Document [EXTRA TRACKS] [IMPORT]

R.E.M.

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 18, 1992)
• Original Release Date: 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import
• Label: Emd Int'l
• ASIN: B000005RQE
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,795 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Mid-priced reissue of the foreign edition of their 1987 landmark album with six bonus tracks added, 'Finest Worksong' (Other Mix), 'Last Date', 'The One I Love' (Live), 'Time After Time Etc.' (Live), 'Disturbance At The Heron House' (Live) and 'Finest Worksong' (Lengthy Club Mix). 17 tracks total, also including their first top 10 hit, 'The One I Love', plus the top 75 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'. The album was their first to make the top 10, their first to go platinum and their last for I.R.S. Records.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars REM's big breakthrough, October 25, 2003

By	irishman77 "music lover" (Lexington, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This album introduced the world to REM. It also showed a huge growth in songwriting and musicianship from their earlier albums (Murmur, Reckoning, etc). This album is known for the huge hits "The One I Love" and "End of the World As We Know It" but top to bottom all the songs here are strong and veryd diverse. Finest Worksong begins the album with intelligent neo-metal, then you get some trademark REM jangle rock. The next curveball is the horn-driven semi-swing of Exhuming McCarthy. The stylistic experiments all work, and you still know it's REM the whole time. This album may not be REMs best (that will be debated between Out Of Time, Automatic for the people and Murmur) but it's just a notch below and a must for any fan of REM and/or rock n roll. ENJOY!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Big Surprise, November 1, 2006

By	Robert Rossi - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I actually owned every R.E.M. album but Document until I finally broke down. I had thought the two strongest songs would be "The One I Love" and "It's The End of The World...." Since neither of those songs are rated highly by me, I figured I would be disappointed by this album. Was I ever wrong! There are some great songs here. "Exhuming McCarthy" and "King of Birds" are personal favorites. It's definitely not up to par with what came before it, and some of what came after it, but it's definitely a worthy part of their catalogue.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important R.E.M. work, June 22, 2004

By	mianfei - See all my reviews

Following on from the difficult though rewarding Fables Of The Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant, R.E.M.'s final independent release, "Document", stands as the best thing they ever did.

Though R.E.M. have been criticised by some as the offspring of early 1980s pop music, this criticism could never be levelled at what they do on "Document". More than anything else, the music on "Document" is proof of the eccentricity R.E.M. were developing during their years at now-defunct independent label IRS.

Often seen as R.E.M.'s effort at "power pop", "Document" really was and is much, much more than that. The amazingly thing about this album is that the band manages to be incredibly funny on the standout "Exhuming McCarthy" and at the same time develop their musicianship into waters they were never to chart after moving to Warners. The dark "Fireplace" and "Lighning Hopkins" were equally brilliant: ominous, yet amazingly powerful for that.

The more familiar, famously sly "The One I Love" might not quite compare with these three tracks, but still it marks out the direction of their best-selling Automatic For The People album five years before the fact. "Finest Worksong", especially in its remixed version found as a bonus track, was a superb tribute to the past folk heroes in America. One can also see just how ironic Stipe wanted to be - and WAS - on "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" - in which he describes so well the realities facing us today.

A record that, though acclaimed in its time, is now often forgotten. Nonetheless, if you can only buy one R.E.M. record, it should be this one.