Zinc – The Green Album
| Zinc - The Green Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Eddie Jobson | ||||
| Released | 1983 | |||
| Recorded | 1982-83 | |||
| Genre | Synthpop, progressive rock, electronic | |||
| Length | 46:21 | |||
| Label | Capitol/EMI | |||
| Producer | Eddie Jobson | |||
| Eddie Jobson chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Green Album is a 1983 album by English musician Eddie Jobson,[1] former member of Roxy Music, who had also played with Curved Air, Frank Zappa, UK, and Jethro Tull. Jobson performs keyboards, violins, and vocals on the album, the only time he sang lead (even though he had backing vocals with both Roxy Music and Zappa). It features ex-Gentle Giant guitarist Gary Green on some tracks[2] along with other musicians loosely referred to as "Zinc". The album was re-released on CD during the 1990s by One Way Records but is now out of print.[3]
The album features a mostly synthesiser based synthpop / progressive rock sound and is a concept album of sorts, with the lyrics centring on a somewhat Orwellian dystopic future society where everything is tinted green. At the end of the song "Listen to Reason" Jobson sings the line "Green is now, Pink is next". However, no "Pink Album" was ever recorded, even if it was planned.[4] Jobson instead went on to record the album Theme of Secrets on the Private Music label. Demo versions of "Easy for You to Say", "Listen to Reason" and "Green Face" have been leaked to the public, and appear on some bootlegs.[5] "Nostalgia" and "Walking from Pastel" were included (although in slightly different versions) in UK's last tour and do appear on some bootlegs.
A videoclip for "Turn it Over" was shot and broadcast. The bass on the videoclip was mimed by bassist Doug Lunn, who doesn't actually play on the album.[6]
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Allmusic gave the album a mixed retrospective review, deeming it "an honest effort of when-prog rock-meets-synth pop", but criticizing the lyrics as uniformly poor. They commented that the album seems to run out of ideas in the second half, but were pleased with the first half, marking the tracks "Green Face" and "Resident" as "two of the best synth pop songs produced in that era."[1]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Eddie Jobson.
| Side one | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "Transporter" | 1:11 |
| 2. | "Resident" | 6:01 |
| 3. | "Easy For You To Say" | 4:07 |
| 4. | "Prelude" | 2:30 |
| 5. | "Nostalgia" | 2:27 |
| 6. | "Walking from Pastel" | 2:07 |
| 7. | "Turn It Over" | 4:15 |
| Side two | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 8. | "Green Face" | 4:22 |
| 9. | "Who My Friends..." | 6:31 |
| 10. | "Colour Code" | 1:05 |
| 11. | "Listen to Reason" | 5:56 |
| 12. | "Through the Glass" | 6:03 |
| 13. | "Transporter II" | 0:22 |
Personnel
- Eddie Jobson – vocals, keyboards, electric violin, vocoder
- Michael Barsimanto – drums (2,3,8,11,12)
- Jerry Watts – bass (2,5,9,11,12)
- Alon Oleartchik – bass (3,7,8,11)
- Nick Moroch – guitar (2,3,8,9)
- Michael Cuneo – guitar (2,9,11,12)
- Gary Green – guitar (11,12)
- Cary Sharaf – guitar (7)
Production
- Arranged & Produced By Eddie Jobson
- Recorded & Engineered By Ray Bardani, Clay Hutchinson, Ron Cote, Paul Mandl, & Richard Hilton
References
- 1 2 3 Zinc – The Green Album at AllMusic
- ↑ http://dogandpanda.com/production/jobsongreen.html
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Green-Album-Eddie-Jobson/dp/B000002R9U
- ↑ http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/ronc/itdon/si-wan/jobson.html
- ↑ http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~rm2t-smt/html/livesource/uk/asiaafteruk.htm
- ↑ http://toombsnow.biz/downloads/jobson.pdf