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What to say about an album like this... It's hard to find the exact words to define the emotions you experience while listening to it.
It must be said that this is a very melancholic record, it talks about death and the suicidal instincts that drive people to end it all.
Besides that, it's also an album that tries to strengthen the spirits of those who find themselves in these desperate situations. Just listen to the beautiful "Everybody Hurts" to realize the strength with which Stipe tries to do this. But "Everybody Hurts" is just a pearl of the undisputed masterpiece that is this album.
It ranges from blues hymns like "Drive" to rock ballads like the enigmatic "Find The River"... Of course, passing through songs whose central themes include memory ("Nightswimming"), social criticism ("Ignoreland"), admiration for someone who is no longer there ("Man On The Moon"), or the sadness in realizing you're very close to the end of life ("Try Not To Breathe").
A unique album, I reiterate. It should be counted among the milestones of rock and can easily be placed alongside three other masterpieces by the group, such as "Murmur", "Out Of Time", and "New Adventures In Hi-Fi".
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Other reviews
By giov
Days tasting like dust and that persistent insistence on wanting to suffer for everything because it’s only with pain that starts from within that you reach the ultimate limit of closeness to the soul.
If you’ve never cried to the notes of something, this is just the right time to start, and no questions are allowed, which, in the end, only serve to prolong the wait for our primordial scream.
By Totisque
"Pain and death. These are the dominant themes in Automatic For The People."
"Everybody Hurts is an absolute masterpiece by R.E.M., a track of identification along with Losing My Religion."
By STIPE
The theme of the album is death, but never before has this topic been seen in such a sweet and sublime way.
Each track on this album is a pearl, each leaving an indelible mark on the heart of the listener.
By Rax
Michael Stipe so obsessed with pain and death... leaves the listener breathless.
"Drive" and "Everybody Hurts," two true miracles of compositional minimalism.
