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Document (album)

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Document is the fifth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released on September 1, 1987, by I.R.S. Records. It was the first album by the band to be produced by Scott Litt.

Document
Studio album by
R.E.M.
ReleasedSeptember 1, 1987 (1987-09-01)
RecordedMarch–May 1987
StudioSound Emporium (Nashville, Tennessee)
Genre
Length39:51
LabelI.R.S.
Producer
R.E.M. chronology
Dead Letter Office
(1987) 		Document
(1987) 		Succumbs
(1987)
Singles from Document
  1. "The One I Love"
    Released: August 24, 1987
  2. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
    Released: November 16, 1987
  3. "Finest Worksong"
    Released: March 1988

Continuing in the vein of their previous album Lifes Rich Pageant, Document features more audible lyrics and a harder rock sound in comparison to the band's earlier releases. The album became R.E.M.'s greatest success at the time, giving the band their first top 10 hit ("The One I Love") and album, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard 200.[4]

Composition

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Document was R.E.M.'s first album with producer Scott Litt, with whom they worked for the next decade.

Document was R.E.M.'s first album to be co-produced both by the band and Scott Litt; this was a collaboration that continued through the productions of Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. The album's clear production and muscular rock riffs both helped to move the band toward mainstream success and built on the work done by Don Gehman, who had produced their previous album Lifes Rich Pageant. This release not only launched "The One I Love" — R.E.M.'s first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 9 — but also gave them their first platinum album.

"Strange" was originally recorded by post-punk band Wire on their debut album Pink Flag.

R.E.M. expanded their instrumentation somewhat on the album, adding a dulcimer to "King of Birds" and a saxophone to "Fireplace".[5] Steve Berlin was brought in to add his saxophone skills because of a prior relationship with producer Scott Litt.[6] This experimentation would lead to their adoption of the mandolin, which featured prominently on their subsequent albums Green and Out of Time; furthermore, the band's musicians began swapping instruments both in concert and the studio with an effort to create new sounds and avoid stagnation.[7]

Packaging

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The original sleeve for the album featured the message "File under Fire", a reference to what Michael Stipe considered to be the central lyrical theme of the album, and also references the chorus to "The One I Love".[8] A similar message ("File under water") could be found on the cover of the band's second album, Reckoning, as well as on the compilation album Eponymous ("File under grain") referring to the idea behind "Talk About the Passion", which was about hunger.[9] Two rejected suggestions for the title of the album—R.E.M. No. 5 and Table of Content—also appear on the sleeve artwork.[10] Other possible album titles included Mr. Evil Breakfast, Skin Up with R.E.M., and Last Train to Disneyland (the last one having been suggested by Peter Buck, who felt that America under the presidency of Ronald Reagan was beginning to feel a lot like the famed amusement park).[11]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [12]
Chicago Tribune    [13]
Christgau's Record GuideA[14]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[15]
Los Angeles Times    [16]
Pitchfork8.2/10[17]
Q     [18]
Rolling Stone     [19]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide     [20]
Uncut9/10[21]

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said that R.E.M. had moved on from their past work's escapism and that "their discovery of the outside world has sharpened their sense of humor along with everything else", citing "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" as an "inspirational title".[22] Rolling Stone reviewer David Fricke felt that the album was R.E.M.'s "finest to date", and said that "Document is the sound of R.E.M. on the move".[19]

Los Angeles Times critic Chris Willman complimented the diversity of the music and themes, observing, "Document is a tougher, meaner, leaner record than its immediate predecessors—replacing the jangly, sprightly, romantic sound the band became known for with a far more hard-edged guitar sound, as well as tenser rock rhythms. It's predictably cryptic indeed at times, but the opaque mystery that was so enticingly R.E.M. has been largely replaced here with something more definite and immediately tangible."[16]

