Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on October 5, 1992 by Warner Bros.. Records. Once released, it reached number two on the US album chart and produced six singles. The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and has been well received by critics.
Video Automatic for the People
Background and recording
What will be Automatic for People has its origins in mixing sessions for the previous REM album Out of Time , held at Paisley Park Studios in December 1990. On there, a demo for "Drive," "Try Not to Breathe," and "Nightswimming" are recorded. After completing the promotional task for Out of Time , members of R.E.M. start formal work on next album. From the first week of June, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry meet several times a week in an exercise studio to work on new material. Once a month they will rest for a week. The musicians often trade the instrument: Buck will play the mandolin, Mills will play the piano or organ and Berry will play the bass. Buck explains that writing without drums is productive for band members. The band, determined to post rocking material albums after Out of Time , attempted to write some rock songs faster during practice, but came up with less than half a dozen prospective songs in the vein.
When it was time to make a demo, the musicians recorded it in their standard band configuration. According to Buck, the musician recorded about 30 songs. The lead singer Michael Stipe was not present at the session; Instead, the band gave him a demo that had been completed in early 1992. Stipe described his music to Rolling Stone earlier that year as "[v] ery mid-tempo, pretty fucking weird [...] More acoustic, more organ based, less drum ". In February, R.E.M. recording another set of demos at the Daniel Lanois Kingsway Studio in New Orleans.
The group decided to make the recording finished with co-producer Scott Litt at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, beginning on March 30th. The band recorded overdubs in Miami and New York City. String settings recorded in Atlanta. After the recording session finished in July, the album was mixed at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle.
Maps Automatic for the People
Music and lyrics
Despite REM's early desire to create a rocking album, guitar-dominated songs after Out of Time, music critic David Fricke noted that instead of "Automatically for the People" appears to be moving at crawl who suffered more "than the band's previous releases. Peter Buck leads in suggesting new directions for the album. The album discusses the theme of loss and mourning that is inspired by the "flavor [...] that changes 30", according to Buck. "The world we have involved has been lost, the world of HÃÆ'¼sker DÃÆ'¼ and The Replacements, all who have gone [...] We are just in a different place and it goes out in music and lyrics." "Sweetness Follows", "Drives", and "Monty Got a Raw Deal" specifically state many themes that are darker than the previous material.
The songs "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming" feature string arrangements by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Fricke stated, "ballads, in fact, determine the record," and noted that the album featured only three "rockers": "Ignoreland", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" and "Man on the Moon".
"That's pretty much going as planned," Litt reported. "Compared to Monster , it is a walk in the park. Out of Time has an orchestra setting - so, when we do Auto , rate in where Michael goes with words, we want to scale it and make it more intimate. "
Packaging
The album's name refers to the motto of Athena, the Georgian restaurant, Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods. The photo on the front cover is not related to the restaurant: it shows a star ornament that is part of the sign for Sinbad Motel on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, near Criteria Studios, where most of the album was recorded. The motel is still there, but the star is not. The support slant where it's ever installed still exists. "The album will be called Star at one point, then the object on the cover that Michael has been photographed and actually dug up," Scott Litt told Mojo. "It helps to have some sort of focus in the studio, so the photo is stuck."
The interior jacket shows a two-third circular platform that is a sign for the old Bon Aire Motel at the former Motel Row in Miami Beach. The Bon Aire and other motel line companies have largely been demolished for new high-rise condos.
The front cover of the album shows a gray photo of a Miami motel sign placed above the embossed image, which is also included in the distorted album booklet on a white background. The back cover shows photos of an old building with a list of songs written at the same angle from which the building was viewed. Other photographs, taken by Anton Corbijn, featured band members on the beach.
Compact discs are removed in a jewelry box with a strange yellow spine/CD tray. Casing cassettes are also issued with the same color. The yellow color is made to match the color of the CD disc. The band will later use the same method for the Monster released in the orange tray/spinal CD (though this matches the album cover).
