1. Drive

2. Try Not To Breathe

3. Sidewinder Sleeps Tonitethe

4. Everybody Hurts

5. New Orleans Instrumental No. 1

6. Sweetness Follows

7. Monty Got A Raw Deal

8. Ignoreland

9. Star Me Kitten

10. Man On The Moon

11. Nightswimming

12. Find The River

Q
Millions have been waiting on the new R.E.M. album, and almost none of them are barmy. It could have been reverence mortis time, but Automatic For The People turns out to be both aptly unfathomable and just the job. The contradictory elements of the band's rock'n'roll cravings and the singer's ruminative tendencies sit together like completely different things in a pod. Other than on Ignoreland, a stonkalong satire of Reagan/Bush America, it's folk they start from. Acoustic guitars lead the way into Drive (the first single), Monty Got A Raw Deal and several others. Hard on their heels come Michael Stipe's vocals, high and sharp-edged with that severe absence of emoting long associated with a finger in the ear - though there are exceptions such as Try Not To Breathe where Stipe goes into character as an old man wrestling with the imminence of death. But the subliminal message throughout, seemingly, is that the singer is always in control; a distance is maintained. It's crucial to the R.E.M. effect because, at the same time, the band are eager to throw a cheery arm round the listener's shoulder - rock on in with cleverly pointed touches on guitar, organ or a subtly assembled backing vocal from Mike Mills. The strings are impressive too, whether melancholy (Everybody Hurts) or jouncing ELOishly (The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight). Astonishingly, several of the arrangements were by John Paul Jones, eking out his pension post-Mission production and Led Zeppelin. So a lively form of bliss is readily available from the sounds of Automatic For The People.

The words are the best and the worst of it: licensed to be bloody difficult, if not incomprehensible. All interpretations of Drive or Man On The Moon (elegiac?) or Star Me Kitten (sexy?) should own up to being long shots. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight is a brainteaser involving a phone and, uh, if the coiled cord is the snake ... it still doesn't make obvious sense. At least half the album must be filed under skull-scratchers. Nonetheless, its character does emerge eventually. In fact, it's about Life. Without embarrassment and via sundry dark metaphors, it enquires "What's it all about, if anything?". While Try Not To Breathe dramatises a moment of personal torment, Find The River goes for the huge-size screen, adroitly diverting classic images of river, sea and flowers to eco-philosophical purposes ("We're closer now than light years to go," Stipe pronounces, glumly). Sweetness Follows piles on the misery by flaunting soured, unconvincing consolation for common grief, the loss of parents, brothers, sisters. Yet, if this all seems entirely too much, there's also Nightswimming and Everybody Hurts. Both do a slowdance with death, then pull off the aesthetic pirouette necessary to turn it all around. As the nightswimmer, Stipe sloughs off despond in unsocialworkerly fashion with scalp-prickling music and the mysterious clarity of lines like "September's coming soon/Pining for the moon/And what if there were two/Side by side in orbit around the Ferris sun". In Everybody Hurts he sings a counterpart to the Kate Bush role in Peter Gabriel's Don't Give Up - "You feel like you're lost/No, no, you're not alone". Big emotions, big ideas, and you believe them too, without feeling a fool. For properly beloved entertainers, R.E.M. can give a person quite a going over.
Nude As The News
1992's Automatic For The People is arguably the finest album of R.E.M.'s extensive career. The rich fruit of the band's mid-career break from touring, Automatic achieves what most of the great albums in R.E.M.'s canon can't, which is to be timeless. It's a full and engaging listening experience that doesn't require context to enjoy.

Automatic is an eloquent, reflective set of songs in contrast with the sometimes bouncy Out Of Time, and the album's mature moods reflect small-town experiences far from 1989's stadium-sized Green.

Despite its relatively quick creation (released only 15 months after the band's previous record), it is clear that R.E.M. put great attention to detail in the production of Automatic. Having been off a regular touring schedule since the Green tour, R.E.M. knew these recordings were to be the only expression of their art, and the band members were by now recognizing their work as some of the most anticipated and listened-to pop music in the world.

Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones was enlisted to arrange orchestral parts for four of the album's songs, and the result adds just the right textures to R.E.M.'s somber, hopeful songs. Opener "Drive" and single "Everybody Hurts" are each brought to emphatic climaxes by Jones' arrangements, and "Nightswimming" is refined by an elegant string accompaniment.

The band members themselves turn in restrained, intelligent performances. Guitarist Peter Buck, having famously scorned his regular instrument for a year at the beginning of the '90s to become a more proficient mandolin player, here plays only what he needs to in the context of the song, utilizing electrics, acoustics, mandolins, basses, and more. The other members follow this lead, drummer Bill Berry (the composer of "Everybody Hurts," among others) playing bass and guitar on some tunes and bassist Mike Mills turning in stellar performances on organ (the smoky "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1") and piano ("Nightswimming").

