R.E.M. - Green (1988) (DVD-Audio ISO) [2005]

As far as major-label debuts by underground bands go, Green is fairly uncompromising. While it displays a more powerful guitar sound on "Get Up," "Turn You Inside Out," and "Orange Crush," it also takes more detours than Document, whether it's the bizarrely affecting contemporary folk of "The Wrong Child" and "You Are the Everything," the bubblegum of "Stand" and "Pop Song 89," or the introspection of the lovely "Hairshirt" and "World Leader Pretend." But instead of presenting a portrait of a band with a rich, eclectic vision, Green is incoherent. While its best moments are flat-out great, the band has bitten off more than it can chew; many of the songs sound like failed experiments, and its arena-ready production now sounds slightly dated. Nevertheless, half of the record is brilliant, and it certainly indicates that R.E.M. are continuing to diversify their sound. [Green was reissued as part of Warner's 2005 R.E.M. reissue series. Each album was presented in a double-disc digipack, containing a CD on the first disc and a DVD-A version of the album on the second. The DVD for Green includes a 5.1 Surround mix of the album, a "video documentary," lyrics, a photo gallery, and a preview of the Tourfilm DVD, including two live songs, but none of the promo videos from the album.]


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





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