R.E.M. releases its 14th album, Accelerate, today. According to most accounts, it's a return to their Athens, Ga. roots. Spin writes rather breathlessly, "They haven't sounded this surprised with themselves since 1998's Up, haven't made an album this consistent since 1992's Automatic for the People, and haven't redlined so engagingly since 1986's Life's Rich Pageant." The emerging storyline is that like any long-lasting marriage, R.E.M. is surfacing from the depths of a dark period, one in which they admittedly did not talk to one another, and Accelerate is the make-up sex—fast, passionate, "surprising," and perhaps the best ever, because of it. The relief—and ecstasy—is palpable in the music and the reviews. "The best thing about Accelerate," writes David Fricke in Rolling Stone, "is that R.E.M. sound whole again ... [they're] complete in their bond and purpose." You may now kiss the bride!

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