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Green Mind

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Green Mind
Studio album by
Dinosaur Jr.
ReleasedFebruary 19, 1991
Recorded1990–1991
GenreAlternative rock
Length41:14
LabelBlanco y Negro/Sire
ProducerJ Mascis
Dinosaur Jr. chronology
Bug
(1988) 		Green Mind
(1991) 		Fossils
(1991)
Singles from Green Mind
  1. "The Wagon"
    Released: 1990

Green Mind is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr., released in 1991.[1][2] It was the band's first release after bassist Lou Barlow's departure, as well as the first released by a major label.[3] The record is close to being a J Mascis solo album: he played most of the instruments, with founding drummer Murph only featuring on three tracks (1, 7 and 9).[4]

The cover photograph depicting a child smoking a cigarette, Priscilla, Jones Beach, 1969, is by Joseph Szabo[5] and taken from his book of photographs Almost Grown.

"Turnip Farm" is also featured in the film Reality Bites.

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Chicago Tribune[7]
Christgau's Consumer GuideB[8]
The Philadelphia Inquirer[9]
Pitchfork7.1/10[10]
Q[4]
Rolling Stone[11]
Select4/5[12]
Sounds[13]
Uncut8/10[14]

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Tom Sinclair said that compared to Dinosaur Jr.'s previous album Bug (1988), Green Mind "sounds every bit as energetic and full-blooded" despite much of the record being performed solely by Mascis, whose guitar playing, Sinclair remarked, "will bowl over even confirmed louder-is-better zealots."[11] Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot found that the album revealed Mascis to be "a craftsmanlike songwriter and arranger" with "one of rock's most unusual sensibilities—the bewildered couch potato".[7] Ralph Traitor of Sounds declared that "Dinosaur Jr have given us two great sides of born innocent modern punk",[13] while Graeme Kay commented in Q that Green Mind should "consolidate their reputation as purveyors of quality hardcore."[4] Tom Moon, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, noted that, "while the solos include some brilliantly snarling episodes, it is the remarkably restrained rhythm parts that fully reveal Mascis' unorthodox approach."[9]

Graham Linehan was more reserved in his praise, calling Green Mind "a relief, not a bolt from the sky" in his review for Select and finding that Dinosaur Jr. had yet to make a "masterpiece".[12] In NME, Stuart Maconie deemed the album "under-done" at times but concluded that the band "remain a fascinating oddment in rock's haberdashery", playing "grunge with feeling and added cleverness."[15] Robert Christgau considered Mascis more effective as an instrumentalist than as a vocalist.[8]

Writing in retrospect for AllMusic, Fred Thomas opined that Green Mind "ushered in the version of Dinosaur Jr. that would live out the rest of the '90s, with Mascis' lyrical language of slang and vaguities hemming him into a lonely stoner figure and the warm-but-distant tone of the songwriting exposing an enormous debt to Neil Young for the first time in the band's catalog."[6] Pitchfork's Jess Harvell observed that while "the music is just a step on from where Dino had arrived at on Bug ... throughout the album, Mascis' solos become more controlled bursts of classic rock, less spirals off the dirt track into the ditch of fuzz and mud."[10] Stephen Deusner, reviewing for Uncut, noted that the "casual guitar jangle" of Green Mind emphasized the pop elements of Mascis's songwriting,[14] while Drowned in Sound's Chris Power remarked on the "expansiveness" of Green Mind and its 1993 follow-up Where You Been.[16]

Track listing

[edit]

All songs written by J Mascis, except where noted.

