ALBUM REACTION: R.E.M. - Automatic for the People

[@AlexHaitz]

More R.E.M. Reactions: Chronic Town EP: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHOvZGZ8mcSoqac Murmur: kzbin.info/www/bejne/maiao2eXor6Nipo Reckoning: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5DMfKSHbdyCqNk Fables of the Reconstruction: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZibmJ57jb-cqaM Lifes Rich Pageant: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4uuXoVqdqd3gqM Document: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bn6ZeaSFo72DbLs Green: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f56wnIyboJtsi8U Out of Time: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ip6QppiEeNqoZtU New Adventures in Hi-Fi: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4CYaqeZpNKKaM0 Fall On Me: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZicc2R8eqh7q7s Here I Am Again: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f56pnnmagJ6tqNE Nightswimming: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYaoiayKgM-VfM0 Tongue: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2XCqpiqe7Z5jtk

[@khalidmusadaq2080]

This album is sincerely a big big part of my life, as silly as that sounds. I've watched all your reactions leading up to this moment and boy what a journey! This to me is Murmur's only equal when it comes to the R.E.M. discography, and it holds a special place for me because it was the first R.E.M. album I had ever listened to. Although Reckoning is my favorite R.E.M. album, I am realizing how lucky I am to have been offered all these amazing albums as an R.E.M. fan. Thank you Alex. New Adventures... contains what is perhaps my favorite R.E.M. song and music video of all time, "Electrolite" Thanks once again for the journey brother.

[@AlexHaitz]

I love comments like this. Thanks for watching and listening along with me!

[@dumbbunny9178]

I fell asleep to this album every night for probably a year when I was a teen. There is something so dreamy and personal about this album. It definitely became a piece of who I became as a person. When I hear anything from it, I am instantly back in my childhood bedroom and everything is alright.

[@lauce3998]

Equal!. I listened to it a lot when it came out, and years later I listened to it again every night while reading the book "A Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Maybe it's just because I read that book, but I have the feeling that this album has a medieval touch in some songs, lol! like "Monty Got a Raw Deal".

[@boognish94]

Try Not To Breathe and Find The River are my top 2 favorites on the album.

[@CaptainJimp]

Same here brother. I don't think I could find 2 more beautiful songs than that out of all the music I've listened to. Try not to breathe seems like a positive reassurance from Stipe's grandmother before dying, and the other seems like a 30-year old's acceptance of the way life goes, and the fact that we're all going to die one day. Hauntingly beautiful music with one of the best bands in the world backing it.

[@boognish94]

@@CaptainJimp Exactly, you summed the songs up perfectly.

[@tricolore31]

last 3 tracks is what makes this album on another level for me.

[@TheFreezerGeezer]

Find The River is sublime.

[@dominicaaaaa5547]

Is man on the moon in the last 3 or is that 4th last that ones my fav. Better song than nightswimming 😉

[@dominicaaaaa5547]

Oh yes it is good.

[@eboethrasher]

@@TheFreezerGeezer it does feel like it ends it on a hopeful note, even if it is about River Phoenix.

[@alarte2646]

The truth is that the total glory of the album is in the first 4 songs.

[@StanleyKuo184]

I used to listen to this album start to finish at least a dozen times a day. Ignoreland is one of my favorite tracks because of its message that it conveys, although I love the delivery of it as well.

[@lauce3998]

This album is one of those that would take me to a desert island, among the 5 or 6 that have moved me the most. Here are the songs I like the most from REM, especially Man on the moon which for me is the best of their career.

[@richardmose]

Hi! Another great reaction-thank you. When this was released, I was so into it, and thought it was their best offering ever. It is consistently focused, cohesive, and enjoyable. I think it's the consumate REM listening experience.

[@mattjohn4731]

You loved Star Me Kitten! Cool! They actually released a collaborative version with notorious author William Burroughs for the X-files TV series

[@StanleyKuo184]

One of the most important albums of my youth. Automatic for the People is both a mood setter and a genre definer, capable of taking you to places you've never imagined. The album really hits its stride from #6 track, Sweetness Follows, to #12, Find the River. It's the kind of album that you want to spend a quiet hour or two listening to, just you and the music.

