Although Gabriel continued to use the pioneering Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer, songs from these sessions were less experimental than his previous material. Nevertheless, Gabriel drew on various musical influences, fusing pop, soul, and art rock with elements of traditional world music, particularly African and Brazilian styles. It is Gabriel's first non-eponymous album, So representing an "anti-title" that resulted from label pressure to "properly" market his music.
Often considered his best and most accessible album, So was an immediate commercial success and transformed Gabriel from a cult artist into a mainstream star, becoming his best-selling solo release. The album's lead single, "Sledgehammer", was promoted with an innovative animated music video and achieved particular success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and subsequently winning a record of nine MTV Video Music Awards. It was followed by four further singles, "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Kate Bush), "Big Time", "In Your Eyes", and "Red Rain".
Preparing for So, Gabriel considered Bill Laswell and Chic's Nile Rodgers as potential producers. He eventually asked his Birdy collaborator Daniel Lanois to stay at Ashcombe and work with him further. Work on the album began in earnest in February 1985, with "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)" as the first song; the first six months would be spent on writing and developing song sketches. The songs were usually recorded in the studio with Gabriel, Lanois and guitarist David Rhodes playing together to a drum machine, based on an idea or chord structure Gabriel had. Lanois recalled they had "a nice starting point [as] in that kind of scenario, it's not a good idea to have a lot of people around because you get nervous that you're wasting other people's time".
Once they had the songs' foundations, bass and drums were overdubbed - primarily with Tony Levin, and Manu Katché, respectively. According to Lanois, he usually liked "to capture as much of the live playing as possible in any session, but these [sessions] were really the reverse... It was like overdubbing the rhythm section on top of a demo. That was the spirit of the record."
Towards the end of recording, Gabriel became "obsessed" with the track listing and created an audio cassette of all the song's beginnings and ends to hear how the sounds blended together. He wanted to have "In Your Eyes" as the final track, but its prominent bassline meant it had to be placed earlier on the vinyl edition as there is more room for the stylus to vibrate. With later CD releases, this restriction was removed and the track was placed at the end of the album. So was completed in February 1986 and cost £200,000 to make. It was overdubbed at Power Station Studios in New York (as well as all horn section parts having been recorded there), despite Gabriel considering sending it via a computer-telephone set up, reasoning, "that's a lot of information to send via phone. Isn't it amazing though? You can send a song idea around the world to musicians then beam parts back by satellite".
So has been described as Gabriel's most commercially accessible and least experimental album, one that features pop songs and incorporates art pop and progressive pop throughout. Like his previous albums, its basis is in art rock, although on So, Gabriel develops an increased focus on melody and combines this with elements of soul and African music. Gabriel began with around 30 compositional ideas and 20 recorded tracks, which he later winnowed down to twelve songs that were "within finishing distance". The songs are highly influenced by traditional world music, particularly African and Brazilian music, with Gabriel incorporating rhythms and drum beats from these regions.
The album opener was "Red Rain" Gabriel wanted the album to "crash open at the front". Despite disliking "metal" percussion instruments, he was persuaded by Lanois to allow the Police's Stewart Copeland to play cymbals and hi-hat on its opener, " Gabriel sangs – in his upper register, with a throaty, gravelly texture – of a destructive world with social problems such as torture and kidnapping. Next "Sledgehammer" was the final track to be conceived. Most of Gabriel's band had packed away their equipment and were ready to leave the studio, but he asked them to reassemble to quickly run through a song he had an idea for. "Sledgehammer" was partially inspired by the music of Otis Redding, and Gabriel sought out Wayne Jackson, whom Gabriel had seen on tour with Redding in the 1960s, to record horns for the track. Opened by a shakuhachi bamboo flute, its beat is dominated by brass instruments, particularly Jackson's horn, and features lyrics abundant with sexual euphemisms.
