Special edition of the album—a cardboard slipcase covers a 64-page hardback book
New Adventures in Hi-Fi is the tenth studio album by the
Americanalternative rock band
R.E.M. It was their fifth major-label release for
Warner Bros. Records, released on September 9, 1996, in Europe and Australia, and the following day in the United States. New Adventures in Hi-Fi was the band's final album recorded with founding drummer
Bill Berry (who left the band amicably the following year), original manager
Jefferson Holt, and long-time producer
Scott Litt. The members of R.E.M. consider the recorded album representative of the band at their peak,[4] and fans generally regard it as the band's last great record before a perceived artistic decline during the late 1990s and early 2000s.[5] It has sold around seven million units, growing in cult status years after its release, with several retrospectives ranking it among the top of the band's recorded catalogue.[6]
We got into the studio feeling very happy and relieved that everyone was okay, especially [drummer]
Bill. It brought us all much closer and made us realize how important we are to each other. Once we'd been through a crisis like that [Berry's collapse from a brain aneurysm on tour], making a record was a piece of cake. We discussed making an album of on-the-road stuff a year and a half before we went on the Monster tour. We wanted to get some of the looseness and spontaneity of a
soundcheck, live show or dressing room. We used all the good songs. 'Revolution' – a song we did live – didn't make it onto this record, just like it didn't make it onto Monster [the song instead appeared on 1997's Batman & Robin soundtrack]... It usually takes a good few years for me to decide where an album stands in the pantheon of recorded work we've done. This one may be third behind Murmur and Automatic for the People.[5]
The band noted that they borrowed the recording process for the album from
Radiohead, who had recorded some of the basic tracks for The Bends while on tour and who supported the band in 1994 and 1995. R.E.M. took
eight-track recorders to capture their live performances, and used the recordings as the base elements for the album. As such, the band's touring musicians
Nathan December and
Scott McCaughey are featured throughout, with
Andy Carlson contributing violin to "
Electrolite".
In part due to the nature of the recording process, several of the songs are about travel and motion—including "Departure", "Leave" and "Low Desert". The album's liner notes contain pictures from the road and the deluxe edition of the album is a hardcover book in a slipcase featuring more photographs of R.E.M.'s tour.
Critical reaction to the album was mostly extremely positive. Several publications lauded the album for its rich diversity, including Rolling Stone, which said "The sequence of songs and the range of emotions on New Adventures convey a narrative that has all the dynamics and contradictions of life itself."[20]Q, and Mojo also gave positive reviews. At the same time, however, Melody Maker criticized the album's empty and flat sound caused by recording in arenas and soundchecks.[21]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic said, "New Adventures in Hi-Fi feels like it was recorded on the road. Not only are all of Michael Stipe's lyrics on the album about moving or travel, the sound is ragged and varied, pieced together from tapes recorded at shows, soundtracks, and studios, giving it a loose, careening charm." and concluded "In its multifaceted sprawl, [R.E.M.] wound up with one of their best records of the '90s."[10] In a 2017 retrospective on the band, Consequence of Sound ranked it third out of R.E.M.'s 15 full-length studio albums.[6]
New Adventures in Hi-Fi is frontman
Michael Stipe's favorite R.E.M. album, and he considers it the band at their peak.[4] Radiohead singer
Thom Yorke, who has cited R.E.M. as a major influence, called it his favorite R.E.M. album and "Electrolite" the band's greatest song.[22] Jeremy Bifras of
BrooklynVegan called the album "an
experimental masterpiece."[23]
Awards
New Adventures in Hi-Fi has since appeared on several lists compiling the best albums of the 1990s or all time: Magnet listed the album at #20 on its list of the "Top 60 Albums 1993–2003",[24] and Mojo also listed the album at #20 on a list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime 1993–2006".
Unlike most R.E.M. albums, this vinyl release did not have custom side names and was instead released as a double album. Record one has tracks 1–6 (three songs per side) and record two has tracks 7–14 (four songs per side). The tape release maintained the custom side names: the first side was called the "Hi-side" and the second side was called the "Fi-side."
Singles and B-sides
New Adventures in Hi-Fi consisted of material written during some of the same sessions as Monster and its following promotional tour; consequently, there were few outtakes or left-over tracks for inclusion as B-sides. The first three tracks were international singles, with "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" being released only in Germany and Japan.
"Revolution" was also released from these sessions, initially on the Batman & Robin soundtrack and later on disc two of In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003.
Other singles
"New Test Leper" and "The Wake-Up Bomb" were released as promotional singles for the album; the former had a music video directed by
Lance Bangs and Dominic DeJoseph. All five videos from the album were later collected on In View: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003.
The R.E.M. fan club, which issued a special single every year at Christmas time, featured two singles recorded during these sessions: 1996's "Only in America" (originally by
Jay & The Americans)/"
I Will Survive" (a
Gloria Gaynor cover) and 1997's R.E.M. original "Live for Today" was backed with
Pearl Jam's "Happy When I'm Crying".
Personnel
"How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us"
Recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington
While New Adventures in Hi-Fi began the band's sales decline in the United States, it topped the charts in over a dozen countries and reached #1 on the Top European Albums for five consecutive weeks.[27] The album peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and spent 22 weeks on chart. According to
Nielsen SoundScan, it has sold 994,000 units in the U.S. as of March 2007.[28][29][30] The first single, "E-Bow the Letter", received only modest radio airplay in the U.S. and peaked at #49 on its charts.[31] In the UK, however, the single became the band's biggest hit at that point, reaching #4.
Weekly charts
Weekly chart performance for New Adventures in Hi-Fi
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Release history
Like all R.E.M. albums since 1988's Green, New Adventures in Hi-Fi was released in a limited-edition packaging. This one contained a 64-page hardcover book designed by Chris Bilheimer and featuring photos from the Monster tour. In 2005, Warner Brothers Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of the album which included a CD, a
DVD-Audio disc containing a new audio mix of the album (in
5.1-channel
surround sound, high resolution, AC3, Dolby Stereo, and DTS 5.1) done by
Elliot Scheiner and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes. In addition, the DVD includes a video documentary, lyrics, and a photo gallery.
As with the prior albums, a 25th-anniversary edition was announced in August 2021 for an October release date. The edition includes a remastered album, B-sides from the album and a
Blu-ray with previously unreleased promotional materials.[78] Due to issues related to the
2021 global supply chain crisis, all CD variations of the remastered reissue were delayed to mid-November 2021.[79]