Automatic For The People

I unashamedly love this album. A lot of folks point to Document as R.E.M.'s best album but I would argue that it was simply the album that brought them into the mainstream spotlight. THIS is the best R.E.M. album. The songwriting, production, and performances are all on point. Sharp, emotional, layered and complex, it's just a damn good album from every angle. Even on the slow jams, there's an ENERGY that pulses behind the music that is just compelling. Back when I was doing critical listening as part of my degree, this was one of our reference albums—basically, an album that was SO well recorded and mixed that you could listen to it on super high-end audiophile equipment and pick it apart to understand what was going on.

"Find The River" is a song I want to be played at my funeral. And that's probably because "Try Not To Breathe" would be considered in bad taste by some (they'd be wrong, by the way). Although my close friends would understand and appreciate if I requested "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight" instead. For my money, "Find The River" is the definitive album closer. Especially for THIS album, with themes like mortality, suicide, aging, and Andy Kaufman. This is one of those albums that shaped me and got me through a few turbulent moments. I know every song like I do scenes from a favorite movie I've seen multiple times. It's Stipe, Berry, Buck and Mills at the peak of their powers. "Drive" is something of a response to the David Essex classic "Rock On" with incredible string arrangements by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones of all people. "Sidewinder" is a similar riff on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight. One of the most known songs," Everybody Hurts" is REM's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and destined to be covered endlessly for generations to come. Stipe's moments of clarity and levity flow together seamlessly. The Mike Mills backup vocals standout even more than usual here, again underlying REM's secret weapon. This is one of those Desert Island albums. It's timeless. But it can still take me back to the Fall of 1992, the spring of 1998, or most of 2017. And it's far and away my favorite album of the 117 I've listened to so far on this list.

One of the best albums, all-time. And best closing 3 songs ever. Sweetness Follows is underrated.

Not my cup of tea completely but happy to drink it anyway

more like automatic five the people

Drive is such a great track on this record. The strings add a lot to the feel of melancholy and sadness. One of my favorite REM albums.

Boring!

quality + nostalgia = 5 stars

Wow, did not expect this but this is a masterpiece.

Classic roots rock. It sounds big, it really takes up space. And Michael Stipe has such an iconic voice. “I’m not scared, I’m out of here” is a great closing line for an album that spanned so far

R.E.M.'s best, imho, and a formative album for me. My father had it and I hadn't listened to them before. Going thru his collection, I pulled it out while looking for something else (probably Pink Floyd or Van Halen or Depeche Mode (which, boy, that was a weird group for a conservative cop to listen to or Roger Water's solo stuff, you get the idea) and he told me I could have it. It was this album and, oddly enough, Chris Isaak's Heart Shaped World. I asked my dad why he didn't want it and he said it was "faggoty shit". Now, at this point, I was young and still only vaguely aware that my orientation might be different than my peers. Well I took it, only vaguely guessing as to what Faggoty Shit could refer to when he never made the same gestures at Elton John (who my mother loved). What I think he meant by that was 'sensitive'. Automatic For The People is a remarkably empathetic, deeply personal feeling album that doesn't get buried in itself and instead decides to thread those personal anxieties, loves and thoughts through a warm and lived in sonic space. Nostalgia, politics, mortality, romance and sexuality all mesh together in a sweet sort of late summer dusk-to-autumn cycle of Queer Americana. As time would go one, I'd deeply appreciate how much I see myself in this record. The popculture-to-political focus of Man on the Moon. The intimacy, excitement and rush of Night Swimming. The strokes to find yourself in bigger pictures with haunted melancholic undertones of Find The River and Sweetness Follows. The interpersonal spaces of impossible to ignore politics by the way of Ignoreland. It's a chronicle. It's tragic and beautiful. But sonically it's tight. A refinement of ideas explored in early R.E.M. records and represents a culmination of their sound before they'd experiment further. This is their best album. But that's what I love about R.E.M., their best is still equally good as other albums which could call their best (Document, Murmur, Reackoning, Monster, Hi-Fi, you could make a case for any of these).

I was already a giant R.E.M. fan when this came out... and this is clearly one of their best. A spectacular album.

The sound of my youth. Almost perfect album.

Best album by one of the all time best bands.

I already know it, I already loved it. This was part of the soundtrack of my early 20s, that weird hectic messy growing-pains time where I was newly graduated from college and heady with possibility - and giddy with relief that the Cold War had ended and I was NOT going to blow up at any moment without warning; but that just paved the way for finally looking at all the OTHER ills of the world and wanting to do something about them. Of course I was doing so under the shadow of a whole horde of media looking at us and wondering "goodness what is Generation X going to do and what are they all about," and meanwhile the Boomers were hanging on to their own jobs and positions of power and not letting us actually do anything to explore what we COULD do or find what we WERE all about. But a lot of us tried where we could in small ways. Oh, and "Ignoreland" is still my favorite condemnation of the Reagan/Bush years. "TV tells a million lies, the paper's terrified to report anything that isn't handed on a presidential spoon, I'm just profoundly frustrated by all this, so fuck you, man...."

