|
From:R.E.M. , Capitol ,
|
See Product Page
|
User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#6035 |
| | Page: << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... 19 >> |
4 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
 Another fantastic R.E.M. album - most people in the world will LOVE this!, 2006-01-16
R.E.M. is, without question, one of the best bands to ever emerge. Whether you like them or not is not up for discussion - they have created an enormously impressive and entertaining back catalog since their debut album came out in 1983. The songs most people will know from "Document" are the hits "The One I Love" and "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)", and while these are indeed classic songs the rest hold up surprisingly well! The first song, "Finest Workshop", is another amazing song that has become one of my personal R.E.M. favorites. As opposed to their later albums like "Out Of Time", "Document" is less poppier and more artistic - while that album was also great you can tell that a lot more thought and energy was poured into this one. Every song here is good-if-not-amazing, and I'm pretty confident in saying that most people in the world will love them. Part of this is due to Michael Stipe's incredible vocals, but it's also because every song is catchy and very fun to listen to. Michael Stipe, while not as emotional as on "Automatic For The People", for example, still proves that he is one of the industry's best and most unique singers (along with Bono, Sting and Thom Yorke...etc). I'm pretty sure that no one in their right mind couldn't like him. The lyrics are, as always, very interesting to listen to as well as deep, and most of these songs are incredibly catchy and memorable (the two hits and "Finest Worksong", especially). Musically the album sounds like 80's pop rock with R.E.M.'s signature "jangle pop" guitar style - you can definitely understand why this was such an influential album when it came out in 1987 (though their earlier ones were more so). The only negative comment I could make about this album is that it's in need of a good remastering - the audio quality isn't bad, but you can tell that it could probably be much better. Basically folks, if you like great music or R.E.M. then "Document", along with every other early R.E.M. album, will soon become one of your favorites. Absolutely recommended!
Highlights include:
the entire album!
5 of 7 customers found the following review helpful:
 Heading Toward Popularity, 2005-12-09
I always find it interesting to look back at a group that began as one thing and slowly became another. R.E.M. was originally a darling of aesthetes who thought the group eschewed commercialism to follow their own artistic sense. In a way, this album was a disappointment to some when it yielded commercial success. However, it was not necessarily the group that had changed with this album. I have found that we change our tastes as we become accustomed to the ever-evolving (unless you prefer "intelligent design") definition of popular music.
I make a point at trying to understand the meaning of lyrics. However, the lyrics to "Finest Worksong" are incomprehensible. There are snippets of this and that, and the lyrics seem more geared to follow the music than to have any grand meaning. Oh well, here is a song with a catchy beat that simultaneously challenges you to remember the lyrics though it is difficult to do. Marginally better is "Welcome to the Occupation." Though the lyrics enter and exit meaning, the lyrics give an impression of protest against conformity and the loss of self when you enter an occupation. Lyrics this deep is a characteristic of R.E.M.
"Exhuming McCarthy" goes for the political throat rather than giving vague impressions. With words such as "by jingo" and "realpolitik" R.E.M. equates (or equated) the political environment of the mid-80s with the McCarthy era of the 50s. There is a more than a hint of George Orwell's "1984" as well. It is songs such as these that kept R.E.M. from the mainstream, since most people seem to prefer the slickly produced bubble gum pop of artists such as Britney Spears and `N Sync. "Disturbance at the Heron House" seems a fitting song to follow "Exhuming McCarthy." This song seems to be about the effectiveness of protests, particularly student protests. There is a lot of action in the lyrics, but the ultimate effect of the characters is more humorous than effective, which suggests what? I do not know. The music is catchy and again defies a casual listener attempting to remember them.
"Strange" has meaningless lyrics that seem to be a vehicle for the power guitars. On the other hand, the lyrics could be contextual with the other heavily political songs that precede this one. Other than the excellent guitar work, this song is one of the weakest on this CD.
Perhaps the last song was actually an introduction to "The End of the World as We Know It," because this song is stranger than the catchy beat indicates. The lyrics are complex and embody a bunch of end-of-civilization concepts, and then poke fun at what "end of the world" actually means. This song is perhaps one of R.E.M.'s greatest songs, combining a relatively simple chorus with complex refrains, sliding by political commentary without many people noticing.
Up until "One I Love," R.E.M. usually created all sorts of artistic music that strived for different effects. On its surface, "One I Love" seems like a relatively simple pop song. By any other group, I would agree. However, this is R.E.M., and I suspect that this song is just like any other for them; they wanted to see where the music and the lyrics would lead, and it led them to create a marvelous pop song with their unmistakable style.
