Stereogum has a special tribute album for REM's Automatic for People. I'm not a huge REM fan, but the tracks are being covered by some really great Indie artists. I'm still downloading the ZIP file, so I haven't heard any of the tracks yet.

If you want to check it out, look here:

http://www.stereogum.com/drivexv/track/

Here is a tracklist
1. The Veils - Drive
2. Dappled Cities - Try Not To Breathe
3. Rogue Wave - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
4. Meat Puppets - Everybody Hurts
5. Figurines - New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
6. Sarah Quin - Sweetness Follows
7. Catfish Haven - Monty Got A Raw Deal
8. The Forms - Ignoreland
9. Blitzen Trapper - Star me Kitten
10. Shout Out Louds - Man On The Moon
11. The Wrens - Nightswimming
12. Dr. Dog - Find the River

I've listened to a few of the tracks. Others may like these covers, but for me it's like nails on a chalkboard. I love Automatic for the People so much, it's hard to hear anyone else do "Find the River" or "Nightswimming".

I actually like the Wren cover. I agree that the rest are pretty lame.

I wrote the inital comment about them while I was downloading the collection. I really haven't heard Automatic for People either.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
I really haven't heard Automatic for People either.

Automatic for the People is the classic starter album for getting into R.E.M. If you haven't heard it, you should try it out.

quote:

Originally posted by The Fall of Troy:
Automatic for the People is the classic starter album for getting into R.E.M. If you haven't heard it, you should try it out.

I don't know, a lot of big R.E.M. fans don't really like Automatic for the People and/or don't see why it is so highly regarded. There are some exceptions though like me, who also loves R.E.M. and can see how amazingly great Automatic for the People is.

They have a lot of great and a few classic albums that are truly, tremendous. I also don't think that Automatic... is a good depiction of R.E.M.'s music. I would reccomend maybe Document or Reckoning to start off with. If you like either one of those--you should like both--then you should like Automatic. If you like all three, then you should go get Murmur, Fables of the Reconstruction and Lifes Rich Pageant.

I had a cassette tape copy of Eponomous I think. It had "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)". I used to listen to it a lot. Like a whole lot. And the album on repeat, not just the song. But for some reason I never really got into anything else they did. I don't know why. Maybe I should give them a shot.

Huh.. That's crazy. It seems I have a copy of pretty much everything they have ever released, I just never listened to it. I lived in Ukraine for a few years, and while I was there I would buy MP3 CDs that they would sell on the street (it was really the only way for me to get music there). And I was just flipping through my CD case and noticed that at some point I bought a disk that is just for REM. So I'll really have to check them out now.

quote:

Originally posted by The Fall of Troy:
Automatic for the People is the classic starter album for getting into R.E.M. If you haven't heard it, you should try it out.

Every single album they did on IRS waves hello.

I think Automatic For The People is the most overrated album in the R.E.M. catalog. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's not the classic people make it out to be. I think I prefer R.E.M. when they rock out a bit, and there isn't much rockin' going on on Automatic.

Automatic for the People is the only R.E.M. album I've listened to in full, and I was very, very unimpressed. "Nightswimming" is pretty good, but the rest of it was pretty damn boring.

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
Automatic for the People is the only R.E.M. album I've listened to in full, and I was very, very unimpressed. "Nightswimming" is pretty good, but the rest of it was pretty damn boring.

Yikes!

I don't know what's more sad, that you don't like Automatic for the People and think it's boring or that you...gasp...haven't heard anything else by R.E.M. I'll go with the latter.

Don't give up on R.E.M. based on this one album Chamberk. The I.R.S. era is far from boring.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
Automatic for the People is the only R.E.M. album I've listened to in full, and I was very, very unimpressed. "Nightswimming" is pretty good, but the rest of it was pretty damn boring.

Yikes!

I don't know what's more sad, that you don't like Automatic for the People and think it's boring or that you...gasp...haven't heard anything else by R.E.M. I'll go with the latter.

I've heard plenty of the singles, of course. "Man on the Moon" is solid as well, I'll give them that.

I just don't find them to be an interesting band. And I spent 5 years in Athens, GA - if that's not going to convert me...

Anybody skeptical of REM's accolades needs to listen to Murmur a few times. My vote for best album of the 80s.

quote:

Originally posted by futureman83:
Anybody skeptical of REM's accolades needs to listen to Murmur a few times. My vote for best album of the 80s.

Murmur is good. I'd personally take Reckoning, or Life's Rich Pageant. For a taste of REM's fun side, I also recommend the B-sides and Rarities collection Dead Letter Office, which features 3 drunken (but good) Velvet Underground covers, an Aerosmith(!) cover, and the funniest version of Roger Miller's "King Of The Road" you're likely to hear.

Yes I prefer Reckoning over Murmur as well. Murmur may be a more cohesive album overall but Reckoning has so many great songs: "So. Central Rain", "7 Chinese Brothers", "Pretty Persuasion", and my personal favorite "Rockville"

I ADORE just how much LOVE Reckoning gets around these parts.

