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.

more like automatic five the people

"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.

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

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).

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

quality + nostalgia = 5 stars

Boring!

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.

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.

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

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...."

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

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

Best album by one of the all time best bands.

in my top 20 of all time

The sound of my youth. Almost perfect 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.

REM sells out and we all benefit.

OK, but needs a bit more jingle and a lot more jangle.

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.

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

There are a large number of albums on this list that were released in the late 60s or early 70s. Yes this was an important period of innovation, but equally important is that these are the iconic albums from the youth of boomers. GenX has a similar thing and this album in pretty damn iconic. It is also a gorgeous work of art. There is not a bad song on this entire record. Great music from start to finish. Reading through some of the reviews here, I'm starting to think that asking people about this album may be a great way to avoid assholes. It is okay to not like the style, but anyone who is not moved in the slightest by the lyrics is not someone I want in my life.

Love this album!

Takes me back to playing roller coaster tycoon

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.

Boring

Tough listen this one. The vocal is so irritating and the lyrics so cringeworthy. Some of the instrumentation was interesting but most of it just so plodding.

Just wonderful, not a bad thing about it. It has a bittersweet melancholy warmth that's so lovely to spend time in. Sidewinder and Ignoreland are insanely underrated to me, but they're up against some all-time heavy hitters. My first five stars, yay!

I'm still not sure I'd put this in my Top 5 R.E.M albums list (maybe 5, but maybe 6), but it's still great. 5/5 Highs: "Drive" and "Everybody Hurts" and "Nightswimming" -- all featuring very non-schmaltzy string arrangements by John Paul Jones. Really, it's amazing that "Everybody Hurts" doesn't descend into pure schmaltz, but there's a light touch there, and the undeniable sincerity in the production and Michael Stipe's vocals that saves it. Lows: "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight," "Ignoreland." Never really liked 'em, still don't. New appreciation: "Man on the Moon." BITD this is the song I disliked the most, that I thought was repetitive and silly. On this listen I loved the sound of it. The chirpy reverberating percussion.

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!

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

(4/5) Another piece of the rock music foundation and a hugely influential and important album. As I've said on other R.E.M. albums and will continue to say, I appreciate the artistry and freely offer my acknowledgement that this is a 'must hear', but it's never really excited or struck me as 'all the time listening '. "Everybody Hurts" is simultaneously the best and worst song to play when you're sad, for instance. I get it. I truly do. But, despite their size and the artistry, I can't get past a '4' for them. It's just not everyday listening for me. Likewise, I'd never begrudge anyone who loves them and this album. Taste is funny that way. It's not automatic.

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.

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.

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

This album was way too prevalent on the radio in 1992, to the extent that when I hear Everybody Hurts and Man on the Moon, I have to turn off. They may have been decent enough songs once, but constant repetition does not improve them. Overall the album is pretty good, Drive and Night Swimming are decent tunes. A good album for occasional listening so it doesn't get too annoying.

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.

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.

I swear if we get one more divorced dad album, I will actually start talking to my dad again. I just cant get into it I looked all on the subreddit for REM and what am I missing and I know alot of alt rock is becoming popular with my generation, but I just do not enjoy it. I think its well-made and artistic but I will never revisit this and I enjoy some songs this might be a 2/10 from me like closer to a 3/10 I just no like.