[@edwardlosty549]

To put Drive into context, listen to Rock On by David Essex. Michael Stipe thought everyone would get that it references Rock On a lot, but not many REM fans had heard David Essex.

[@tricolore31]

my favorite rem album. amazing to see you share your reactions with us.

[@DrMaiXiang]

Masterpiece and My 2nd fav album of all time. I can't wait for you to do New Adventures in Hi-Fi (my fav)

[@Gboz90]

Automatic is a great album and I’ve really enjoyed your reactions to this and their other albums. Drive is a great track and a superb opener. Like I said in your review to Out Of Time, I consider that album and this to be their finest hours. I’m surprised you didn’t think more of jt. I’m also firmly in the camp of giving Monster due credit and attention. It was a hugely anticipated album and has some fine moments. Indeed, if you listen to the remaster, it listens a lot better. If your journey takes you to New Adventures it seems strange to miss one album out. Anyway I’ve really enjoyed re-listening to the back catalogue of one of my favourite bands!

[@Gboz90]

Also I’ve always had a huge soft spot for New Orleans Instrumental. The sound just sums up the band in one short song for me.

[@ronniethompson3733]

I'm not a big REM fan but this is my favourite album of all time. Its absolutely flawless and those last 3 songs for fuck sake!

[@James-wj8eq]

John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) worked with George Hanson ( conductor,) with the string arrangements . Try Not To Breathe Michael wrote about his dying grandmother.

[@zeratul78]

Monty Got a Raw Deal is one of my favourite songs, so pretty and a great ode to Montgomery Clift

[@j.r.a.f.t.m.]

Absolute masterpiece, them last 4 songs from Star me kitten to Find the river may be the best end to an album ever imo, great reaction Alex as always, knew you'd like this one. I think this is Stipes finest hour as a vocalist and writer... looking forward to New adventures 😎👌🏻

[@marcofalzone6469]

Find the River is Stipe's tribute to River Phoenix

[@stlmopoet]

Have listened to a number of your reactions in a row, enough to where I get where you're coming from. You are roughly my son's age. He does a good job of explaining how archaic are my tastes in music. 👴 You are knowledgeable and thoughtful. I don't agree with everything, but that's what opinions are. One interesting feature is I usually have no idea what you're going to say about a song based on your expression. Will follow and listen more. 👍

[@AlexHaitz]

Thanks for watching!

[@eboethrasher]

When they did "Drive" live, they did it in a rockier, more upbeat fashion, you should check out the version of it from the bonus disc on the expanded edition of Automatic on Spotify. If you get curious, it really would be worth listening to all of the live shows that they have put on the deluxe editions, to get a feel for just how powerful and great they were in concert. Frequently the shows will feature earlier versions of songs yet to be released, they tended to work out some songs on tour first. Murmur has a show from July of 83 in Toronto at a place called Larry's Hideway, it had been available as a bootleg for a long time, in great quality. They played 7 Chinese Brothers and Harbourcoat, as well as Just a Touch (which had been kicking around since the earliest days), and their cover of There She Goes Again by The VU, as well as a great selection of Chronic Town and Murmur songs. On the Reckoning CD they included a show from July (again) of 1984, in Chicago, that inexplicably has their live version of Femme Fatale greyed out on Spotify, but at that show you do get a version of Hyena, which had started to be played on that tour, an early version of Driver 8, and the B-side Windout. They didn't include a show on the deluxe version of Fables OR LRP (a shame because there don't seem to be many 86 shows on youtube), but you can find an October 84 show on REM Live at the BBC that has early versions of: Auctioneer, Old Man Kinsey, Driver 8, and Wendell Gee. It also has a version of Hyena. Document has a great show from September of 87 that I had a bootleg of for the longest time, though it has a bit of a chopped-up ending, in that the version of "So. Central Rain" that it ends with was originally a medley with "Time after Time" and "Red Rain" by Peter Gabriel, but it was edited here, even though the medley had been previously released as a B-side and even on a compilation of B-sides... the restored full playlist is here - open.spotify.com/playlist/6IrlwRfKuTsRTVN6hfiWNK?si=4103adb613c84f55 - the ending of Moral Kiosk has the beginning of the story of Life and How to Live It, it is a great story that shines light on the lyrics. Green has a great show on it too, from the very end of the Green tour, which was one of the shows shot for their Tourfilm view. A great watch, but I think I mentioned that on the Green reaction. It's a must-see to see them at the TOP of their live game. There are various live shows to watch on KZbin as well. there is a really interesting one from 1982 out there. A pro-shot one from 84. Sorry to deep dive on this but I honestly believe that they must be experienced in live footage to get the true vibe of their power as a band.

