I Bet On Sky
With decades of experience behind them, the members of Dinosaur Jr. know how to shift gears where necessary. The band\'s earliest works were bludgeoning efforts; even when there was a hummable melody in the chaos, the band shoveled a ton of guitar sludge on top. It gave Dinosaur Jr. an appreciable charm and clearly defined it as a new sort of guitar hero band. In 2012, the group has dialed back the assault to feature additional tonal colors. The opening track, \"Don\'t Pretend You Didn\'t Know,\" adds keys and a gentler jangle. \"Watch the Corners\" pushes the vocals to the front to prove that its melodies are as strong as ever. J Mascis\' guitar solos are still the gold standard for alt-rock (an unintentionally ironic role, considering that mainstream rock rarely rocked back in the \'80s). \"Almost Fare\" adds Lou Barlow\'s near-funky bass. Barlow takes the lead for the punk-pop \"Rude,\" which shows the kids how punk-pop is supposed to sound. His \"Recognition\" is another album highlight. No longer fighting to be heard but an acknowledged rock superpower, Dinosaur Jr. has rarely sounded more relaxed or more fun.
'I Bet on Sky' is the third Dinosaur Jr. album since the original trio – J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph – reformed in 2005. And, crazily, it marks the band’s 10th studio album since their debut on Homestead Records in 1985. Back in the ‘80s, if anyone has suggested that these guys would be performing and recording at such a high level 27 years later, they would have been laughed out of the tree fort. The trio has taken everything they’ve learned from the various projects they tackled over the years, and poured it directly into their current mix. J’s guitar approaches some of its most unhinged playing here, but there’s a sense of instrumental control that matches the sweet murk of his vocals (not that he always remembers to exercise control on stage, but that’s another milieu). This is head-bobbing riff-romance at the apex. Lou’s basswork shows a lot more melodicism now as well, although his two songs on 'I Bet on Sky' retain the jagged rhythmic edge that has so often marked his work. And Murph…well, he still pounds the drums as hard and as strong as a pro wrestler, with deceptively simple structures that manage to interweave themselves perfectly with his bandmates’ melodic explosions. After submerging myself in 'I Bet on Sky', it’s clear that the album is a true and worthy addition to the Dinosaur Jr. discography. It hews close enough to rock formalism to please the squares. Yet it is brilliantly imprinted with the trio’s magical equation, which is a gift to the rest of us. For a combo that began as anomalous fusion of hardcore punk and pop influences, Dinosaur Jr. have proven themselves to be unlikely masters of the long game.
If you were a Dinosaur Jr. fan the first time around, it still seems amazing, three albums into their post-2005 reunion run, they're together at all. But at this point, the early drama isn't as interesting as the fact that the new albums-- 2007's Beyond, 2009's Farm, and now I Bet on Sky-- are all good to very good.
Of the bands featured in Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, only two have made significant comebacks in recent years: the Massachusetts outfits Mission Of Burma and Dinosaur Jr. It’s telling that both of these ’80s indie-rock pioneers have made their comebacks succeed by more or less circling the wagons.…
A triumph of remarkably, consistently high quality songcraft on an album imbued with a sense of joy that's transferred effortlessly to the listener.
I got into Dinosaur Jr. in an ass-backwards way. In the early 2000s I watched The O.C. because I thought it would offer a…
Now that Dinosaur Jr. is an actual working band and not a one-off reunion, they can settle into the business of being a band: touring regularly and cutting records where they subtly push at the boundaries of what defines the band's sound, as they do on 2012's I Bet On Sky.
It’s testament to the new found harmony in the Dinosaur Jr. camp that J Mascis's long-term nemesis Lou Barlow has not only been entrenched in the fold for longer than his original era with the group (having now equaled the number of records this incarnation made back in the 80s), but firmly entrusted with a share of songwriting duties and the occasional lead vocal appearance. Rude's oddly melancholic rockabilly might jar a little, but the markedly better Recognition feels like vintage Dino.
Since re-forming seven years ago, Dinosaur Jr.—J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph—has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is still as powerful and dynamic a power trio as it ever was in its original form in the late '80s.
Tenth album from a band spanning four decades and now seven years into performing again as the original trio.
Dinosaur Jr's third post-reunion album shows there's plenty of life in them yet, writes <strong>Phil Mongredien</strong>
Dinosaur Jr. 'I Bet on Sky' album review on Northern Transmissions.
J Mascis doesn't so much sing on this album as lie in the gutter and murmur through a pile of dead leaves and gravel, writes <strong>Maddy Costa</strong>