140. Automatic For The People - R.E.M. (1992) 7.12.26 Variety: 4 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 5 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 5 = 4.8 rounded up to a 5 "These things, they go away/ Replaced by everyday" We reviewed Green not that long ago, and after listening to that I went on a bit of a splurge, revisiting a ton of R.E.M.'s discography, including one on the list we haven't gotten around to yet - breaking a personal rule ( I listened to at least 5 times over the course of a week). It led me all over the place, including some live performances ( their Unplugged session is great) and dips into some similar acts, both sound-wise ( Miracle Legion/ Polaris) and stature-wise ( the Cure). R.E.M. is a band I find both emotionally and intellectually stimulating, and remain to this day up in the rarified air with all the A-class bands, which America seems short on compared to our cousins across the pond. In my opinion. By the time this album came out, I had heard tracks from their earlier albums, with Green I think being the first one where i had any sort of sense of who the band were ( "Pop Song 89" and "Stand" were all over MTV). Then Out of Time was the one where my interest in these guys as personalities was piqued. That's the one I think where they exploded fully into the mainstream, and the follow up the one where their mainstream legacy was set in stone. Automatic for the People is one of the earliest CDs I owned ( though I didn't bother buying it - used - until a few years later as I was still pretty invested in cassettes and this one was played SO much on MTV, not sure I thought I even needed a copy). Will have to check, but pretty sure that same copy is sitting snuggly in a CD case somewhere in my basement. I might have to see if it still works. THE TRACKS Side one "Drive" - Shivers. Yep, still the opening of this with the acoustic guitar and the big, portentous bass gets me every time. When Stipe comes in with his slap-back delay reverbed vocals it solidifies the BIGNESS on display, and sets the tone for the rest of the album. The electric guitar and the strings only serve to make it somehow even BIGGER, and by the end we've been picked up and shaken awake, by what is on the surface a down-tempo thing. The crispness of the production here stands out as well. Their stuff has always sounded great production-wise, but this has got that sort of Tears for Fears-ish clean, but not sanitized sort of expensive sound that they hadn't quite gotten around to yet. All of this is on point though, and for a track that, like so much of their stuff, that is lyrically ambiguous, you get a definite sense that this one has some sort of determined grudge bubbling beneath. Awesome song, and inexcusably snubbed from getting a spot on any of their greatest hits collections! "Try Not to Breathe" - Things stay low and quiet, and a maybe a little more friendly in tone. Some very pretty acoustic dulcimer work from Peter Buck, anchored by Bill Berry's massive bass drum sound, and augmented by electric bass and slide guitar. There's a great ( as always) counter melody from Mike Mills, and Stipe delivers the goods vocally with what seems to be a deathbed monologue of sorts. Somber but not quite sad, with "this decision is mine, I have lived a full life" the key line I think. Someone choosing to let go while maybe trying to comfort and console the person they are leaving. Pretty emotionally affecting and aspirational in that we should all be so luck as to be able to say goodbye on our on terms. That final organ note seems less funereal, and more like a resolute punctuation. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" - We get a nod to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in the opening refrain, and get anything but a tribute to that song. Instead we're treated with what seems to like a super specific private joke or reference to some specific person or situation. There's a lightness here that seems like an intentional bright spot given the melancholy and seriousness that hangs over he rest of the album, and the slight laugh from Stipe at the beginning of the third chorus is pretty indicative of this. Even as slight as it might seem, there's still some striking imagery and possibly something still lightly sad about missed connections, and physical separation from human contact. As impenetrable and nonsensical ( the music video certainly gives no hints) as it might seem to the listener though, it feels musically very much a part of the same fabric, and is no less catchy than anything else on here. "Everybody Hurts" - Should I be surprised that the iconic music video ( the most iconic outside of "Losing My Religion" maybe?) still maintains the self-harm warning on Youtube? I remember when this came out that it immediately became an anthem of, if not optimism, then maybe of self healing and acceptance. It's certainly the first bit of mainstream pop culture I recall dealing so openly, if tangentially with the themes of depression and suicide. I think it became a bit of punchline over the decades, but not so much that it endears as such. or a band that always seemed ahead of the curve in so many ways, the openness and straight faced manner in which they deal with the subject matter on here holds up incredibly well. I'll admit this one still hits hard for me, and I can imagine anyone who's ever suffered a major loss or battled with depression might feel the same. Some might get a little salty at how hard the song leans into poking at those scabs though. Sure, the rising strings and the music video in particular are emotionally manipulative in the extreme, but that's the purpose here. How else are we meant to engage with this sort of thing without those big emptions. Musically it's all subdued meditation, with the instruments themselves sounding almost defeated until that outro rises up we finally get the optimism just starting to shine through the clouds. And it's not celebratory by ANY means. Just mindfully accepting in tone. A realistic message that is still unfortunately rare to find in pop culture depictions. Maybe a weird left field comparison, but the Babadook movie is one of the few ones I can think of that lands on a similar resolution that accepts there are no real resolutions. Pain never goes anywhere, you just learn to live and deal with it in a way that it doesn't always feel so overwhelming. A truly beautiful song about human connection and the power of self awareness. "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" - after all that headyness we could use s little bit of a come down I think. This was a charming little instrumental interlude that won't make anyone's day necessarily, but does provide some calming notes, and brighten the corners ever so slightly. "Sweetness Follows" - the cello on this from guest musician Knox Chandler pulses throughout like a heartbeat, and lends what could otherwise be seen as the little brother to "Everybody Hurts" a bit more... thunder. A meditation on grief and possibly the distance and walls that can form between families I think this one while not as maximalist as "Everybody Hurts" does the job of offering a bit more optimism and a sense of finality that is absent form that one. A pretty as this one is, there's an aura of regret than casts a pretty large, looming shadow still. Go - call your mom. Or your dad, brother, sister, whoever. Do it now while you're thinking of it. Side two "Monty Got a Raw Deal" - A fine number that sails along through a tale of what I took to be conformity in the face of human suffering, with someone repeatedly chastised for wanting to reach out and lend a helping hand to someone who is obviously in distress. The internets reveal that the subject of this song was likely the tragic life of Montgomery Clift, who's life and career as a star was cut short by a terrible car crash. Sure I guess. I prefer my reading, but as an ode to the tragic life of a Hollywood star this still shits all over the "Candle in the Wind". "Ignoreland" - Coming right after Dead Kennedy's Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, this can't help but feel a little feeble with its indignation over the right