So's most political statement, "Don't Give Up", was fuelled by Gabriel's discontent with rising unemployment during Margaret Thatcher's premiership and Dorothea Lange's photograph "Migrant Mother". Gabriel ensured the song, which follows a narrative of an unemployed man and his lover, was written as a conversational piece. He initially sought Dolly Parton to portray the woman; although Parton declined, his friend Kate Bush agreed to feature. Bush serves as the song's respondent, she assumes a comforting role and with delicate vocals, sings lines such as "Rest your head/ you worry too much". The album's first side culminates with "That Voice Again", in which Gabriel explores the concept of conscience, examining the "parental voice in our heads that either helps or defeats us". The song was written after Gabriel's initial discussions with Martin Scorsese about scoring The Last Temptation of Christ
The second part opened with "In Your Eyes" which has been described as Gabriel's greatest love song. Inspired by the Sagrada Família and its architect Antoni Gaudí, Gabriel sings over a drumbeat of only feeling complete in the eyes of his lover. The track features vocal contributions from the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour, who sang the song in his native Wolof. Gabriel became interested in the late American poet Anne Sexton after reading the anthology To Bedlam and Part Way Back. He dedicated So's sixth track to her, calling it "Mercy Street" after "45 Mercy Street", a poem released in another posthumous collection. "Mercy Street" is set to one of several Forró-inspired percussion compositions that Gabriel recorded in Rio de Janeiro. When these compositions were unearthed in the studio, they were accidentally played back ten per cent slower than the original recording, giving them a grainy quality that Gabriel and Lanois thought highlighted the cymbal and guitars. It features two harmonious Gabriel vocals; one a shadow vocal an octave below the main vocal. Intended to give a sensual, haunting effect, this was hard to capture except when Gabriel first woke up.
The dance song "Big Time" has funk influences and is built on a "percussive bass sound". Its lyrics satirise the yuppie culture of the 1980s, materialism and consumerism and are the result of Gabriel's self-examination, after he considered whether he may have desired fame after all. "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)" was originally recorded for Peter Gabriel (or Melt). The song relates to the experiment on obedience carried out by the American social psychologist Stanley Milgram, intended as a reference to the obedience citizens show to dictators during times of war.
While "We Do What We're Told" was the final song on initial LP versions of the album, the cassette and CD releases close with "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)". "Excellent Birds" was composed with American musician Laurie Anderson. They recorded the song and they filmed music video over a period of three days — which was relatively quick by Gabriel's standards — for inclusion on the 1984 global satellite television broadcast Good Morning, Mr. Orwell.
So was released on 19 May 1986. It topped the charts of seven countries worldwide, including the United Kingdom, where it became Gabriel's second number one album. In the United States, So became one of Geffen Records' most commercially successful releases, peaking at number two and remaining on the chart for ninety-three weeks. In April 1986, "Sledgehammer" was released as the album's lead single and became Gabriel's first and only number one on the Billboard Hot 100, displacing his former band Genesis' first and only US number one "Invisible Touch". The success of "Sledgehammer" can be seen, in part, due to its hugely popular and innovative stop motion music video, designed by Aardman Animations. Gabriel would go on to say in an interview for Rolling Stone that he believed the video exposed So's songs to a wider audience, bolstering the album's success. Two high-charting singles followed, "Don't Give Up", which rose to number nine on the UK Singles Chart and a less successful seventy-nine in America, while "Big Time" peaked at number thirteen in the UK and number eight in America. "In Your Eyes" saw moderate success in America, where it reached twenty-six on the Hot 100, while "Red Rain" peaked at forty-six in the United Kingdom.
So received mostly favourable reviews from music critics. So had "all the usual hallmarks of rhythm and vocals" associated with Gabriel. Other praised the record as Gabriel's most accessible and streamlined album ever", adding that it was "one of the best albums released this year, both commercially and artistically." A record of considerable emotional complexity and musical sophistication" and felt that the mainstream pop music scene would be encouraged to innovate by the album. Althought others were les positive by saying the album results were mixed.
Nevertheless, "So" is often regarded as Gabriel's best album, as well as one of the best albums of the 1980s. It enabled Gabriel to transform from a cult artist, acclaimed for his cerebral, experimental solo work, into a mainstream, internationally known star.
