Up

Up is the 11th album by the American band R.E.M. It was the band's first album without original drummer Bill Berry, who left the group amicably in October 1997 to pursue his own interests. In his place, R.E.M. used session drummers or drum machines to fill the void.

Moving into electronic music-influenced territory after delivering the challenging New Adventures in Hi-Fi in 1996, Up alienated both critics, fans of the band's 1980s work and casual listeners used to the band's more-commercial early 1990s output. However, some saw it as one of the band's bravest and most sonically daring records to date, and the record was even cited by Radiohead, who would release their own largely electronic and highly acclaimed effort Kid A in 2000. Ending a 10-year relationship with co-producer Scott Litt, R.E.M. engaged the production assistance of Pat McCarthy, who was assisted on most tracks of Up by engineer Nigel Godrich, Radiohead's producer.

With Berry's departure, the sessions for Up were indeed strained, with R.E.M. subsequently admitting that they came close to breaking up during its recording. Not surprisingly, the album is considered to have a labored and melancholic feel to it. In spite of the tension, "Daysleeper", became a Top 10 UK hit, and subsequent singles included "Lotus", The Beach Boys-influenced "At My Most Beautiful" and "Suspicion."

Breaking with a tradition that stretched back to the band's 1983 debut Murmur, Michael Stipe elected to have his complete lyrics included in Up's CD booklet, a practice Stipe has maintained on all subsequent R.E.M. releases.

It was rumoured at the time of the album's release that "Hope" was written for Thom Yorke, "At My Most Beautiful" for Patti Smith, and "Why Not Smile" for Bill Berry. Michael Stipe denied all three in an interview for Britain's Q magazine in 1999.

Up reached #3 in the U.S. (with 16 weeks on the Billboard 200) and #2 in the UK, but didn't have the staying power of the band's more-recent albums, and thus the band's lowest sales in years. Although R.E.M. initially intended not to tour for the album, after many successful promotional concerts upon the album's release, the band quickly arranged a four-month arena tour of Europe and America during the summer of 1999. As of March 2007, Up has sold 664,000 units in the U.S.

In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Up which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.

In 2006, Q magazine "saved" this album from their "50 Worst Albums Ever" list, saying that it is "superior to Monster" and claiming it "a start of renaissance". It received 4/5 stars.