Dinosaur Jr: Ear-Bleeding Country
2001
Rhino Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Repulsion 2. Little Fury Things 3. In A Jar 4. Freak Scene 5. Budge 6. Just Like Heaven 7. The Wagon 8. Thumb 9. Whatever's Cool With Me 10. Not You Again 11. Out There 12.. Start Choppin 13. Get Me 14. Feel the Pain 15. I Don't Think So 16. Take A Run At The Sun 17. Nothin's Gon' On 18. I'm Insane 19. Where'd You Go
Man, my head is pounding from the 10,000 beers I drank last night...I feel lousy..
Liver: I told you to take it easy...
Liver: Fine...(coughs daintily)...For both our sakes I hope this isn't a case of cirrhosis I'm coming down with....You'd really be sorry then....
Me: NOBODY LIKES YOU LIVER!!! YOU'RE THE GROSSEST MEAT!! THAT'S WHY NOBODY ORDERS YOU AT LUCKY WISHBONE!! YOU'RE GROSS!! YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN BORN A CHICKEN FINGER!!!!
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I wonder how much longer I can drag out these Dinosaur Jr posts...Maybe I'll just review half a song a week and get a few more months out it...Today's a freebie though! A compilation album! 75 minutes of masterful groan-rock...I think I originally bought this at the Zia Records in Tucson...They used to have this deal where you could buy three new CD's for 10 bucks...And it was always really good stuff...My good buddy Russ and I used to go there every Friday night and then go back home and listen to our scores...This was where the term "Friday Night Record Party" originally came from and even though Russ has moved away I managed to carry on the tradition...Every Friday Night it's mandatory...
Step 1: You must clock out at work and head straight to the Circle K and/or Safeway to pick up beer (Chicken or big sandwiches are optional)...
Step 2: Head home, crack the first beer and choose the "pile"...The 50 or so records that you've been hankering to hear all day, but don't forget to close your eyes and pull a few randoms...Give fate a say in the process...Sometimes the randoms end up being the best selections somehow...
Step 3: Get G.D. hammered and stay up all night drunkenly discussing the merits of Dinosaur Jr...
Step 4: Ugh...Wake up the next day with the world's biggest hangover and clean up the empties (this is the step I'm currently on)...
It's that simple!
Y'know..."Ear Bleeding Country" is a pretty good description of Dinosaur's music...Even though it's not country in a boot-scootin' boogie way, there's something undeniably rustic about their sound and J's laid-back drawl in particular...And "ear-bleeding" is what the band does best...Turn that shit up to 11 and let it squall!! As you listen to all these songs from different eras back to back you really get a feel for how consistent J's songwriting was...Not a lot of surprises, though...I think any Dino fan who was tasked with putting together a comp of the band's best moments would ultimately come up with roughly the same track listing (give or take a few tracks, of course...I would've made room for "Quicksand," "Forget the Swan," or "Mind Glow").
I already had most of the tracks on here, so why did I pick this up? Easy, it was for the band's cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven"! Now, this is how you do a cover...High points:
1. The Hardcore screams in the chorus
2. J singing "I must have been asleep for days..." Is he sure he it hasn't been years? He still sounds like he could use a few more hours of sleep...
3. The ending is so unexpected that I was convinced my disc was faulty...I took it out of the player...Repeatedly cleaned it...Nothing worked...It was only when I heard the song included as a bonus track on the "You're Living All Over Me" reissue that I realized that the band did this on purpose...Derrr....
Nowadays I mainly keep this around for the couple of tracks I don't have...Getting to hear J emulate the Beach Boys on "Take a Run at the Sun" is just too surreal to part with...I was surprised to hear him pull this off...There's also a couple of tracks from 1997's "Hand it Over" which is an album I still haven't heard...I don't know why either..."Nothin's Goin' On" in particular stands up to anything else on the disc (love that sudden, ear-splitting peal of feedback at the end of J's big solo)...I guess I've just never run across a copy of the album...Or it might come down to that trumpet in "I'm Insane" driving me kinda nuts...Who knows...
The compilation ends with a track ("Where'd You Go") from J's post Dino band (J Mascis + The Fog) which (surprise, surprise) sounds exactly like Dinosaur Jr...Oh and "Ziggy Stardust"...That riff sounds exactly like "Ziggy Stardust"...I have to give it up for that mighty drum sound though...
Ultimate, this is really more of a compilation for newbies or folks who are looking to own only one Dinosaur Jr album...If you already have all the band's albums there's not enough rarities to warrant a purchase...I view "Take a Run at the Sun" as more of a curiosity than an essential Dinosaur Jr track...Still, when I tossed this on at 2 a.m. last Friday night I couldn't bear to skip a track...The whole thing is just so damn awesome...Long may J doodle away noisily on his guitar...
Here's "Nothin's Goin' On" by Dinosaur Jr...Enjoy...
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