Search - Green River :: Dry As a Bone / Rehab Doll

Great Intro To Seattle Scene

eRgO | Washington, DC United States | 04/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD captures the early days of the Seattle "grunge" scene, which to me was just a hybird of metal and punk, infused with a 70s rock ideal (see classic Van Halen or The Stooges). Needless to say, in the late 80s and early 90s, this was refreshing stuff. Green River features members of Muhdhoney and Pearl Jam, but the music definitely sounds more like what Mudhoney would later produce. If you're a fan of later Pearl Jam recordings, don't purchase this on the grounds that PJ members were in it. But if you like sloppy, rocking, and heavy guitar rock, this is definitely for you."

I don't who invented "grunge", but this is still great stuff

Benjamin | AURORA, Colombia | 02/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Green River ... just the band's name alone conjures up fond memories for those who were there and for those of us who wish we had been there.Except possibly for the (early) Melvins, Green River was the most inventive hybrid hard rock band on certainly the Seattle scene, if not on the national scene. These two recordings, especially taken together, are sopping wet with ominous, threatening, in-your-face aggression and doom and gloom. Rife with both filthy punk vitriol and over the top 70's heavy metal pomposity, both mini-albums assualt the listener mercilessly, from one second to the next, literally.Steeped in what sound like Hells' Angels-esque Black Sabbath and Motorhead tributory (and celebratory) riffs, and with enough pent-up and pumped-up blues angst to make John Lee Hooker's head spin, you might wonder what twisted, demented roadhouse these boys crawled out of. There is so much darkness and mayhem within each song, it is almost overwhelming. After all, what could you expect from a group named after the fog-shrouded spawning ground of America's most prolific serial killer?"This Town" is almost amazing in itself. It should be Green River's aural manifesto, had it not been for the preceding EP "Come on Down". As such, it is full of what made this band so great - the unrelenting, complex (for a garage band) melding of punk, metal, and white boy blues. Mark Arm has never sounded so angry and suicidal."P.C.C" is overblown metal at its best. The lyrics are disturbing and comical at the same time."Ozzie" is a stroke of genius. From the quirky opening sample of what sounds like some 1940's Humphrey Bogart film to Arm's ear-numbing werewolf impersonations, it is a testament to the band's disturbingly skewed take on the art of rock n roll, as they try to get into the head of the serial murderer who had just started to gain infamy in 1980's Seattle. Great solo, too."Unwind" is without a doubt the most original blues update I have ever heard from any group of guys of European-American descent. What starts as an apparent tongue-in-cheek blues reference smolders and then detonates with Arm's decapitated growl. Stone Gossard is absolutely brilliant throughout this CD, and this track especially is his showcase. Amazing."Forever Means" is probably my favorite Green River song. This one track is probably the pinnacle of everything the band stood for - all of the rock hybridization that would become synonymous with early 90's Seattle rolled seamlessly into 4 minutes and 20 seconds of screeching, cathartic, buzzsaw bliss. Nihilistic rock at its finest. Absolutely incredible."Swallow My Pride" is almost just as good, with a sexy female vocal to boot. One of the best songs of personal and sexual alienation I have ever heard."Porkfist" is perhaps what Motorhead would have sounded like if they traded the moors of England for the evergreen forests of the Pac Northwest. Jeff's inventive, proto-funky bass lines keep this one thrumming and thumping. Sounds like early Soundgarden, or should that be the other way around? (No disrespect to Soundgarden, also one of the greatest, or to their fans).The rest of the tracks are not as groundbreaking, but still distortion pedals full of fun. Stone and Bruce's (Fairweather) guitars blister white hot, churning up the air like a chainsaw blade. Mark screams bloody murder lyrics like no one else before or after him, making Johnny Rotten and Stiv Bators nearly pale in comparison. Jeff's bass is unobtrusive on all the tracks, but really shines on the above, as well as "Take a Dive".So, no. Mudhoney or Pearl Jam this most assuredly is not. For a start, Green River was much more complex musically and interesting than Arm's later aspirations and is far more punky and aggressive than PJ. This is is rock history on laser-inscribed plastic and it is a great, great listen from start to finish. Hugely influential and original at the time, the band's members took chunks of Green River with them. Mark brought the aggression, attitude, "grunge", and atonal catterwalling to Mudhoney. Stone and Jeff brought their complex craftsmanship, impeccable teamwork, and adoration of 70's rock to Mother Love Bone, and later - you guessed it - to a little ol' band some of us have heard of called Pearl Jam."

A must have

Gregory M Klumb | Oshkosh, WI USA | 11/25/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If it weren't for Mudhoney, I would give this five stars. Grunge at its best. It sounds like it was recorded in a garage and that is the heart of this album."