The album was produced by Rupert Hine, singer Cy Curnin started working on the album while temporarily living in Africa. Walkabout was the first album to include bass player Danny Brown as an official member of the band, the album contained layered, synthesized textures and ponderous songs, in order to displayed a bit more ambition than the average band's album, yet its best moments arrive when the band focused on pop songs, such as the trancy "Secret Separation" and the nice and great tune along "Built For The Future", it was a really good throughout album and the songs aren't repetitive and there was a decent hidden track "Peace On Earth (Do What You Can)" also the band finished off with another great closing song, the ehtreal and entrancing "Camphor".
Reviews were mixed some nice some other not so really, many praised the album and considered it as a honest effort done by the group so far, marked by a deliberate attempt to 'uncomplicate' the group's sound, without sacrificing the poignancy of the social messages in the songs. Althought others wrote that "the Fixx were capable of creating polished but ultimately passionless and perfunctory pop-funk ... this is not a record that anyone's going to remember five years from now."
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" was released as the lead single from the album, bypassing Rough Trade's preferred choice, "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out". The single reached number 26 in the UK Singles Chart and has since seen critical acclaim along with several versions recorded by other artists.
The song began as a lyric written by Morrissey in the summer of 1985. The lyric was the final one of three written about Morrissey's frustration with the music industry, the previous two being "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" and "Rubber Ring". "Bigmouth Strikes Again" specifically reflected Morrissey's negative experiences with the music press at the time. When asked by the NME about the song, Morrissey replied, "I can't think of one sentence [I regret saying]. We're still at that stage where if I rescued a kitten from drowning, they'd say: 'Morrissey Mauls Kitten's Body'. So what can you do?"
Morrissey intended the lyrics of the song to be humorous; he explained, "I would call it a parody if that sounded less like self-celebration, which it definitely wasn't. It was just a really funny song". Drummer Mike Joyce commented, "What a fantastic title – one of Mozzer's better ones. And with this song, you can see why he made journalists cream their pants. Listen to the lyrical content. He was a one-off." Johnny Marr based the song's music on a guitar riff he had written during a soundcheck of the band's 1985 tour. He described the song as being "as close as getting to the sound of my heroes as we came".
Initially the band had asked Kirsty MacColl to contribute backing vocals, but Marr found her harmonies "really weird" and they were left off the final recording. Instead, the backing vocals were recorded by Morrissey and altered to a higher pitch. This is credited to "Ann Coates", a reference to the Manchester district of Ancoats.
Though "Bigmouth Strikes Again" was initially planned to be released as the debut single from The Queen Is Dead in autumn 1985, by spring 1986, Rough Trade head Geoff Travis pushed for the band to release "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" instead.
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" was released as a single in May 1986, with the non-album instrumental song "Money Changes Everything" as the B-side. Marr later reused the music from "Money Changes Everything" for Bryan Ferry's 1987 hit single "The Right Stuff", which featured new lyrics from Ferry.
The single version's sleeve cover contains a photograph of James Dean by Nelva Jean Thomas. On the 12″ single, the band quoted Oscar Wilde's famous line "Talent borrows, genius steals" on the runout groove.
There was a live version of the song appeared as the closing song on the band's only live album, Rank. Another live version, recorded at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, in August 1986, was released in 2017 to promote a collector's edition of The Queen Is Dead.
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" has seen critical acclaim since its release. Several publications have ranked the song as one of the band's best songs. Others called as their most iconic song. A comic masterpiece and one of the most outstandind song ever recorded by the iconical band.
Complete B-Sides: 1988-97 has been remastered from the original analogue tapes and includes an additional six live tracks. The first two – "Planet Of Sound" and "Tame" were originally released on the 1991 ‘Alec Empire’ single and were recorded at the band’s 26 July 1991 Brixton Academy gig. The remaining four bonus live tracks – "Debaser", "The Holiday Song". "Cactus" and "Nimrod's Son" – were first released on the 1989 promo Pixies Live and were recorded on 10 August 1989 at Cabaret Metro, Chicago (they were also released as the 1997 EP Debaser: Live, released to promote the band’s Death To The Pixies compilation)
The reissue will be the first time Complete B-Sides has been reissued on vinyl – a 2LP set on either black or clear vinyl. It will also be available as a 2CD edition. And in keeping with the 2024 reissue of At The BBC, the artwork has been given a makeover, using photographs from the archive of Simon Larbalestier, the photographer responsible for the striking imagery on the band’s classic run of albums.
