Accelerate

Okay.

I'll admit it.

I'm somewhat biased.

See, I got into R.E.M. right after "Murmur" was released. The guy I shared a room with during college orientation had the cassette of the band I heard a few months earlier play live. I liked them, but their set was short and you know how live music can be. It sounds good at the time, but you'd never heard any of the songs before and, like most opening acts, they got the "Yeah, they're not bad for an opening band" kind of response. Anyway, once I heard the cassette I had to buy the cassette and listened to the cassette in the car and everywhere else for about a month.

So, I really like R.E.M. Even when they became super-huge. Even when they became more cerebral and played mandolins and all that. But I especially liked "Monster." The one with the big guitar sound before they decided to spend a decade trying new styles. Don't get me wrong. I liked the new styles, too. But I thought they were at their best on things like "Crush (With Eyeliner)" or "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"

And, with all apologies to Pearl Jam's newest release entitled Pearl Jam, I have to say that R.E.M.'s Accelerate is the best overall CD released in the last five years. From beginning to end, it's the best...and I'd venture to say the first seven songs are as good as anything R.E.M. has EVER done...and that's saying something.

But, that opinion does beg the question: What's the best OVERALL (first-to-last track) CD you've heard that was released within the last five years? I mean, we all know the classic albums that are considered on the "top 100" lists of all-time and stuff like that...but what has been released in the last five years that might be considered GREAT?