wing takeover of the 80s. But that sort of seems to be the message anyway - "this sucks, but too bad we can't do anything about it". As much as Biafra's more militant message feels energizing and exciting this one feels a bit more realistic. My pessimist streak certainly identifies more with Stipe's ultimate shrug of defeat after litany of offenses outlined in the lyrics. The despondency certainly feels much more applicable to our current "no-solution" situation to me anyway, where the fascists will continue to sink ever lower than you thought possible to keep their stranglehold applied to the American experiment, despite their relatively small numbers. "Star Me Kitten" - Church organs, metronomic cymbal work, and low register vocals guide us through this molasses-slow look at a relationship where maybe the fire, if it hasn't gone out yet, is in danger of doing so. The processed, choral backing vocals which have a distinct 10cc "I'm Not in Love" feel ( looked this up and confirmed to be an inspiration in the production - with Mills providing said vocals). I usually odn't like to read very much while I'm listening, but as each one of these tracks has gotten multiple playthroughs, I find myself curious, and so found this quote from Mike Mills that seems to sum things up pretty well - “It’s a very twisted love song. And Michael’s just saying, ‘Yeah, relationships are tough and ours may not be the best, but go ahead. What are you waiting for? F--k me!’” "Man on the Moon" - As much as I loved this song when it first came out, it did not dawn on me until much later that the song was about that funny dude who I had seen clips of on Letterman. I was a bit to young to have seen the original appearances, but still old enough to be a huge Letterman fan while he was still at NBC, and recall seeing clips somewhere and connecting them to the guy in Taxi. It was still pretty nebulous though until I must have read something ( maybe in an issue of Spin?) about the lyrics, and connected it to the "I'm from Hollywood" special I'd seen on cable. This was a tiny bit mind blowing, and I recall it made me start to pay closer attention to lyrics ( even if I still continued tom even to this day, mostly discount them) to stuff other than Weird Al songs. Though I'm in good company with Peter Buck who said that "I don't even worry about it. Lyrics are the last thing I listen to, unless someone is hitting me over the head with it." This one I think has grown more than any other off this album in the public consciousness as a key track in the band's discography, and it's easy to see why. Charming, funny, and lyrically equally both ambiguous and literal in it's mythologizing of a man whose life was a bundle of contradictions. And pretty sure the legendary nature of his exploits owe more than a lot to this song and its impact, both upon release and leading up to the mediocre biopic. A cult figure is given his flowers here, and through some pop cultural bit of alchemy, becomes more cemented in the mainstream psyche as a reference point that millions more understand, than otherwise would have been possible. My favorite parts on here are the twangy opening and the great backing vocals, but Stipe delivers one of his best vocal performances as well here. The whole thing is stitched together out of god-tier hooks, and an all time sing-a-long core vocal melody. This is the R.E.M. track that would belong on any more golden records we might decide to shoot into space. "Nightswimming" - My personal favorite track on the album, and in my opinion one of the prettiest songs of the 20th Century. Stipe's voice straining on the first line, along with all of the nostalgia porn throughout combine with the beautiful gospely piano line and sweetly rising strings ( thanks Mr. Jones!) to create the most vivid picture I can think of in song form of that very specific wistful longing for vaguely remembered childhood times that can enter your mind by any number of random triggers. And it's a fondness that only exists in those half-remembered snippets ( imagine running, shoeless through the grass chasing lightning bugs for example) and comes with a realization that the bright cold light of day washes away the magic and we're ultimately left in the real world of small, boring literalness of moments that add up to what is ultimately biding time. The tragedy is that none one ever gets to experience that fondness and appreciation for the good moments while we're actually in them. The concept of bittersweetness distilled into a never rushed, always pleasant 4 minutes and 16 seconds. "Find the River" - More bittersweetness to end on with what seems like an older person nearing the end who has a few words of advice for someone younger. With all the loss, anger, and sadness we've had on this album, this one does actually end things on an accepting, and possibly more optimistic note than most. But it's still worth mentioning that it could just as easily serve as a waring as it could a pop talk of any sort. HIGHLIGHTS - "Drive" - "Try Not to Breathe" - "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" - "Everybody Hurts" - "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" - "Sweetness Follows" - "Star Me Kitten" - "Man on the Moon" - "Nightswimming" MIDLIGHTS - "Monty Got a Raw Deal" - "Ignoreland" LOWLIGHTS FINAL THOUGHTS "All of this is coming your way" can be both sinister and hopeful depending no how you look at it. And I think this applies to the album as a whole. Given your temperament going in - be it sanguine or melancholic - will determine what you get out of it. For me this album has hit both ways at various times in my life ( this time around I found it more hopeful than not) and I think will continue to do so. More than a lot of albums I find this litmus test quality to be an essential part of the listening experience, and it's one I engage with on a deeper level than most. There are certainly albums I love more, that have more of an emotion effect on me, or that contain a lot catchier and memorable songs, but its hard to think of many that do all of these things at once, while also reaching out and shaking hands with the mainstream as successfully as this one has. I'm glad that we'll be getting two more from these guys - both great and deserving, one of which I just might count as my favorite pure listening experience ( no spoilers!), but I'm also sad there are only two left. For years I've avoided listening to much of anything past Monster from these guys, fearful of hearing a band I love begin the long unavoidable slide into mediocrity. I've just wanted to keep them preserved in the amber of my 14 year old memory I guess. I think this project has inspired me to try and overcome that urge though, and I think once the remaining list albums are out of the way I might go on a spree and do the whole catalog in release order, B-sides, rarities, and all. There are only a handful of artists that would prompt this sort of enthusiasm for me, and I've already done this with the Beatles, so... Overall, a great experience revisiting this and I might just give it a few more spins, though a bit more casually than one of these review centric listens entails. Also worth mentioning - this is the second album in less than a week's time that John Paul Jones has had his calloused fingers in, with Donovan's Sunshine Superman featuring him as a session player along with Jimmy Page. Jones provided the string arrangements for several songs on this, and if the roster of other giants of the industry he has worked with is any indication, he is bound to pop up several more times before we even get to any of Zeppelin's 5 ( count them! 5!) entries proper. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Never FURTHER LISTENING - These guys are so singular that I find it hard to find much similar to recommend, but here goes anyway: - Out of Time by R.E.M. - Bloodflowers by The Cure - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? by the Cranberries - Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins - Portrait of a Damaged Family by Miracle Legion - The Bends by Radiohead - Tigerlily by Natalie Merchant - Elliott Smith by Elliott Smith - Ukulele Songs by Eddie Vedder

