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Lifes Rich Pageant

The Best of the I.R.S. Years: Collector's Edition

Fables of the Reconstruction

You listen to the first four cuts and think "Aha, another political statement from the band that brought you Lifes Rich Pageant the previous year." Taken together, "Finest Worksong," "Welcome to the Occupation," "Exhuming McCarthy" and "Disturbance at the Heron House" sound very much like a sort of State of the Union address. In each cut you get a different take on America - the dignity of its workers, the evils of its interference overseas, its historical insistence on conformity and its domestic paranoia. "McCarthy" has a few awkward moments, but overall the music displays this band's usual mastery of style and technique; these songs move. Then there's a cover version of Pylon's "Strange" and the whole thing breaks apart.

I can't help thinking that the interruption is deliberate. R.E.M. had played plenty of covers before, and even recorded a few, but this was almost the first time they put one on a regular album release, and it's about as close to punk as they had come. (There was "Superman" the previous year, but that one came at the end of the collection rather than the middle, and it was an obvious throwaway.) "Strange" is like a signal to the listener, saying "Whatever you think you've been hearing, that's not it." Then the band proceeds to prove it - the rest of "Document" has nothing to do with political commentary.

"The One I Love" and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" both scored big on the singles charts, and I can't imagine why, since they're both among the slipperiest hits ever recorded. They're both terrific, mind - "One I Love" introduces a classic R.E.M. riff and a devastating lyric, and "End of the World" is both nice poetry and enormous fun. But the first of these songs doesn't mean what you think it does, and the second doesn't really seem to mean anything at all. Why in the world did the audience take to them so strongly? (I know, I know, they have good beats and you can dance to them, but still...)

The next two numbers are more R.E.M. American grotesquerie a la "Fables of the Reconstruction" - "Fireplace" is a pounding rock waltz about preparations for a hoedown that turn destructive and "Lightnin' Hopkins" is a vicious bluesy stomp that has about as much to do with the old bluesman of the title as the Ramones do (which may be more than I think, actually). And then "Document" closes out with a couple of straight-ahead surrealist nightmares, "King of Birds" and "Odd Fellows Local 151," with music straight out of a Ken Kesey Acid Test and lyrics by Salvador Dali or something. They wouldn't have been out of place on R.E.M.'s dada debut, "Murmur" - the music is folksy but driven, the lyrics are confusing but significant, the vocal and playing style shouldn't work but they do. It feels like you should be able to dismiss this stuff as self-indulgent, but you can't. It means something, dammit.

Taken all together, "Document" is about as disorienting as a game of blind man's bluff. It lurches from simple tunesmithing to scorching rock to something unidentifiable that drifts right through your head and back out into the sky. And here's a thought - in 1987, R.E.M. faced a number of important decisions, like what record company to sign with and whether to tour Europe. In short, they were getting famous, and I wonder if "Document" is the sound of a band trying to figure out whether to give its fans some good old-fashioned pop or stick with its twisted art-house roots.

Now, that's the kind of struggle can result in great music, when it doesn't produce a nervous breakdown instead. Fortunately, by the time R.E.M. had to face this pressure, they had been playing together for going on ten years and evidently trusted each other. So they could look outward and inward both at once, knowing that they had each other's backs. Every time Peter Buck bangs out a chord, or Bill Berry and Mike Mills trade backing vocal lines, or Michael Stipe hollers "Listen to me!", you can hear the band's defiance and excitement in the face of the world's demands.

"Document" is a summing up of R.E.M.'s career to that point, an important step to take before any giant leap. They may have felt fragmented, pulled in different directions, like that glass sculptor on the cover whose body is shattered in a million pieces by his materials, but there's no doubt that they were still in control of each piece. The following year they signed with Warner Brothers and handed in a collection of, as they said, "stupid pop songs." They'd earned the right.

Benshlomo says, The past is a springboard from which to jump, eyes shut, into the future.


"The time to rise has been engaged."   March 29, 2000
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is by far my favourite R.E.M. album. "Document", released in 1987, gripped my senses the first time I heard it and hasn't let go. It is one of R.E.M.'s angriest albums, politically charged and quite chaotic. The subtitle "File Under Fire" is quite appropriate - fiery images permeate through the album. The very beginning of the first track, "Finest Worksong", conveys a feeling of industry and steel, with Michael Stipe's (now quite intelligible) vocals adding a sense of urgency. This song, and the remainder of the first side (with the exception of the interlude-like "Strange") is highly political. The brooding, disturbing "Welcome to the Occupation", the hectic "Exhuming McCarthy" and the Orwellian fable "Disturbance at the Heron House" are all short, fast and angry protests against the strong tide of political conservatism that dominated in the Reagan era. The song that encapsulates the fire and chaos is the manic "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine). With abstract and often nonsensical lyrics spewing from Michael Stipe's mouth, it is both humorous and deadly serious. Side two is also dominated by images of fire, but the political theme has gone. "The One I Love", R.E.M.'s first big hit and much misinterpreted anti-love song is searing, burning itself into your mind. "Fireplace" is one of R.E.M's most underrated (and one of my all time favourite) songs. It's a delightful, anarchic song of carefree, reckless abandon which also manages to sound subversive. The brilliance of "Document" (as is the case with most of R.E.M's music) is that subversion does not necessarily mean taking up arms. It starts with yourself - you have to start changing the blandness and conformity in the world by revolutionising your own life (which is what songs like "Finest Worksong" and "Fireplace" are all about). The album finishes with "Lightnin' Hopkins" (a series of camera directions), the sublime, gorgeous and wonderful ballad "King of Birds" and the disappointing "Oddfellows Local 151" which, in my opinion, just drags and really goes nowhere. However, it doesn't ruin the album - "Document" is superb. R.E.M.'s music is always full of integrity; it challenges you to think and also to act. This album, a negative reaction to the politics of the day, conveys the ultimate message of overcoming adversity, whether in the world or in your lives. And the songs are great too! That's the ultimate bonus!


Excellent work.   December 5, 1998
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

So far the praises given to this album have all either been snooty "the last one before R.E.M. went commercial" types or mainstreamish "hmm it was a good prelude to Automatic for the People but that's about it." All, however, have failed to appreciate this remarkable effort for what it is. Every song on this album has been a favorite of mine at one time or another, especially "Fireplace," "Disturbance at the Heron House," and "Oddfellows Local 151." Document manages to be political without becoming overtly cynical or flatly condemnative. But the theme of the album (every good album has a theme)is not a political message, but the sense of burning the past and starting anew, as expressed in the many references to fire, and in songs like "The One I Love" (which Michael Stipe commented was written to himself) and "Finest Worksong." Even "Exhuming McCarthy" carries the thread. An excellent work by one of the best bands in modern rock. Check it out but expect it to remain in the CD player more often than not.