Uncut's Andrew Mueller praised Document in a retrospective review, saying, "If 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant had marked the beginnings of R.E.M.'s emergence from their cocoon of indie diffidence, 1987's Document was where they first properly reconciled themselves to their destiny as the only group of the 1980s American college-rock milieu to graduate to stadiums, and stay there."[21] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly observed, "The record that gave R.E.M. a top 10 hit ('The One I Love') mostly does no more than consolidate their strengths but has moments of undeniable power and the most sardonic apocalypse ever recorded, 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).'"[15] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that "where Lifes Rich Pageant sounded a bit like a party record, Document is a fiery statement, and its memorable melodies and riffs are made all the more indelible by its righteous anger."[12]

Rolling Stone went on to include Document in their list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s (in 41st place), and then ranked it number 462 on 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[23] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 17 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".[24]

Reissue

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In 1999, the album was remastered by Bob Ludwig and re-released on Compact Disc by I.R.S. Records in the United States. This version came in a replica of the record sleeve made of cardboard. In 2005, Capitol Records (whose then parent company EMI at that time owned I.R.S. Records' catalog) issued an expanded DualDisc edition of Document which includes a digitally remastered version of the album on the CD side, a DVD-Audio, DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner on the DVD side, and the original CD booklet.[citation needed]

Track listing

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All songs were written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except "Strange" by Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis, Colin Newman, Robert Grey.

Side one – "Page side"

  1. "Finest Worksong" – 3:48
  2. "Welcome to the Occupation" – 2:46
  3. "Exhuming McCarthy" – 3:19
  4. "Disturbance at the Heron House" – 3:32
  5. "Strange" – 2:31
  6. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:05

Side two – "Leaf side"

  2. "The One I Love" – 3:17
  3. "Fireplace" – 3:22
  4. "Lightnin' Hopkins" – 3:20
  5. "King of Birds" – 4:09
  6. "Oddfellows Local 151" – 5:21

Personnel

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Production

  • Scott Litt – production
  • R.E.M. – production
  • Steve Catania – engineering
  • Tom Der – engineering
  • Toni Greene – engineering
  • Gary Laney – engineering
  • Ted Pattison – engineering
  • Todd Scholar – engineering
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk, New York City, New York, United States; remastered at Gateway Mastering, Portland, Maine, United States in June 1999
  • Elliot Scheiner – mixing on 2005 re-release
  • Jim McKay – photography
  • Michael Meister – photography
  • Sandra-Lee Phipps – photography
  • Ron Scarselli – packaging

Chart performance

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Weekly charts

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Album
Year Chart Peak
position 		Weeks on
chart
1987 Billboard 200 10[4] 33[25]
1987 UK Albums Chart 28 5[26]
1987 Australia (Kent Music Report) 47 9[27]

Singles

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Year Song Chart Position
1987 "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 16[25]
1987 "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" Billboard Hot 100 69[25]
1987 "The One I Love" Billboard Hot 100 9[25]
1988 "The One I Love" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 2[25]
1988 "Finest Worksong" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 28[25]
1988 "Finest Worksong" UK Singles Chart 50[26]
1988 "The One I Love" UK Singles Chart 51[26]
1991 "The One I Love" UK Singles Chart 16[26]
1991 "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" UK Singles Chart 39[26]

Certifications and sales

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Organization Level Date
RIAA – US Gold November 2, 1987[28]
RIAA – US Platinum January 25, 1988[28]
BPI – UK Gold July 22, 2013[29]

