Best Albums !: R.E.M.. Accelerate (2008)

Accelerate is the fourteenth studio album by American band R.E.M., scheduled for release on April 1, 2008 in North America and a day earlier in Europe and the rest of the world (though dates will differ in some countries). Work commenced in early 2007, and the album title was revealed by the band in an issue of Q Magazine. Unlike R.E.M.'s three previous studio albums, which all featured Pat McCarthy on production duties, Accelerate was produced by Jacknife Lee. The first single from the new album, "Supernatural Superserious", was released on February 11, 2008.

In early 2007, after a hiatus following the release of Around the Sun and its subsequent tour, the band entered the studio again to start work on Accelerate along with touring members Bill Rieflin and Scott McCaughey. Keyboardist Ken Stringfellow was not involved in the recording of the album, and later confirmed in his blog that he will not be part of the band's upcoming tour, due to the more guitar-focused nature of the new material.

Between June 30 and July 5, 2007, R.E.M. embarked on a five-night residency at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. In this series of shows–dubbed "working rehearsals" by the band, new material was tested in front of a live audience. Several brand-new songs were debuted (some of them still as works in progress) and older numbers were performed from their extensive back catalogue, eschewing their better-known hits.

The song "I'm Gonna DJ" had already been introduced on the 2004 Around the Sun tour, and it also appea
red on the R.E.M. Live album three years later.

Whereas Around the Sun had a lengthy recording process, Accelerate was recorded in nine weeks at Grouse Lodge, Ireland, and then mixed in London, England, in a mere ten days. Regarding the recording process, frontman Michael Stipe said: "we spent less time making this record than we have in 20 years".