REM's Reveal: Your views

Will Reveal please the diehard fans?

REM are back with a new album after the critically acclaimed Up which was released in 1998.

"The Georgia giants' latest album is their most lavish and unashamedly commercial work for a decade," wrote BBC News's Nigel Packer.

But what do you think? Is the swing back to melodious tunes the way forward? Have they lost any of their experimental leanings in the process? Do you prefer the drum machine or Bill Berry?

Magnificent! They've managed to return to the kind of music that led them to superstardom during the early 90s while still giving us something that sounds fresh and new. Reno looks set to be a classic single, up there with Losing My Religion and Man on the Moon. The future sound of summer.
Andrew Crichton, Scotland

Wow! What a great album. They've blended the wide appeal of Automatic For The People and Out of Time with the new directions in electronica they started on Up, to craft a sublimely melodic album with a number of stand-out tracks - Imitiation of Life, Saturn Return, All The Way To Reno, I'll Take The Rain, to name just four... I could go on!

I love this album and I think what is great about REM is that it really is all about the music... it hasn't left my CD player for 48 hours and it will certainly spend a lot of time there over the coming months and years!
Nick Hart, UK

An amazing return to pop exuberence and wistful longings, that is the best of REM! The kind of tunes that remind you there is a world outside your office window!
Bruce Elrick, Scotland, UK

I really like it. It's mellow and great to chill out to. A perfect summer album with a mix of slow numbers and more upbeat tunes intermingling. I can't stop playing Disappear and The Lifting.
Susan, UK

REM have never produced music that fitted a time or bandwagon and that was why they became successful and also why they fell out of popularity.

Their albums since Automatic have been better than almost every other band of their ilk but didn't get the recognition because they weren't the 'bright young darlings' of the music press.

Reveal is a wonderful record which shows a band producing music which is bright, lush, wistful and beautiful. This isn't a return to form...they never lost that quality.
Simon O'Donnell, UK

I was very excited about the new album and bought it straight away. It isn't a disappointment but I think they could have done better.

A lot of the songs sound similar and there isn't really one that stands out on the album. Never the less, the album is still a good one to listen to, but by no means up to the standards of Automatic for the People or Up.
Tom Baron, UK

Reveal is beautiful. That's all there is to it. It's gorgeous. It's another maximum score on a scale that awards tens to 'Murmur', 'Life's Rich Pageant', 'Green' and 'Automatic for the People' as well.
Herr Jakethaj, Denmark

Beautiful, poignant, tender and elegant. Reveal reveals a side of REM which we first glimpsed on Up. First class, and a triumphant return to form.
Sandy Wilson, Scotland

Excellent, the best buzz I've had from the first listen of an REM album in years. How can this be "the most commercial album in the last ten years" when it sounds so much like Life's Rich Pageant? Go buy a copy and enjoy.
Iain, UK