One of my favorite albums of all time. I somehow love it more each time I listen to it. Maybe not the most representative of R.E.M. as a whole, but goddamn, what a gorgeous emotional piece of work.

This album sounds huge. The strings and acoustic guitars are lush and warm, the electric guitars scream, the drums pop like they're in a cave and everything else (keys, organ/synths, horns) is produced incredibly. Coupled with the vocals, this album is a soundtrack to a revelation

in my top 20 of all time

Forgot how amazing this was. Certified BANGER.

For an embarrassingly long time, I thought I didn't like R.E.M. because Losing My Religion sucks. I was right about that song, but I've seen the error of my ways when it comes to the band. This album was a huge part of that. There's something to like about nearly every track. It's just a bunch of thoughtful, well executed jams. Best track: Man on the Moon

Love this album!

Hi: Drive, Monty Got A Raw Deal, Ignoreland, Star Me Kitten Lo: NONE Thanks for eating my review, generator! Anyways, this is an important album, one of the best from '92 (a year that birthed ton of excellent music) and almost 30 years later still holds up. If you don't love this album, you're an idiot.

The album that saw REM confirm their place as global megastars. An album packed full of melancholy and beauty.

This is my favorite REM album. The lyrics, the acoustics, and Stipes' voice just speaks directly to my soul. It has a very special place in my heart.

Awesome

Why no 6 star option. Clearly one of the all time greatest albums.

Classic!

A work of genius and after 30 years I still listen to it regularly. My favourite track has changed several times over the years. Starting with Nightswimming, then moving on to Everybody Hurts (once described by Peter Buck as an example of Michael Stipe "polishing a turd") but lately it's been the amazing and still prescient Ignoreland. And John Paul Jones arranged the strings. This is up there with Graceland and Led Zep II (of what we've heard so far) with a serious claim to be in the top 10 of best albums ever recorded.

Love this album ❤️

Loved it, best album we've listened to

One of the best of all time. Mix of styles, pacing, and just all round greatness.

Pretty much exactly what I expected, which isn't a bad thing.

Just perfect in almost every way.

Incredible- correlation between the America we are living in currently, my dad loves this band and I think I finally do too

So good, the highs are extremely high, and the lows are fairly high too, to be honest.

Being the first R.E.M album Ive listened to, seems like a high mark to me. Everyone hurts and Man on the moon! Being their eighth album im not entirely sure where that lands in their discography but it was a great standalone album.

That’s me in the corner, thats’s me in the spot-light…trying to figure out why I love one era of REM, but loathe another.

Boring

Takes me back to playing roller coaster tycoon

What a great album! Up until now, I have only really listened to R.E.M when it appears in a party playlist. I think it's a much better listening experience in album form, i.e. not such a mood killer. This album is going on the replay list. 5/5

Great songs

Everybody Hurts

I’d never describe myself as an R.E.M fan but this album is undeniable. Classic track after classic track, I don’t really see how anyone could give this less than 5

Probably REM's best album (and that's saying a lot, given the "competition"). Made even better through John Paul Jones' arrangements on some of the songs, which renders them pure magic.

Probably the pinnacle of their production. R.E.M. don't get better than this record, for me.

awesome love it

Seminal album for me.

Love this album! Poignant lyrics, endearing ennui, wistful storytelling.

Nightswimming, The River, Man On The Moon, EVERYBODY HURTS. What a list of tracks! R.E.M is just one of those artists that can get you feeling every type of emotion throughout their music, and it's a beautiful thing because so. Incredible vocals of the 80s/ 90s.

Doesn't get much better than that!

Clásico.

Easy 5. Even the non singles are ace. Monty got a raw deal...

Loved it, played it multiple tomes

R.E.M. is an incredible band and this might be my favorite album of theirs. I'm usually quite reluctant to apply labels like "favorite" or "best," or to rank an artist's or group's output, so I use "favorite" here in lower-case letters or parenthetically, mostly to indicate how I gravitate towards it. I don't want to diminish my affection for their other work. All that being said, there's a depth and texture to this album that makes it stand out for me in R.E.M.'s impressive catalog. It's odd to say this, but I actually believe this band is underrated, as are the four individual members as musicians and songwriters. I am particularly fond of Peter Buck (my view: because he didn't rip massive solos, even though he was more than capable of it, he is not talked about as much as other rock/pop/alt guitarists, but he's fantastic) and Mike Mills (quiet and cerebral, so not a limelight guy, he's an amazing bassist, pianist, singer, and writer). What I learned from the Wiki entry that's linked to this album is the John Paul Jones (yes, as in Led Zeppelin's JPJ) contributed string arrangements to four tracks on this album. That is super-cool (JPJ is another way, way underrated musician).

