Dinosaur Jr. :: Where You Been

dinosaur-jr.jpg

The past few years have found me slowly re-building my Dinosaur Jr. collection — piecemeal. Sometime in the mid-late ’90s, while living in Athens, GA as a student, I sold the majority of it off to various downtown record stores. Now, a decade later I’m re-purchasing it. Actually, I find myself doing this a lot; most likely a by-product combination of being a) a collector, and b) slightly neurotic. Whatever, I just chalk it up to being old skool, baby. Feel me? Yeah.

I (thankfully) do not have that seemingly unyielding preference for pre or post Lou Barlow-era Dinosaur albums that many fans exhibit. I can tell you that since re-acquiring them, both Green Mind (1991) and Where You Been (1993) have been absolutely destroying my car’s stereo of late. Listening to these it’s like high school all over again — just sans the cigarettes, shitty weed, and whole ‘no responsibilities’ thing.

The two tracks below can be found on Dinosaur Jr.’s Where You Been LP…and usually for six bucks in the used section of your local record store. While “Out There” admittedly shreds, make sure you listen to “Not The Same.” Due to his guitar work J Mascis has long been heralded by the media, and fans, as an heir to Neil Young, but here, on “Not The Same,” Mascis exhibits another side of his forbear not unlike the mood on Young’s “The Old Laughing Lady.” Also, be sure to to watch the video for “Out There.” J. Mascis playing guitar on top of a snow-capped mountain?? Yes, please.

++ If you missed it, last year’s Dinosaur Jr. reunion album, Beyond, sounds just like the Dinosaur Jr. albums you remember. How ’bout that. You know the saying, if it ain’t broke…

Elsewhere:
Pop Headwound is presently hosting Springsteen’s Nebraska demos.

Download:
MP3: Dinosaur Jr. :: Out There
MP3: Dinosaur Jr. :: Not the Same

Video: Dinosaur Jr. – Out There
———–
Amazon: Dinosaur Jr. – Where You Been

www.dinosaurjr.com ++ www.myspace.com/dinosaurjr ++ eMusic

+
Download your digital music via eMusic’s no risk 25 Free MP3 trial offer.
————————————————————————————————————————–

10 thoughts on “Dinosaur Jr. :: Where You Been

  1. “Green Mind” will forever be one of my favorite albums and I certainly love a couple of the tracks off of “Where You Been” and even “Without a Sound” – “Feel the Pain” is classic. One of the worst shows I’ve ever seen was Dinosaur Jr. in Seattle on the “Where You Been” tour – god were they dull!

    Not heard the new stuff because I kind of think of Dino as a band with a place and time. May check it out on your recommendation.

  2. “Where You Been” was the album that got me into Dinosaur jr in high school. Yeah, I know that if I was a true hipster I would have caught on with “You’re Living All Over Me”, but I think my twelve year old ears might not have been quite ready for that. “Where You Been” was just right though – so many amazing songs and heroic solos that still make me break out the air guitar. I’ll be the first to admit that the guitar solo at the end of “Get Me” might be a little excessive, but I’d also be happy if it kept going a little longer. Spin Magazine had it right in 1993 – J Masics is God.

  3. Agree on all counts with Chris in Oxford (save the live set – never seen ’em). A couple of licks from “Without a Sound” popped up on my shuffle a few weeks ago, been listening to the album since. Also, I was hesitant to venture over to the new stuff for the same reasons. But if ye olde Drunkard says it’s worth it, maybe I’ll give her a spin. Not sayin’ I’ll like it, just sayin’.

  4. Well I guess it’s better than re-building your Foreigner collection.
    I’m always curious to hear if my old favorite bands can still cut it.
    The last Lemonheads was great.
    New York Dolls too.

    p.s. I thought Nebraska was demos.

  5. What I remember about the Neil Young comparisons in the music rags at the time was that they didn’t have to do with Mascis’ guitar work but rather his newly embraced vocal falsetto. Although I guess you can draw a pretty clear line from Neil Young’s acoustic stuff to Dino Jr.’s “Flying Cloud,” which I always thought was as close to Neil Young as Mascis got… anyway, my two cents. Have always loved Where You Been and can remember the day I got it and the first time I put it on…

  6. I used to have my stereo on a timer so that I could wake up to “Out There,” cranked to 11 every morning before school. Listening to it now, I expect my Dad to barge in–somewhere around the 8-second mark–and tell me to turn it down. High school was great.

  7. Thanks, you inspired me to go back and give this one a listen. Like Alex, “Where You Been” is the disc that got me started on Dinosaur Jr. I’m glad it’s held up so well.

  8. Ahhhh…what an album! It starts off so well with ‘Out There’ and ‘Start Choppin”. The singles off of this album had some great live B Sides as well as some acoustic BBC sessions (well the singles over here did) I’ve got a great version of ‘Get Me’ and ‘Severed Lips’ from the ‘Out There’ CD Single.
    T’was the album that got me into Dino Jr- though it was a shame that the follow up wasn’t so good. Strangely I was only listening to ‘Hand it Over’ (the last of the Mascis/Johnston era Dino Jr) last week and this too holds up today.

Comments are closed.