R.E.M.: Lifes Rich Pageant (IRS)

THE ONLY BAND that mutters, as an American commentator wittily described REM, are back, and not before time, too. The past few years have seen scores of REMade, REModelled groups spawned across the length and breadth of North America; but most just hawking B-movie versions of staple REM styles and themes. The arrival of Lifes Rich Pageant (don’t ask me where the apostrophe went) brings things back into focus again, and indicates a few more dry rock river beds where water runs once more.