Not too long ago we had R.E.M.'s "Green" album and on that review I called them pioneers of the alternative rock sound. "Green" sounded 5 years later than its 1998 release suggests. So what would an the album they did release nearly 5 years later actually sound like. Well, it sounds exactly of its time, 1992, but also effortlessly timeless. This album might be the full maturation of alternative rock. There is a disenchantment over the whole album that I never got in my pre-teen/teenage years. Oh, I understood it on a track like "Everybody Hurts" but that was a channel changer/bathroom break video when I was watching MTV at my young age. I missed the electronic guitar coming in near the end and dropping the song lower with the lead sound. "Man on the Moon" seemed goofy and the nostalgia again went right over my head. I was an oblivious teen, I guess. Now the tracks that catch me are the somber numbers, "Nightswimming," and "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1." This is good contemplation music. I once slept an entire evening to this album on loop because I forgot to set the sleep timer. Good sleeping music too. I say that as a complement. Yeah, 1992 was the year that alternative music conquered the world so it might be a quick trigger to say that an album of that year is the genre fully formed, and one would probably be right saying that, but it feels like it when I listen to this album 30+ years on now. In 1992 R.E.M. had been at this for a decade by then. That 10 year mark is an interesting one because some say this is R.E.M.'s best album. Seems like when a band lasts that long the album around their 10 year mark is often one of their best. Would be interesting to examine. So here I am giving R.E.M. another 5. When I began this project I would not have guessed that I would be giving R.E.M. multiple 5-star ratings, but maybe it is how foundational they were to my favorite musical years that they give me so much nostalgia. I only discovered their deep cuts years after the fact, but they really hit home and bring me back to the 1990s in a good way.