The Rolling Stones have been transported back to the 1970s by deepfake technology in the video for new single "In The Stars" The rock legends are preparing to release their 25th studio album ‘Foreign Tongues’ on July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music and it is set to feature guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, Steve Winwood and the band’s late drummer Charlie Watts, about the video, it has been created by Deep Voodoo using deepfake technology to transform the Stones into their '70s selves, as they play the track alongside musicians and dancers from across the eras, all united by the band's timeless hedonistic energy. The video stars Marty Supreme’s Odessa A’zion, and has been directed by Francois Rousselet.
The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its visual effects and soundtrack, but criticism for its screenplay and military propaganda. Despite this, four weeks after its release, the number of theaters showing it increased by 45 percent, and it overcame initial critical resistance to become a huge commercial hit, grossing $362.3 million dollars globally against a production budget of $15 million. Top Gun was the highest-grossing domestic film of 1986, as well as the highest-grossing film of 1986 worldwide.
40 years have passed since Top Gun was released in theaters, to turn a cultural phenomenon and became one of the most well-known action movies of all time, earning a spot in the Library of Congress for its cultural and historical impact. Tom Cruise had already made a name for himself but it was Top Gun that cemented his stardom. Cruise was cast as Pete Mitchell, aka Maverick, a talented but cocky and reckless pilot. When his best friend, Nick aka Goose Bradshaw, played by Anthony Edwards, who died in an accident, Maverick has to overcome his guilt and eventually graduates and then helps the other pilots in combat again.
Since then, Top Gun turned into a lasting phenomenon that a sequel was developed decades later, and it too became a blockbuster hit. Top Gun: Maverick saw Cruise reprise his role as Mitchell, dealing with Goose's death once again, now that he has to teach Goose’s son, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, played by Miles Teller. Top Gun: Maverick has even more stars than its predecessor.
Even four decades later, Top Gun still remains part of the cultural zeitgeist especially from the 80s The movie spawned a truly dedicated fanbase that “Top Gun Day” was created to honor the film. Also The Top Gun soundtrack is one of the most popular soundtracks to date, reaching 9× Platinum certification and No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for five non-consecutive weeks in the summer and fall of 1986.
The film maintained its popularity over the years and earned an IMAX 3D re-release in 2013, while the retrospective critical reception became more positive, with the film also emerging as a cult classic. Additionally, the soundtrack to the film has since become one of the most popular film soundtracks to date.
Lateralus emerged after a four-year legal dispute with Tool's label, Volcano Entertainment. During those years, the band avoided writing new material. In January 2001, the band announced that their new album's title would be Systema Encéphale and provided a 12-song track list with titles such as "Riverchrist", "Numbereft", "Encephatalis", "Musick", and "Coeliacus". File sharing networks such as Napster were flooded with bogus files bearing the titles' names.
At the time, Tool's members were outspokenly critical of file-sharing networks in general due to the negative effect on artists that are dependent on success in record sales to continue their career. During an interview lead singer Maynard James Keenan stated: I think there are a lot of other industries out there that might deserve being destroyed. The ones who get hurt by MP3s are not so much companies or the business, but the artists, people who are trying to write songs.
A month later, the band revealed that the new album was actually titled Lateralus (supposedly a portmanteau of the leg muscle Vastus lateralis and the term lateral thinking) and that the name Systema Encéphale and the track list had been a ruse.