Phenomenal.

The second repeat! Much more welcome than Kate Bush. Going from R.E.M.'s debut to their 8th album is a huge jump. The band is more confident, more powerul, and more in the groove. This album has a bunch of hits on it, and the non-hit tracks still slap. Very, very enjoyable. Hung out for a while listening to live cuts and demos. I'm not sure if this deserves a straight 5, but it's miles ahead of Murmer, which I gave a 4.

Fourth R.E.M. album that's come up on this thing, which seems like too many. Regardless, this was good, a lot less rocking and more of a crawling deliberate record with some great standout songs.

I hated out of time and put off listening to REM for a long time after that. Shiny Happy People being possibly the worst song ever written. This album is a different beast entirely.

Michael Stipe has an iconic voice. I really like it, though sometimes I find he becomes a bit of an American Morrissey, just warbling and rambling out of time on certain tracks. 'Ignoreland' and 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite' is where it's most prominent, though both tracks are among the best on the album. 'Everybody Hurts' is still amazing. A bittersweet sound which is prominent on most of the album but nowhere moreso than on this track. I like the more happy sounding songs too, a fun jangly pop sound. I enjoyed this a lot, but there was something missing. Just that extra piece of the puzzle that would have made it incredible, but I'm not sure what that is.

this is probably the album that convinced christina to go to school in athens. thanks REM!

Automatic for the people was actually a really solid album. The songs here definitely left quite the impression on me especially the last few songs which could be legitimate tearjerkers at times. The sound of this album isn't really anything too special, different or unique but for what it does sound like, it manages to sound pretty good. The songs here were a bit similar sounding to each other but i didn't find that a huge issue since the style was all still good. This album is one that doesn't break new grounds but still manages to be a solid listen. Best Song: The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite Worst Song: Sweetness Follows

As with Garbage, I realised that actually I know this album quite well, even though I probably wouldn’t have known it. I just can’t get past Stipe’s voice. I hate it. It’s like broken glass. It’s just grindy and annoying and urgh. I suspect the songs might be ok - but I just can’t get past the vocal.

Man, I am NOT an R.E.M. fan, so I'll get through this one, I guess... My old roommate's dad was in a bunch of Savannah bands back in the 70's and 80's, and he used to tell us that his band played in Athens one time, and they had to open for some shitty house band named REM. I guess they aren't so shitty, because they've sold a ton of albums. Good for them. Maybe Jeff's dad was just jealous. It just isn't for me. I'm actually upset, because now the Spotify algorithm will try and infuse this into my recommendations... There is a nostalgia to some of these tunes. I watched MTV a lot back when this came out, so I was inundated with the "hits." If I had to pick, I like the album before this one, and I like Orange Crush off of their 88 album Green. Favorite song on here, Man on the Moon.

This one starts off a little slow and stays that way for really the whole album. It's not bad, just not what I would expect I guess. I also think it sounds a little thin, guitars in particular, but I feel like thin sounding guitars are kind of an R.E.M. signature. That's one of the problems I've always had with R.E.M. - I always feel like they need to fill out the sound spectrum a little. I felt myself kind of drifting out of attention throughout this whole record. Does that make it background music? I hate to use the word 'boring' but it kind of was. I was excited when this record came up for the day but left a little disappointed. There are certainly songs I like on this record, Everyboy Hurts, Drive, Monty Got A Raw Deal, Man On The Moon. But I wouldn't play this whole album again. 2.5 stars

Overall, a fairly boring album. Nothing about the song composition anywhere in this album is notable. The saving grace for this album (and band) is Michael Stipe's voice which is unique and memorable. I had heard "Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon" before. None of the songs were notable. "Ignoreland" is a predictable, dull, angsty uninformed rant against Republicans, which is just so classically predictable for musicians and out of touch celebrities. This album isn't difficult to listen to necessarily. It's not Queen Latifah levels of bad. It's just dull and predictable.

Fine music, but I don't really vibe with it. I think it's a little too mellowed out, and flat. It doesn't really do it for me.

I hate REM

I truly dislike everything about REM. Couldn’t finish.

I needed this today

4/5 but I will go with a 5 in this instance.

I tend to be drawn to R.E.M.s earlier albums moreso, but this really shows their natural progression in songwriting, production, and just overall talent. They had garnered a lot of attention and financial backing when this was released and it shows. A pretty much perfect album.

amazing as hell

Classic, but I can't make it through everybody hurts without a few tears.