An all-timer, listened to this endlessly in my teens, still love it. The refined yin to 'Out of Time's cheesy yang (a duality that I think then informs all their warner bros work going forward!), it's just a masterful use of major label money to make something strange and indescribable, but also chock full of hits. Stipe's lyrics are great as ever ('Ignoreland' is so so so so good and the blueprint for every political Thom Yorke lyric), it all flows together beautifully despite all the disparate elements, the willingness to abandon drums through a lot of the record is so rewarding - man, I could go on (and on), but it's just an absolute banger. Also, the last minute of 'Everybody Hurts' and the whole of 'Nightswimming', 'Sweetness Follows', 'Ignoreland' and 'Find the River' (one of the most beautiful songs about death ever written) are empirically perfect music, and I won't hear otherwise.

3/3. Classic album, very nostalgic for me. From the opening notes of Drive to the atmosphere of New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 to Michael's laugh when he says Dr. Seuss on Sidewinder, this album is just great. Great lyrics, fantastic instrumentation, and a really unique vibe all around. Absolutely deserving of its spot on this list.

Classic album that instantly transports me to the backseat of my parents' beat up gold Subaru Legacy as we drove across the desert on vacation. Funny rehearing it now and being able to understand the lyrics much better.

I'm not, as an ex once hoped, "REMish" but I've got to give it up for this: Drive and Man on the Moon are too superb to not give this album the full 5.