Lateralus and the corresponding tours would take Tool a step further toward art rock, and progressive rock territory, in contrast to the band's earlier material, which has often been labeled as alternative metal. The album has also been described as progressive metal. The prolonged running times of most of Lateralus thirteen tracks are misleading; the entire album rolls and stomps with suitelike purpose." with its 79-minute running time and relatively complex and long songs—topped by the ten-and-a-half minute music video for "Parabola"—posed a challenge to fans and music programming alike. Drummer Danny Carey said, "The manufacturer would only guarantee us up to 79 minutes ... We thought we'd give them two seconds of breathing room."
Carey aspired to create longer songs like those by artists he grew up listening to. The band had segues to place between songs, but had to cut out a lot during the mastering phase. The CD itself was mastered using HDCD technology.
Just as Salival was initially released with several errors on the track listing, early pressings of Lateralus had the ninth track incorrectly spelled as "Lateralis". The original title of "Reflection" was "Resolution" before being changed three months prior to the album's release. The track listing is altered on the vinyl edition, with "Disposition" appearing at track 8. Because of the long running time, the double vinyl edition could not be released like the disc since the songs would not fit on each disc side in that order. By moving "Disposition" to an earlier point, the sides were balanced and could fit the material. This edit breaks the segue that occurs between "Disposition" and "Reflection", however, which, along with "Triad", are linked together on the tracklist.
Drummer Danny Carey sampled himself breathing through a tube to simulate the chanting of Buddhist monks for "Parabol", and banged piano strings for samples on "Reflection". "Faaip de Oiad" samples a recording of a 1997 call on Art Bell's radio program Coast to Coast AM. "Faaip de Oiad" is Enochian for The Voice of God.
"Disposition", "Reflection", and "Triad" form a sequence that has been performed in succession live with occasional help from various tourmates such as Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Buzz Osborne, Tricky, and members of Isis, Meshuggah, and King Crimson.
The title track, "Lateralus", incorporates the Fibonacci sequence. The theme of the song describes the desire of humans to explore and to expand for more knowledge and a deeper understanding of everything. The lyrics "spiral out" refer to this desire and also to the Fibonacci spiral, which is formed by creating and arranging squares for each number in the sequence's 1,1,2,3,5,8,... pattern, and drawing a curve that connects to two corners of each square. This would, allowed to continue onwards, theoretically create a never-ending and infinitely expanding spiral. Related to this, the song's main theme features successive time signatures 9/8, 8/8, and 7/8. The number 987 is the sixteenth integer of the Fibonacci sequence. "Eon Blue Apocalypse" is an instrumental piece in-between "The Grudge" and "The Patient". The track "Mantra" is the slowed-down sound of Maynard James Keenan gently squeezing one of his cats.
The album reached number one in the US charts for five nonconsecutive weeks in the summer and autumn of 1986. It was the best selling soundtrack of 1986 and one of the best selling of all time. The album spawned eight singles ""Danger Zone", "Take My Breath Away", "Mighty Wings" "Heaven In Your Eyes", "Playing With The Boys", "Hot Summer Nights", "Top Gun Anthem" & "Lead Me One." , the album still remains a quintessential artifact of the mid-'80s", and its hits "still define the bombastic, melodramatic sound that dominated the pop charts of the era."
Back in 1999, the album was reissued as a "Special Expanded Edition" with additional songs, and in 2006, it was reissued again as Music From and Inspired by Top Gun: Deluxe Edition, containing additional songs not in the film.
Talking about the soundtrack, Toto was originally intended to perform the track "Danger Zone", but legal conflicts between the film's producers and the band's lawyers prevented this. Bryan Adams was approached to perform it, but refused any involvement in the film, feeling that it glorified war and, as such, not wanting any of his work linked to it. Adams also refused to allow his song "Only the Strong Survive" to be featured in the film. REO Speedwagon was approached but declined, due to not being allowed to contribute any of their own compositions to the soundtrack. Corey Hart also declined, preferring to write and perform his own compositions. Eventually, the film's producers agreed that "Danger Zone" would be recorded and performed by Kenny Loggins.
Members of Toto also wrote and intended to perform a song called "Only You" that would have been used as the film's love theme instead of "Take My Breath Away", but legal conflicts prevented doing so. The Motels were originally considered to perform "Take My Breath Away", and a demo version exists on their 2001 compilation Anthologyland.
