GREEN
Drawing his initial inspiration from a bipolar quartet of influences — the Kinks, Small Faces, Prince and Motown — Chicago singer/guitarist Jeff Lescher has been the mainstay of the group Green since the mid-’80s. An ace pop songwriter with a knack for assessing the ups and downs of romance without malice, he possesses a phenomenal voice that can shift between stirring pop-rock singing, an ear-pinning shriek and a gospelly falsetto.
On the debut EP (a four-song 7-inch) entitled THE NAME OF THIS GROUP IS GREEN, the trio overcomes rudimentary production values to skirt nostalgia and introduce Lescher’s mix of ’60s Anglo-melodicism (“Gotta Getta Record Out,” “Better Way”), punky rock (“Not Going Down (Anymore)”) and soul (“I Don’t Wanna Say No”). Amateurish but inspired.
Remakes of those songs join ten new ones on GREEN, an inadequately produced but brilliant collection of weirdly derivative originals played with spirit and power. Occasionally pedestrian lyrics (as on “Big in Japan”) don’t interfere with the rugged pop tunes, a uniquely energetic pairing of Merseybeat and punk. “She’s Not a Little Girl” seemingly takes its chorus straight out of the Hollies songbook; “Technology” employs a catchy Bolanesque bop; “For You” and “Curry Your Favor” are ballads that display a tender, sensitive side. “I Play the Records” introduces the group’s Princely side, while “She, Probably” is achingly beautiful.
With a new rhythm section consisting of Ken Kurson (bass/vocals) and Rich Clifton (drums), the group’s second album ELAINE MACKENZIE improves the ambition and results on all fronts and sports a neat cover painting by Lescher. It was produced by Green and released by Pravda Records in 1987. Upon it’s release, glowing reviews ensued from several rock critics (who seemed to be tripping over one other in an effort to stake claim to discovering the band). PopCulturePress extols the virtues of the album remarking that “By Elaine MacKenzie, Lescher had found his voice, and it remains a mystery why Material Issue and The Posies are fixed in the collective memory as the era’s prime bands when Green was offering up such frothy guitar pop as ‘She’s An Addiction’ and the riff-happy ‘Up All Night,’ which could’ve been a nice mod-rocker in the hands of Steve Marriott.” Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune described the album as “a minor masterpiece.” Away From the Pulsebeat magazine’s review proclaimed, “Best American band, best songwriter, best singer, best LP. Sweep year.”
ELAINE MACKENZIE was followed by the “REM” 7-inch, the necessary response to R.E.M.’s GREEN album. This release represented an expansion of the ambition displayed on ELAINE MACKENZIE and their self-titled debut. The slower tempos and more considered arrangements of “My Tears Are Dry” and “Love On Thin Air” show a band that’s maturing but without losing any of the manic energy of their previous releases. It also got them a mention on MTV News and a shout-out by Peter Buck on Chicago radio.
Hooking up with a Dutch label and a new drummer (Mark Mosher), Green released another great collection of memorable romantic pop songs. WHITE SOUL (which, ironically, downplays the group’s R&B side) benefits from two significant steps forward: improved production quality and the consistency and maturity of Lescher’s songwriting. Subtle emotions and striking melodies fill simply executed gems like “She’s Heaven,” “Night After Night,” “Monique, Monique” and “I Know.” Kurson’s boppy “My Sister Jane” is a delightful pop-punk vestige of his hardcore background, but it was his swan song with the group.
The group’s first release with ex-Slammin’ Watusis bassist Clay Tomasek in the lineup, the BITTERSWEET ep consolidates all of Lescher’s stylistic impulses into five fine new songs. The ’60s-soul title track gambles with lush strings and horns but laces it all up with a spectacular vocal; “I’ll Have Her” is alluring pop; the brutish hard-rock guitars and punky backing cheers of “Maybe UR Right” are topped off with an inveigling Kinksy melody and Gary Numan synth for a really strange effect. Lescher unloads his professional frustrations in “The Record Company Song,” a wry torrent of regret (“I’ll do anything you ask/My will is broke and I’m tired and sad”) set to a catchy rock tune.