Vocalist Michael Stipe also offers some of his most lucid, varied work on Automatic. He explores topics of death and its human effect in a few songs, singing about suicide (the uplifting "Everybody Hurts"), euthanasia (the stately "Try Not To Breathe"), and bereavement ("Sweetness Follows"). But he also turns in humorous and raw commentary on the celebrity of late comic Andy Kaufman ("Man On The Moon") and actor Montgomery Clift ("Monty Got A Raw Deal"), a vitriolic rant against the Reagan era ("Ignoreland"), musing on a steamy, illicit love affair ("Fuck Me Kitten"), and reflections of a youthful night, skinny dipping by the light of a low September moon ("Nightswimming").

The mature music on Automatic may not have the energetic fervor of R.E.M.'s earlier work, but this is because the band themselves had matured by this point. When they entered the studio, they were four men going to work, not four college kids releasing tension in bursts of creativity. This particular band has shown prowess in each of those capacities, but on Automatic the former emerges as the driving force. Repeated listens reveal a depth and attention to detail in the songwriting that isn't quite matched by anything else in the band's canon.

While R.E.M.'s career has seen them indulge in an extensive variety of pop music, excelling in many different ways, the band's eighth full-length is where all aspects of their range align perfectly into a pristine collection of songs. This is an essential recording.
All Reveiws
Automatic For the People is probably REM's most beautiful record. It's mostly subdued but the songs are very good. It's also a reminder that Michael Stipe is one of the best singers in pop music. Everybody Hurts is genuinely touching and eloquent. Stipe abandons his normally indecipherable lyrics for a fairly clear message, urging a suicidal person to "hang on". The austere music lets Stipe express the message. On Automatic For The People, REM use strings well to complement the lush music. When they rise at the end of Everybody Hurts as Stipe sings "hold on", the effect is moving. Sweetness Follows is a nice, simple song where Stipe instructs us to live a life full of joy and wonder. The record ends with two great ballads. Nightswimming is a gorgeous, evocative memory tale where the music is only piano and strings and, at the end, a wistful oboe. Find The River is another excellent showcase for Stipe's poignant vocals. It has a nice unrushed feel and good atmosphere created by dreamy keyboards and backing vocals from Mike Mills. Automatic For the People is not all introspective ballads. Ignoreland is filled with Stipe's anti-government venting but it's also a kickass rocker. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight is giddy fun. Stipe has a good, relaxed time with their riff on the Lion Sleeps Tonight and his goofy lyrics, including the fast, obscure chorus (come in and try to wake her up?). Man On The Moon is one of REM's best singles ever. It has a nice easy rock mood with great Peter Buck guitar textures as Stipe sings his sweet tribute to Andy Kaufman. Automatic For the People is not as perfect as the REM record it most reminds me of, Life Rich Pageant, which is also generally low key but tuneful. I find Automatic For the People's version of Drive pointless and plodding and much prefer the beefed up version on the Greenpeace benefit record, Alternative NRG. But generally Automatic For The People is a great sounding record and one of the best from one of America's best rock bands ever.
Ink Blot
Several members of R.E.M. have commented since the release of Automatic For The People that it's the band's least cohesive record, and that due to internal fractures following the global breakthrough of Out Of Time, each had done their respective parts without the normal four-man input. It set the stage for a tense, yet hauntingly evocative recording.

Automatic For The People, originally slated to be a punk-rock record, is awash in a sadness that is subtly indelible. With Peter Buck still fiddling with his mandolin from the Out Of Time sessions, Mike Mills using the keyboards more actively, and Bill Berry stepping up on bass more often than before, it's not surprising that Michael Stipe was writing and singing with such melancholy. The ominous death march intro to "Drive," the wistful guitar chord on "Man On The Moon," and the soft reeds on "Find The River" all point to a quieter moment in the R.E.M. timeline.

Conceivably, Automatic was also the result of growing up with Reaganomics, television, middle class, and the lack of a social identity in the shadow of the '60's flower-child parent. "Ignoreland" addresses the alienation and vitriol political campaigning breeds, fear of parental and fraternal death is faced on "Sweetness Follows," and responses to the bleak messages of grunge appear on "Everybody Hurts" and "Drive."

The connecting water images in the denouement of Automatic underscore how acutely insightful this album really is. Among the stream-of-consciousness memories of "Nightswimming," there is mourning for the loss of the exuberance and fearlessness of adolescence. The promise to symbolically keep trying to "Find The River," with its hint of acceptance and growth of spirit optimistically concludes an album of intense opinion, expression, and ultimately, lamentation.

This kind of stirring, emotional statement places R.E.M. a long way away from that Athens garage band who recorded the minimalist Murmur. Automatic For The People doesn't just prove that R.E.M. have stood the test of time, it proves to be R.E.M.'s finest moment.

