Dinosaur Jr - Beyond (Pias)
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
The question on everybody's minds is this - does it sound like old Dinosaur Jr? Decades since this line up has been together and, oddly, nobody wants change at all. There aren't many bands you can say that about. Well, here's another question for you - who cares? Or another one - what about, simply, is 'Beyond' any good? Or more appropriately, sorry, how good is it?
OK, OK, I admit that I do care a bit, and I'm delighted to announce that yeah, it does sound like they did all those years ago, and I'm sure that'll bring back a lot of great memories for a lot of people - but I'm not sure this automatically makes 'Beyond' a good album in itself. I'm pretty sure, in fact, that there are a lot of terrible bands at the minute that sound a lot like Dinosaur Jr used to. But worse.
So, this album. Well, it sounds pretty bloody amazing after the first four bars. And yeah, the next four are pretty good also. And, yes, an incredible succession of brilliance after brilliance carries on throughout the album - they're consistent, you've got to give them that.
Dinosaur Jr are at their most amazing when they show their little flashes of snarling attitude (for example the beginning of 'It's Me' even sounds a lot like a The Melvins circa 'Hostile Ambient Takeover') in amongst all the sincerity and tenderness (of which there's a surprising amoung), because taking it on his voice alone, J Mascis doesn't sound like he's got enough energy to even get out of bed, let alone really rock out like he's rotted out of the shell of the music he listens to. This combination gives Dinosaur Jr an almost distanced, reflective feel to their blatantly hard rock references, a nice occurrence because it makes you feel they're playing music like this purely for a childlike enjoyment. They know it's stupid, they know it's been done before (they've done it before - they perfected it!), but it's unavoidably fun and indisputably good - the two most important things to bear in mind.
I originally considered saying that if you don't like squealing guitar solos then don't get this album, but on further reflection my advice would be to get it even if you suffer from that affliction - it'll cure you of your horrible disease. 'Back to Your Heart' is the first one that really hit me - the chord resolve seems to still manage to surprise me every time. The way that you're treated to these fantastic chord progressions, ones that evoke a very simple and deep seated love of this music, is brilliant, but it's made even better on closer scrutinising as you begin to hear the constant jangling embellishment and picking around the chords. Not once do the guitars here sit still for a second. What makes this even better still is the vocal melodies - frankly, it's hard to believe how easily the words roll off the tongue for Mr. Mascis.
Something that you really have to give Dinosaur Jr credit for is not only their diversity (check the tender 'We're Not Alone' if you think this is all guitar squall) but also their unrelenting sensitivity to the different sounds they explore. It's something that very few bands, if any, manage to equal. It makes me really happy to think that for a lot of people this album will be the stuff that dreams are made of. I'm sure there are hundreds of 28 year old kids wearing torn, smelly old Dinosaur Jr. t shirts under their smart work shirts, shedding a tear to the likes of 'I Got Lost', and I'm pretty confident that the old time fans in general will accept this album on its own merit and realise it's worthiness as a proper Dinosaur Jr album. People, just remember this is not the time in your life to get the skateboard out again. They're not designed for people your size! Your bones are much too brittle to stand up to that sort of abuse, and worst of all, it looks particularly bad when you fall over in front of a bunch of kids that then proceed to throw stones at you and call you granddad.
Watch the video to 'Been There All The Time' HERE.
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