Green (R.E.M. album)

Green is the sixth album by the American band R.E.M. It was their debut major label release for Warner Bros., released in November 1988. Green was notably the first album to feature two songs to reach the top spot on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, "Orange Crush", and "Stand".^[4]

Background and recording

With the release of Document in 1987, R.E.M. had fulfilled its contract with I.R.S. Records. The band decided to switch to a major record label due to the lack of adequate promotion outside of the United States. In 1988, R.E.M. signed a $10 million contract with Warner Bros. Records for their next five albums. Under the terms of the contract, the group was given complete ownership of the songs.

Green was R.E.M.'s first album for Warner Brothers, and took a total of four months to record and mix, and was released on November 7, 1988, one day before the 1988 presidential election. The members of R.E.M. consciously changed their usual recording practices in order to avoid falling into the trap of putting out the same album year after year. Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills learned each other's instruments and frequently switched roles during the recording. Michael Stipe also partook in the new songwriting process. Instead of writing lyrics to go with completed songs as he had done on previous albums, he began writing the lyrics during or before the songwriting.

The band's new approach to recording led to different instrumentation from previous albums. The songs "You Are the Everything", "The Wrong Child" and "Hairshirt" were the first to feature Buck's mandolin, which would later become part of the band's signature sound. Buck also played the drums on the untitled final track of the album. Mills played keyboards on several songs, a role he would return to in subsequent albums. The song "Orange Crush" featured Stipe singing though a megaphone. He would later use the same technique in the world tour to promote the album. Several songs, "Pop Song 89", "Get Up" and "Stand" can be seen as quirky, R.E.M versions of commercial, upbeat pop.

R.E.M. began the album process by recording demos at Robbie Collins' Underground Sound Recording Studio in Athens, Georgia. Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills recorded the basic tracks in two configurations: (1) guitar, bass, and drums and (2) percussion, mandolin, and accordion. The demos were mixed by Robbie Collins, Buren Fowler (guitar tech for Pete Buck and later member of Drivin' & Cryin'), and David LaBruyere (later bassist for Vic Varney, Michelle Malone, and John Mayer) and presented to R.E.M. management. Michael Stipe used these recordings for his vocal arrangements.

The band recorded the studio album at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN with Scott Litt producing.

Reception

With warm critical reaction and the conversion of many new fans, Green ultimately went double-platinum in the U.S., reaching #12, and peaked at #27 in the UK. It was R.E.M.'s first gold album in the UK, making it their European breakthrough. The band would tour extensively in support of the album throughout 1989, before beginning work on 1991's Out of Time.

Packaging and artwork

The cover art was painted by New York City minimalist line painter Jon McCafferty. Promotional copies of the album were housed in a mauve, cloth-covered Digipack, with the title and artist debossed and a number "4" embossed over both of the "R"s. The color and texture are made to imitate tree bark.

The original pressings of the album and cassette tape covers had the number 4 spot varnished over the R in both "Green" and "R.E.M." In return, "R. Stand" appears instead of "4. Stand" on the track list on the back cover. Allegedly, this was a product of an early typing mistake: due to "4" being a number very close to "R" on the keyboard, "Green" was once misspelled "G4een", and the mistake was adopted this way. The album was the first by the band to feature printed lyrics, although only the lyrics to "World Leader Pretend" appeared.

Green is the first R.E.M. album to also be released in a special edition version, though it was only released as a promotional CD. R.E.M. would go on to create a special edition version of each subsequent album they released, with the exception of their final studio album—2011's Collapse into Now.

Although the title of the album is Green, the cover artwork to the LP is orange in color (this was changed to a lighter shade of yellow for some versions of the CD and cassette tape.) The reason for this is that, staring at the orange image for several seconds and then closing one's eyes causes a green negative image to appear. When viewed in this manner, the cover art appears to depict green grass.

Singleactiongreen, a box set containing several singles from Green, was released to promote the album.

Tour

The "Green" world tour began in 1989 and took place in arena-sized venues, with the first show of the tour taking place at Louisville, Kentucky's Louisville Gardens. The tour was much larger in scope than the "Work" tour that supported the previous album. This was especially true in venues outside of the United States due to Warner Brothers' ability to market the band overseas. On the final night of the 11-month trek to support Green, at the Fox Theater, in Atlanta, GA, the band performed their first full-length album, "Murmur," in order, from start to finish, followed by "Green," in order, from start to finish. The night was concluded by an encore set performed by "Mike & the Melons"--Michael Stipe fronting the road crew. It marked the only live performance of "The Wrong Child," and one of the few live performances of "Hairshirt." Having spent close to a year touring, the band decided not to tour in support of their subsequent two albums.

Some songs from Green—such as "Pop Song 89" and "Orange Crush"—had appeared occasionally on the "Work" tour in 1987. Though the lyrics were embryonic, the melodies and arrangements were similar to those that appeared on the finished record. Similarly, the band began playing versions of "Low" and "Belong" in the later part of the Green Tour, both of which would appear on their next album Out of Time.

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

Side one – "Air side"

1. "Pop Song 89" – 3:04
2. "Get Up" – 2:39
3. "You Are the Everything" – 3:41
4. "Stand" – 3:10
5. "World Leader Pretend" – 4:17
6. "The Wrong Child" – 3:36

Side two – "Metal side"

7. "Orange Crush" – 3:51
8. "Turn You Inside-Out" – 4:16
9. "Hairshirt" – 3:55
10. "I Remember California" – 4:59
11. "11" – 3:10

Track listing notes:

• On the vinyl release, R.E.M. labeled side one (tracks 1–6) as the "Air side" and side two (tracks 7–11) as the "Metal side."
• Track 4 ("Stand") is listed on the album as track "R."
• Track 11, unlisted on the back cover and unnamed on the disc, is copyrighted under the title, "11".^[5] It is listed on the iTunes Store as simply "Untitled".

Personnel

R.E.M.

• Bill Berry – drums, backing vocals, bass guitar on "You Are the Everything", "The Wrong Child", and "Hairshirt"
• Peter Buck – guitar, mandolin, drums on "Eleventh, Untitled Song"
• Mike Mills – bass guitar, keyboards, accordion, backing vocals
• Michael Stipe – vocals

Additional musicians

• Bucky Baxter – pedal steel guitar on "World Leader Pretend"
• Jane Scarpantoni – cello on "World Leader Pretend"
• Keith LeBlanc – percussion on "Turn You Inside-Out"

Production

• Bill Berry – production
• Peter Buck – production
• Thom Cadley – engineering (Bearsville)
• Jem Cohen – photography
• George Cowan – engineering (Bearsville)
• Jay Healy – engineering
• Tom Laune – engineering (Ardent)
• Scott Litt – production, engineering
• Bob Ludwig – mastering, at Masterdisk, New York City, New York, United States
• Jon McCafferty – packaging and photography
• Mike Mills – production
• Frank Olinsky and Manhattan Design – packaging
• Michael Stipe – production, packaging, and photography
• Michael Tighe – photography

Release history

In 2005, Warner Brothers Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Green which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, lyrics, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.

Green

Box sets

Chart performance

Album

Singles

Sales certifications

References

External links

• R.E.M.HQ on Green
• Green at Allmusic

• Green at Allmusic (DVD-Audio edition)

• Green at MusicBrainz