Album Rating: 5.0

Murmur is the sound of spikey, energetic, alt-rock at its best. Nothing like this tbh.

Album Rating: 4.5

Nightswimming is one of the most beautiful songs ever created. Michaels idiosyncratic voice over that luscious piano is jaw dropping.

Album Rating: 5.0

Agreed

Album Rating: 4.0

tell her she can kiss my ass

Album Rating: 5.0

This band be getting me through quarantine man

Album Rating: 5.0

✊🏼

"'Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends"

What if you're Pots and have no friends? :-(

Album Rating: 3.0

Argh! ‘Everybody Hurts’ is currently on a never-ending loop in my mind, it’s bizarrely accompanied by self-conjured images of Jalen Hurts looking crestfallen after a tough loss. I’m not even an Eagles fan and my interest is mainly fantasy-related.

Why is my brain like this? P.S. you absolutely know this will be used by broadcasters at some point!

Album Rating: 4.5

There isn't a number, you can call the pay phone. Let it ring a long, long, long, long time.

Album Rating: 4.5

Happy 29th, AFTP

Album Rating: 5.0

If I had to pick one, Drive would be my favourite opening song of all time. It’s an absolute classic. I’ve always been sucked right in each and every time.

Album Rating: 5.0

Yep

Album Rating: 3.5

this feels pretty by the numbers, im struggling to see what makes people view it as a classic... maybe i need to give it more time

Album Rating: 4.5

wtf

Album Rating: 5.0

wtf [2]

Album Rating: 5.0

wtf



[3]

Album Rating: 5.0

So I have a review for this that I scrapped back in 2018... it's not really an analytical one as it is a personal one. Would you guys be interested in reading it?

Album Rating: 5.0

Well maybe Brandon should as the connection isn't happening. Show the way koris

Album Rating: 5.0

Alright cool. I won't post it as a full-on review for the site, but here we go:



Automatic for the People is an album entirely driven by how its wordplay works in direct contrast to its music. Abstract metaphors and allegories are met with some of the most humble and easygoing melodies you’ll hear in 90s alternative rock, and the subtle touches of deep melancholy exuding from the instruments flesh out the picture even further. For an album so soft and light for its genre and time period (as far as alternative rock goes, this was when bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were ruling the airwaves), Automatic for the People is somehow not for the faint of heart, if mostly because of its searing emotional impact. R.E.M. have always been known for their blend of jangle pop, college rock, and folky alternative rock (some might even say Southern Gothic), but I can’t think of an album that blended all of their traits together quite as well as this one. Deeply affecting lyrical stylings involving loss, suicide prevention, and generally finding one’s way in life - as well as life knocking one down - are shrouded in a thick veil of secrecy and labyrinthine stanzas, but the musical accompaniment always seems so bizarrely appropriate. It shouldn’t, but it does. Perhaps it’s because the underlying subjects are so relatable. Maybe Michael Stipe’s voice just works in the context of a more organic and folk-oriented sound. Either way, there’s a fascinating magic that emanates from the two opposites merging together.

Album Rating: 5.0

Usually I’d start getting to the real meat of an album by the second paragraph, scrubbing all the details and explaining why they work or don’t work. This time, I’m taking a different approach. This time, I’m going to tell you guys a story that will elaborate on that first paragraph. Back when I was in college, there was always a mountain road I had to take to commute to school. It was a gorgeous, scenic path, but one that was filled to the brim with twists and turns that made the path anything but straightforward. Every time I went down that road, I had to find something else about the wildlife and portrait-esque scenery that impressed me so every trip could be spruced up with something different. But soon enough, that became its own sort of standalone hobby. Emerging from the contrast of scenic beauty and sharp tire-shredding turns came a little game: what can I spot this time? And to be honest, there was a lot to take in once I became more observant of my surroundings. Some new cracks in the pavement I’d never seen before; a fork in the path that leads to a heavily forested side path; bursts of color provided by the mass of trees occupying the roadside. Within the humble growth of nature in the surrounding area, every new observation that crawled out of the woodwork (no pun intended) was a new appreciation for what I previously saw - or heard - as mundane. And all of this came from the simple necessity of having to go to college! You might say the journey was just as important as the destination in this case, and despite the repetition that came from each 40-minute drive to school and back, there was a special bond formed with that weathered old road.



Automatic for the People is that entire paragraph in a nutshell. The musical scenery is a down-to-earth means of communicating a relatable sound, but there’s always something new to uncover with the dense lyrical ramblings and the tiniest of songwriting intricacies. It’s a complex album full of little diversions that disguises itself as its own pleasant little diversion. It’s incredibly deceptive in the way it works, but the way those contrasts between the mundane and the profound are pulled together make it one of the most compelling pieces of music you might ever hear.