Around the Sun

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Template:Album infobox Around the Sun is an album by R.E.M. released in 2004. This release is notable for its stripped-back production, inciting some reviewers to label it slightly "flat" in sound. Around the Sun generally received lukewarm critical praise and despite hitting #1 in the UK, it became their first studio album to miss the US Top 10 (reaching #13) since 1988's Green and is still awaiting a gold record.

In many ways, Around the Sun continues R.E.M.'s trend of refusing to be pressed into a stylistic corner and many listeners have found it to be a pleasant, easy-going piece which manages to retain the band's trademark for quirkiness and subtle themes. This is also the first R.E.M. album to have a title track.

Lead single "Leaving New York" became a UK Top 5 hit, with additional singles "Aftermath", "Electron Blue" and "Wanderlust" becoming minor hits there as well. Around the Sun has not had any singles success in the US, however. It is the first studio album to fail to have a song chart on the Hot 100 since Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985.

"The Outsiders" features a guest appearance by rapper Q-Tip, recalling a similar appearance by KRS-One on "Radio Song" from their 1991 album Out of Time. When performed live, Michael Stipe carries out the rap, as he does on a later b-side release of the song.

"Final Straw", considered one of Around the Sun's highlights, is a politically-charged song, reminiscent in tone to "World Leader Pretend" on Green. The version on the album is a re-recording of "Final Straw" which was made available as a free download in 2003 from the band's website, which the band wrote and made available in opposition to the US government's actions in the Iraq war of 2003.

In 2005, Warner Brothers Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Around the Sun which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.

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Track listing

All songs by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

  1. "Leaving New York" – 4:49
  2. "Electron Blue" – 4:12
  3. "The Outsiders" – 4:14
  4. "Make It All Okay" – 3:43
  5. "Final Straw" - 4:06
  6. "I Wanted To Be Wrong" – 4:34
  7. "Wanderlust" – 3:04
  8. "Boy in the Well" – 5:22
  9. "Aftermath" – 3:52
  10. "High Speed Train" – 5:03
  11. "Worst Joke Ever" – 3:37
  12. "The Ascent of Man" – 4:07
  13. "Around the Sun" – 4:29
  • Published in 2004 by Temporary Music and administered in all worlds, now known and hereafter devised, by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.

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