Gonna have another go at this thread.
REM - Automatic for the People
https://open.spotify.com/album/0BiNb8HYR4JvuxUa31Z58Q
God this album got played to death years ago. Find the River always cut out halfway through, as a 49 minute album didn't quite fit on an old c90 cassette!
Pinnacle album of their career for me. Drive is an intriguing opener as well as lead single. Dystopian, and dark, I never quite got this song, but listening to it now after a few years gap was invigorating. Try not to breathe and sidewinder sleeps tonite are bone fide classics that most bands are desperate to write.
Then everybody hurts. Sigh. Got played to death, especially with diana, and as a result I am sick to death of it. It is still a really well crafted song, but over exposure has harmed it so much for me.
An odd instrumental moves into a consistent 7 tracks on the bounce that are all ace. Sweetness follows is epic, and monty got a raw deal is, well raw. Ignoreland is a phenomenal tune - I always loved the punkiness of it. Star me kitten mellows things into Man On the Moon, again another really high calibre tune.
Nightswimming has also always been a phenomenal track, and has always vied with ignoreland for my favourite track off the album - i guess whichever one I choose shows the mood I am in at the time.
Owing to the above anecdote I always enjoy hearing the end of find the river, as it is almost new.
The album and lyrics are burned heavily into my mind. Popping this on during the storm was a proper tonic. So much of this album seems so simple, yet is done to such an exceptional standard.