All Music

Turning away from the sweet pop of Out of Time, R.E.M. created a haunting, melancholy masterpiece with Automatic for the People. At its core, the album is a collection of folk songs about aging, death and loss, but the music has a grand, epic sweep provided by layers of lush strings, interweaving acoustic instruments and shimmering keyboards. Automatic for the People captures the group at a crossroads, as they moved from cult heroes to elder statesmen, and the album is a graceful transition into their new status. It is a reflective album, with frank discussions on mortality, but it is not a despairing record — "Nightswimming," "Everybody Hurts" and "Sweetness Follows" have a comforting melancholy, while "Find the River" provides a positive sense of closure. R.E.M. have never been as emotionally direct as they are on Automatic for the People, nor have they ever created music quite as rich and timeless, and while the record is not an easy listen, it is the most rewarding record in their oeuvre.

Adrian’s Album Reviews

Maybe you've got the television on in the back-ground. Maybe you've just got an imagination and sometimes hear music in your head that's seemingly come from nowhere, and you can't place. Perhaps this music, real or imagined can pop into your ears and brain whilst listening to a completely different record, and it startles you. Perhaps some avant-garde Jazz piano part will come floating by when you're listening to 'Guinevere' by Crosby Stills and Nash. A gorgeous song, for sure, but suddenly this Jazz piano part comes floating by, just for a few seconds, and you're thinking to yourself, 'wow - if only they'd put something like that in there!' There are stories of unreleased albums so perfect in the imagination of their composers.... they just couldn't be recorded or captured anything other than imperfectly. On the other hand, there are also a few songs where it's impossible even to imagine an extra part, or anything being done different than it already is. 'Automatic For The People' even with the strings sections and everything else being 'correct' isn't a perfect record. And, no. I'm not going to be picking on the little instrumental, as it serves a purpose here. I can't say anything from this entire record is bad, as equally I can't imagine much of this material being performed in any other way in terms of adding or subtracting parts. So, why doesn't this float my boat, light my fire, have me jumping through hoops? Or why doesn't it have me break down in tears of joy at emotions raised, hopes lost, memories gained? This album is almost entirely a perfect exercise in A-Z, an equation. But, it's a beautiful equation!

'Try Not To Breathe' is one of the songs here where everything is right, you can't imagine this particular song with a different section, tempo, different instrumentation or approach. Not only that, but the lyric really does place all sorts of images in your mind, being slightly ( not totally ) vague in it's poetry. And, the harmonies are beautiful! Harmonies aren't something that can be explained, they just go straight for your heart and soul. 'Try Not To Breathe' follows 'Drive' which has some nice mandolin, etc and is rather funny when Stipe sings 'Hey kids, Rock N Roll' over the top of a song that's far removed from being Rock N Roll! 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight' is a pop song that borrows a vocal hook from 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', hence the songs title. It owes little else to 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and is a perfectly fine REM pop song. 'Everybody Hurts' doesn't make me weep, or draw solace, or even think that Michael Stipe shares the hurt of the 'everybody' he is so generalising about. It's a beautiful sounding song, and beautifully played but this singles video made the song what it's now perceived to be, this great provider of comfort to the listener - it's a song that needed to be popular in order to work! But, when Michael sings 'You're not alone' it simply doesn't reach me, or ring as true. Maybe it's just me, but I can't place myself in the song. I can't imagine anything, draw any pictures from this other than pictures of stationary cars, funnily enough. Still, the string section is tastefully done, and suitably soaring. I actually prefer the nice 'New Orleans Instrumental No 1' to 'Everybody Hurts'. It's beautifully short and concise, and wonderfully evocative. 'Sweetness Follows' sounds lovely but lacks a beating heart. But, it sounds lovely! It's simply something to be admired and provide a pleasant listen rather than making you cry, or get excited, or really - feel anything at all.

'Monty Got A Raw Deal' contains some great little guitar parts and develops very well over the course of just over three minutes. It's a perfectly structured song, everything sounding correct although not necessarily sounding exciting - it's just a good, solid song. 'Ignoreland' is the only guitar rock song on the entire album, but still doesn't sound out of place, which is a strange thing. The production over the course of this album is very rich, very detailed and all the songs arrangements and instrumentation are suitable, and 'correct'. 'Star Me Kitten' is one of my favourites on the album. A beautiful organ/keyboard part, wonderful minimal musical backing with just the right amount of guitar to make your spine chill. Stipe sounds in good voice here, funnily enough, he sounds more emotionally involved in this seemingly random set of words than he does in the more straightforward 'Everybody Hurts'. 'Man On The Moon', like 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite' is a perfect REM pop song, and very happy sounding too. It's an uplifting song and a highlight here. 'Nightswimming' consists of Piano, Stipe, a few string parts, and nothing else. It's a nice song though, and the repeating Piano parts are very pretty. 'Find The River' is a song to float off to, a song to dream to, a song to fall asleep to - and I mean that in a good way! It's also a song to awake to - open your sleep filled eyes, look up at the window and see a day breaking in orange and yellow, wiping away the darkness.