Beyond
After numerous, soul-crushing comeback albums-- see, for example, this year's Stooges LP-- this reunited trio had little business releasing a record as eerily faithful to their own past as this one, but here it is, in all its low-key glory.
In light of Lou Barlow's Sebadoh success, it's easy to overestimate his contributions to Dinosaur Jr., but at least part of the tension between Barlow and singer-guitarist J Mascis stemmed from the fact that Dino was never a democracy: Barlow contributed exactly two songs to the first three albums, and neither of…
More than most bands, Dinosaur Jr. left behind some unfinished business -- not just in one regard but two. First, there was the notoriously acrimonious dismissal of original bassist Lou Barlow after the group's third album, Bug, just before the band made the leap to the majors, but when the time came for guitarist/singer/songwriter J Mascis to retire the band's name, he slyly turned the words of his idol Neil Young upside down, choosing to fade away rather than burn out. After 1997's Hand It Over, Mascis ran out the clock, bringing his contract with Sire/Reprise to a close, doing some solo acoustic tours before forming the Fog and cutting a couple records with them without making any real impact outside of his devoted fans. And since he didn't break beyond his cult, Dinosaur Jr. seemed to belong solely to the history books -- the band that bridged the gap between the Replacements and Nirvana, the band that was seminal but not widely popular, a band that for whatever reason wasn't passed down to younger brothers and sisters the way their Boston compatriots the Pixies were.
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond review: The full lineup of Dinosaur Jr. is back after a full childhood's hiatus with no signs of age or tiredness.