Automatic For The People - R.E.M. > Reviews > DONT BELIEVE THE GRIPES

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	truly beautiful, intelligent music
Disadvantages:	no - one seems to really understand it .  .  .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Few albums have been as chronically misunderstood as REM’s 1992 masterpiece. Read any review written on these pages without listening, opening up your ears and really listening to this album, and you would share the same opinion as everyone else; that it's brilliant but depressing. This is just not true. These “listeners” are mostly mistaking reflection for regret, and on any lesser albums they could have been forgiven, but not on Automatic.

Yes, Everybody Hurts... but “sometimes”, so “hold on”. Yeah, things are bad, but they’ll get better – is that really so depressing? Try Not To Breathe... but “the decision is mine, I have lived a full life, and these are the eyes that I want you to remember”. Isn’t that beautiful, rather than sad? A desire to let people remember how full your life was, instead of dwelling on the final few desperate moments of existence, forever seeing the dead as grey instead of colour? And where there are moments of lyrical regret, such as in Find the River, the song itself, with that beautiful piano, elevates the meaning to one of a bittersweet reflection – with the emphasis, as far as I am concerned, on “sweet”. For every dark side, there is a light one – and this album usually examines the former before the latter, creating, for me, a feeling of overwhelming optimism.

And is anger depressing, too? Unless I’m mistaken, Stipe “feels better for having screamed” on the albums’ most raucous moment, Ignoreland. But for me, the pivotal moment is the albums’ sixth track, Sweetness Follows. (See? SWEETNESS FOLLOWS! Could it BE any more clear?) “It’s these little things they can pull you under... live your life filled with joy and wonder”. Why worry about the small things? If you do, then you WILL end up depressed, so don’t bother about them or you’ll ruin your life.

The one thing everyone can agree on is that this album is magnificent, and even now sounds fresh and vital. I’ve written three paragraphs in this review without even mentioning Drive, Nightswimming (for those who are looking to prove me wrong, the most regretful song on the album), and Man on the Moon, which is truly colossal live. However, there’s so many people out there who are appreciating Automatic for its surface beauty, instead of delving deeper and seeing the hope lying not too far underneath. I hope you’ll all take another listen and fall deeper in love with this album.