Release history

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Region Date Label Format Catalog
United States September 1, 1987 I.R.S. vinyl LP IRS-42059
Compact Disc IRSD-42059
cassette tape IRSC-42059
United Kingdom September 14, 1987 I.R.S. LP IRLD 19144/MIRG1025
Australia 1987 I.R.S. LP 460105 1
Brazil 1987 Epic LP 231111
Greece 1987 I.R.S./CBS LP ILP-460105 1
Japan 1987 I.R.S. LP 28AP-3382
The Netherlands 1987 I.R.S. LP ILP-460105 1
Zimbabwe 1988 CBS LP ASF-3174
Worldwide 1990 MCA Compact Disc 42059
I.R.S. cassette tape IRSC-42059
Worldwide 1992 Universal Compact Disc 19144
The Netherlands May 11, 1993 I.R.S. Compact Disc 7 13200 2 6†
Brazil 1993 EMI Compact Disc 7 13200-2
Worldwide 1993 EMI Compact Disc 1508
United Kingdom September 1, 1997 I.R.S. LP 0777/CTMCD 337†
Worldwide 1997 EMI Compact Disc 337
Worldwide 1998 Capitol Compact Disc 93480
Worldwide 1999 Capitol Compact Disc 21276
United States 1999 I.R.S. LP 724349946613-4
Compact Disc 72435-21276-2-7‡
Europe 1999 EMI Compact Disc 13200†
United States 2000 EMI LP 499466
United States 2003 Capitol DVD-Audio 90149•
United States 2005 Capitol DualDisc 99398•
United States 2008 Capitol LP 220591
United States September 25, 2012 Capitol / EMI Compact Disc 5099997200628††

Notes

  • †I.R.S. Vintage Years edition, with bonus tracks
  • ‡Compact Disc remastered edition
  • •DualDisc remastered edition
  • †† 25th anniversary edition, with bonus disc
  • A truncated edition of Document was also issued on Armed Forces Radio—catalogue number P-24576—with "Finest Worksong", "Welcome to the Occupation", "Fireplace", "Lightnin' Hopkins", and "King of Birds" on one side and tracks from Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason on the other.

References

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  1. ^ Sculley, Alan (September 5, 2003). U.S.-bound R.E.M. works at being a trio on tour. Bay Area News Group. p. 1. ISSN 1068-5936.
  2. ^ "R.E.M.: Document (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), PopMatters". September 27, 2012.
  3. ^ "20 Essential R.E.M. Songs". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  4. ^ a b "R.E.M." Billboard.
  5. ^ "music-nerds.com". Archived from the original on 2007-10-12.
  6. ^ Murray, Noel (September 14, 2012). "Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on R.E.M. and Sharing the Planet with Paul Westerberg". The A.V. Club.
  7. ^ Greene, Andy (2013-05-10). "R.E.M. Reflect on 'Green' on the Album's 25th Anniversary". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-12-21.
  8. ^ "www.rem-central.com". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28.
  9. ^ "Reckoning - Everything2.com".
  10. ^ R.E.M. in Time: The Story Behind Every Song, Craig Rosen, 1997
  11. ^ Reveal: The Story of R.E.M., Johnny Black, 2004
  12. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Document – R.E.M." AllMusic. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  13. ^ Kot, Greg (March 24, 1991). "Traveling Through The Years With R.E.M." Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  14. ^ Christgau, Robert (1990). "R.E.M.: Document". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. p. 343. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Browne, David (March 22, 1991). "An R.E.M. discography". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  16. ^ a b Willman, Chris (August 30, 1987). "'Document.' R.E.M. I.R.S." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  17. ^ Deusner, Stephen M. (September 25, 2012). "R.E.M.: Document". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  18. ^ "R.E.M.: Document". Q. No. 154. July 1999. p. 136.
  19. ^ a b Fricke, David (May 2, 2001) [October 22, 1987]. "R.E.M.: Document". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  20. ^ Nawrocki, Tom (2004). "R.E.M.". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 685–687. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  21. ^ a b Mueller, Andrew (October 4, 2012). "R.E.M – Document reissue". Uncut. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  22. ^ Christgau, Robert (December 29, 1987). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  23. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  24. ^ "Best Albums of the 1980s, page 9". Slant Magazine. March 5, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  25. ^ a b c d e f "Document – R.E.M. Awards". Allmusic. AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  26. ^ a b c d e "R.E.M. Artist Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  27. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives: Australian Chart Book. p. 244. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and June 19, 1988.
  28. ^ a b "RIAA – Gold & Platinum Searchable Database". RIAA. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  29. ^ "Certified Awards". BPI. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.

Further reading

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