Dinosaur Jr.
In Session
[Fuel 2000]
Rating: 5.5
I sold all of my Dinosaur Jr. albums at an "indie rock flea market" years ago. Actually, I sold
all but two. It took me three days to decide whether or not to go through with it. The final
compromise was that I would keep You're Living All Over Me and Where You Been and
dump the rest. I listened to each of the discs one last time before packing them up along
with my Some Velvet Sidewalk records and that two-disc Chairman of the Board Sinatra
tribute album Grass Records put out forever ago.
I don't know why I held onto these two albums specifically. Yeah, they were my favorites of the
bunch, but in the end, it wasn't enough. My kind heart and high school memories gave way to an
empty wallet, and I eventually even sold those to a used CD store. I was Dinosaur Jr.-less for
four years until now. My hopes sprang when I saw I was being handed this new BBC collection to
review. After all these years of not listening to J. Mascis and friends, I was pretty eager to
hear them again. Maybe I'd changed in all those years.
I hadn't. At least, distance hadn't made the heart grow fonder. Dinosaur Jr. live sounds pretty
much the same as their old albums. And that sound is pretty much the same, even after our period
apart. Of course, all but two of these tracks were recorded in 1988-89 (dating up to Bug)
so they should sound like the first few albums. But while these recordings catch the band in
both their seminal line-up with Lou Barlow on bass, and at the peak of their early years, the
actual performances hardly stand apart from their studio counterparts. If anything, it's easier
to tell what's going on in the songs more, without the super lo-fi, in-the-red, shrill feedback
production to get in the way. But is that a good thing? I miss the fuzz.
The two standout moments come with the leadoff track, "In a Jar," and "Raisans," both culled
from You're Living All Over Me. In these rare instances, the band really puts on a
tight performance, with Mascis' guitar wailing masterfully, Barlow's creative bass lines and
Murph's insidious drumming proving the band's technique had advanced substantially over two
years. But sadly, nothing else jumps out, because ultimately, it's all much more interesting
on the original albums. If you still have those old records, just play them instead of going
out of your way for this one. And if that doesn't satisfy you, I still have that two-disc
Sinatra tribute.
-Chip Chanko