Find the River on LSD

Last month Stereogum released a tribute to R.E.M.’s album, Automatic for the People, featuring a myriad of indie musicians covering the classic album track by track. I found most of the covers underwhelming, some boring and a few quite dismal. Granted, its difficult to live up to expectations on such an album but some of them were really, really bad.

However, there is one really strong exception.

I keep finding myself going back to Dr. Dog’s cover of “Find the River.” Automatic’s closing track has long been my favorite song from the album. I think its placement as the last track that immediately followed the brilliant “Nightswimming” has allowed it not to find its proper place in the R.E.M. catalog. “Nightwimming” surely casted a giant shadow on this simple uplifting and optimistic song.

The transformation of the gorgeous folkie acoustic driven “Find the River” into a piece of beautiful beatlesque psychedelica is nothing short of brilliant. It’s a complete reinvention and everything a cover should be.

Track can be found here.

Tags: Automatic for the People, Dr.Dog, R.E.M., Stererogum