Green Mind
{{For|the song by Dink|Dink (band)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Green Mind
| type = Album
| artist = Dinosaur Jr.
| cover = DinosaurJrGreenMind.jpg
| alt =
| released = February 19, 1991
| recorded = 1990–1991
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Alternative rock
| length = 41:14
| label = Blanco y Negro/Sire
| producer = J Mascis
| prev_title = Bug
| prev_year = 1988
| next_title = Fossils
| next_year = 1991
| misc = {{Singles
| name = Green Mind
| type = Studio album
| single1 = The Wagon
| single1date = 1990
}}
}}
Green Mind is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr., released in 1991.{{cite news |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Hilburn |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-09-ca-677-story.html |title=Extinct, It's Not |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=June 9, 1991 |access-date=July 2, 2020}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_eKBAAAQBAJ&q=Green+Mind+dinosaur+jr+1991&pg=PA86|title=Gimme Indie Rock|first=Andrew|last=Earles|date=September 15, 2014|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=9781627883795|via=Google Books}} It was the band's first release after bassist Lou Barlow's departure, as well as the first released by a major label.{{cite web |last1=Robbins |first1=Ira |last2=Gehr |first2=Richard |last3=Aswad |first3=Jem |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/dinosaur/ |title=Dinosaur |website=Trouser Press |access-date=July 2, 2020}} 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).
The cover photograph depicting a child smoking a cigarette, Priscilla, Jones Beach, 1969, is by Joseph Szabo{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/apr/14/joseph-szabo-portraits-of-adolescence-untethered-michael-hoppen-gallery |title=Dazed and confused: Joseph Szabo's portraits of adolescence – in pictures |newspaper=The Guardian |date=April 14, 2017 |access-date=April 16, 2017}} and taken from his book of photographs Almost Grown.
"Turnip Farm" is also featured in the film Reality Bites.
Critical reception
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |last=Thomas |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Thomas (rock musician) |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/green-mind-mw0000266649 |title=Green Mind – Dinosaur Jr. |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=August 31, 2011}}
| rev2 = Chicago Tribune
| rev2score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite news |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/03/21/dinosaur-jrgreen-mind-sire-starstarstarstarsurrounding-his-wan/ |title=Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind (Sire) |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 21, 1991 |access-date=May 1, 2017}}
| rev3 = Christgau's Consumer Guide
| rev3score = B{{cite book |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |chapter=Dinosaur Jr: Green Mind |chapter-url=https://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1034 |access-date=May 1, 2017 |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s |title-link=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |year=2000 |isbn=0-312-24560-2 |page=82}}
| rev4 = The Philadelphia Inquirer
| rev4score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news |last=Moon |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Moon |title=Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind (Sire/Warner Bros.) |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=March 10, 1991}}
| rev5 = Pitchfork
| rev5score = 7.1/10{{cite web |last=Harvell |first=Jess |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11871-green-mind-where-you-been-j-mascis-live-at-cbgbs-the-first-acoustic-show/ |title=Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind / Where You Been / J Mascis Live at CBGB's: The First Acoustic Show |website=Pitchfork |date=May 19, 2006 |access-date=August 31, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204194605/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11871-green-mind-where-you-been-j-mascis-live-at-cbgbs-the-first-acoustic-show/ |archive-date=February 4, 2024 |url-status=live}}
| rev6 = Q
| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |last=Kay |first=Graeme |title=Dinosaur Jr.: Green Mind |magazine=Q |issue=55 |date=April 1991 |page=68}}
| rev7 = Rolling Stone
| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |last=Sinclair |first=Tom |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/green-mind-187527/ |title=Green Mind |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=June 27, 1991 |access-date=August 31, 2011}}
| rev8 = Select
| rev8score = 4/5{{cite magazine |last=Linehan |first=Graham |author-link=Graham Linehan |title=A Blast of the Real Dino-Mite |magazine=Select |issue=9 |date=March 1991 |page=68}}
| rev9 = Sounds
| rev9score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite magazine |last=Traitor |first=Ralph |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Sounds/90s/Sounds-1991-02-16-S-OCR.pdf |title=Pre-History Man |magazine=Sounds |date=February 16, 1991 |access-date=May 17, 2024 |page=38}}
| rev10 = Uncut
| rev10score = 8/10{{cite magazine |last=Deusner |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Deusner |title=Dinosaur Jr: Green Mind / Where You Been / Without a Sound / Hand It Over |magazine=Uncut |issue=270 |date=November 2019 |page=39}}
}}
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." 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". Ralph Traitor of Sounds declared that "Dinosaur Jr have given us two great sides of born innocent modern punk", while Graeme Kay commented in Q that Green Mind should "consolidate their reputation as purveyors of quality hardcore." 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."
