By Sean O’Hagen
12.24.88
New Musical Express
Horses
As a rule, the things people won’t talk about are usually the most interesting/revealing aspects of their self. Today, Michael Stipe is reluctant to talk about his childhood.
Were you a weird kid, Michael?
“Erm. I wrote backwards right up until sixth grade. Perfect mirror image.”
That’s pretty weird…..
“It’s quite common among left handers. [...]
By Andy Gill
12.14.88
Q Magazine
4 stars
It wasn’t all that long ago that R.E.M. furnished us with the out-takes and B-sides collection Dead Letter Office; it’s some measure of what football pundits might call their strength in depth that they can now dip with greater consideration into their past to offer us a well-judged, appropriate Greatest Hits [...]
By Jeff Tamarkin
12.02.88
CMJ Magazine
The cover of Green is, of course, orange, which tells you as much as anything can about R.E.M.’s willingness to stick to rules. No, if going to the majors was supposed to turn R.E.M. into a bunch of self-important musical behemoths, if their breakaway record was supposed to turn them into Athens’ [...]