Additional InformationR.E.M.'s Final Album, Collapse Into Now, Is a Smoothly Accomplished Reiteration of Their Strengths.
Reviews3 stars out of 5 -- "'Walk It Back' is a beautiful pregnant pause of a track, and 'Uberlin' finds Stipe's stream of consciousness flowing still.", Ranked #6 in Magnet's '20 Best Albums Of 2011' -- "If you listen for signs of a band on its last legs, you'll come up empty.", "The acoustic lilt of 'It Happened Today' melts into a sweet, wordless coda powered by Mike Mills' epic harmonies..." -- Grade: B, 3 stars out of 5 -- "The closing track, 'Blue', is a sonorous, sprawling and altogether seductive dirge, Stipe's distorted, distracted spoken monologue counterpointed by the backing vocals of Patti Smith.", Ranked #16 in Rolling Stone's '50 Best Albums Of 2011' -- "A stately summary of their folk-pop senescence...", "COLLAPSE mostly sounds like a familiar friend -- reliable in all the best ways, but still capable of quietly insinuating surprises.", 4 stars out of 5 -- "COLLAPSE INTO NOW touches on all their favorite tricks: punk raves, stately ballads, piano accordion and the most mandolin they've put in one place since 'Losing My Religion.'", "As positive as it is poetic, COLLAPSE INTO NOW rolls all of R.E.M.'s varied sonic adventures into a concentrated 41 minutes of mostly short, tight and fat-free songs."