Historians can argue if
Green River were well and truly the first grunge band, but of the groups that emerged on the Seattle underground in the '80s, they were the first that successfully blended the key ingredients of punk attitude, hard rock guitars, heavy metal low end, and a dash of garage rock snark for seasoning. While
Green River made their recorded debut with the 1985 EP Come on Down, their second 12-inch, 1987's
Dry as a Bone, sounded tougher and livelier, and they seemed to have better worked out the proportions of their influences (which was ultimately as important as the ingredients themselves). Where Come on Down often seemed sludgy and out of focus, the five songs on
Dry as a Bone hit their targets with greater force, and the snarl of Mark Arm's vocals was better integrated into their arrangements. Bruce Fairweather's and
Stone Gossard's guitars gained a degree of bombast that hasn't aged especially well (especially on "Baby Takes" and "P.C.C."), but Fairweather is a better fit for this band's more metallic side than
Steve Turner was on Come on Down (he would show his greatest skills later on in
Mudhoney), and bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Alex Vincent aren't afraid to hit hard and draw sweat.
Green River's greatest flaw was their habit of sounding like they were trying a bit too hard -- it's clear that some of these guys already had arena-sized ambitions that they had not learned how to temper -- but as an exercise in both snarl and swagger,
Dry as a Bone still connects, and was a solid calling card for the group's talents. [In 2019, Sub Pop released a remastered and expanded edition of
Dry as a Bone that took it from a five-song EP playing under 20 minutes to a 16-song behemoth running more than three times that length. Along with the original
Dry as a Bone tracks, the package includes two outtakes from the same sessions, another track that appeared on Sub Pop's 1990 two-fer CD of
Dry as a Bone and
Rehab Doll, two tracks from a rare single, three more tunes from the 1986 Seattle anthology album Deep Six, and three more unreleased performance. For the most part, this material plays better in short bursts than in one marathon session, but if you're a serious
Green River obsessive, this disc gathers a whole lot of relevant material in one convenient release, and Jack Endino's remastering and audio restoration is excellent, making this the definitive look at a wildly influential band in the Seattle music community.] ~ Mark Deming