Slurpees & Tacos

338. R.E.M. - “Find The River” (1992)

BEN:  In January of 1980, four scrappy college-aged kids got together in Athens, GA, spurred on by their mutual admiration for The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Big Star and proto punk acts like Patti Smith and Television. They formed a band that seemed destined to go nowhere - a bunch of nobodies from a nowhere town, just rock fans playing music they liked. 12 years later, R.E.M. were one of the biggest bands in the world, setting the template for how to be successful and humble, a stance duly noted by bands like Radiohead and Pearl Jam. When they first started out, singer Michael Stipe’s vocal delivery was nothing much beyond shy, introverted mumbling. Somewhere along the way, Stipe found his voice and confidence. His vocals became more powerful, and now that you could understand what he was singing, his lyrics improved (for the most part), tackling social issues and digging deep emotionally. In 1992, the band was coming off their biggest album to date, Out Of Time. Their follow up record is to many fans the absolute pinnacle of their career. The lushly produced Automatic For The People finds R.E.M. in fine form, musically and lyrically. Some of their biggest hits come from this record - “Drive”, “Everybody Hurts” and “Man On the Moon”, for example. My favorites from AFTP are the haunting piano ballad “Nightswimming” and the devastating country folk classic “Find The River”. I’m not sure what the lyrics on “Find The River” represent, but Stipe’s delivery, combined with Peter Buck’s guitar, Mike Mills’ understated bass line and pretty piano flourishes and Bill Berry’s minimal drums have never sounded better. Also take note of the musical hook performed by a lonely sounding clavinet. Beautiful stuff…

Key lyric: “Leave the road and memorize/This life that pass before my eyes/Nothing is going my way”

MARK:  I am not an R.E.M. fan per say, but I do like this song.  I like how it seems like a song anyone could sing, but at the same time, no one could probably do it better.  The tone at the beginning seems so sad or maybe a bit hopeful and I love when the vocal comes in.  He seems very honest.  The production is great on this song, I feel like everything is really surrounding this tiny voice coming out of the middle.  I have to say, I do like this song.  I could listen to it on a rainy day.

GRADE: B

Claudia’s Review:  I like it.  Except that weird high pitched noise.