Dinosaur Jr: Where You Been?
1993
Sire Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Out There 2. Start Choppin 3. What Else Is New 4. On the Way 5. Not the Same 6. Get Me 7. Drawerings 8. Hide 9. Goin' Home' 10. I Ain't Sayin
Yuck...I still feel like hammered shit...Why doesn't someone get it over with and cure the common cold already so I can enjoy my damn weekend!! Sorry, I didn't invite you here so I can bemoan my sorry lot in life...I invited you here to listen to J Mascis endlessly soloing...
Oh my God...Whenever I put on this album it's 1993 again...I'm instantly hanging out in Joe's room on a Saturday afternoon listening to "Start Choppin'" on repeat...I remember back then I used to carry around my CD's in a weird plastic CD carrier...It was this long, hinged box that held maybe 25 CD's...It had a handle and these big tabs that locked it shut...I don't have it anymore and I can't find a picture of it online, so I hastily drew one in MS Paint...
I took this box everywhere...I'd dutifully drag it to school everyday..I'd bring it to my friend's houses when I'd stay the night to inflict my musical tastes upon them:
."Oh, you're listening to Aldo Nova? Turn that shit off, I brought PRIMUS!!"
(♪ Slap slap diddly slap slap ♪ )
Looking at the towering mountain of CD's that currently clutters my apartment, it's hard to believe that I used to only own 25 CD's... On the other hand, I did have a couple hundred cassette tapes strewn across my teenage bedroom...CD's were a big purchase back then...I had to carefully consider the albums that were important enough to warrant the extra 7 bucks for a CD purchase...Scraping together 15 bucks meant I had to mow about three lawns and maybe a spend a few afternoons babysitting...And "Where You Been" was an album truly worthy of that honor...
This was the album that got me into Dinosaur Jr, and judging by the fact that this was one of the band's biggest-selling albums, I can only assume it was the entryway for a lot of other folks too...Why the big uptick in popularity?
See that flannel tied around Joey Lawrence's waist? GRUNGE!!!
The kids were suddenly all about loud, ugly music that sounded like the performers didn't give a shit about anything...And it's hard to think of a band that was louder, uglier and sounded like they could give less of a shit than Dinosaur Jr...Not giving a shit wasn't some MTV slacker pose to these guys...It was deeply ingrained into every fiber of their being...There are a million subtle shades of emotional numbness on display here...They fit the bill perfectly...And it sounds like Dinosaur Jr kind of met the kids halfway this time around...J uses a full band for a livelier feel and the album is full of big, 70's classic rock moves that were being fetishized at the time...Neil Young and Led Zeppelin were to the 90's what Journey and Hall & Oates were to the 2000's...
I know J disagrees with the constant comparisons between Dinosaur Jr and Neil Young, and for the most part I agree with him, but not here...This is an album that kicks off with that growling guitar tone from "Hey Hey, My My"...Furthermore, "Not the Same" and "What Else Is New" recall the Jack Nitzsche ballads on the "Harvest" album, which achieved that same balance between bombast and creepy meekness...J has always included extended guitar solos, but on this album they become especially soaring, bringing back fond memories of the long expanses of guitar soloing on Neil's "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere"...I can't imagine a Neil Young fan not losing their minds over this...
The band were never darker or moodier than they were on "Out There," or catchier than "Start Choppin" or more grandly anthemic than on "Get Me"...There's a lot of room to debate Dinosaur's 80's peak, but their 90's masterpiece is clear...Nothing tops "Where You Been"...Nothing... One of the best albums of the 1990's...This gets my stamp of approval...
THA-BOOM!
There it's official...I had a stamp made and everything...This thing rocks my world...
Here's "Start Choppin'" by Dinosaur Jr...Enjoy...
Man you're right! We listened to the hell out of this album! This is the only one I managed to keep over the years. Probably because it was the only one I had on cd. All the rest were cassettes. I remember going over to your brother Troy's while you were babysitting and listening to this album on repeat along with Neil Young-Harvest Moon. I love the whole cd throughout but I think the second half is slightly better. My favorite these days is Get Me.
ReplyDeleteI still love the "Harvest Moon" album...That album rules...It's still one of my favorite Neil Young albums...Troy always had the most kickin' stereo systems...I used to love listening to stuff on his stereo and rummaging through all his tapes...
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