Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully.

Don Gehman, giving the group a clean sound without sacrificing their enigmatic tendencies.

Finest Worksong, the stream-of-conscious rant Its the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), and the surprise Top Ten single The One I Love all crackle with muscular rhythms and guitar riffs, but the real surprise is how political the mid-tempo jangle pop of Welcome to the Occupation, Disturbance at the Heron House, and King of Birds is.

Where Lifes Rich Pageant sounded a bit like a party record, Document is a fiery statement, and its memorable melodies and riffs are made all the more indelible by its righteous anger.

In other words, its not only a commercial breakthrough, but a creative breakthrough as well, offering evidence of R.E.M.

While it displays a more powerful guitar sound on Get Up, Turn You Inside Out, and Orange Crush, it also takes more detours than Document, whether its the bizarrely affecting contemporary folk of The Wrong Child and You Are the Everything, the bubblegum of Stand and Pop Song 89, or the introspection of the lovely Hairshirt and World Leader Pretend.

But instead of presenting a portrait of a band with a rich, eclectic vision, Green is incoherent.

While its best moments are flat-out great, the band has bitten off more than it can chew; many of the songs sound like failed experiments, and its arena-ready production now sounds slightly dated.

Rem Discography Allmusic