So this is a blog I had the idea for where every week or so I pick a CD from my collection and write about it, both the album itself, and my copy of it. So I'm starting with the first one alphabetically, Automatic for the People
R.E.M. are my current main music hyperfixation, and Automatic is tied for my favorite album of theirs (with Reckoning, which I do not yet own). This copy is a recent aquisition, from the WFMU Record Fair, I forget which stand sold this one to me, but I recall that they were very polite and also offered me Up, which I declined as I only had so much money. The copyright merely says 1992, I don't see anything indicating that it's a reissue but who knows.
A bit boring. Has all the necesary features (track list, credits, cover) as well as a gallery of pictures but no liner notes or anything. The pictures are of the band at a photoshoot at the beach.
God the songs. Almost impecable. Poetic if decipherable lyrics, fine-tuned production, incredibly high quality of playing. The only real criticism I have is the strings. I'm not opposed to strings in popular music, far from it. But on this album, at the climax of Drive or The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, the strings just distract from what I want—guitars, words, basses, drums, and are just a touch annoying. There are places where strings can add a lot to a song, but most of the album isn't that.
In part due to my qualms with the instrumentation, Drive serves as a so-so opening track, not bad but not a great one, and perhaps my least favorite song on the record. I much prefer the live version, which is like the album one but lacking strings, but with a lot more of everything else.
Try Not to Breathe, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. The lyrics are some of the best to pass through Michael Stipe's lips. This is one I enjoy playing on the piano, banging out chords, and singing badly.
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite is another favorite. It's one of two R.E.M. songs, with So. Central Rain, that I've learned on the ukulele (an instrument I've oft neglected for the piano). The lyrics, too, are mostly nonsensical but occaisonally brilliant, harkening back to their earlier, I.R.S.-era tunes, a welcome sign that they didn't completely bury the past. The strings here are my only qualm. They add nothing, just make me a little more annoyed when I here them.
Everybody Hurts serves as a beautiful, if cliché, ballad. The heartfelt quality of the vocals and the arpegiating guitar combine perfectly. The strings take away from this a little but I don't mind them as much as the other songs that have them. Strings better fit a ballad like this, where they can sound nice with the guitar, than serve as the only blemish on Sidewinder. Still they don't contribute much. Still an extraordinary piece.
I love me a good instrumental, and New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 provides me with that. Not much to say besides that, but it sounds nice.
Sweetness Follows is another track I don't love. The drone gives me a bit of a headache, the words and guitar are fine, really don't feel strongly on this one.
Monty Got a Raw Deal is one I like. Good finger-picked guitar intro which meshes nicely with the voice. Great words. I'm not too familiar with Montgomery Clift but he seems cool and gay.
Nice little vent with Ignoreland. Muy politics. Like that they could fit a good rocker onto the album. One of my favoites. Nice guitar part, drums aren't flashy but add a lot to the number. The song's mostly a rant of nonsensical political phrases, but the last verse is nicely insightful.
Star Me Kitten is beautiful. That's an adjective I already used for Everybody Hurts, but I think it's more fitting here. I love the rough quality of Stipe's voice combined with the clarity of Buck's guitar.
Man on the Moon is a good song, but in my eyes far from the peaks of Try not to Breathe or Star Me Kitten, or even Everybody Hurts, so I'm a little puzzled how it became the hit from the album but if people like it then they like it and there's nothing wrong with that. Nice little string bit at the end.
Ah, yes. Nightswimming. One of the best songs ever written, pretty much perfect. Amazing piano, courtesy of Mike Mills, and it's the only place on the album where strings actually belong, the only place where they contribute something, not just take away. The lyrics are beautiful, nostalgic, enthralling. The only problem is it's so good that it can't be a favorite, it doesn't have a humanizing imperfection, it cannot be improved.
Find the River, though, is absolutely a favorite. The accordian is great—I adore accordian, and the lyrics are some of my favorites ever.
So, yeah, pretty great album.