[@tricolore31]

hope you do new adventures. also seems like you like slower,lofi tracks, maybe up or reveal is for you

[@OutOfAmmoOutOfTime]

New adventures: the last great REM album….

[@TheFreezerGeezer]

He's a slower-tempo kinda guy.

[@debjorgo]

One of my favorite albums by REM is Monster.

[@lucianoteixeira7993]

Great reaction. Drive becomes better which time you revisit it. A Really grower. If you love Mike Mills crisp bass, you should listen to a B-side from this album: First We Take Manhattan, a great cover from Leonard Cohen. Btw, Fretless, a song that for some mysterious reason was taken out the previous album, Out of Time, is one of those fantastic lost gems that deserves a listen too.

[@markrodeo420]

There’s something about this album playing on loop in your car all day, and New Orleans Instrumental coming on for the fifth or sixth time at around 7pm, just as the night is starting that will just make this album come alive. Murmur has the murky depths, but this era of R.E.M. is defined by how intimate and vulnerable it is. It’s naked and uncool, but confident and mature. This is the era that being seen as “pretentious” became the ultimate sin in rock music. To write songs like “Everybody Hurts” and “Nightswimming” in that era is so ballsy. They don’t hide behind anything abstract sonically or lyrically. They’re like your Mom calling you. At the wrong time they are annoying as fuck, but at the right moment they can be the most important thing in the world. And be careful, you might think you’re above weeping in a Taco Bell parking lot to the former, but if your guard is down on you actually let that shit in your heart, it will sneak up on you.

[@AlexHaitz]

Your mini-essays disguised as KZbin comments are always a joy to read, Mark.

[@markrodeo420]

@@AlexHaitz lol thanks man!

[@eboethrasher]

This is their album about death and dealing with it. Yet, we also get the Sidewinder and the super-politically charged Ignoreland.

[@tricolore31]

find the river is so special to me

[@CSmith6887]

I love watching your reactions and I know you’re a busy man, but please reconsider listening to Monster. It bridges the gap from Automatic to New Adventures In Hi-Fi which is a cross between Automatic and Monster. I’d say if you’ve come this far, just take that extra step!

[@AlexHaitz]

Maybe down the road, and along with whatever post-Bill Berry album people think is best.

[@scottmcrae3355]

I love R.E.M. and this album brings me right back to high school. Here’s some morbid trivia….this was the last album Kurt Cobain listened to before taking his life

[@jameswiglesworth5004]

A great album, their most commercial, but the underrated "Reckoning" is my favourite album

[@brandonburroughs7128]

This record is incredible

[@MarcoHeijligers]

My all time Top 5 1. GREEN (1989) 2. Automatic for the people (1992) 3. Document (1987) (2 top singles!) 4. Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) 5. Murmer (1983)

[@jeffmaehre7150]

I wish they wouldn't have released Drive as a single. I think their singles should've been: 1) Man on the Moon 2) Nightswimming 3) Sidewinder 4) Everybody Hurts

[@Piwork69]

I believe Cameron Crowe called this record a melancholy masterpiece.

[@michaelz9892]

In my top 10. Love "Star Me Kitten" and "Find the River."

[@lancer4020]

very based, those are also my favorites

[@TheFreezerGeezer]

Everyone loves River.