Release
Automatically for the People was released in October 1992. In the United States, the album reached Number 2 on the Billboard album chart 200. The album reached No. 2. 1 in the United Kingdom, where it occupied the UK Album Chart on four separate occasions. Although not yet toured after the release of Out Of Time , R.E.M. again declined tour to support this album. Automatic for the People has been certified four times platinum in the US (four million copies sent), six times platinum in the UK (1.8 million shipped), and three times platinum in Australia (210,000 shipped). The album has sold 3.52 million copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan sales figures in 2017.
Automatic for the People resulted in six singles during 1992 and 1993: "Drive", "Man on the Moon", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", "Everybody Hurts", "Nightswimming", and "Discover River ". Lead single "Drive" was the highest domestic hit charting album, reaching No. 1. 28 on Hot Billboard Hot 100. Another single charted higher abroad: "Everybody Hurts" tops the list of top ten in the UK, Canada and Australia.
A live, louder version of "Drive" appears on Alternative NRG, recorded 11/19/1992 at Athens' 40 Watt Club during the only invite concert that supports Greenpeace Action. The re-recorded "Star Me Kitten" version, featuring William S. Burroughs, was released on Songs in Key X: Music from and Inspired by X-Files .
Music videos from albums are included in Parallel .
In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued a two-disc edition Automatic for the People that included a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a mix of 5.1-channel surround sound from an album created by Elliot Scheiner, and an original CD book with an expanded liner note.
The 25th anniversary edition was released on November 10, 2017 by Craft Recordings, featuring four discs of live recording, demos and albums remixed in Dolby Atmos, making Automatic for the People releasing the first music in this format.
Critical reception
BRAKE. biographer David Buckley writes, " Automatically for the People is considered by Peter Buck and Mike Mills, and by most critics, as the best R.E.M. album ever recorded." Rolling Stone gave the album five stars. The reviewer Paul Evans wrote, "Apart from the difficulty, most of the Auto are musically unbearable." Melody Maker Creator reviewer Allan Jones commented, "It is almost impossible to write about notes without mentioning the grim rumor about Stipe health," referring to the rumors at the time the singer died of AIDS or cancer. Jones summed up his review by noting, "Remarkably, the initial reaction to the Automatic to the People around here has been mixed [...] Psshaw to them. Auto to the People Is REM in the top of their form. "Ann Powers, reviewing the album for The New York Times, notes that only three of the songs on this album go beyond the mid-tempo and say," Only 'Man on the Moon' shining with intelligence that balances REM's somber tendencies. "Powers completed his review by saying," Even amid such disappointments, REM can not resist its own talent to create beautiful and moving sounds. [...] Buck, Mills and Berry can still juggling melodies that fall like the summer sun. And Stipe still has a beautiful voice that can not shake his own gift for meaning. "Guy Garcia, for Time, also recorded the album's theme of" despair, anger and loss ". Garcia added that the album proved "that the so-called alternative band can retain its superiority after conquering mainstream music" and that it "managed to avoid predictability without ever sounding aimless or unfocused."
Automatically for the People is third in Village Voice Pazz & amp; Jop 'year-end poll. Robert Christgau later gave the album a rating mentioning three respected stars, pointing out "a business that delights consumers in harmony with its aesthetic or individual vision that may also be valuable." The album was nominated for an Album of the Year at the 1994 Grammy Awards. It then ranked number 247 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest of All Time Albums. Rolling Stone also ranked at number 18 on the list of "100 Largest Albums of the 90s". In 2006, British Hits & amp; The album and NME set up a poll, of which 40,000 people around the world chose the 100 best albums ever and Automatic for the People placed in the order of 37 in the list. This album is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .
"I'm not so crazy about 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite'," Buck bounced back in 2001, "but overall I think it sounds good." Buck added in 2003, in connection with the song, "We include this song in Automatic to solve the mood of an existing album.Considering that the lyrics relate to death, the passage of time, suicide and family, we feel that point of light required.In retrospect, the consensus among the bands is that this may be a bit too light. "
Track list
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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