At that point, the indie-label stalwarts — Lescher, Tomasek, and Mosher (all of them inexplicably dressed in drag on the cover) — moved onto a bigger small record company and made THE POP TARTS with Chicago studio hound Iain Burgess, a keyboard-playing guest and a horn duo. The uneven effort fares well on several fronts: the simple soul of “Broken Promises” handsomely introduces the Zombies and Style Council to Antonio Carlos Jobim, “Hear What You Want to Hear” expands a snippet of Elvis Costello melody into fully formed brisk British Invasion pop and “Marga-Marguerite” deftly appropriates the high-toned sweetness of Curtis Mayfield.
After THE POP TARTS, Green returned to Widely Distributed with a new drummer (Gregg Potter) and made the stylistically diverse PATHETIQUE ep, which included the surprise country swing of “If You Love Me (Part II).” Brad Lips reviewed it in OPTION (May/June 1994, No. 56). Lips draws comparisons to the Kinks with Lescher’s songwriting (“three songs as poignant as anything on the Kink’s KRONICLES”) and also compliments his singing (“Alternating between vulnerable falsettos and throaty growls, he uses the sadness of the former and the anger of the latter to show us that he knows about heartbreak”).
Green’s first new album in six years, GREEN 5, is an underproduced but encouraging collection improved by Tomasek’s emergence as the group’s second strong songwriter; the chorus of his “Thinking” — a blunt ’70s rock funk breakup throwback — is especially impressive. The rejuvenated quartet (with Mosher’s brother Jason on guitar) balances Beatlesque tunefulness (as on the gorgeous “Lying in the Grass” and the acoustic “Jimmie”) with ambitious arrangements (between the organ and wailing backup vocals, “Mother” nearly reimagines “Hey Jude” as gospel) and blasts of garage power. As ever, idiosyncrasies — as well as wailing guitar solos — abound. Green deftly dashes off a disguised cover of the Bee Gees’ “Holiday” (as “Photograph”) and titles a crazed arena-leaning Bolanesque boogie “Seize the Means of Production.” On “Tuesday,” Lescher sings the jacked-up romance rock with a frenzied edge that threatens to upend the lyrics.
Three years later, Green (now a trio) spent a week in France, recording EAU DE VIE with Burgess, who sharpens and clarified the sound as never before. Lescher reins in his unmelodic impulses and lets his restrained and tuneful flag fly to heartening effect, mostly rooting around in the popcraft of early-’60s England (so much for any overpowering Gallic influence) for such originals as “I’ll Be Waiting” and “Pardon Me,” which get the album off to a sweet start. Like an echo of the Gram Parsons album, Lescher sings the shit out of a stirring and gorgeous minor-key original, “Memories.” Even the two punky singalongs are mixed within safe sonic borders and owe more to the Move than Motörhead.
In 2009, Green (once again a quartet) released their latest album THE PLANETS. Though Jason Mosher returned to the fold, it was the final album to feature Mark Mosher on drums. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune reviewed the album and wrote, “Green has been around since the ’80s, making the kind of records prized by power-pop connoisseurs. After drawing early attention for his gifts as a singer and songwriter, Jeff Lescher has led Green through many incarnations, each producing worthy albums. The band’s latest release, “The Planets” (GangGreen), is one of their best yet, with Lescher digging as deep as he ever has for emotional payoffs. The arrangements brim with the expected hooks but have an epic, anthemic quality that ranks with the band’s most ambitious work.”
In 2010, Mike Zelenko (drummer for Material Issue) joined the group, who continue to play to enthusiastic crowds in the Midwest and Europe. Recently, Jeff and Jason of Green performed an acoustic set as the opening act for The Zombies on 05/29/2016 at the band’s request. Blaine Schultz of Scene reviewed the group’s performance in Chicago on 06/17/2016 and gushed, “Eight albums, plus a handful of singles and compilation appearances in three decades, Chicago’s Green may be the best band you never heard of.”
