R.E.M. – GREEN
(WARNERS)
The sixth R.E.M.
studio album saw them making their major label debut after cleanly fulfilling
their contract with IRS. The band parted ways with the label due to
their frustration at overseas distribution.
Green was recorded in Memphis
In many ways this was
a real transition and bridging album.
With recording contract allowing/granting them complete creative control
there was probably sense of giving Warners what they wanted/paid for, not least
now being on a studio budget and longer time to achieve perfection.
The title Green exists
on many levels. The positive perception
is one of a flourishing mindset and environment while the negative was the
connotation of signing to a label and selling out in the name of money. Regardless of the apparent mixed messages of
the album title, set against a tough political climate with Bush Sr. sweeping the
polls the agenda was to write a positive set of songs with hope and the
intention to help people through. And on
that Green was released on 8 November 1988 the day George Bush was elected the forty
first president of America.
Green played host to
four singles: “Orange Crush”, “Stand”,
“Pop Song ’89” and “Get Up”. These are
solid songs not necessarily ideal or the norm with view to pushing a band. Before Nirvana coined
the attitude and mentality of having an alternative act having a radio friendly
unit shifter, R.E.M. was just as blunt in offering “Pop Song ‘89”, a clear
salutation in opening up their stall to a fresh market. As an album opener it’s placing it obvious. With a video feature sarcastic topless
dancing and bars covering nipples including Stipe’s he was heard to state that
it was a piss-take and hopefully the end of the pop song. If wishes were trees, trees would be falling. Imagine “Finest Worksong” filtered through
happy pills.
Hitting with big
statements both “World Leader Pretend” and “Stand”
serve as the political joints. The
former calmly acts as a verbal shake pointing digits at armchair politicians
while the latter in an altogether more bouncy form urges/encourages the
audience to get active. This was one of
the first non-pop R.E.M. songs I ever heard and it felt astounding.
“Dreams they
complicate my life”
Peter Buck moved onto
mandolin with this record. At one point
there was an idea of the album being half mandolin glory and half bubblegum
heavy metal. In the end the lines were
less defined. It is with “You Are The
Everything” that the fresh sound from the new instrument tangs most. Lines describing moments spent lost in
thought sat on the backseat of a car offer grand recollection, a healthy kind
of nostalgia with rare substance and value.
This is a summer evening song best served with the sun still bright and
surroundings still. Here is peace.
The crunch occurs
towards the end with “Orange Crush” and “Turn You Inside-Out”. The orange in question is Agent Orange as
used in the Vietnam War and as a military like exchange occurs beneath the song
the result is quite a dark one. This
was a song somewhat born from Stipe’s
father having being in the helicopter corps during the war. And in equally expansive measure the words of
“Turn You Inside-Out” expresses the power the band felt in its hands from
becoming stadium rock. It’s a chilling
statement of the damage they could do.
“I Remember California
Green serves solid if
not superior.
Thesaurus moment:
titivate.
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