The year 2001 is a strange time to be listening to this album for the first time. A couple of my friends have similar stories of how they first heard this album in highschool and that it has stuck with them as 'bloody amazing' ever since, one going on to buy every other R.E.M. album and then some.
I on the other hand never heard this album at the time. I remember 'Everybody Hurts' and 'Man on The Moon' but nothing else. I've only just got into R.E.M. via their new album 'Reveal'. Not because I never liked their other albums, but because I never got around to listening to them.

When getting into a band that everyone says you have to, it's important to hit with the right album. I could have been thrown this album but there would have been the risk I'd have liked only the familar songs, disliked the unfamiliar and left it there... So after enjoying Reveal so much I went out and finally bought 'Automatic For The People'. And funnilly enough, I love it. It's interesting to think how much I would have enjoyed 'Reveal' after hearing 'Automatic...'

I understand why it's so strange to hear this album now. Hearing it brought me back to the early 90s. It drips with early 90s sound. Times when I loved The Smashing Pumpkins and acoustic pop, good melody and simple nonsense lyrics. I know if I'd heard this album around the same time I heard Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream" I'd have loved it. Why didn't I? It seems such a shame I missed this album first time around.

I love the lyrics, I love Michael's confident but not always perfect singing style. I love the way it all sounds like a well recorded demo, played almost live, with all the mistakes left in (hear first few plucks in 'Everybody Hurts'). I even like 'Ignoreland', supposedly R.E.M.'s worst song.

In fact, I can't find a thing wrong with it. It may be that I'm just on the 'found a new band/cd' high and it all just sounds great, and soon I'll get over it, but I'm not sure that matters right now. But I feel about this album how I used to feel about so many albums... and feeling that is so rare these days. Maybe it's the sound I miss and rarely hear these days? Maybe so many albums today just suck? It's something worth looking into.