R.E.M. | Document [25th Anniversary Edition]

Capitol/I.R.S. Records (2012)
By ZETH LUNDY  |  September 19, 2012
3.5 3.5 Stars

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Fans of R.E.M. enjoy arguing over which album was the band's true shark-jump, but 1987's Document was inarguably the end of a groundbreaking era. It was the Athens band's fifth and last album for indie label I.R.S., as well as their inevitable leap from mumbled jangle-rock into full-blown arena power. For all its bigness, however, robust radio staples like "Finest Worksong" and "The One I Love" still broadcast the band's legendary ambiguity, while "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" remains an archetype of '80s progressive college rock. Looking back, this is truly a best-of-both-worlds record, the little-band-that-could growing into its new clothes. Reissued in a new two-disc set, Document sounds larger than ever, and includes a live show from 1987 in Utrecht, Holland — one of the first of many stadium-sized conquests the band would make over the next two-plus decades.

Related: Say Anything | Anarchy, My Dear, La Sera | Sees The Light, Eternal Summers | The Dawn Of Eternal Summers, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Music, R.E.M., R.E.M.,  More more >
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