Judas Priest was also approached to allow their song "Reckless" in the film but declined when the proposed contract stipulated that the filmmakers have exclusive rights to the song, which would have necessitated the band omitting the song from their forthcoming album Turbo (1986). Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing later called their opting out of the film "a big mistake". The band offered the producers three other songs for the soundtrack, all of which were rejected.
ABC members Martin Fry and Mark White were invited to see the director's rough cut version of Top Gun in 1986. "They were looking to offer a few British bands soundtrack opportunities. Mark and I weren't impressed with the film and chose not to contribute any music to it."
Bobby Blotzer of Ratt proposed using the song "Reach for the Sky", an outtake from Ratt's 1984 album Out of the Cellar. Although the rest of the band seriously considered the idea, they declined under the belief that their long-time fans would not like the song and would accuse the group of selling out. Although the song title "Reach for the Sky" would become the title of the band's 1988 album, the track itself was never officially released until 2024, being remastered and finally released in honour of the 40th anniversary of Out of the Cellar.
The Cars' song "Stranger Eyes" from their 1984 album Heartbeat City was featured in an early teaser trailer for the film, though it was absent from the film's final cut.
The album features some special guests, including Steve Winwood, Paul McCartney, The Cure’s Robert Smith and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Charlie Watts also makes an appearance, captured during one of his final recording sessions. The lead single is "In The Stars" is now available.
The album is available on CD or as a 2LP set. Both formats also come in box set with a blu-ray audio that features a Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and Hi-Res Stereo Mix of Foreign Tongues. The album’s cover art was created by Nathaniel Mary Quinn.
Ladytron was one of the acts that leads the British club scene in the 00s, the synth poppers from Liverpool branded a sort of sound branded as 80s revivalist with some contemporary electroclash sound, now that style has been redefined with some indie sleaze and slices of electronic sounds from the 80's and 90s.
The album opener "I Believe In You" come to put things clear and focus in the future of the now trio than stick in the old 00's nostalgia sound with its funky techno-percussion until the whole thing pulse like a mechanical device deckecd out in disco lights, actually this album is the act's most dance-oriented record since their "Light & Magic." Another remarkable track is "I See Red" an upbeat tune just like anything else on the record, with Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo's vocals purr darkly over a spiral of tremendous sounds, "A Death In London" is surrounded with sinister string sounds and silky sax solos with fairlight CMD samples to create a sort of kitsch atmosphere, or the murmur and reserved style althought entrancing on "Ordinary Love".
Ladytron’s hooks are every bit as addictive as their rhythms, proving that they haven’t lost their knack for perfect pop. "Kingdom Undersea" moves just like on the style of Scissor Sisters piano style, and then the euphoric and luxurious haouse beat on "Sing" or the deliberate, velvety, almost neoclassical synth ostinato which pulses in the centre of "Metaphysica" taht brings to mind Visage's classic "Fade to Grey", lent new life and urgency by the chattering mass of synthesised voices, pert handclaps, pounding electronic drums, and sonic-screwdriver sweeps which surround it.
Another outstanding track is "In Blood" that sees Aroyo and Marnie’s co-lead vocals soaring in formation over the top of stately whirrs and clatters and a woody-sounding staccato melody, adding up to a sound which sprawls like a magnificent landscape viewed from a mountain peak. "Evergreen" takes a blockier shape as its bright solid rhythms clack along cheerfully. With higher, thinner synths keening around them and dream-sequence harps
The harp gets another outing on "We Wrote Our Names in the Dust", beaming striped shafts of light into the prowling ravey drums and Vox Humana-ish tones of its dark sci-fi setting. In keeping with the album title, each song on Paradises manages to build a new world within its synthesised bounds, evoking everything from tropical islands to sleek spaceships to long-lost cobbled city streets. It’s no wonder, then, that a record of such soaring imagination should so often take on a sense of childlike joy to match.