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". 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."{{cite magazine |last=Maconie |first=Stuart |author-link=Stuart Maconie |title=Mind the Crap |magazine=NME |date=February 23, 1991 |page=32}} Robert Christgau considered Mascis more effective as an instrumentalist than as a vocalist.
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." Pitchfork{{'}}s Jess Harvell observed that while "the music is just a step on from where Dino had arrived at on Bug{{nbsp}}... 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." Stephen Deusner, reviewing for Uncut, noted that the "casual guitar jangle" of Green Mind emphasized the pop elements of Mascis's songwriting, while Drowned in Sound{{'}}s Chris Power remarked on the "expansiveness" of Green Mind and its 1993 follow-up Where You Been.{{cite web |last=Power |first=Chris |url=https://drownedinsound.com/releases/14468/reviews/4137176- |title=Album Review: Dinosaur Jr. – Farm |website=Drowned in Sound |date=June 25, 2009 |access-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119120319/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14468/reviews/4137176- |archive-date=January 19, 2018 |url-status=live}}
Track listing
All songs written by J Mascis, except where noted.
{{track listing
| total_length = 41:14
| title1 = The Wagon
| length1 = 4:53
| title2 = Puke + Cry
| length2 = 4:27
| title3 = Blowing It
| length3 = 2:43
| title4 = I Live for That Look
| length4 = 1:56
| title5 = Flying Cloud
| length5 = 2:35
| title6 = How'd You Pin That One on Me
| length6 = 4:23
| title7 = Water
| length7 = 5:38
| title8 = Muck
| length8 = 4:15
| title9 = Thumb
| length9 = 5:38
| title10 = Green Mind
| length10 = 4:56
}}
{{track listing
| collapsed =
| headline = Bonus tracks (2006 Re-release)
| title11 = Hot Burrito #2
| writer11 = Chris Ethridge, Gram Parsons
| note11 = Bonus track on 2006 re-release
| length11 = 3:22
| title12 = Turnip Farm
| writer12 = J Mascis, Kurt Fedora
| note12 = Bonus track on 2006 re-release
| length12 = 5:51
| title13 = Forget It
| note13 = Bonus track on 2006 re-release
| length13 = 4:07
}}
{{track listing
| collapsed =
| headline = B-sides & Singles (2019 2CD Deluxe Expanded Reissue){{Cite web|url=https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/dinosaur-jr-green-mind-2cd-deluxe-expanded-edition/|title=Dinosaur Jr: Green Mind, 2CD Deluxe Expanded Edition}}
| title11 = Pebbles + Weeds
| note11 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
| title12 = The Little Baby
| note12 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
| title13 = Not You Again
| note13 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
| title14 = Quicksand (Wagon Reprise)
| note14 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
| title15 = Throw Down
| note15 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
| title16 = Whatever's Cool With Me
| note16 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
| title17 = Sideways
| note17 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
| title18 = The Wagon (7" DJ Edit)
| note18 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release
}}
{{track listing
| collapsed =
| headline = CD 2: Live in Hollywood 1991 (2019 2CD Deluxe Expanded Reissue)
| title19 = The Lung
| note19 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title20 = Water
| note20 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title21 = The Wagon
| note21 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title22 = Keep The Glove
| note22 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title23 = Blowing It/I Live For That Look
| note23 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title24 = Tarpit
| note24 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title25 = Kracked
| note25 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title26 = Freak Scene
| note26 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title27 = Thumb
| note27 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title28 = They Always Come
| note28 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title29 = Budge
| note29 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title30 = Sludgefeast
| note30 = Bonus track on 2019 re-release, previously unreleased. Live from Hollywood Palladium, June 14th, 1991.
| title31 = Thumb
| note31 = Live B-Side
| title32 = Keep The Glove
| note32 = Live B-Side
| title33 = The Lung
| note33 = Live B-Side
| title34 = The Post
| note34 = Live B-Side
}}
Personnel
;Dinosaur Jr.
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
Album - Billboard (United States)
| border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 width="550px"
!align="left"|Year !align="left"|Chart !align="left"|Position |
| align="left"|1991
|align="left"|The Billboard 200 |align="left"|168 |
Singles - Billboard (United States)
| border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 width="550"
!align="left" valign="top"|Year !align="left" valign="top"|Single !align="left" valign="top"|Chart !align="left" valign="top"|Position |
| align="left" valign="top"|1991
|align="left" valign="top"|"The Wagon" |align="left" valign="top"|Modern Rock Tracks |align="left" valign="top"|22 |
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Dinosaur Jr}}
{{Authority control}}