A few years ago, touring their last album, the rightly maligned Around The Sun, I was watching a show at the Hammersmith Apollo. It was the only time I have seen R.E.M. be less than breathtaking – but a set heavy on recent tracks inevitably saw things rather leaden. Worse was to come however, when singer Michael Stipe announced from the stage that they were going to play a new track that didn’t make the album called 'I’m Gonna DJ'. It was the exact moment that I knew that R.E.M. were over, with no real chance of resuscitation. Which is ironic really – and also a timely warning to music commentators that they do indeed know nothing – because it was actually the starting point of their renaissance. With a song title as awful as that, you do understand the fears, though.

So, now we have Accelerate; the actualisation of a new found urgency. Gratifyingly short at under 35 minutes, it’s a summation of much that is or was great about R.EM.: wordy proclamations by Stipe, ringing Rickenbacker trills by Buck and lush backing vocals by Mills. You could argue that it’s a calculated, pre-meditated offering, shunting 15 years of R.E.M. pre-Bill Berry’s departure onto one disc, but that would be to ignore the very real sense that they mean it, man. And seemingly they do.

The opening trio of songs burst out of the blocks with nary a glance backwards or a stop for breath. ‘Living Well Is The Best Revenge’ opens with one of those Peter Buck open chord jangles that seems to herald the start of all great R.E.M. albums, with Stipe calling “all you sad and lost apostles” to arms, referring as much to his band and the listener. ‘Man Sized Wreath’ follows, offering churning Hammond organ a la something from Green or Document, while lead-off single ‘Supernatural Superserious’ is the sort of timeless R.E.M. song that they seemingly churn out in their sleep; the sunny feel, irresistible chord changes, golden chorus and whimsically bright lyrics that refer to “summer camps” and “an experience so delirious”.