DINOSAUR
JR - Dinosaur Jr (Shiny)
YOU'RE LIVING ALL OVER ME - Dinosaur Jr (Shiny)
BUG - Dinosaur Jr (Shiny)
Melbourne
label Shiny Records have gone the whole hog and re-issued remastered
versions of seminal American band Dinosaur Jr's first three albums in Australia
and New Zealand. Two decades after they first appeared, it does feel funny
trying to apply a critical analysis to albums that defined a time and place
in so many people's lives (and arguably presaged that thing called grunge,
from an American perspective at least). Anyway, let's have a stab at it.
Dinosaur Jr came storming out of small town America (which easier to spell
than 
Massachusetts)
armed with a couple of chords and a determination to be different from the
hardcore scene that spawned them. It was (is) a genre with rigid limitations.
There were a lot of less rigid ideas than the format would've allowed swirling
around in the heads of guitarist/singer J Mascis, drummer Murph and bassist
Lou Barlow - and it seems like they were determined to let all of them loose
at once on their self-titled debut album. It's scrappy, under-produced and
all over the shop, but also exposes elements of what made them great when
they peaked on "Bug".
"Dinosaur Jr" goes from new wave-tinged rock-pop of "Forget
the Swan" to the frankly dire live closer of "Does It Float",
and all parts inbetween. The album's a patchy curiousity that points the way
to what was to come. If you 're a diehard, you're going to want it. If you're
not and only have the later records, it might be interesting enough to attract,
for all its flaws.
Mascis was (and still is, when he puts his mind to it) a truly gifted guitarist,
and if his alternately plaintive and whining vocals can grate or delight,
they can't be ignored. By the time "You're Living All Over Me" came
around he'd refined his vision on both scores. The guitarwork is scorching,
and his voice runs the range from angst-ridden screams to resigned crooning
(and that's just on the opening track!)
Some of the tempos drag (and change, midway) but there's enough rough-edged
hooks and dissonance jumping in and out of the mix (a la "Raw Power")
to make this a fascinating ride. Jagged and dreamy, sometimes miked up close,
and then distant. The juxtapositions sit well throughout, but especially in
a song like "Just Like Heaven" whose sudden cessation (what's a
fade?) was (another) attempt at unnerving the unwary.
No need to labour the (amplified) Neil Young comparisons but they were never
as obvious as on "Bug". The grizzled old Canuck had an obvious influence
on the pick of the crop of bands of which Dinosaur Jr was a part (years later
he'd return the compliment by inviting Sonic Youth on tour, although Neil
was barely seen in their company, by all accounts). All those commonalties
(the circular lead breaks and the vocal tonalities most prominent) coalesce
in crystal clear focus on album number three.
And how. "Bug" is one of the best US records of the '80s. Powerful
and more structured than its predecessors, it's all about guitars, guitars
and guitars, in all their bleeding, ear-ringing, distorted glory. Acoustic
beds ("Pond Song") battle walls of stunning cacophony ("Don't")
driven by Murph's now monster drumming. If the increasingly distant Mascis
and Barlow weren't on talking terms by then, the album's all the better for
the underlying tension (which would ultimately deep six this line-up shortly
after). The single was "Freak Scene" and it defines Slacker Culture
to be a template for a thousand college wimp acts that wouldn't hold a candle.
Not sure whether to say thanks.
Dinosaur Jr, or more correctly Mascis, would make other records, but this
one is the pick for a non-obsessive like me. Props to Shiny for taking the
plunge and giving wings to it and its predecessors all over again. The timing
seems inspired, not only for a generation of mature slackers, but a whole
new crop of potential fans. – The
Barman
- "Dinosaur Jr"
1/4 - "You're
Living All Over Me"
- "Bug"