New Adventures in Hi-Fi is the tenth studio album by the American alternative 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 longtime producer Scott Litt.
The members of R.E.M. consider the recorded album representative of the band at their peak, and fans generally regard it as the band's last great record before a perceived artistic decline following Berry's departure. It has sold around seven million units, and has grown in cult status in the years after its release, with several retrospectives ranking it among the band's best work.
Composition and recording
New Adventures in Hi-Fi was recorded during and after the band's 1995 tour in support of Monster. The material on the album mixed the acoustic country rock feel of Out of Time and Automatic for the People with the rock sound of Monster and Lifes Rich Pageant. The band cited Neil Young's 1973 album Time Fades Away as a source of inspiration. The album has been labeled as "folk rock-jangle" by critic Robert Christgau. Other parts of the packaging were done by Chris Bilheimer.
Critical reception
Contemporary critical reaction to the album was mostly positive. Several publications lauded the album for its diversity, including Rolling Stone, which said that "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."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that "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." He considered it "one of [the band's] best records of the '90s." Jeremy Bifras of BrooklynVegan called the album "an experimental masterpiece".
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 No. 20 on its list of the "Top 60 Albums 1993–2003", and Mojo also listed the album at No. 20 on a list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime 1993–2006".
It was voted No. 186 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd Edition, 2000). It was also featured on several year-end best-of lists for 1996:
- Entertainment Weekly (No. 2)
- Eye Weekly (No. 11)
- The Face (No. 28)
- Magnet (No. 26)
- Mojo (No. 4)
- NME (No. 16)
- Q (unranked)
- Rock Sound (French edition) (No. 2)
- Rolling Stone (No. 4)
- Spin (No. 11)
- Village Voice (No. 11)
Track listing
All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.
The Hi Side
- "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" – 4:31
- "The Wake-Up Bomb" – 5:08
- "New Test Leper" – 5:26
- "Undertow" – 5:09
- "E-Bow the Letter" – 5:23
- "Leave" – 7:18
The Fi Side
- "Departure" – 3:28
- "Bittersweet Me" – 4:06
- "Be Mine" – 5:32
- "Binky the Doormat" – 5:01
- "Zither" – 2:33
- "So Fast, So Numb" – 4:12
- "Low Desert" – 3:30
- "Electrolite" – 4:05
Unlike most R.E.M. albums, this vinyl release did not have custom side names; instead, it was 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".
Personnel
"How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us"
:Recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion, "ennio whistle"
- Peter Buck – guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, bass guitar
- Mike Mills – piano, backing vocals, synthesizer
- Michael Stipe – lead vocals, synthesizer
"The Wake-Up Bomb"
:Recorded live at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, South Carolina, on November 16, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Nathan December – guitar
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, backing vocals, organ
- Michael Stipe – lead vocals
"New Test Leper"
:Recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, organ
- Michael Stipe – vocals
"Undertow"
:Recorded live at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 3, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Nathan December – guitar
- Scott McCaughey – ARP Odyssey synthesizer
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Michael Stipe – lead vocals
"E-Bow the Letter"
:Recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar, E-bow, electric sitar
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, organ, Moog synthesizer, Mellotron
- Patti Smith – vocals
- Michael Stipe – vocals
"Leave"
:Recorded at a soundcheck at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 18, 19, or 21, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion, acoustic guitar, synthesizer
- Peter Buck – guitar, E-bow
- Nathan December – guitar
- Scott McCaughey – ARP Odyssey
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, keyboards
- Michael Stipe – vocals
"Departure"
:Recorded live at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on June 6 or 7, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Nathan December – guitar
- Mike Mills – fuzz bass, backing vocals, Farfisa organ
- Michael Stipe – lead vocals
"Bittersweet Me"
:Recorded at a soundcheck at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 7, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Scott McCaughey – piano
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, organ, Mellotron
- Michael Stipe – vocals
"Be Mine"
:Recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – bass guitar, guitar, E-bow
- Mike Mills – guitar, backing vocals, keyboards
- Michael Stipe – lead vocals
"Binky the Doormat"
:Recorded live at the Desert Sky Pavilion in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 4, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion, backing vocals
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Nathan December – guitar
- Scott McCaughey – Farfisa organ
- Mike Mills – fuzz bass, backing vocals, keyboards
- Michael Stipe – lead vocals
"Zither"
:Recorded in the dressing room of the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 12, 13, or 14, 1995
- Bill Berry – bass guitar
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Nathan December – tambourine
- Scott McCaughey – autoharp
- Mike Mills – organ
- Michael Stipe – count in
"So Fast, So Numb"
:Recorded at a soundcheck at the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida, on November 15, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Scott McCaughey – piano
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, backing vocals, organ
- Michael Stipe – lead vocals
;"Low Desert"
:Recorded at a soundcheck at the Omni Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 18, 19, or 21, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Nathan December – slide guitar
- Scott McCaughey – piano
- Mike Mills – bass guitar, organ
- Michael Stipe – vocals
"Electrolite"
:Recorded at a soundcheck at the Desert Sky Pavilion in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 4, 1995
- Bill Berry – drums, percussion
- Peter Buck – bass guitar, banjo
- Andy Carlson – violin
- Nathan December – güiro
- Mike Mills – piano
- Michael Stipe – vocals
Technical personnel
- William Field – assistant engineering, Athens
- Sam Hofstedt – assistant engineering, Seattle
- Victor Janacua – assistant engineering, Los Angeles
- Adam Kasper – recording engineering, Seattle
- John Keane – recording and mixing
- Scott Litt – co-producing and mixing engineering
- Bob Ludwig/Gateway Mastering – mastering
- Pat McCarthy – recording engineering, Los Angeles
- Mark "Microwave" Mytrowitz – technical assistance
- Joe O'Herlihy – tour recording engineering
- Jo Ravitch – tour recording engineering
- Eric Stolz – digital editing
- Jeff Wooding – tour recording engineering
Chart performance
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 No. 1 on the Top European Albums for five consecutive weeks. The album peaked at No. 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. The first single, "E-Bow the Letter", received only modest radio airplay in the U.S. and peaked at No. 49 on its chart. In the UK, however, the single became the band's biggest hit at that point, reaching No. 4.
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Weekly chart performance for New Adventures in Hi-Fi
!Chart (1996–97)
!Position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (The Record)
| 1
|-
!scope="row"|Danish Albums (IFPI/Nielsen Music Control)
|1
|-
|-
!scope="row"|European Albums (European Top 100 Albums)
| 1
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)
|7
|-
!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IRMA)
|1
|-
!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
|26
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Portuguese Albums (AFP)
|5
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+1996 year-end chart performance for New Adventures in Hi-Fi
!Chart (1996)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 58
|-
!scope="row"|Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria Top 40)
|16
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 78
|-
!scope="row"|European Albums (European Top 100 Albums)
|34
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
|25
|-
!scope="row"| Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)
| 37
|-
!scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)
|50
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
|34
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|96
|}