33 replies to this topic

[Colinzeal]

The more I listen to Green the more I think it is one of the bands best albums!

It is an album which has an energy/aggression to it with the likes of orange crush, turn you inside out.

It is an album that has beauty; hairshirt,world leader pretend, you are the everything,the wrong child.

It is an album which has fantastic pop songs; pop song 89,Get up and untitled.

The only song I'm not fond of is Stand.

I have to say it never was a favourite of mine,but having revisited in recent weeks I struggle to see why! It is generally not a very appreciated album here. I, like others really like Up,so I don't think on here it is under-appreciated,but Green doesn't seem to get much love.

What do others think of it?

[elkokolores]

Love for "I Remember California".

"Stand" and "Pop Song '89" were early singles I liked as a boy.

Big Appreciation for "Turn You Inside-Out" and "World Leader Pretend".

I'm often undecided facing "Hairshirt" and "The Wrong Child".

I can't hear "Orange Crush" anymore.

Never liked "Get Up", never thought of it as a fitting single for this album.

All in all I'm not that fond of "Green", but it has amazing songs on it. To me it's quite comparable to "Collapse into Now", but the later album gets more of a fitting texture, after they revealed it is their farewell album.

[michaels]

Great album. For some reason, I will always conflate it with Stephen King's 'IT'. I listened to Green non-stop while reading that book and both are now meshed in my consciousness, particularly 'the wrong child' which I guess mirrors some of the themes of that book, for me anyways.

[TheMiddleDistance]

I think part of its issue is that it is good, but not fantastic, and for me at least it doesn't have any stand-out tracks, so it tends to get overlooked.

[Pilgrimager]

It was the most recently released when I first got into R.E.M and probably the next one I bought after Eponymous which was the first R.E.M album I bought, on tape, after hearing ITEOTWAWKIAIFF on the radio on New years eve 1989 just before midnight.  I loved it to bits and I'd still say it's my 2nd fav after Murmur.I'd even say it was pretty much their second best with only LRP,AMFTP and maybe Up giving it a run for it's money. It depends on how people feel about the 'big dumb pop songs' which in PS89, GU and Stand were new thing for R.E.M who'd been a pretty serious group before then so just doing something for a bit of fun might have turned some people off and detracted from the respect the album might have got if they'd tried to be more serious throughout it. Personally I love the big dumb pop songs. I think OC is brilliant because it actually sounds like it's replicating the feel of a helicopter closing in on a target which is genius. Turn you inside out is very dramatic then IRC is eerie and moving. I think the world is elegiac and a rare epic for R.E.M. Then there's the new direction of mandolin which adds a new style to R.E.M.  The lyrics to YATE and Hairshirt are beautiful poetry. Untitled is o.k but easily the last impressive song on the album.

[Kimo]

I think Green is fantastic. It features some of the best melodies ever written by R.E.M. (You are the everything, World Leader Pretend, Hairshirt) and some terrific pop songs. In fact, I reckon Green is the first 'really diverse' album delivered by the band.

[michaels]

Kimo, on 02 January 2012 - 08:49 AM, said:

I think Green is fantastic. It features some of the best melodies ever written by R.E.M. (You are the everything, World Leader Pretend, Hairshirt) and some terrific pop songs. In fact, I reckon Green is the first 'really diverse' album delivered by the band.

I would agree with this, and I also think that much of the vitriol directed at Green stems from it being the first album on WBR. It's a bit of a fault line in that respect.

[Southern Gothic NC]

Oh, how I love GREEN...let me count the ways.

Those are some amazing songs on the album. Even though FOTR is my favorite R.E.M. album and I enjoy their earlier material I still like the direction in which they were going at that time with their sound.

Turn You Inside-Out is one of the greatest songs on there! Love the energy and soulfulness! I even like Stand for the uplifting lyrics as well as their other songs which influenced me and had a huge impact on my life. (Just ask anyone who used to live in a Housing Project in a small rural town in the South back in the 80's!)

Not to mention that the GREEN tour was the first time I saw R.E.M. perform live!! Chapel Hill and Greensboro. They blew my mind! The songs from Green sounded brilliant live. My cousin and a friend and I met Michael back then, too!  My favorite song they did live from the album was I Remember California and to this day it still gives me chills when I hear it!

What more could I say than I like GREEN a lot. It's not my favorite album but it comes close. I enjoy all of the songs and listen to them quite often and still feel uplifted and overjoyed!

