Green
by R.E.M.

Green is a funny little album. It marks the end of the IRS years, and the beginning of the more mainstream Warner Bros. period.
It seems a lot of people have fond memories of Green as an album, and it is that sort of friendly album. Perhaps coupled by it's green tour, it has a real sort of community feel to it. It's the sort of album that you'd have on cassete and listen to in the car, it has such variety that everyone would find something to like.
But it just lacks something. R.E.M.'s attempts at pop songs sound daft rather than up-beat, with the exception of pop-song 89. "Stand", for instance, I've always felt sounded too fake-cheery for such a seemingly ernest band.
Some songs really stand out though, however, namely World Leader Pretend - a unique song with a Pink Floyd's The Wall-esque to it. It has a good handful of mandolin tunes as well, reminding me of Led Zepplin IV.
The one thing that has always gotten my goat, however, is that the album never seems to end. "I Remember California" is an almost uncomforatbly dark song, juxtaposing with it's name, that simply fades out. It's then followed up by an untitled hidden track which, whilst has that end-song-feel to it (a happy ending), it fades out too. Some albums can pull off the fade-out album ending, such as Achtung-Baby, but it just doesn't work here.
Shame too, would have be much higher in the list otherwise, but I still love it.

From TerryTezza 06/27/2019 05:45 | #238398 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This album captured my attention with it’s diverse topics from questioning our purpose and taking responsibility of the environment. The song Orange Crush got me into R.EM. but my fav track on this album is World Leader Pretend.

One of the more accessible albums in their discography but definitely not a "sellout" record as some claim. This contains an air side and a metal side, meaning there are equal amounts of light music such as Stand and Pop Song 89 as well as heavier music like Turn You Inside Out.

REM's first album on a major label. Green, is half a big, dumb rock record, and half acoustic, the kind of which the band would master on their next two albums. Pop song'89, get up, turn you inside out, and especially, stand, are the closest the band ever got to party rock, they're all enjoyable and catchy. The acoustic songs consist of, the melancholy, the wrong child, the improvised feel of, hairshirt, and the beautiful, you are the everything. The political leanings of the, document, album, can still be heard on the dark, world leader pretend, and the magnificent, Orange crush, a genuine REM classic. I remember California, and, untitled, bring the album to a summery close, hinting at the kind of direction the band will head into next. Personally, even though I like the record, green, does feel a little as if it isn't quite sure whether it wants to be a rock record, or something more intimate. It's really a transitional album, that connects the early REM to the later more mature band. The past was gone, the future beckoned, and so did superstardom.

IMO this was where it started going wrong for R.E.M. World Leader Pretend and Orange Crush are excellent, but I always found this album difficult to listen to all the way through.