Damn I didn’t think I’d love this like that. What an unexpected 5 that makes me really appreciate this whole project

Absolutely fantastic album. A bit surreal listening to Man on the Moon while watching a waxing gibbous moon disappear behind the Klamath Mountains about 2,640 miles away from where I normally listen to my daily album. Maybe it was the extra shot of espresso in my coffee but this record hit me just exactly perfect. R.E.M. are one of the great American rock bands.

Another one I bought (on the day of release?), 30+ years ago! Never my favorite REM album, although "cheese" like Sidewinder and Everybody Hurts has aged just fine and was loved at the time, despite being viewed as a bit "commercial/embarrassing" retrospectively in certain quarters. This is all really excellent throughout. Didn't know how good we had it. [EDIT: OK, a couple of duff tracks. 4.5]

YES! I love R.E.M. These songs are, for the most part, melancholy and bittersweet, and I've loved this album for 20+ years. It was a treat to revisit it.

Automatic For The People I was listening to a podcast about Euro 84 the other day, when France won and Platini scored 9 goals in 5 games. Apparently he was in one of those periods where everything he did and everything he touched turned to gold. If the squad were playing cards he won, if he saw a horse race on TV he picked the winner, if they played tennis or table tennis he won, and everything on the pitch went his way, he knew France would win the tournament, it was inevitable. I kind of get that feeling from this album, one of those times where it feels like every decision, every string arrangement, every guitar figure, every drum pattern, every piano and keyboard note and every bass line is just right, when the artistry and artisanship meet perfectly. It also sounds fantastic, and nothing like much else from 1992, either in songwriting style or production, almost timeless, or out of time you might say. For the most part it's all glacially paced, with only Sidewinder and Man on the Moon really recalling their earlier upbeat jangly sound. But it’s a compelling, stunning album, melodically rich and emotionally, melancholically resonant with some of their finest songs: Drive, Try Not to Breathe, Everybody Hurts, Sweetness Follows, Nightswimming and Find the River. And the remaining, perhaps lesser known songs like Monty Got A Raw Deal, Ignoreland and Star Me Kitten are excellent too. I can see why some people might have been hesitant about it, compared to their slightly more rough-edged 80s albums. From those 80s albums I’ve listened to they have the exciting sense of the band pushing the outer edges of their talent, but this feels different, that they moved beyond what they had done previously, striking out into a stately, magisterial assuredness. A fantastic album from start to end, there’s no weak tracks, and no weak moments - I kept wanting to give it just one more listen. A clear 5. ✴️✴️✴️✴️✴️ Playlist submission: It could be all of them, but today it’s Sweetness Follows

What a fuckin classic… Michael stipe ruminating on all his sad boi feelings Top 3 songs: man on the moon, nightswimming, everybody hurts

Incredicle

The closing 1-2-3 of Man on the Moon, Nightswimming and Find the River are unmatched

One of my favorite albums of all-time. I bought this album on tape (a yellow transparent tape) and absolutely wore it out. There's nothing that I dislike about this album, even the instrumental. The first four songs and last three songs are classics and help make this album as great at it is. I was one of the people who was waiting for the REM rock album, but through this life-changing album I got the REM I really needed. The ruminations on loss, death, Dr. Suess (haha) and one angry screed about politics that has many of my favorite lines in it. What I love most about this album is the ruminations on death & loss are not trite and even the fast songs are tinged with a sense of longing and the feel of aging. I don't like dreary albums as a whole, but this album is an exception. It should drag, but it doesn't. I thought I would feel as exhausted as Stipe sounds on "Sweetness Follows," but I feel energized by each song (even Star Me Kitten). I saw on Wikipedia there is criticism from the band and the public regarding some of the recording and vocals, but for me the lack of perfection only serves to reinforce why I like it.

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.

Maybe the first of the “modern-sound” version of this quintessential band, mature and more likely to be found on adult-oriented radio than college stations. Not a bad thing, but it lacks the zeal of their earlier work and their sound palette changed over the previous couple of records as they wrestled with stardom. Give me the first three records….i do occasionally spin this and enjoy it. 3.5

Not their best but very good

Notably decent record. I appreciate REM's influence and songwriting. I wouldn't deny the greatness of this record, I'm just not sold on every song.

