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Posted by tommy on 2008-02-26 13:06:26 +0000

This album is awesome. It's held up over time for me so much better than Document.

The promotional "flats" that they used to promote this album (or at least some of them) replaced the small power-plant icon on the front cover with the word "vote", because this album came out on election day in 1988. Rumor was that they wanted to use a small picture of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dukakis">The Duke</a>, but the record company didn't let them.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2008-02-26 13:22:20 +0000

I agree 100% with Tommy - such a great album. I love pretty much every song on here, with the possible exception of The Wrong Child, which struck me as fairly patronising. Morrissey did much better on the same theme with November Spawned a Monster (released about a year and a half after Green, by the way). I once had a photo of Michael Stipe & Morrissey with their arms around each other transferred onto a t-shirt by this Clash fan I had a huge crush on who worked at the mall's t-shirt shop. My friends & I gave him a ton of business until I found out he liked Big Audio Dynamite and lost interest. He played bass in the Vibe Merchants, in case anyone remembers them.

Totally pointless story, sorry.

Anyway, great album.

Posted by dyedon8 on 2008-02-26 18:07:15 +0000

Jeez, the Vibe Merchants.

Posted by tgl on 2008-02-26 19:30:05 +0000

I just junked a There/Lamont/Garrison show poster from Jan. 2002.

Posted by dyedon8 on 2008-02-26 19:49:53 +0000

I will happily take any/all flyers off yr. hands in the future.

Posted by ConorClockwise on 2008-02-27 07:40:02 +0000

Very well... Where do I begin?

I heard 'Document' a few times during summer camp at the YMCA outside of Augusta, ME. and by the Fall of '88 I was listening to tapes aloud when falling asleep, instead of using the single ear-piece while tuned to the radio. (FTR, tapes next to my bed were 'Appetite for Destruction', 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'Who's Next'.) I believe I bought 'Green' at the Strawberry's on Great Road/2A in Acton, and it quickly became a bedside cassette:

Pop Song '89 - It's your major label debut and you open with a jam, starting with lyrics "Hello, I saw you, I know you, I knew you, I think can remember your name, name." It might as well have been named "What the fuck is going on? Who are all these people?"

Get Up - Slap happy revolution song? Great duel vocal.

You are the Everything - This song hits home for me. It is so emotional: depressingly contemplative yet uplifting. Whenever I hear the end of that 1st chorus go immediately into the 2nd verse "... you are the everything. I think about this world a lot and I cry, And I've seen..." I get misty. The vocal melody is perfect but so fragile. It is the blueprint for 'Nightswimming', and I would call it an equal to the Grateful Dead's 'Ripple' for American Folk.

Stand - Excellent pop yet starts with the chorus.

World Leader Pretend - A decent Smith's song.

The Wrong Child - Wait, a major label put this out? A vocal experiment and more mandolin, but lots to this one.

Orange Crush - One can argue this is the worst song on the album, and it's awesome.

Turn You Inside-Out - I would pay $100 to see this tune done well in a decent sized venue.

Hairshirt - Another piece of poetry with almost no ego. The bass thing kills me.

I Remember California - A dark country tune, recognizable but so REM. Maybe too long.

11 - A last tune to let you know REM has a vision, and it isn't that grim. While they tried to do way too much with this album, 11 let's everyone sing along. It's practically a Christmas carol.

Posted by mahatma chani on 2008-02-27 18:43:06 +0000

I somehow missed this record entirely (excluding the omnipresent singles). This one's great. I'm not sure why people who are "serious R.E.M. fans" dis this one.

Posted by tommy on 2008-02-27 19:50:59 +0000

My only guess would be that they don't like that it's on a major label and/or that they resent that the singles were mainstream successes. Maybe?


Question: I noticed today on top of each of the R's on the front cover, there is a hidden "4". This is the vinyl; I'm not sure about the CD. You can only really see it if you hold it up to a light at an angle. Anyone have any idea what's up with this? Is it supposed to mean something?

Posted by tommy on 2008-02-27 19:59:06 +0000

L: They mention the "4" thing on The Wikipedia. Also, instead of "4. Stand" on the song list on the record, they have "R. Stand"

Also, I was just looking for more oddities on the jacket, and I noticed that inside is a dot-matrix, form-feed printout of the album's lyrics. They were posted to the newsgroup rec.music.rem at 11:24 AM on March 29, 1994 by teague@acavax.lynchburg.edu. Salad days.