Baby, Instant Soup Doesn't Really Grab Me

Automatic for the People - 1992

After making their fans wait over two years between Green and Out of Time, R.E.M. made up for the lag by releasing Automatic for the People only a year and a half later. One of the advantages of this was that R.E.M. was still heavily in the music mainstream conscious. The band had won a handful of Grammys the year before as well as receiving a gaggle of Moonmen at the MTV Video Music Awards (the Michael Stipe's removal of several layers of t-shirts with causes and slogans during their acceptance speeches is still a great moment and very indicative of R.E.M. at the time). Luckily, Automatic... was a really, really great record that could take advantage of the band's new found stardom.

While I think that Automatic... is an amazing album, I don't think that it's the end-all-be-all of R.E.M. records, as it is usually treated. In some ways, I think that it's a little overrated. Don't get me wrong; this album is worthy of praise, but there are a few things about it that knocks it down a few notches for me personally.

Strings can be a great accent for a song, but John Paul Jones' arrangements dominate the album. Sure, they're well constructed and utilized, but at times it feels like they almost push R.E.M. out of the songs. For me, it's a little too much.

Secondly, and this purely from hindsight, "Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon" have been played to death and canonized to the point of self-parody. It doesn't help that "Everybody Hurts", while the sentiment is pure and sweet, pushes its therapy session message right up to the edge of farce. Another unfortunate side-effect of these two hits is that the R.E.M. of recent years has been trying desperately to recapture their formulas to dire results.

Enough of the bad; this is still a great record. For me the real highlights of the album are the non-single slow numbers. "Try Not To Breath" and "Sweetness Follows" are two of the most beautiful songs R.E.M. have ever created. They're sad without being forced and elegantly played. Also, there's very little string work outside of a little cello playing. Another great element is Peter Buck's usage of guitar feedback which balances exceptionally well with Mike Mill's organ playing.

R.E.M. only "rock out" once on the record, and that's on the politically charged "Ignoreland". It's a fiery indictment of all the wrongdoings of the Reagan/Bush era and a call for change (which would finally happen that November with the election of Bill Clinton). Lyrically, it may sound a little dated today (well, maybe not, now that I think about it), but the intent is still sincere and raw.

I have to admit, I really like "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite". There are so many things working against it, but for some reason, I can't deny it. Its title is a play on an another song. The strings are all over it. The lyrics are goofy. It seems to go on forever (three verses) before getting to the bridge. People constantly mis-hear the chorus and need to be corrected. But, heaven help me, I love this goddamn song. It's one of R.E.M.'s best "gas station songs"; a name I use for songs that are released for airplay, don't become big hits, but you always hear them over gas station speakers or at the grocery store (also see "Electrolite" and "Aftermath").

I would be remissed if I didn't mention the album's two gorgeous closers. "Nightswimming" is unlike anything that R.E.M. have ever recorded before. It's just Stipe singing and Mills playing the piano (oh and those pesky strings, again). It's stripped down, elegant, and simply moving. "Find a River" capsulizes the record's themes of loss, of love, loved ones, and youth, into a fine, almost perfect coda. Mill's background wailing is particularly effective here.

Automatic for the People ended up being an even bigger success than Out of Time. This is the R.E.M. album most likely to be found in any given person's collection of CDs. With such remarkable popularity and achievement, I wonder what would happen if a band like this decided to drastically alter their sound on the next record? Hrmmmm......

9 out of 10