{"id":42813,"date":"2012-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/document-25th-anniversary-edition\/"},"modified":"2012-10-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-10T00:00:00","slug":"document-25th-anniversary-edition","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/document-25th-anniversary-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Document (25th Anniversary Edition)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given that Document <\/i>was R.E.M.\u2019s entry to the mainstream and superstardom, it\u2019s no surprise that the album marking that transition has been given the superstar treatment for its 25th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n

Document <\/i>is now available as a CD-size box set, featuring the original album remastered (read: much louder), a concert recording from Holland, and a poster of the 1987-era band plus a postcard of each member. It\u2019s the kind of thing that appeals to completists, but if you are looking to upgrade your original CD or album, this is the one to get.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve not heard the whole of Document <\/i>or only know it from its two hits, do yourself a favor and grab it. It is the sound of a band fully evolved from its origins reaching for the stars. It is the alternative underground murk of early R.E.M. with beefy production, semi-political lyrics, and a sense of adventure and weirdness not found on releases after this. It was the final album for I.R.S. and the final album to truly feature all that was good about the band; later albums like Out Of Time <\/i>and Automatic For The People<\/i>, great as they were musically, tended to take themselves a bit seriously or go overboard in trying to appeal (looking at you, \u201cShiny Happy People\u201d).<\/p>\n

Others on this site have written much about Document<\/i>, so I won\u2019t get into it much more, but no matter what flavor of R.E.M. you prefer, you will find much here to enjoy. \u201cFinest Worksong\u201d hits as hard as anything in the band\u2019s catalog, \u201cWelcome To The Occupation\u201d is all driving melancholy and political satire (\u201cListen to the Congress \/ Where we propagate confusion\u2019). \u201cOddfellows Local 151\u201d is ambitious and paints a character study that would have fit in nicely with those on Fables Of The Reconstruction<\/i>, and the heavy pop funk of \u201cLightnin\u2019 Hopkins\u201d is unlike anything else in the band\u2019s catalog. Of course, everyone knows \u201cThe One I Love\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the original disc was well produced by Scott Litt, the only revision necessary was to upgrade the sound, and this is certainly the loudest these songs have ever been. Michael Stipe\u2019s lyrics, which were enhanced for the first time on this record, are even more clear\u2026at least sonically, if not in meaning. The jackhammer drums of \u201cFinest Worksong\u201d and \u201cExhuming McCarthy\u201d sound great; this also may be the first time you can actually figure out the whipsaw references of \u201cIt\u2019s The End of the World.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the real treat is the live show. Little from the Work tour exists on record, at least officially, and the radio broadcast of this show captured the band\u2019s sound perfectly. The set list draws on the first five albums, splitting up the Document <\/i>songs with a few buried gems from Murmur<\/i> and fan favorites \u201cDriver 8,\u201d \u201cLife And How to Live It,\u201d \u201cFeeling Gravity\u2019s Pull,\u201d and the first three songs from Lifes Rich Pageant<\/i>. Of special note is the solo Peter Buck\/Stipe duet on the closing \u201cSo. Central Rain,\u201d which transforms the song into a yearning paean that is quite beautiful; the same approach is taken to the first verse of \u201cThe One I Love.\u201d Also of note is \u201cLightnin\u2019 Hopkins,\u201d which sounds much better live, and the Murmur <\/i>tracks, played five years later by a wised-up band with experience and consequently sounding far better.<\/p>\n

Document <\/i>is the best album R.E.M. ever made and still sounds great today, not at all dated and certainly politically relevant in this election year. The 25th<\/sup> anniversary edition and the addition of a concert from the era only enhance an already-classic album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5748],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-42813","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-r-e-m","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42813"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42813"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}