R.E.M. – «Document» альбомы туралы

1987 album by R. E. M.

Document is the fifth studio album by American rock band R. E. M., released on August 31, 1987, by I. R. S. Records. It was the first album by the band to be produced by Scott Litt. 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. Steve Berlin was brought in to add his saxophone skills because of a prior relationship with producer Scott Litt. 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.

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". 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. Two rejected suggestions for the title of the album—R. E. M. No. 5 and Table of Content—also appear on the sleeve artwork. 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).

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said the band 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". 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". 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).”"

Los Angeles Times praised the diversity of the music and themes, observing, "A tougher, meaner, leaner album than its immediate predecessors, with a far more hard edged guitar sound and tenser rock rhythms. And the opaque mystery that was so enticingly R. E. M. has been largely replaced with something more definite and immediately tangible, though side trips psychedelic, political and otherwise are plentiful. 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." In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 17 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".

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.