The unusually light vocals on "Secret Dreams of Thieves" sound out syllables like a Speak & Spell, and between the song¡s energetic electro beats and thickly swirling synths, the thrilling end result practically jostles you onto the dancefloor. Although trotting along at a steadier pace and laced with an undertone of slinky menace, the primary-colour pop grooves of "Free, Free" are just as hopeful as the empowering lyrics.
The enchanting song on the album "Caught in the Blink of an Eye", which sees the band momentarily dropping their escapist outlook to reflect on mortality. On the final two tracks, Ladytron choose to leave us with this spirit of optimism and celebration. The emulated strings and bells of "Solid Light" may be entirely computerised, but they ring and chime with a tactile sense of wonder. Reaching for the sun from its first note, the song only goes up from there until it hits an ecstatic fake-out ending which could well make it the perfect concert closer. Then at last, "For a Life in London" guides us gently back down to earth, folding just about every texture we’ve encountered on the record behind a spoken-word reminiscence and wrapping it all up in another ribboning sax solo.
Reveal was a critical and commercial success. The album reached the top 10 in the United States while topping the charts in the UK and throughout mainland Europe. Three singles were released: "Imitation of Life," "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" and "I'll Take the Rain"—with the former reaching the top 10 throughout Europe. Reviews were generally positive, with many highlighting the album's melodic nature and combination of R.E.M.'s classic sound with electronic elements. The band did not tour in support of the album, with promotion consisting mainly of television appearances, music videos, and a number of free concerts within major cities.
Back in 1998, R.E.M. released Up, their eleventh studio album and first without drummer Bill Berry. While not as commercially successful as previous albums, it still sold well and spawned the hit singles "Daysleeper" and "At My Most Beautiful". The recording of Up was a troubled process, due in no small part to Berry's absence, and the band almost disbanded as a result. Stipe has said of the album's mixing process: "when we were mixing Up, we decided that it was all over. That record broke up the group."[
After mixing for Up had completed, manager Bertis Downs organized a week-long meeting in Idaho in an effort to keep the band intact. Described as a "self-administered group therapy session" in Reveal: The Story of R.E.M. by Johnny Black, the band recognized the changes and struggles caused by Berry's absence and their reaction to his departure, while also deciding they wanted to continue as a band.
In February 2000, R.E.M. began rehearsals at West Clayton Street in Athens in preparation for a new album, with further rehearsals occurring in March at Royaltone Studios in Hollywood. The band began recording the basic tracks for the record in May, choosing Vancouver for the location due to its proximity to Seattle, where both guitarist Peter Buck and McCaughey lived. Additionally, for the recording process, Stipe wanted to work outside the United States, both because he felt the album would be "more at home away from home" and to avoid writer's block, which had previously plagued him during the writing of Up. While in Vancouver, the band laid down tracks for more than 20 songs, with some being described by the band as "embryonic" and others being "fully-realized."
In June, Buck left for Seattle, leaving Stipe to complete lyrics. While writing, Stipe would travel to prevent writer's block from reoccurring, which he has credited with helping him complete "All the Way to Reno" and "Disappear". The band reformed in July at West Clayton Street to continue work. The bulk of the album was recorded between August and October at Dalkey Lodge in Ireland with Pat McCarthy returning as producer. String parts, arranged by Johnny Tate, were recorded on October 3–4, 2000 at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, while the final recording sessions were done at John Keane Studios in Athens.
Mills stated that while recording Reveal, the band made an effort to use synthesizers to create sounds which possibly "hadn't been heard before" and which were not made with the natural patches built into the synthesizers. While Stipe's intention during the sessions was "to be really melodic", Stringfellow would be asked to create a more dissonant, experimental counterpoint. The members of R.E.M. were particularly enthusiastic about Stringfellow's contributions: "The more off into my own personal vision of the deep end, the more they liked it," Stringfellow stated in Perfect Circle: The Story of R.E.M. by Tony Fletcher. "All sorts of messed up crazy distorted things run through pedals, they were loving that." Waronker noted that Buck's demos would frequently already feature fully-fledged drum parts programmed with drum machines, causing him to focus on "what not to play" or how to add to these programmed parts which stood on their own. After tracks were recorded, Buck would frequently bring tapes to his Seattle home and record overdubs by night.