Most of their early efforts are great or close to great.

More so than any other band of the last twenty years, REM was the master of the Front-to-Back listen...album after album, rarely a song you'd want to skip...

And for my two cents, here's how I'd rank their efforts.

1. Life's Rich Pageant - Not their most celebrated, but I think their liveliest and easily the strongest from a vocal harmony perspective...some real gems in lesser known tracks like Hyeana and Flowers of Guatamala.

2. Murmur - As oft-quoted, has the most "weird soul" and another incredible Front-to-Back listen. Just one great song after another.

3. Reckoning - Very much of a piece with it's predecessor Murmur, front half may be even better, but sags a little on back half.

4. Document - A bit of a stylistic shift here, this is where you could actually start understanding Stipe's vocals, and the sound got crunchier...one of their least memorable song-to-song, but has a steady hard rocking vibe and classics in Exhuming McCarthy, End of the World, and The One I Love.

5. Out of Time - Stipe has since publicly derided Shiny Happy People...which is a sad case of indie cool trumping sheer joy, because however silly, the song is pure delight...B52s Kate Peirson dominates the album...the best guest star of many featured over the years on various REM albums...her voice blends flawlessly with Stipes and elevates every track she's a part of. Losing my Religion was the big hit off this one, but it's the Pierson duets that make this one such a light, throwaway pleasure.

6. Automatic for the People - Their most intimate album, and a critical Fav...but I agree with many...while mature, it doesn't present what I like best about the band...so while Nightswimming is probably the best ballad in the bands repetoire, and several other tracks are strong, it's hardly the first I turn to or the first I'd recommend.

7. New Adventures in Hi-Fi - Their most underappreciated album. Recorded mostly during sound checks over an extended tour, It captures the band in a very different light than others...loose, where the band is tightly controlled, stylistically varied, where most REM efforts are rigidly held to a defined sonic pallette. Many of the best tracks here find them trying on other artists styles for size.

8. Reconstruction of the Fables - A bit of a 3rd effort stumble, which became a signature pattern for the band until Bill Berry Left (Every third effort much weaker than previous or following two)...this is the best of the "Divisible by Threes" and possibly their most Byrdsian. Still has many strong/decent tracks, but a fair number of clunkers.

9. Dead Letter Office/Chronic Town - Available only on CD, combines several great B-Sides with their fantastic debut EP.

10. Monster - REMs noise guitar album. A few of the expirements work great here (Crush with Eyeliner, King of Comedy) and there are few old school throwbacks that buzz (Star 69) but the lame ballads here harken to the blandness that would become post "Berry" REM.

11. Green - The worst of their full line-up releases. You know you're in trouble when the best song is an unbearably depressing, cruel tale of a child with debilitating deformities.

12. Reveal - The best of their post Bill Berry release...still utterly forgetable.

13. Up - The first of the post Bill Berry releases, an attempt of something Enoesque, and probably the worst collective songwriting effort in their catalog.

14. Around the Sun - Song for song, maybe stronger than the other two post Bill Berry's, put the pacing is so glacial and monolithic, an unbearable listen front-to-back, which as alluded to earlier, was always REMs greatest strength.

quote:

Originally posted by Illiniq:
11. Green - The worst of their full line-up releases. You know you're in trouble when the best song is an unbearably depressing, cruel tale of a child with debilitating deformities.

I was with you until you said this. Maybe it's because it was the first REM album I bought, but I really love Green. I think it's easily the best album from their Warner Brothers years, and the song which you speak of, "The Wrong Child", was always my least favorite track on that album. I could probably do without hearing "Stand" again, but how can you not love "Orange Crush", "Pop Song '89" or "I Remember California"?

quote:

ericg75
"Forum Moderator"
Jedi
Posted 07 October 2007 05:05 PM Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Illiniq:
11. Green - The worst of their full line-up releases. You know you're in trouble when the best song is an unbearably depressing, cruel tale of a child with debilitating deformities.


I was with you until you said this. Maybe it's because it was the first REM album I bought, but I really love Green. I think it's easily the best album from their Warner Brothers years, and the song which you speak of, "The Wrong Child", was always my least favorite track on that album. I could probably do without hearing "Stand" again, but how can you not love "Orange Crush", "Pop Song '89" or "I Remember California"?

All solid tracks, like them all, and would be willing to admit that song for song this album is probably better than Monster...but I like Monster's "feel" better. And while I can see many hating "The Wrong Child", you have to admit it has an out of left field emotional wollop that good or bad overpowers the rest of the album.

quote:

Originally posted by Illiniq:
8. Reconstruction of the Fables - A bit of a 3rd effort stumble, which became a signature pattern for the band until Bill Berry Left (Every third effort much weaker than previous or following two)...this is the best of the "Divisible by Threes" and possibly their most Byrdsian. Still has many strong/decent tracks, but a fair number of clunkers.

I can't imagine an REM fan who holds the IRS catalog in such a high regard having such a negative opinion of this, their Southern Gothic masterpiece.