Year: 1988
Genre: Experimental rock
Label: SST Records
My Rating: 8/8
Dinosaur Jr. was formed in 1984 by 2 former members of hardcore punk band Deep Wound after they broke up, J Mascis and Lou Barlow. And Murph as their drummer. Every member of the band is incredibly talented musically, J as a (underrated) guitarist can play really original solos and melodies and writes really good lyrics aswell. Lou played bass in Dinosaur Jr and wrote songs to them aswell, but was kicked out of the band little time after the released this album, because he and J weren't in good terms or as Lou put it "i was just the most annoying little kid". Lou would form Sebadoh along with quite a few side projects and continued making really neat music. Murph is one of my favorite drummers. He hits hard, does alot of cool fills and just has a perfect timing.
1. Freak Scene
The first ever Dinosaur song i heard and it's still one of my favorite songs. It has kinda love song feel to it, but it's not that lame as that might sound. I think it's about when you've met someone who you think doesn't fit with the rest of the crowd or "the freak scene". And none of them accepts you. "Freak scene just can't believe us, can't it just be cool and free us?" The melody is really catchy and after the second verse, J throws an insane solo. Well it's not that insane anymore to me, i enjoy it as much as i ever did, but first time i heard it was really something i hadn't ever heard before. then they sing the last lines of the song, "Sometimes I don't thrill you , Sometimes I think I'll kill you , Just don't let me fuck up will you, 'cause when I need a friend it's still you, What a mess" and J performs another guitar solo, this time it's a bit longer and they play it till the end of the song. During their live performances like in the early 90s when they had made somewhat big name of themselves, no mainstreamwise though, after the the last line J would sing really quiet and you could hear the crowd sing the last line of the song and then the solo hits and everyone just goes insane. Fucking sucks Dinosaur will come to Finland again and i can't go to their show!!!!!!!!!!
2. No Bones This is alot slower song. It sounds kinda sad. The lyrics are sad too. When the solo hits, i thought blah this is it? But suddenly J creates such a weird, distorted sound. He changes the sound while he plays. The solo has like 3-4 parts all in all. It's fantastic. During the last verse, the distorted guitar sound can be heard on the background. Sounds like if the guitar was so raped, it barely works anymore, but they still play it.
3. They Always Come Starts with few loud drum beats then all the other instrument kick in. This is way faster song than the previous. Little before the solo theres a little "break", where J plays just a simple high tuned, clean sound guitar riff, then the beautiful solo dicks in. J sings the last line while still soloing. He changes his singing a bit for the last lines. The song gets kinda dreamy feel into it.
4. Yeah We Know
This song has kinda funky beat and rhythm feel. But again it's not that lame as that might sound, cause Murph is drumming the shit out of the drums here. The solo is real neat again, but short. They start jamming that funky sound after it for a little while. Every song in this album so far, J has sung differently. Can't explain it, you'd just have to listen to them yourself. Every song has it's own feel. Really underrated dinosaur jr song.
5. Let It Ride This sounds like a "pre-grunge" song. It's quite fast, has some really cool, odd sounds threwn in after few lines of the song, some clean parts, and the grungy sounding part. Murph also kills here aswell. Before the solo, theres a little part where J plays really down tuned riff then the INSANE solo hits. This solo really describes how Thurston Moore said about J's guitar playing, "it was like Motörhead times 10". J keeps singing through the soloing though. The song ends kinda suddenly.
6. Pond Song J plays few REALLY fast, short, distorted guitar riffs, in a few parts during the chorus. This has the kinda sound, i was more familiar with Dinosaur Jr. But as i listened them more and more, i learned their music can be really diverse. They play some hardcore punk influenced stuff, some really experimental noisy songs, but also "wimpy" pop songs. This is one of the pop ones. Theres kinda sonic youthy jammin' parts here and there.
7. Budge
This is kinda hardcore themed. Fast beating drums, fast guitar riff. But the song deforms to more poppy, but soon gets back to that punk stuff. One complain in this song: Theres no solo!!! Well i guess J didn't want every song to sound the same.
8. The Post
Real slow song, with cool feedback sound in the background. The bass sounds little bit like Flipper. Has some really loud parts thrown in aswell. The guitar sound during the chorus sounds really good. If you know that feeling when some song just sounds so fucking good, this gave me that feeling. J plays really loud solo, but it ends kinda suddenly and the song gets slow again.
9. Don't
This song is quite interesting. Really really experimental and not like any song on this album before. In the book about the hardcore punk scene from 1981 to 1991, they say that Lou Barlow screamed so hard during this song that he started to cough blood afterwards. Wow. The total lyrics are "Whyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!?, Why don't you like me?". J masturbates the geetar in the background. If you want to go berserk and jump on your bed or something and yell randomly, listen to this and do that.
In my opinion the best songs from this album are The Post, Don't and Let It Ride. I picked up these songs, because i haven't heard them that often and they showed really many sides with the band. Otherwise i had picked up Freak Scene as the ultimate song, but that song is more poppy and not so diverse than the ones i desided to pick.
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