R.e.m. - Around The Sun • CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

selves. On its way back home, the band takes the road less traveled. "The Outsiders" coolly floats on a syncopated drum beat that comes to a premature stop, then starts again for Q-Tip to resolutely rap a noble third verse. "Make It All Okay" puts piano to the fore of a strikingly direct post-breakup song. "Jesus loves me fine/And your words fall flat this time," Michael Stipe argues, rejecting a lover's offer to revive a relationship. On the title-track closer, the threesome builds to a humble climax, then fades away on a dreamy coda.

Around the Sun is full of what are ultimately anti-power ballads, the kind that question rather than bluster, favoring maybe over might. It's another slow, meandering CD from a trio that refuses to fake a full recovery in the wake of drummer Bill Berry's departure in 1997. It would be too easy for R.E.M. to ride Coldplay's coattails on a rock-anthem remedy. They'd rather struggle on their own terms.

Advance word pegged this disc as "political," but beyond the pointed lyrics in "Final Straw," the messages are oblique -- which is good news for those who find the band most mesmerizing when they have no idea what Michael Stipe's on about. The band's strongest set in years features pretty, mid-tempo tunes that let the melodies and minor chords do the bulk of the talking.