[@mattjohn4731]

Peter's guitar amp was drunk. But seriously, kudos, cool critique

[@kylebolan602]

Monster is kind of a heavy rock album. A lot of distortion. I would recommend to get to it at some point. Some great songs on there that grow on you with repeated listens

[@trashandcheese3636]

I've come to view this album the same way I view From Elvis In Memphis. A false dawn in the middle of an artistic decline. Not truly a "last gasp of greatness", but one of those apparent promises of an artistic resurrection which in retrospect contain just as much in the way of pointers to future disaster. You can put it in context by considering how songs from it were integrated into the in-all-ways difficult 1995 tour: kzbin.info/aero/PLKdffcKdwgmWVy_1zxNhym1tFK7WYBW4Q

[@annefrankenberry7914]

"Star Me Kitten" was covered by William S. Burroughs and included on the X-Files soundtrack. I actually prefer his version. I think Monster is a good album, the highlight on it for me is the song "Let Me In" which was a tribute to Cobain, who was a big REM fan, and features Mike Mills playing one of Kurt's guitars. Stipe and Cobain were going to do an album together but Kurt died just before recording was to begin. Kurt had "Automatic" on his stereo when he was found. Speaking of William S. Burroughs and Cobain, those two collaborated on the "song" The Priest They Called Him. And speaking of The X-Files, Dave Grohl was an extra on the show. [X-files theme plays]

[@morocuda2090]

Moron thinks he knows music when he calls Kendrick lamar "awful"

[@pairofpints]

Find The River still my top R.E.M. song

[@joseeeavilaaa9822]

Este disco el melancólico

[@jeffmaehre7150]

Alex basically thinks every song is either a) weird or b) boring

[@robertocaesar9870]

I guess my problem with these sorts of reactions is that you put yourself into the position of having to react instantly without time to let music percolate, time to reflect, let your emotions and subconscious reflect, so the reactions are too quick, you need to give yourself more time to do a body of work justice

[@jeffmaehre7150]

Right. He listens to a turbulent, emotionally-brutal song like "Sweetness Follows' and says it's just a way to ride out the A side. Most of these reactors have no idea that lyrics exist.

[@hartjh14]

Monster is my favorite REM album.

[@TheFreezerGeezer]

I think of Nightswimming and Find The River as like brothers. Lurve River, but not a fan of Swimming- it's that dang awful piano that kills it for me.

[@janna2245]

Monty is Montgomery clift

[@gav9385]

Man did you just rule out such a well written song like Ignoreland because it wasn't your speed...? Probably the most meaningful song in the album and you just didn't like the speed!

[@leatheredlife4861]

Yes, please leave out "Monster"... as the follow up to this perfect masterpiece of music, it was absolute crap. Exeption: The Song "Let Me In", the band's tribute to their friend Kurt Cobain. Maybe you should do a single reaction to this one.

[@davidmannion7333]

They wanted to make a big dumb rock album so they could go on tour and blast it at the big arenas they'd now be filling. That's why they made Monster. It was the first time they'd toured since Green and in the meantime they'd become one of the biggest bands in the world. I saw them on that tour at the Milton Keynes Bowl and in that context it made sense. Radiohead were supporting that day too which I was just as excited about. It was around this time that Stipe kind of became Thom Yorke's spirit guide and helped him through the madness that was to come when OK Computer catapulted Radiohead up into the big leagues two years later.

[@lucianoteixeira7993]

​@@davidmannion7333That's I call put the things in the right perspective. I still don't like this album, but I really appreciate your comment.

[@leatheredlife4861]

@@davidmannion7333 To me it always sounded like "yeah, let's prove, that we are still this hard alternative rock band, that can make rough rock songs..." But they couldn't anymore. The change in their music in the previous decade was too big... everything on "Monster" sounded like something, they still wanted to be, but they were no more. I will take out Let Me In (of course) and Strange Currencies... but the rest? Nothing to remember.

[@davidmannion7333]

​@@leatheredlife4861I agree really, I can't remember the last time I listened to Monster but stuff like Crush With Eyeliner was fun at a big live gig. What I really remember though is how much better the three new songs they played sounded which of course ended up on New Adventures, their last proper album in my mind! No Bill, no REM.

[@leatheredlife4861]

@@davidmannion7333 I also enjoyed Up and Reveal... they had some great moments, much more than Monster. But the latest albums after that were no more remarkable... the years from Document to Automatic were the "golden years" I will always look back on with pleasure. Just my opinion, maybe everyone has his own favourites...

[@bavideomaker29]

Are you a musician? Because you say some really strange things….