"Fireplace" again has nearly incomprehensible lyrics, but looking back over them in their entirety, the words seem to be about clearing preconceptions to be able to move forward. The song progresses to its natural conclusion, which is to throw not only the contents into the fireplace, but eventually the walls as well. Get it?
Keeping in the vein of incomprehensibility is "Lightnin' Hopkins." It seems to me that R.E.M. may have been taking a lesson from the Alice Cooper playbook on this quirky song as there are stylistic places that remind me of Alice Cooper in the 70s.
"King of Birds" is one of the best songs on this CD. The words are very surreal and full of imagination. The slow pace of the song increases the power of the words. I think this style was brought to fruition in the phenomenal album "Automatic for the People," which is my favorite R.E.M. album.
Keeping in the vein of obscurity is the sinister song "Oddfellows Local 151." This song is neither explicit nor implicit as to the nature of darkness, but the bass-heavy music provides the backdrop and I keep trying to figure out what nefarious lessons are being provided by Peewee. Whatever it is, I am sure that they can't be good.
This album is an interesting mix of old and new styles for R.E.M. I can hear elements of the group as it started, and I can hear the sound into which they were evolving. I like both styles, and thus I enjoy most of this album. However, fans of R.E.M.'s earlier music that disliked their later music may be disappointed. Fans of their later music who did not like their early music may also be disappointed. The songs "The End of the World as We Know It" and "One I Love" are not characteristic of this album, and some listeners may be disappointed by that. However, fans of R.E.M. who have enjoyed their music throughout the group's various incarnations of people and styles will find this album to be a treat and a requirement for their collection.
R.E.M. Make A Grand Statement On Their Final I.R.S. Studio Album, 2005-08-23
With DOCUMENT, REM make a grand statement, with many of the songs containing political lyrics that, alas, are just as relevant in 2007 as they were in 1987. This CD is filled with righteous anger and guitar riffs that are edgy, yet are much more melodic than anything by Nirvana or Pearl Jam. The song "The One I Love" is actually about betrayal and deceit, and could be from the viewpoint of either the betrayor or the betrayed. This song helps explain why I've skipped food-related functions at my old school in favor of looking good for numerous pretty actresses. The bandmembers' opposition to Indonesia's trumped-up 2005 drug-smuggling conviction of a young Australian tourist makes this CD an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.
3 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
The scourge of Scott Litt begins, 2005-04-29
At the time of its release, I welcomed the clean production that Scott Litt brought to R.E.M.'s 5th album. It was the first time in a while that the band didn't sound muddy.
"The One I Love" was the first single and made it further up the charts than any previous R.E.M. song. I love this song, play it with my band at every show, often first because it is impossible to forget the words.
This album contains some of Peter Buck's best guitar solos, which over REM's history have tended to be brief and infrequent. "The One I Love" solo is classic Buck, with a little bit of southwestern kick. On the infectious "Strange" Buck lets out his loopiest solo yet. It sounds like a couple guitars overdubbed, but I've seen Buck pull it off by himself incredibly in concert. "Lightnin Hopkins" is loopy riffs all the way through.
Unfortunately, R.E.M. became infatuated with Scott Litt's production and stuck with him for at least the next ten years worth of albums. Then the scourge of his input became apparent: he makes R.E.M. sound toothless, too radio-friendly.
"The One I Love" is a good song, but listen to any bootleg recording of it that predates Document (they played it on the Lifes Rich Pagent tour). This song used to be a manic explosion, but now it's kind of a plaintive cry. From then on, every time I'd see REM play an unreleased song in concert, I'd be sorely disappointed by the lackluster version that would make it to the record (Undertow, The Great Beyond, etc.). REM's association with Litt also coincided with them leaving behind most of the Southern flavor that made them distinctive. Litt also started substituting drum machines for Bill Berry, which may have contributed to Bill leaving the band. Enjoy this R.E.M. album, the last one before they were spoiled by Litt and a big WB record contract.
2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
Songs from my childhood., 2005-03-11
It's hard for me to believe: I'm almost thirty now, and I wasn't even ten years old when this record came out. I remember hearing "It's the End of the World..." and "The One I Love" when I was in fourth and fifth grade, and being intrigued by the songs, but not knowing who the singers were. It wasn't until Green and "Stand" that I found out who R.E.M. was. And I've loved them ever since.
I listened to the whole album when I was nineteen, and I played it over and over again. This disc is a true masterpiece from beginning to end; all the songs form a cohesive whole, from "Finest Worksong" to "Welcome to the Occupation" to "Lightin' Hopkins."
These four men were some of the people who taught me how to listen to music. It was because of them that I went back and listened to the blues, to jazz, and to early rock and roll. No history of rock and roll or of American music would be complete without R.E.M.
|
| Page: << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... 19 >> |
|