Wings For Wheels

Over at Regular Guy, Brian dedicates his (mostly) weekly R.E.M. feature to talk about the 15th anniversary of the release of Automatic For The People.  I was surprised to read the following:

I’m not that big a fan of the album.

He then goes on to suggest that: 

“Automatic” gets raised in lore because of the emotional response to “Everybody Hurts” and the timelessness of “Man on the Moon.” In fact, the compelling videos for those two songs probably have more to do with the album’s historical standing than anything else.

Brian, Brian, Brian…Automatic is considered their best album because it’s an incredibly emotional album made by a group not previously known for its warmth.   Yeah, “Everybody Hurts” sucks because it was so blatantly commercial, but Michael Stipe has never been as direct in his lyrics and singing as he was here.  The detachment and insecurity of the earlier records is replaced by a vulnerability and confidence that began to emerge six years earlier on Lifes Rich Pageant. 

Musically, it’s the band’s finest hour.  Mike Mills’ keyboards are more fully integrated into the sound, which gives Peter Buck the opportunity to experiment with different textures (Marshall stack, slide, volume pedal, and feedback are used to great effect).  And Bill Berry, the most interesting member (how many bands can say that about the drummer?), has his finest hour on “Man On The Moon.”

And yes, I do think the four songs he singles out at the end of his post are among their best.  I remember driving to work on Election Day 1992 playing nothing but ”Ignoreland,” knowing that the Reagan-Bush years were about to be history.  It’s one of their best political statements, right up there with “Disturbance At The Heron House.”  Hopefully I’ll be doing the same with Magic in 13 months.

The other three, “Sweetness Follows,” “Monty Got A Raw Deal,” and “Star Me Kitten” form, with the final three songs (which he rightfully loves), a meditation on love, death, nostalgia, and the future that nobody else had the talent or the stones pull off.

Like The Beatles on Sgt. Pepper, this is the sound of a band daring to take chances and succeeding.  Although I agree that New Adventures In Hi-Fi is unjustly overlooked, R.E.M. would never be as interesting as they were on Automatic.  It’s simply a beautifully crafted record that continued where Out Of Time left off. 

Here’s the video for ”Nightswimming.”