ACCELERATE REDUX

As ACCELERATE continues to excel both critically and commercially in its second week since release, we wanted to take a look back at some of the highlights from the recent promo tour the guys did in Europe and the USA. Here are a few links highlighting some of the big moments, a gathering of grunts and greens, not necessarily in any particular order:

Virgin Radio

Fresh Air

SXSW/NPR.ORG

R.E.M. ROCKS SXSW

Coming out of a post-punk world that had little tolerance for pop, R.E.M. has spent 25 years as the bastion of pop music with a weird glimmer in its eye. Hear the legendary rock band perform a full concert at SXSW, webcast live on NPR.org from Stubbs in Austin, Tex., on Wednesday, March 12.

With the band's 14th studio album (Accelerate) coming in April, many fans expect a return to form for R.E.M. After original drummer Bill Berry quit the band in 1997, R.E.M. experimented more in the studio, adding more textures to its songs while simultaneously stripping away the usual methods of crafting rock songs. The album's first single, "Supernatural Superserious," looks to the prime of R.E.M.'s '80s discography, while maintaining a modern sheen.

R.E.M MONTH ON Q4MUSIC.COM

It's R.E.M. month on Q4music.com Step this way to browse classic interviews and pictures, hear some of R.E.M.'s favourite tracks, vote for the best R.E.M. Single ever,
and more...

This month' issue of Q comes with a free R.E.M. Jukebox CD featurinf 15 tracks hand-picked by Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills for your listening pleasure. Find out what else is in the mag here. Below you you can sample all 15 tracks, together with explanatory notes from the band.

In the mag itself we salute the triumphant resurrection of one of America's greatest bands, R.E.M. Their fourteenth studio album, Accelerate, marks a return to the full-