#365songs (165 / 365)

R.E.M.'s 15th and final full-length album Collapse Into Now was kind of a greatest-hits consisting entirely of new songs, and ÜBerlin sounds like an Automatic for the People outtake so it was of course my favorite. I think it still is, even though I've come to prefer other R.E.M. albums to Automatic. It pulls the same trick as "Shiny Happy People" but less obnoxiously, being a minor-key tune that's still upbeat thanks to Mike Mills's backing vocals and a peppy chorus. I look at the lyrics now and I think they're a little didactic and cheesy like Michael Stipe sometimes got on those last 5 albums, but that "I know, I know, I know" is irresistible and (controversial opinion?) Stipe's voice only got better as it got more weathered-sounding late in R.E.M.'s career.