Today’s MSMOTD

REM – Nightswimming (From 1992′s “Automatic For The People”)

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This song is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favourites.  Top 5 probably.  It’s also REM’s very best song, though not their most well known.  Everyone’s heard Happy Shiny People and Losing My Religion and especially Everybody Hurts.  Great songs, but only the latter is from their inarguable masterpiece – “Automatic for the People”, released in 1992.  Prior to Automatic, they were known for their jangly guitar-driven alterna-pop sound.  Personally I never was a big fan of songs like Radio Free Europe and Shiny Happy People.  Obviously good songs, but not my cup of tea.  Automatic, on the other hand, hit me square between the eyes and immediately became one of my favourite albums.  It’s a complete departure from their previous work and definitely their best.

There was actually a big rumour around the release of Automatic, that Stipe, the singer, was dying. I guess the combination of dark subject matter and his balding/emaciated appearance didn't help.

I actually discovered “Automatic for the People” through the public library.  I was at the local branch looking for new fantasy tomes to while away the summer, and was heading to the check-out counter with my selection (Elizabeth Moon’s fantastic “The Deed of Paksenarrion“) when the CD rack caught my eye and I randomly chose this album.  Probably because of the caltrop on the front.  When I got home, I popped the cd into the player, and popped myself into a big comfy chair and spent about 3 days straight reading Paksenarrion and listening to Automatic on repeat.  To this day, I cannot listen to the album without images and emotions from the book filling my mind.

Nightswimming, the penultimate track, is a nostalgic song about the innocence of youth, filled with a pining (though not for fjords) and yearning so poignant that it almost brings me to tears even all these years later.  I didn’t fully grasp the song when I first heard it, so it’s actually grown in meaning and depth as I’ve grown older.  Unlike their other work, this is just piano, strings (arranged by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones) and what sounds like an oboe accompanying Michael Stipe’s soulful vocals.  It is a gorgeous, peaceful song, from an album that belongs in every person’s collection.

(A live performance of Nightswimming)

The other two songs I’ve posted below are a bit different.  Man In The Moon is the song just before Nightswimming on Automatic, and it’s the only REM song to inspire a movie.  The unusually coherent lyrics (Stipe is famous for the obtuse nature of his lyrics) are about comic superstar Andy Kaufman, who apparently did a very good Elvis impersonation.  Stipe’s impersonation during the song is, unfortunately, less convincing.  However, it’s a ridiculously catchy tune and I really dig the slide guitar.  I’m a huge sucker for slide guitar.  One day I will write a song for slide guitar and erhu.  It will be epic and sad and probably somewhat cheesy.  Let Me In, from their subsequent 1994 album “Monster” uses the opposite of a slide guitar, instead blasting you with a monolithic wall of distortion that Peter Buck somehow manages to weave into a beautiful melody that crashes in waves over Stipes reed-like vocals.  I actually learned this song on the guitar way back when I was a kid.  This and What’s The Frequency Kenneth? are the only pop songs that I know on guitar.

If you haven’t heard all of “Automatic For The People”, I really suggest picking it up asap (there’s a link to buy it below).  It’s one of my top 5 favourite albums and is probably one of the most critically acclaimed albums in history.  It’s that good.  I can’t imagine anyone NOT liking it.  Monster was less critically acclaimed, but I think it’s a really great album as well.  Different, but also good.  Let me know what you think of REM and these songs in the comments

- Mons

More music from REM

REM – Man On The Moon (from “Automatic for the People”)

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REM – Let Me In (from “Monster”)

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Further info about today’s MSMOTD

Official Website: http://remhq.com/

Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E.M.

Featured Review: Rolling Stone’s review of “Automatic for the People”

Buy Automatic for the People or Monster from Amazon.com, or download Nightswimming from their MP3 service.

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Suggested Music by Mons