, Untitled, Boxcars, and so many others that I can't possibly list them.

Will

I never thought I'd find anyone else that liked THAT song. For the longest time, I didn't even know that it existed b/c I'd shut the tape off after "I Remember California." It's definitely one of my favorites.

Apparently, there was once a raging debate in some corners of the Internet about this song's name. According to the rec.music.rem FAQ (an excellent source of information):

Damn, TF!