Document

R.E.M. hater listens to the R.E.M. discography 5/?
[Murmur: 41, Reckoning: 29, Fables: 83, LRP: 59]

Document marks the period of the most critically acclaimed era of R.E.M, with particular love for this trilogy of albums including Green and Out of Time.

“Finest Worksong” starts the album out and is just emblematic of how improved the lyricism and sound is. It’s a good amount of angst but R.E.M.‘s known jangle. “Welcome To the Occupation” was FANTASTIC, and felt like easily the most refined R.E.M. song until this point. “Exhuming McCarthy” is admittedly too on-the-nose even though I fw the message. Good song though. “Disturbance At the Heron House” does kind of drop the momentum with just being pretty mid, but “Strange” returns momentum with a very angry and crunchy sound. I have to say R.E.M. is definitely more angsty than I remember it being, not in an emo way but like a little squirrel that keeps squeaking at u from atop a tree.

I’ll dedicate a paragraph just for “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”. I don’t think I stated this yet… but a big reason I tried to force myself to like R.E.M. in the past is because I LOVE(D) THIS SONG. Just this one in particularly, and only this one, the rest I just downright hated. I remember I memorized every single lyric even though it’s a really hard song to sing. While I’m still not all that crazy about this band yet… yeah this is an amazing song. One of the greatest alternative anthems just of all time.

“The One I Love” is another amazing song although there just isn’t that much to say about it besides the fact it’s a classic. “Fireplace” is one I’m shocked is so loved; it just seems like a weird dumbing down of the sound. I was genuinely shocked upon listening to “Lightnin’ Hopkins” though, which sounded pretty bad. The band tries a funk sound and Michael Stipe has an obnoxiously annoying vocal performance. “King of Birds” follows a similar issue of overreaching, and I really dislike the marching beat accompanying the song. “Oddfellows Local 151” is just a kind of non-statement which oddly ends the album.

While it starts strong, and its mid point is ironically its strongest, the back leg is just too underwhelming for me to agree with those who hail it as one of the best albums of the 1980s. Was it bad? No. Was it actually quite good? Yes. Was I disappointed? Yes.