The singles are easily the strongest part for me — they give the album most of its memorable moments. 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 sets the tone well with its slow build and slightly ominous feel. 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗻 is more playful and catchy, but still has that reflective edge. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗛𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀 is the most direct and emotional moment on the album — simple, but very effective. And 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 is easily one of the highlights, with its stripped-down, almost fragile atmosphere. The rest of the album holds up nicely too. It’s more subdued overall, with a consistent, melancholic mood that ties everything together. Not every track stands out individually, but it works well as a complete listen. A very solid record that I can see myself coming back to.

manly pop depression, i didnt know the history behind it at first but after finding out its hard to separate the two. still a good album tho

Æ like det mens æ høre på det, og så fort det e ferdigspilt e æ også ferdigtenkt.

Послушал дважды. Послушаю ещё не один раз, кажется, этот альбом не так прост.

I bought this CD at a used record store while traveling home to Salt Lake for the weekend. When I hear "Drive," I think of flying down I-84 back to Boise in the middle of the night. Pretty perfect for that sort of thing. R.E.M. is beguiling to me, because they're kind of the platonic ideal of a great alternative rock band, and I'm an alternative guy. But most of their songs fail to hit me in the chest. I love the pure buoyancy of their early jangle pop records and the moody ruminations of "Sweetness Follows" and the aforementioned opener. But their sunny radio staples like "Man on the Moon" feel kind of limp and dated, which is a bummer since that's sort of their signature sound. But AftP is a dope left turn to make after a huge commercial breakout and there's enough to make it their most interesting record.

Quite nice album really enjoy it but there was nothing spectacular about it

Muito bom, está no meu acervo pessoal

A lot of pleasant songs

Not the best REM album or my favorite one, but still solid.

Pretty decent. Usually in an album where I only know like one or two of the songs I end up liking the other tracks more when I finally hear the whole thing, but I really don't think any of them appeal to me quite as much as Man On The Moon.

Hyvien ja kiinnostavien levyjen putki se vain jatkuu. Tykkään R.E.M.:istä ja tämä taitaa olla heidän paras levynsä. Kaikki biisit ovat hyviä ja monet jopa loistavia.

