Collapse into Now

Collapse into Now is the fifteenth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on March 7, 2011, in Europe and March 8, 2011, in North America.^[1][3] The album is produced by Jacknife Lee and R.E.M.^[1]

R.E.M. recorded the album in four different cities—Berlin, Germany; Nashville, Tennessee; and New Orleans, Louisiana, plus demoing at Jackpot Studios in Portland, Oregon—with breaks between to write and rewrite songs. The album features guest appearances by Patti Smith, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Peaches, Lenny Kaye and Joel Gibb.^[2][4]

In comparing the record to the band's previous release, Accelerate, bassist Mike Mills has said the band "wanted this new one to be more expansive. We wanted to put more variety into it and not limit ourselves to any one type of song. There are some really slow, beautiful songs; there are some nice, mid-tempo ones; and then there are three or four rockers."^[2] He has spoken about the album's theme, saying: "It's more of a personal record than a political one. Current events do come into our mind when we write, but the themes here are more universal."^[5]

To promote the album, the band released 12 long-form music videos from directors including James Franco, Jim Herbert, and lead singer Michael Stipe.^[6]

The band have stated that they have no intention of touring the album, with Peter Buck citing in an interview with NME that "it does seem like we've toured a lot in the last eight or ten years. To some degree it felt like we'd just been doing kind of the same thing we did last time. You just don't really want to repeat yourself in that way." He also stated that touring doesn't help album sales and concluded, "It seems like less and less people are buying albums, so do what you want." ^[7]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2011)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Consequence of Sound	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	B [9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Slant Magazine	[11]
The Telegraph	[12]
Time Out Chicago	[13]
Guardian	[14]
Spin	[15]
The Independent	[16]
Evening Standard	[17]
Irish Times	[18]
Pitchfork Media	(6.8/10)[19]
Shout4music	(8.8/10)[20]

|rev13 = Shout4music |rev13Score = (8.8/10)^[21]}} |rev14 = Rolling Stone |rev13Score = ^[22]}}

Collapse Into Now has received mostly positive reviews.^[23]

Pitchfork's Matt LeMay stated that "Collapse Into Now also hosts some unlikely successes of its own; in spite of its discouraging title, "Mine Smell Like Honey" overcomes a water-treading verse and ascends to a truly a majestic classic R.E.M. chorus, complete with soaring Mike Mills backing vocals and jangling Peter Buck guitars. "Walk It Back" alone is worth the price of admission here, a gorgeous and enveloping song that takes a step back from the album's dense arrangements and gives Michael Stipe's vocals room to resonate. . . This album is host to more such complexity than anything since 1998's Up, but Collapse Into Now still sounds like the work of a band caught between old habits and new adventures."^[24]

Josh Modell of Spin wrote that "(h)ere . . . they discover the glow of middle age, warmly acknowledging the past -- hello again, Peter Buck's mandolin -- while realizing that the present can feel just as comforting. . . Collapse mostly sounds like a familiar friend -- reliable in all the best ways, but still capable of quietly insinuating surprises.^[25]

The album currently holds a 73/100 on Metacritic, with a user score of 7.8.^[26]

All songs written by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except as noted.

1. "Discoverer" – 3:31
2. "All the Best" – 2:48
3. "Überlin" – 4:15
4. "Oh My Heart" (Buck, Mills, Stipe, and Scott McCaughey) – 3:21
5. "It Happened Today" – 3:49
6. "Every Day Is Yours to Win" – 3:26
7. "Mine Smell Like Honey" – 3:13
8. "Walk It Back" – 3:24
9. "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter" – 2:45
10. "That Someone Is You" – 1:44
11. "Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I" – 3:03
12. "Blue" (Buck, Mills, Stipe, and Patti Smith) – 5:46

iTunes bonus tracks

13. "Discoverer" (Live in the Studio) – 3:31
14. "Oh My Heart" (Live in the Studio) – 3:28
15. "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter" (Live in the Studio) – 2:44

R.E.M.

• Peter Buck – guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, production
• Mike Mills – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, production
• Michael Stipe – lead vocals, production, packaging

Additional musicians

• Shamarr Allen – trumpet on "Discoverer", "It Happened Today", and "Oh My Heart"
• Bonerama Horns:

• Greg Hicks – trombone
• Craig Klein – trombone
• Mark Mullins – trombone and horn arrangements

• Joel Gibb – vocals on "It Happened Today"
• Lenny Kaye – guitar solo on "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter", guitar solo on "Blue"
• Jacknife Lee – production, mixing, keyboards, guitar
• Leroy Jones – trumpet on "Discoverer", "It Happened Today", and "Oh My Heart"
• Kirk M. Joseph, Sr. – sousaphone on "Discoverer", "It Happened Today", and "Oh My Heart"
• Scott McCaughey – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, accordion
• Peaches – vocals on "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter"
• Bill Rieflin – drums, bouzouki, keyboards, guitar
• Patti Smith – vocals on "Blue" and "Discoverer"
• Eddie Vedder – vocals on "It Happened Today"

Technical personnel and packaging

• Sam Bell – engineering and mix engineering
• Chris Bilheimer and Michael Stipe – packaging
• Anton Corbijn – photography
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering
• Tom McFall – engineering

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (March 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)