Once recording was complete, Stipe compared the process favorably to that of Up, calling it "remarkably happy" and stating the band had "become acclimated to new conditions and potentials." McCaughey echoed this, speaking fondly of the experience recording in Vancouver for its relaxed environment and the atmosphere in the studio. McCaughey noted that since Stipe already had some of the lyrics while songs were being recorded, the band would track with his vocals, which he credited with causing the Reveal sessions to feel more like a "real band" working in the studio as opposed to those for the previous album.
Reveal features a meld of electronic and live instrumentation, with the material being more melodic and accessible than on Up. The album has generally been regarded as a more optimistic and upbeat album compared to its predecessor. Buck has described the sound of Reveal as "warm and layered and analogue" while also having "a distance and breath to it that's modern and complete and liberating... like a beautiful vacuum." Stipe intended for Reveal to be a "summer record", which Fletcher notes is displayed in song titles such as "I'll Take the Rain", "Beachball", and "Summer Turns to High". Additionally, Stipe utilizes a more relaxed singing style throughout.
The album was split in two section "Chorus Side" the album's opener "The Lifting" was written as a prequel to "Daysleeper," and features the same character. David Buckley, author of R.E.M Fiction: An Alternative Biography, states that the song references psychic and spiritual healing programs while relating to themes of self-improvement and self-help. The song includes a guitar solo in which Buck uses an e-bow, while Buckley compares its "mantric" drum figure to that of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows". The final version of "The Lifting" is a "funkier" arrangement devised by the band after its earlier arrangement was deemed too similar to "All the Way to Reno." Johnny Black lists "I've Been High" among the album's "gorgeously atmospheric ballads" while Buckley considers it to be "solemn, stately and emotional," with "subtle dance textures and beats" beneath Stipe's vocal. Stringfellow considered the song to be the "masterwork" of the record, as he felt it "push[ed] the boundary of what defines [R.E.M.] musically." For "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)," Stipe wrote lyrics from the point of view of, according to Buckley, "an aspirant female on the road to fame." Buck has noted an "ironic" element to the lyrics. Black considers the song one of R.E.M.'s "most lush and blatantly commercial pieces of work," while Buckley noted its "echoes of old-style R.E.M. rootsiness."
"She Just Wants to Be" started with "organic" instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, and ended with "computer-driven synth strings" intertwined with traditional orchestration. "Disappear" begins with an acoustic intro similar to the band's earlier song "Swan Swan H" (1986), while its verses contain a "Nick Cave-style tension". The song was inspired by Stipe's trip to Israel, while Buck has called it a song about "self-effacement." During the trip, Stipe attended a rave in Tel Aviv, in which a fan asked what he was doing there; his response was "I came to disappear. "Buckley considers "Saturn Return" to be the "oddest" track on Reveal, as well as "the creepiest track R.E.M. ever cut." During the demo session which spawned the song, Buck encouraged the other musicians to find "the weirdest sound on [their] instrument that [they could] possibly imagine."
The Ring side started with "Beat A Drum" as one of multiple songs from Reveal to earn comparisons to the Beach Boys. Buckley considers the track to be the only other likely single choice on the album after from "Imitation of Life" (though the former did not receive a single release), crediting its "beautiful" melody by Mills. "Imitation of Life" takes its title from the 1959 Douglas Sirk film of the same name, as the band found it to be a "perfect metaphor for adolescence. "Summer Turns to High" was another Beach Boys-influenced track. After hearing the original version of the song, which had an "Irish feel" utilizing acoustic guitars and accordions, Stipe liked it but found it to be too busy, and so it was re-arranged to consist of just drums, bass, and a single keyboard with Stipe's vocal melody, which "pushed it completely out to left field." I'll Take the Rain" as "humble offering with an acoustic structure deftly adorned with orchestral strings and Ken Stringfellow’s keys." the song "pairs self-empowering but melancholic lyrics with optimistic instrumentation and vocals." "Beachball", the closing track, contained live strings in the verses and synth strings in chorus.