R.E.M. is an interesting group. They were college rock, or alt-rock, or whatever genre they were back in the day. They weren’t metal, so I wasn’t buying a lot of R.E.M. albums as a kid. However, I noticed that just about all of their singles were great. I’m not sure I ever listened to this album before, but I think I have gone back and listened to a few of their albums in the last 20 years or so. I do see this album has Man on the Moon, a great song, and Everybody Hurts, which is a good song, but not a favorite of mine. I’m excited to jump into this. I thought this album might have been at the end of their career as a band, but it seems it was just the middle. The album was released in 1992, my senior year in high school. Wow, my calendar is way off in my brain. This was their 8th album, and they were starting to climb toward their peak. Track 1 is Drive and it was the first single off the album. I vaguely remember it. The song was a hit on the alt-rock chart and a top 30 Billboard Hot 100 song. Wow! John Paul Jones, you know, the bassist for a little-known band called Led Zeppelin, was the orchestral arranger on this song and all the songs with an orchestra. The song really gets huge-sounding when the strings come in. The song is about kids taking charge of their lives, as in you don’t just have to do what you’re told to do your whole life. Very beautiful song with some loud moments. Track 2 is Try Not To Breathe and it sounds like an R.E.M. song. Singer Michael Stipe has a very distinctive voice. You always know it's him singing. I feel like his voice was one of the voices of the 1990s. And while they weren’t a punk band, they were still sticking it to the man. Just with mandolins and acoustic guitars. This is a really great song. I feel like I’ve heard it, but it may be because it’s an R.E.M. song and it has that feel. Track 3 is The Sidwinder Sleeps Tonight and it was the third single from the album, but I’m not sure I remember it. It’s a bit more rock-sounding than the previous two songs. It has a beautiful organ playing in the background, and there are some actual electric guitars in this one. The chorus sounds a bit familiar. It wasn’t a big hit in the U.S., it seems. Apparently, this song has one of the most misheard lyrics, according to a survey in the United Kingdom. It’s a good song, I can see why it was a single. Track 4 is the song most people know from this album, besides maybe Man on the Moon, and it’s Everybody Hurts. I remember seeing this video on MTV every half an hour. This was the fourth single of the album. Man, for an alt band, they sure did release a ton of singles. Though this was the alt-rock era, I guess. It’s amazing how I thought this had to be a huge number one song, but it actually didn’t perform as well on the charts as I assumed. It was a top 20 song, but never got to the top 10. It’s a great song, if a little depressing. It’s kind of giving me the same vibes Bowie’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide does. The part where Bowie begins screaming, “You’re not alone!” Everybody Hurts also kind of builds to the Hold on part like, Bowie’s song did. I wonder if Bowie provided any inspiration? JPJ again arranged the strings on this song. JPJ is so underrated out of all the Led Zep guys. He’s the glue guy of that outfit. Track 6 is Sweetness Follows and for some reason, it gives me a bit of a nautical vibe. Like I’m sailing in the open seas while this is playing. Amazing cello being played on this one. It’s essentially the main instrument. I love this song. I almost missed the organ playing in the background. Now we have a guitar solo? An electric one at that? It’s not a face melter, but it works well with the song. It’s almost just all feedback and distortion. I wouldn’t have thought twice about releasing this as a single, but it’s not a pop song. Track 7 is called Monty Got a Raw Deal, and it sounds like an old English traditional song with a mandolin or an acoustic guitar. I can’t be sure at first. It’s neither, turns out it’s a bouzouki, which looks like a long-necked lute. So, it’s kind of a combo guitar/mandolin? Why was I so afraid of R.E.M. back in my teenage years? This is another great song. I probably couldn’t appreciate it at that age. Track 8 is Ignoreland and it’s a rock song. It’s got electric guitars and a harmonica. But it also has a cello present. It’s amazing R.E.M. became so big. They played by their own rules and made music that shouldn’t have really been popular, just by the instruments they played. But their songwriting was so good, they couldn’t be denied. This song is in what was referred to as “Neil Young’s tuning.” Cinnamon Girl was given as an example of that tuning. One critic described Ignoreland as hair-metalish. Not sure I’d go so far, but it definitely does rock. Track 10 is Man on the Moon and I love this song. Besides just being a good song, it’s about Andy Kaufman. I almost said comedian Andy Kaufman, but he didn’t like that title as he wasn’t a joke teller per se, he was an agitator. This was a top 5 song for R.E.M. It’s a beautiful tribute to a very complicated man. Plus, Classy Freddie Blassie gets a namecheck. This song has an almost old school, desert, country sound to it. Great track and probably my favorite on the album. Track 11 is called Nightswimming, and it was the fifth official single, though not in the U.S. It has a very Here Comes the Sun riff in there. It’s just a piano and strings with Stipe singing. It’s supposedly based on either a wacky security guard or skinny dipping in pools after the clubs closed in Athens, Georgia. Oh, an oboe just made its first appearance on the album. This song gives me Carole King vibes. Just a beautiful, somewhat sad, song. Track 12 is Find the River and it’s the last single from the album, though it seems again, it was only released in the U.K. No drums, just acoustic guitars, piano, and harmonica for the most part. R.E.M. uses simple instruments, yet makes their songs sound so big. It’s genius. What a great album. I can see why this would be on the 1,001 albums list. There isn’t a bad song on here, and all the songs sound like they could be singles. I’d highly recommend everyone to spend some time with this album. I think it will brighten your day.

Yeah, this was that stretch where it seemed like every new R.E.M. album was going to be better than the last. For me, this was probably the high-water mark. Some of their best songs here.