Dinosaur Jr. new album, Beyond out May 1st

OK, I've been a Dino Jr. fan since Green Mind was a new record.

For me, this is the best thing J.'s done since More Light. IMHO, More Light with the Fog is his finest hour, it's a total triumph.

Beyond is great. I heartily approve. But, as it should be, it's really a J. Mascis record, accompanied by his old band-mates on the side. J. is the proven genius here, the leader, and his songs are incredible. His guitar playing is simply some of the greatest ever laid down in this style. His voice, that singular stoned croak, has to be one of the greatest, most subtly emotive in all of recorded music.

Wow, what an album, but, IMHO, the victory here is all J.'s, forget the other two.

 

Certainly it is J's show. Lou knows that his role in Dinosaur is to be sort of a George Harrison figure to J's Lennon/McCartney. But that said, given the quality of this record it seems the presence of the guys must have been inspiring to J, and all the gigging they've done has made them sound great together. And I think Lou's two songs stand up to the best J material on the record. So I wouldn't dismiss the band as unimportant myself.

 

It's a great album, and J's in fine form, but I don't get the slam against Murph and Lou. Murph's drums kill, and it's great just to have Lou back in the lineup. Something tells me he might have added a thing or two -- he seemed to do ok with Sebadoh.

How bout we call it a victory for Dinosaur Jr.?

Anyway ... best straight-ahead rocker of the year for me so far.

Jeff

 

Great album - and I don't find it too compressed...

 

Just got it, and just listened to it, three times over 2 days. I really like it a lot too.

 

I keep playing this thing over and over.

So many high points, and yet ... We're Not Alone slays me every time I hear it.

Jeff

 

Anyone check out the new live concert DVD, Live In The Middle East?

 

I couldn't help myself when I read all this positive feedback on the new album. I have it ordered.

 

Prepare yourself for a positive rock and roll butt-kicking.

Jeff

 

I agree with czeskleba that the "other two" are awfully important to the success of this album. In my opinion, this the best album that J. has been involved in since Bug, not coincidentally the last album with the original Dinosaur Jr. line-up.

 

Man, am I ever bummed out! I got mine in the mail yesterday and started to play it tonight. I got to track 3 and the CD went haywire. When I checked the surface of the CD, I noticed it had a significant manufacturing flaw on the playing surface. Now I have to send it back. Crap!

 

no record stores in your area, mate?

 

Oh yeah, lame ones.

The big boxes don't stock Dinosaur Jr. here.

The independants are hit and miss.

If the release isn't something like NIN, I won't find it around this town.

You have to know Kingston to appreciate Kingston:thumbsdn:

 

If there is a proven genius in Dinosaur, it is certainly Lou Barlow!

I like J too, and Lou may have lost his touch, and he is certainly laying back in the reunion because he doesn't want to fight with J. But don't mistake that for anything about Lou's talent.

Dinosaur's innovation of mixing hardcore dynamics with 60s acid and country rock was a joint invention--and others were on that path. All sorts of bands were slowing down hardcore and trying to find a new sound from Black Flag to Husker Du to SSD to Green River to Ian MacKaye. (As Lou sang in Gimme Indie Rock, "started smokin pot, thought things sounded better slow, much slower and heavier.")

After Lou left, all J did was slow down more and become even more like Neil Young. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just short of "genius" in my book.

Lou on the other hand, produced a kaleidoscopic output which was as varied as it was influential. Lou's tape stuff, his stripping down sonically and psychologically, his transposition of getting kicked out of Dinosaur into the "break up" genre, his embrace of band democracy which gave Sebadoh's albums with Gaffney an incredibly vibrant and daring feel, his range from fragile acoustic to Sebadoh's herky-jerk hard sound ca. Rocking the Forest, to Sebadoh's indie pop to Folk Implosion's psychedelia to Folk Implosion's trip hop--all genius. His production values, his willingness to expose his most childish impulses, and both his acoustic and electric sounds have all been taken up in indie music and still sound ahead of their time.

Lou's run from the s/t Dinosaur up to 1995, comprising 3 Dino lps, 7 Sebadoh lps, Sentridoh's Winning Losers, the Sentridoh singles (compiled on an amazing City Slang lp), about ten Sebadoh eps, and the first Folk Implosion lp, and the songs for Kids, would stand against anyone's. No two releases sounded the same, all were conceptually brilliant, and all were musically top notch. And he did it all with self-effacing sarcasm.

J in that same time frame gave us 3 albums which all hit the same groove he's always hit, nice records, sure, but nothing to warrant the term genius.

 

Oh, on the compression, it sounds super compressed to me, and my first impression is they were trying to make it sound like You're Living All Over Me.

Musically, nice record, but as good as their first three? No way.

I'll have to see if I can find an advance copy floating around to see if it sounds better.

 

I finally picked this up on vinyl. Interesting that they placed the last three songs on the bonus e.p. with the bonus track "Yer Son." I talked to Bruce Watson at Fat Possum, and he said they did an initial test pressing with all eleven songs on a single lp, and it was just too long. The pressing plant actually said they couldn't guarantee the sound quality of the lp at that length. Instead of doing a three-sided lp, they decided to go the single lp + bonus EP route. Having only four songs per side instead of five or six gives this (very) loud music the groove space it needs to breathe, imho. On first listen, the drums, vocals, and distorted guitars all sound better than they do in the digital realm.

 

It's been ages I don't hear about them. Thanks for the heads up.

 

I'm listening to this one again on CD and contemplating the vinyl (and maybe those Rhino vinyl reissues of the back catalogue)...fantastic stuff.

 

I finally bought this on CD again, after getting a flawed copy online.
I love this album. I enjoy this one as much as You're Living all Over Me, Bug, and Where You Been. I know some will not agree, however IMO.

 

Its still great!

Love this album!

I really hope they make another few albums....

 

Just discovered this recently. Incredibly melodic and grungy at the same time. I've been playing it non-stop for weeks. And I never heard of this band, only trying them because they were in concert with Built to Spill so I thought I'd listen to some of their music before the show. Wow. An all-time great album.

 

yeah it really is. check out Bug next...

 

Sounds like a great lineup for a show, spice. I saw Built To Spill with Camper Van Beethoven last year, and it was terrific, but I'm envious. J. Mascis wails.

Jeff

 

The funny thing is, and it tells about what's truly great about music, is that I bought a ticket to the triple bill mainly to see an old favorite, Meat Puppets. I'd never heard of Built to Spill or Dinosaur Jr. Built played the whole of Perfect From Now On, so I got a hold of that before the show and it's incredible. I've delved deep into their catalog since. Same story with Dinosaur. Got Beyond at the library, and I'm hooked. Just got the Greatest Hits from them, but I can't see (and hear) how anything could top Beyond.

 

I'd definitely recommend DJ's You're Living All Over Me, Bug and Where You Been. I love Beyond, too, but it's kinda their make-up sex album after a lot of bitterness between J. Mascis and Lou Barlow.

(You also might want to check out Sebadoh ... Lou's band during the off years. III is outstanding).

If you love BTS's Perfect, be sure to check out Keep It Like a Secret. And You In Reverse was one of my favorite records of 2006.

And btw, haven't you read the manifest here? Any music made in the last 10 years officially sucks.

Jeff