Green River - Rehab Doll/Dry As a Bone

Before alternative sucked. Album Description

 Take Me Down Green River
Green River rocks and if you don't like it, then you don't know how to. Grunge guitar, soaring vocals, heavy bass and flipped out lyrics. This stuff made me crazy in my bedroom, when I listened to it.
It's who Nirvana ripped off and they are on the same label that Soundgarden started from. Rehab Doll, Swallow My Pride, Unwind, classic tracks that nobody can do anymore. This band started something and never got credit for it, but they didn't care they just loved getting down. November 25, 2007

 Angsty unpolished seattle punk at its best
Whilst certainly not for everybody, Mark Arm's Stoogesque vocals on Dry As A Bone/Rehab Doll certainly make this record unique and showcase his talent at being able to take any serious matter and present it as a laughing matter. But the record is by far a joke, planting the seeds for the 'grunge movement' its themes of troublesome sex and relationships, drugs, having nothing to do...all embrace the 'teen spirit' later seen in other acts at the same time. Arm's voice at this age is sure better than his more well known comrad Kurt. Arm even manages to get some trademark screaming in. Gossard, Ament and Fairweather seem to be on top form but much looser and raw than in their later projects. Vincent does a good job on drums but I'm not really an expert in drum playing so all I can say is it goes along very well with the job everyone else does. Jack Endino's production on the record is second to none and as always encapsulates the dirty mood all his early mixes give. If you're a Mudhoney, early Soundgarden, Stooges or even Mother Love Bone fan I am sure this record is for you. Pearl Jam fans, don't expect an acoustic well polished masterpiece of an album, this is far from it, but it's a great history lesson. If you want to know the grass roots of the 'Seattle Sound' get this, along with perhaps The Fluid, early Soundgarden, Skin Yard and some U-Men. April 14, 2007

 There ain't nothing good about this mush

Bad, bad, bad. And I don't mean that in a good way. Green River may have been credited as starting Grunge, but they really are nothing more than a sludgy mess without a hook or a prayer. Grunge is just an excuse to sound like sh*t and mope. It's amazing that Pearl Jam was bore of the ashes from this awful band. By the way, that reminds me: Go buy Ten or Vs. instead.
May 30, 2005

 I agree with Rebecca from Canada
This album is OK but not great. It has flashes of greatness, but is all over the map as far as consistency goes. The cover they do of Bowie's "Queen Bitch" is awesome, and just might be the best thing Mark Arm ever did musically. Some of the original material, however, is a bit overbearing and almost self-mocking.

Knowing the sort of humor some of these guys would later go on to display in their future projects, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that they were indeed trying to do a send-up of contemporary rock music at the time. Perhaps Stone and Jeff were serious when they wrote the music to "Rehab Doll", "One More Stitch" and "Together We'll Never", and they got upset when Arm turned took those riffs and put his over-the-top demented screeching and laughable Cave-esque dirge lyrics over them, and perhaps that's why the band broke up.

Whatever, I'm glad they did because I think Mudhoney was miles better than this. The songs I did like on this album, aside from the aforementioned Bowie cover, were the stooge-like "Unwind", "PCC", and the anthemic "Swallow My Pride", which may have actually been a Steve Turner song, I'm not sure.

This album is more of an historical document rather than an active part of one's record collection, and is as notable for the ridiculous looking band photos in the liner as it is for the music. Buy it used. December 18, 2004

 The Beginning of Grunge.
People from pearl jam and mother love bone are in this band. The cd is great. I liked it the first time I heard it. It's definately worth checking out. This band is a huge piece of grunge. They deserve just as much respect as Soundgarden, Mudhoney, and The Gits. If you don't like punk, then you might not like it. How could you not like punk? This takes it one step further. It's something many bands weren't able to do. They didn't sell out. Yet, they have all the raw energy and attitude that rock is. I'm surprised Pearl Jam doesn't have these guys jump on stage to do few tunes at their shows. That would be great! June 17, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...