Document (1987)

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 their first album to be co-produced by the band and 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.

Composition

Document was R.E.M.'s first album to be co-produced 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.

R.E.M. expanded their instrumentation somewhat on the album, adding a dulcimer to "King of Birds" and a saxophone to "Fireplace". 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 song "Strange" was originally recorded by post-punk band Wire on their debut album Pink Flag.

Packaging

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).

Critical reception

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". 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".

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."

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." 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).'" 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."

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. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 17 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".