Album: Automatic For The People
Year: 1992
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File Under Bushwhacked
It happens to just about everybody, with the exception of Neil Young, Robert Pollard and Prince: there comes a time when you just can’t crank out an album per year, especially if you’re successful. For one thing, success often means long tours, which are anathema to both writing and recording.
So after cranking out six albums in six consecutive years, R.E.M. took some time off between Green and Out of Time, and I figured that it was pretty much the end of yearly R.E.M. albums. And, in fact, that was kinda how the culture started trending in the late 80s / early 1990s: nobody was doing yearly albums anymore. Thanks a lot, Boston!