[Discoverer]

Green holds a special place in my heart. Stand was the first song that introduced me to REM. I remember walking around the house just singing and singing it.

As for the rest of the album I thinks all fantastic....Orange Crush, you are the everything, world leader pretend, Wrong Child, turn you inside out...

[beatadrum]

To me Green and Out of Time two of the overall poorest records of the 15. Both contain great songs though and a compilation of both would arguably be among the strongest of their material.

[welliwonder]

Turn You Inside Out performed on Tourfilm convinced me this band was a bit special.

[Driver Nate]

Never have been a big fan of "The Wrong Child" but otherwise I love Green. Production-wise, it sounds like it could have benefited from some more bottom end as it tends to sound a bit thin.

[welliwonder]

Driver Nate, on 03 January 2012 - 09:08 AM, said:

Never have been a big fan of "The Wrong Child" but otherwise I love Green. Production-wise, it sounds like it could have benefited from some more bottom end as it tends to sound a bit thin.

Yes if any album could do with remastering it would be Green.

[LST 390]

Totally gonna play the Green 5.1 DVD-A on this stormy evening!

It's a very weird, transitional album. I love that they each became bored with their roles just when they were releasing their first major label album, and the instrument swapping began (and continued to much greater extremes on Out of Time). It's a real mixed bag, though - some solid rockers, some moody downers, some folky folkers...

Hmmm might play the vinyl instead...

Or watch Tourfilm...

[Reverend Bill Funderburk]

I agree that Green would benefit greatly from remastering. I think it's a solid album. Not one of my favorites, but some good songs. "Untitled" is one of my favorite R.E.M. songs.

[lowerwolf]

I also think that Green is a very underrated album. Sure it's got some very poppy stuff, but there's also some really heavy songs like World Leader Pretend and The Wrong Child. Pop Song 89 is one of my all time favorite R.E.M. songs. The production is very slick, but Out Of Time's production is way more glossy. It also is way more poppy than Green. Green is also a very uplifting album. It is the second best Warner Bros album.

[Lyrical Dreamer]

I love Green. Especially 'You Are The Everything', it's such a beuatiful song both lyrically and melodically. The same too can be said of 'The Wrong Child'. These two songs in particular feel like the precursor of the album to follow, which I adore. I also must admit to loving the more bubblegum pop numbers, as Stipe himself would refer to them as, the likes of 'Untitled' and 'Stand'. It really is an understated album.

[Fatherjohn]

I have a big place for Green in my heart. It probably ranks about fifth from my objective standpoint, but it has personal connotations that make it feel higher, if that makes sense.

The OP was correct in surmising the album as having three quite separate personalities; the aggressive stadium sized songs (a development of Document's sound), the pastoral chamber rock songs (which paved the way towards the Warners megastar period of Out of Time and Automatic for the People) and the intellectualized bubblegum guitar pop songs. This schizophrenic nature is both it's strength and it's weakness, I think. It's a little all over the place and unfocused, but it was the first R.E.M. album that really branched out into all these different avenues (NAIHF and CIN subsequently did this less successfully and originally, IMHO), and for this I think it should be remembered fondly.

I do also agree with the post regarding the albums slightly thin sound. It's not a big bug bear, but I think the mix isn't as well rounded at the bottom as Document. Still, I'll always love Green.

[Bill Berrys Eyebrows]

i love Green as its such an eclectic album. It has pretty much every musical direction REM has ever taken on there. I agree that the mix is poor but the songs are quality! World Leader Pretend is simply stunning. I my top 20 albums of all time for sure

[Ginger]

Fatherjohn, on 12 April 2012 - 07:42 AM, said:

I have a big place for Green in my heart. It probably ranks about fifth from my objective standpoint, but it has personal connotations that make it feel higher, if that makes sense.

The OP was correct in surmising the album as having three quite separate personalities; the aggressive stadium sized songs (a development of Document's sound), the pastoral chamber rock songs (which paved the way towards the Warners megastar period of Out of Time and Automatic for the People) and the intellectualized bubblegum guitar pop songs. This schizophrenic nature is both it's strength and it's weakness, I think. It's a little all over the place and unfocused, but it was the first R.E.M. album that really branched out into all these different avenues (NAIHF and CIN subsequently did this less successfully and originally, IMHO), and for this I think it should be remembered fondly.

I do also agree with the post regarding the albums slightly thin sound. It's not a big bug bear, but I think the mix isn't as well rounded at the bottom as Document. Still, I'll always love Green.

I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush! Green is one of my fav top 10