I can't believe nobody acknowledges (or even knows) that "Strange" is a cover of a song by the legendary Wire. Learn your history, people. REM is a part of it, sure, but others came before. Document was their last good album. Lifes Rich Pageant was their last great one. Get it straight.

This is the last of the original REM garage sound. After this album all REM albums were way more produced, more detached and slicker sounding songs.

Not to say that they didn't have great songs after this album but from "Green" on I gave up buying REM albums anymore. I noticed the videos for the songs were getting professional looking, The interviews seemed rehearsed. They were becoming "packaged and marketed". After I heard "Losing My Religion", Radio Song" and "Shiny Happy People" I would change the station.

This is the last album the little garage band from Athens would make before the big time.

Not only is this the best REM CD, it just may be my favorite album of all time. The blend of great music, 80's materialism commentary, production and good old REM weirdness hit every rock and alternative bone in my body. After hearing certain albums 50+ times, I've burned out on some fantastic classic rock but this CD offers something new every time I play it. What the heck is Oddfellows about? Who cares, it's cool! Enjoy.

Although Green was REM's first album for WB, in many ways it's Document that sounds like a major-label debut. From the opening riffs of "Finest Worksong" it's clear this is much more direct- lyrically and musically- than anything they've done before. But this is no sell-out: Document is an angry, firey, political album. Michael Stipe had dabbled in social commentary before, but always in his usual enigmatic style. Here, titles like "Welcome to the Occupation" and "Exhuming McCarthy" leave us in no doubt where he's coming from. Even tracks that aren't explicitly political, like "One I Love" are fueled by passionate anger.

Musically, the album is closer to mainstream rock than the quirky jangle pop of previous albums. Peter Buck in particular nails memorable riffs for many songs...he even has a solo or two!! There is some diversity in the second half; I've always thought "Lightnin' Hopkins" and "King of Birds" would fit nicely on Fables of the Reconstruction.

The sheer directness of the album might come as a shock for fans who appreciate the arty side of REM's persona. And this is the one reason it doesn't quite get five stars from me. But it's a very solid album, proving REM could fit well in the mainstream, and paving the way for the pop success of Green and Out of Time.

R.E.M. ended their tenure at IRS Records with their second 5-star album, "Document." Having flirted with mainstream production with Don Geham on Lifes Rich Pageant, the switch to producer Scott Litt kept the smoother, more arena ready sound, but brought back some of the band's trademark atmosphere. "Document" also became R.E.M.'s first album to sport a hit single, the breakout "The One I Love."

Along with The Police's "Every Breath You Take," "The One I Love's" tale of obsession and paranoia marks one of the most deceptive Top 10 love songs of the 80's. It also sported one of Peter Buck's heaviest riffs. Paired with the high speed rant of "It's The End Of The World as We Know It," (which might as well have become a hit), "Document" boosted R.E.M, from the arms of its beloved cult and into the arms of the mainstream.

Even with that new-found appeal, it's amazing just how political the band was becoming. "ITEOTWAWKI," "King Of Birds" and "Welcome To The Occupation" all some charged lyrical content, upping the ante from "Pageant." There was still plenty of jangle-pop and Byrds-ish chiming to go around, like "Finest Worksong" and "End of the World," but by finding a sympathetic soul with Producer Litt (who would helm them for the next few albums and their peak Automatic for the People, "Document" was R.E.M. hitting their stride and setting themselves up for the bidding war that Warner Brothers ultimately won (Green).