After the release of severalplatinum albums, R.E.M. has finally released a new one. Simplyentitled "Up," this is hopefully the first of a longline of albums without a drummer. Many thought not having adrummer would be the end of the band, but the group has made acomeback.

Without a drummer, R.E.M's sound has changeddrastically. Considering the songs they previously released,like "End of the World," "Losing myReligion," and "Man on the Moon," this disc isnot nearly as good as it could be.

Don't get me wrong -I really like R.E.M, but I hate synthesized sounds and thisdisc is packed with them.

The quality of thesongwriting has not gone down one bit, as proved in"Hope," which strikes a cord with a lot of people.This song is easily the best of the entire CD and, ifreleased, could make the disc multi-platinum.

If thedisc had real drums, it could have been a great album, butsince it features synthesized drums it at best gets three outof five stars.