R.E.M.'s song than Radiohead's upon hearing Stipe recite the lyrics to "Disappear". The album's opening track, "The Lifting", is a prequel to "Daysleeper" from R.E.M.'s 1998 album, Up, and features the same character. Critical reception Initial critical response to Reveal was positive ("Probably because it's more melodic than the one before," remarked Peter Buck). At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 76, based on 20 reviews. Q Magazine gave high praise to the album, awarded it the full 5 stars, and listed it as one of the best 50 albums of 2001. Kludge included it on their list of the 25 best albums of 2001. With early comparisons to Automatic for the People, the critical reaction to Reveal was warmer than the notices which greeted Up in 1998, particularly in the UK, where it reached #1 with healthy sales, reaching platinum status there. In the United States, Reveal peaked at 6 (with 10 weeks on the Billboard 200) and was certified Gold (500,000 units). The album was also certified Gold in Canada (50,000 units) in 2001, and Gold in Germany (150,000 units). In 2004, the German version of Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 483 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In April 2021, almost exactly twenty years after the album's release, Michael Stipe stated that Reveal had possibly overtaken New Adventures in Hi-Fi in being his favorite R.E.M. album. Track listing All songs written by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe. The Chorus Side "The Lifting" – 4:39 "I've Been High" – 3:25 "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" – 4:43 "She Just Wants to Be" – 5:22 "Disappear" – 4:11 "Saturn Return" – 4:55 The Ring Side "Beat a Drum" – 4:21 "Imitation of Life" – 3:57 "Summer Turns to High" – 3:31 "Chorus and the Ring" – 4:31 "I'll Take the Rain" – 5:51 "Beachball" – 4:14 "The Lifting" mastering defect In 2002, Warner Bros. released a DVD-A version of Reveal containing a new 5.1-channel mix of the album as well as the stereo mix presented in "Advanced Resolution" 96 kHz/24-bit. The 96 kHz/24-bit mix, however, has a mastering defect. The defect takes place on the first track "The Lifting", in which the beat skips at the 0:29 mark. This