R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People reissue confirmed for 2017 on new label Following last year’s reissue of R.E.M.‘s 1991 album Out Of Time, it has been widely expected that the 1992 follow-up, Automatic For The People would also be issued for it’s 25th anniversary this year. This assumption has been officially confirmed by Concord Bicycle Music, as they announce a new reissue label, Craft Recordings… Concord are effectively rebranding their growing catalog division and in a press release state that the new label will offer “a tightly curated selection of deluxe CD and vinyl box sets, hi-resolution digital albums, as well as stand-alone LPs.” They go on to say that “using the original analog masters whenever possible, the company will create thoughtfully produced, detailed packaging with a commitment to preservation and a meticulous devotion to quality.” As well as “a 25th anniversary edition of R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People” Craft Recordings will this year issue “a box set celebrating the centennial of John Lee Hooker“. Jazz fans will enjoy the first release, which will be a deluxe vinyl edition of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane’s Complete 1957 Recordings. The Monk/Coltrane box will be released on 26 May 2017 and and you read more about that here. SDE will keep you up to date with news on other Craft Recordings releases, including R.E.M.
REALLY hope this time they'll do things right How many times we've heard about "meticulous craftmanship remaster from the original analog masters using state of the art technology" and so on ... and then, BRICKWALLED, EQ'D TO DEATH mess
Just had a look on the DR Database to see what happened with the Out Of Time reissue. My ears hurt just looking at that. Let's hope Automatic gets a better release.
I passed on Out of Time because of the reviews about the lousy job they did on that reissue. Recently picked up a used German pressing of Automatic For The People that came out in the 1990s. They did a great job. Sounds wonderful, plays flat. If the Germans can do it, you would think so could "Craft Recordings".
There's a thread already on this here - Can we expect a 25th Anniversary R.E.M. "Automatic For The People"?
Original releases of both Automatic and Out Of Time have decent DR ratings on the loudness-wars website. Unfortunately the recent Out Of Time has significantly lower values, even the vinyl edition although I'm aware it's not always so accurate measuring vinyl. I really hope they don't do the same to Automatic, one of my favourite all time albums, but I have the original CD and a recent vinyl reprint and both sound good so I'll only purchase the special edition for the extras.
Yes, New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996 - DR 8) and Up (1998 - DR 9) were the last decent-sounding albums. Starting with Reveal (2001), there was no R.E.M. album with DR value better than 6. The brickwalling of the remastered Deluxe Editions is particularly disappointing Who do they think is the target audience for releases like these?
I bought that on the day of release. Was quite a nice set, but this album never grabbed me despite its popular status as a classic.
Wonderful news. One of my all-time favorite albums... and one of my all-time least favorite re-issue series. We will have to cross our fingers and hope that Craft Recordings will make the case with the band (or Buck) for a more dynamic remaster than we've seen from R.E.M. so far.
My Automatic DVD is DR 11, pleasant sounding. I cannot remember right now if I downmixed from 5.1 or not. Time is laming my memory somehow
I might get this 25th anniversary release as I love the album so much, but I never got the out of time reissue after hearing the remastered version of loosing my religion, they turned Peter Buck's mandolin from a sweet smooth sound into an aggressive in your face sound, some radio stations seem to use the new version now so I can't get away from it, the 1992 German pressing I have to Automatic for the people can be beat in my opinion, such a nice sounding vinyl, I'd love the box set for some demos and B sides that were on the single releases plus possibly some live recordings, but I'm already dreading to think what brickwalled versions of drive, sidewinder sleeps tonight and man on the moon might be like, or how the lush sounding piano on nightswimming gets turned into a slam you head in the lid sound like Keane.
This doesn't spark any interest for me. I don't think the album can sound any better than the DVD-A stereo/surround track and I got the "Automatic Box" also.
I was so disappointed with the Out of Time reissue. I don't see why they can't cut it analog when the tapes probably barely been used recently. It just sounded so flat to me, id rather seek out an original!
Picked up my German pressing of Automatic For The People at time of release. As you say, it sounds great and is a quality pressing. Any reissue would certainly have to go some to better it.
I have the recent issue of Automatic...picked it up about a year ago. Its repressed from the WMME alsdorf stampers. It sounds pretty good, not top level but nevertheless quite good. Its an immaculate pressing. I would give it about 7.5-8/10. If they don't cut this new reissue from the tape, im really not sure it would be worth buying for me, as I don't think it would sound better.... However, if it was done by a decent mastering engineer, cut from the source....then I think it would have a chance to be better.
That alsdorf pressing is top notch, even the repress using the old stampers, can't see being beaten to be honest. They need to do something special with the bonus offerings on this for the vinyl reissue to sell.
I skipped the previous deluxe editions after reading the comments of the esteemed members of this forum, but I don't know if I can be dissuaded from a deluxe "Automatic for the People". I have too much emotional investiture in that album.