Hand It Over
By the late '90s, J Mascis had been through the wringer and back with his band Dinosaur Jr., suffering through over a decade of acrimonious lineup shifts, transitioning from hand-to-mouth indie labels to the majors, and generally riding the waves of the mainstream commodification of alternative rock that defined much of the decade for many fringe-dwelling rock bands. Seventh album Hand It Over followed a three-year break after 1994's Without a Sound, a restrained and inconsistent album that nevertheless gave the band their biggest commercial success. Without a Sound also happened after the departure of longtime drummer Murph, leaving Mascis to track all the drum parts himself and return Dinosaur Jr. to the virtual solo-project status it held for their 1991 major-label debut, Green Mind. The live chemistry of the original lineup would make their material after a 2007 reunion some of their most unexpectedly strong, but from the catalog that came about from Mascis' control-freak tendencies meeting major-label excess, Hand It Over is simultaneously the exhausted last gasp of a fading project and a largely overlooked gem.