Automatic For The People
by R.E.M.

From buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/19/2016 22:41 | #173104 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

After years of hearing about Weaver D's--the Athens, Georgia, soul food eatery that spawned the catchphrase that R.E.M. borrowed for the title of this album--I finally had a chance to visit there in 2013, just a few months before they closed their doors for good. I can confirm that their fried chicken and black-eyed peas were second to none, and I also can confirm that Dexter Weaver did indeed respond, "Automatic," when he took my order. As for the album that the members of R.E.M. created in honor of this Georgia institution, it's one of the band's best, and that's saying something. It's quite a bit more accessible, more radio friendly, than a lot of their work from the eighties, but still as lyrically oblique as ever. My favorite track, "Find the River," uses the song's namesake river as a metaphor for the kind of artistic seeking that has marked the band's whole career: "I have got to find the river / Bergamot and vetiver / Run through my head and fall away." A great summary of the place R.E.M.'s music has had in my life ever since I first heard them in the mid-eighties.

A fantastic album, absolutely beautiful from start to finish. REM's best by a mile and an absolute classic. 'Nightswimming' is one of the best songs ever

REM's most successful album is a wonderfully rich record about aging, loneliness, and, mortality, with a few exceptions. The album wasn't supported by a tour, or any live shows at all. Automatic for the people is odd in a way, it's both cold and warm, it's melancholic with uplifting moments, it's monochrome, and yet also bursts with colour. The album kicks off with, drive, an excellent opener. Try not to breathe, is next, this song about an aging man coming to terms with the fact his life is ending, is followed probably the most joyful track on the record, the sidewinder sleeps tonite. Everybody hurts, is off course, lovely, probably the band's most famous song. A short instrumental is followed by the dark, sweetness follows. If there Is a criticism of the album, is that it starts and ends superbly, but it kind of sags in the middle. Monty got a raw deal, and, ignoreland, are ok tracks, but they're nowhere near in the class of the rest of the songs. After, star me kitten, the record ends with a brilliant trilogy of tracks. The glorious, man on the moon, is followed by the atmospheric, nightswimming, my favourite all time REM song. This excellent record climaxes with the beautiful, find the river, a perfect way to end. At this period in time, REM were, along with U2, the biggest band in the world. This album is the reason why.

Fast moving, the flicker of a slide show, dismal in places and down right dead in the grey in others. This was the biggest show for them. They broke the barriers more so than the 'Out Of Time' one. 'Drive' is obviously longing for something and if it had been written by one of the Pitchfork's 2010's darlings it would be proclaimed the greatest song ever. Nostalgia is practically fuming from it. While it isn't an advisable instruction, 'Try Not To Breathe' proves the chops are their for the big stadium filling tour. Also the album which contains 'Everybody Hurts' which, while in a different sense than 'Drive', gives off a sense of nostalgia (sometimes) and can't be denied alongside 'Man On The Moon' and 'Nightswimming'. Brilliant closer with 'Find The River' as well, the yearning and lovely strings really bring pictures of someone who has messed up badly and truly regrets everything. I can forgive the ugly album cover for that.

R.E.M. might not be in my preferred listening range (and hell, this album in particular is considerably outside of my usual listening range), but something about this band has always intrigued me. I think it's the combination of folk-rock tendencies and the unique vocals. It's not just a random collection of ballads; there's serious folk and symphonic influence here. The strings are a critical addition. Drive, Everybody Hurts, and Man on the Moon are enjoyable; that first track might be song of the year. I'd probably rank a couple of their albums ahead of this one, but maybe I need to listen to it more.

R.E.M. always sounded 10 years ahead of their time, and that trend continues here.

Nightswimming and Sidewinder are fun as well. Not a big fan of New Orleans Instrumental though.