Instruct: Classify a review as either positive or negative.
Query: R.E.M. does nothing and somehow calls it an album

The weakness of an album like "Around the Sun" doesn't lie in the fact that the songs are a little on the slow and quiet side. You can make a decent slow and quiet album, in fact R.E.M. already did with "Up." No, the problem with "Around the Sun" is that the material is weak.Michael Stipe has a harder time than ever coming up with vocal melodies and Peter Buck just doesn't sound very interested. If a song isn't necessarily awkward, as is the case with the first single "Leaving New York," then it's the musical equivalent of blank, white paper, barely registering as anything resembling stirring music.It's no wonder this is the last R.E.M. album produced by Pat McCarthy. He steered the band right into a brick wall with this one. Weak songs coupled with a yawner of a production job just doesn't yield many dividends over repeated listens. At least it didn't with me.