Great listening, wonderful memories ;-)

I really can't separate 'Out of Time' and 'Automatic for the People' in my mind. The two albums together represent the peak of R.E.M. The former is the poppier one but 'Automatic' is arguably their best and their most confident record. At this point, indie rock had really arrived thanks in large part to R.E.M. who took the post punk and new wave of the previous decades and crested something uniquely 90s. Some of the most classic songs of the era are here, including 'Everybody Hurts', 'Man on the Moon', and 'Night Swimming'. The production is perfect, with string arrangements from Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones. This is one of the most significant albums of the 90s and holds up perfectly.

One of REM's best albums. Absolutely phenomenal. Favourite songs: Man on the Moon, Nightswimming, Everybody Hurts, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Drive, Ignoreland, Monty Got a Raw Deal Least favourite songs: Star Me Kitten 5/5

Pre-listening thoughts: I have had this album saved in my library for MONTHS with the intention to listen to it but just totally forgot to do it and then it got buried underneath other listens. But veryyyy excited for this one!! Post/during listening thoughts: I can’t really pinpoint why I enjoy this (and R.E.M. in general) but I do. Maybe it’s the fantastic songwriting/lyricism. Maybe it’s the enchanting instrumentation. Maybe it’s the kind yet pointed tone and familiarity of Michael Stipe’s voice. Hell, maybe it’s the Cat in the Hat mention in The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite. But it is definitely a fantastic album. 9.5/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: yeah sorry like everyone should for sure hear Nightswimming Fav tracks: this is a no skip album (yes even the instrumental!) Least fav tracks:

One of their best for sure

So much emotion in every song. Absolutely brilliant! 10/10. Nightswimming is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Solid 5*

This is my favorite REM album. I own it on CD somewhere and listened to it a ton in middle school/early-high school (I never owned any other REM albums, I genuinely don't know why I got this one...). I haven't listened to it in years though, so it was nice to revisit it! I'm pleasantly surprised to still remember all of the songs and lyrics. Nostalgic, but in a way that holds up.

Definitely a 90s classic. Personally Out of time is my favourite, but this comes a close second. It's good to revisit the album in full. Everybody Hurts got overplayed at the time, but wouldn't say that if the best song; the whole album works as a complete work and recommend giving it a respin if you haven't I'm a while. 5/5

R.E.M. somehow solidified their place in history with this album. True to their roots, innovative, and somehow accessible. I love every song.

I listened to this constantly back and forth on the subway in high school. It holds up.

One of my all-time favorites.

A stately, austere, reflective triumph from one of the best rock bands our country has ever produced

Absolute class

Great listen. I am a fan.

Drive is one of my favorites and Nightswimming is great

All bangers

I love this album. I first heard it aged 14 or 15, making my way through my parents’ cd collection. Back then I had a habit of listening to an album on my Walkman, in bed, to help me get to sleep. Lying there in the dark noticing every detail of the music. This was one of my favourites from doing that. Lemme tell you, it was such a joy to come back to it 15 years later and find I love it even more. Not a single track I’d be inclined to skip. Is it uncool to like REM? I don’t know and I don’t care, this slaps as the kids say these days. ;)

Iconic. Classic. Fantastic. Excellent. Will only let me go to 5 stars!!!!

Just had War by U2 a few days back and just like that album, this has also been one of my favorites for decades. I remember walking around my high school with a burned copy and listening to it on my Discman. Also, Find The River has to be one of the best album closing tracks EVER.

I forgot how good this is. So, so good.

I’m stunned at how good this is. I’m as surprised as anyone about this.

Deb : Gorgeous, soulful album; easy to listen to. Beautiful melodies & strong lyrics. I recognise a good number of the songs from (too many) years ago! Sian : I was obsessed with this album when it came out and it remains an absolute gem.

A classic album filled to the brim with song that will scratch your brain just right.

Everything just comes together here. The songwriting, production, the overall mood & emotion. Heck, we've even got the legendary John Paul Jones on some arrangements here. It's a pretty somber record when you peel things back a bit; complete with themes of hopelessness, loss, and mortality, but the aura is unmatched by any other R.E.M. record. I get a sense of nostalgia listening to this, despite it releasing before I was born. It commands your attention, you're left ruminating on every string/note from Berry, Buck, and Mills & every word from Stipe. The group really hit their stride here, and that's even including the run of successful albums released before this one. There's less of that familiar R.E.M. jangle pop and more of a ballad-laden, scaled down sound given the melancholic content. Yet, it never feels directionless. It all culminates into (IMO) R.E.M.'s greatest work.

No private session required for Spotify. I used to listen to this CD a lot and really the last REM album I got into. It's a great album, more mellow than their previous work, but good. Three mellow songs from the album got constant radio play, so maybe that is why I strayed away from REM. Early REM epitomized college rock for me, then they had super mainstream success with this one. How dare they?

Amazing