No.TitleLength
1."The Wagon"4:53
2."Puke + Cry"4:27
3."Blowing It"2:43
4."I Live for That Look"1:56
5."Flying Cloud"2:35
6."How'd You Pin That One on Me"4:23
7."Water"5:38
8."Muck"4:15
9."Thumb"5:38
10."Green Mind"4:56
Total length:41:14
Bonus tracks (2006 Re-release)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Hot Burrito #2" (Bonus track on 2006 re-release)Chris Ethridge, Gram Parsons3:22
12."Turnip Farm" (Bonus track on 2006 re-release)J Mascis, Kurt Fedora5:51
13."Forget It" (Bonus track on 2006 re-release) 4:07
B-sides & Singles (2019 2CD Deluxe Expanded Reissue)[17]
No.TitleLength
11."Pebbles + Weeds" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
12."The Little Baby" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
13."Not You Again" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
14."Quicksand (Wagon Reprise)" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
15."Throw Down" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
16."Whatever's Cool With Me" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
17."Sideways" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
18."The Wagon (7" DJ Edit)" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release) 
CD 2: Live in Hollywood 1991 (2019 2CD Deluxe Expanded Reissue)[17]
No.TitleLength
19."The Lung" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
20."Water" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
21."The Wagon" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
22."Keep The Glove" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
23."Blowing It/I Live For That Look" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
24."Tarpit" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
25."Kracked" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
26."Freak Scene" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
27."Thumb" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
28."They Always Come" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
29."Budge" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
30."Sludgefeast" (Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.) 
31."Thumb" (Live B-Side) 
32."Keep The Glove" (Live B-Side) 
33."The Lung" (Live B-Side) 
34."The Post" (Live B-Side) 

Personnel

[edit]
Dinosaur Jr.
  • J Mascis - vocals, guitar, bass, drums, producer
  • Murph - drums (tracks 1, 7, 9)

with:

  • Joe Harvard - guitar, tape (track 8)
  • Jay Spiegel - large drum, tambourine (track 5), tom-tom (track 1)
  • Don Fleming - guitar, backing vocals (track 1), acoustic bass (track 5)
  • Sean Slade - engineer, mellotron (tracks 7, 9)
  • Tom Walters - assistant engineer
  • Matt Dillon - backing vocals (track 11)

Charts

[edit]

Album - Billboard (United States)

Year Chart Position
1991 The Billboard 200 168

Singles - Billboard (United States)

Year Single Chart Position
1991 "The Wagon" Modern Rock Tracks 22

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Hilburn, Robert (June 9, 1991). "Extinct, It's Not". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  2. ^ Earles, Andrew (September 15, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781627883795 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Robbins, Ira; Gehr, Richard; Aswad, Jem. "Dinosaur". Trouser Press. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Kay, Graeme (April 1991). "Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind". Q. No. 55. p. 68.
  5. ^ "Dazed and confused: Joseph Szabo's portraits of adolescence – in pictures". The Guardian. April 14, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Thomas, Fred. "Green Mind – Dinosaur Jr". AllMusic. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  7. ^ a b Kot, Greg (March 21, 1991). "Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind (Sire)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (2000). "Dinosaur Jr: Green Mind". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 82. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  9. ^ a b Moon, Tom (March 10, 1991). "Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind (Sire/Warner Bros.)". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  10. ^ a b Harvell, Jess (May 19, 2006). "Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind / Where You Been / J Mascis Live at CBGB's: The First Acoustic Show". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  11. ^ a b Sinclair, Tom (June 27, 1991). "Green Mind". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  12. ^ a b Linehan, Graham (March 1991). "A Blast of the Real Dino-Mite". Select. No. 9. p. 68.
  13. ^ a b Traitor, Ralph (February 16, 1991). "Pre-History Man" (PDF). Sounds. p. 38. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Deusner, Stephen (November 2019). "Dinosaur Jr: Green Mind / Where You Been / Without a Sound / Hand It Over". Uncut. No. 270. p. 39.
  15. ^ Maconie, Stuart (February 23, 1991). "Mind the Crap". NME. p. 32.
  16. ^ Power, Chris (June 25, 2009). "Album Review: Dinosaur Jr. – Farm". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Dinosaur Jr: Green Mind, 2CD Deluxe Expanded Edition".
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