R.E.M. - Green

I have nothing but respect for what R.E.M. has accomplished. It wouldn't even cross my mind to think that I will ever be as influential, respected, or important as even a hair on Michael Stipe & company's heads. This, however, doesn't change the fact that Automatic For The People aside, I have yet to be all that impressed with any musical release they've put out.

Still, Green offered up a couple of songs I thought I had something to say about. First of all, there's "Stand," which is just so pervasively everywhere (including playing at least once per day at work), that it's sometimes hard to remember that it's a decent, catchy tune. Then there's "Orange Crush," which is just so pervasively everywhere (including playing at least once per day at work), that I find myself too irritated by it to bother looking into its serious, fairly intense subject matter.

I gave "The Wrong Child" a few listens before making up my mind about it. For awhile, I was considering quite liking it, considering the fact that it's got such a unique sound to it. Then, on the third listen, I realized that I didn't like the sound.

The best song on the album is "You Are The Everything." It's got this celtic/east coast kind of flavour to it, with a decent hook, and an overall distinctiveness that overcomes the overly R.E.M.-ness of the rest of the album.

I'm not saying that if R.E.M. showed up at my door, I wouldn't ask them for an autograph. I'm just saying that I would have to get them to sign a Post-It, because I won't have any of their albums lying around my house.