Weirdness Flows: The Songs of Dinosaur Jr (141-150)
150 Not The Same
Where You Been (1993)
After a run of four pretty full-on tracks, the first side of Where You Been concludes with a thoughtful, introspective song. Framed around a sonorous arpeggio and a simple acoustic strum, it also features some delicate piano tinkling and gains gravitas from the portentous timpani. The chord shift into the chorus (e.g. at 1:12 and 2:06) is moving; the overlayed vocals at this point also add some emotional heft. However, J’s wavering vocal feels over-stretched at points, and the song overstays its welcome by a couple of minutes.
149 Don't You Think It's Time
Grace of My Heart (OST) (1996) / B-side to Take A Run At The Sun (1997)
Slow-tempo country-tinged number with some nice touches of pedal steel. Like its A-side, it was credited to J alone on the soundtrack album of Grace of My Heart before appearing on a Dinosaur Jr release. The melody is quite pretty and there’s an endearing air of melancholy about it, but J’s vocal is often uncomfortably faltering.
148 Muck
Green Mind (1991)
The least successful of the mellower tracks on the second side of Green Mind, ‘Muck’ strives for a funky groove but ends up rather stilted and awkward. The album marks the beginning of a period where J recorded a lot of tracks largely by himself, and he clearly got better at it as time went on. With Green Mind, there were a few instances where the different parts he recorded didn’t quite coalesce fully, and this is a prime example. The despairing manner in which he delivers the line ‘remember how everything sucked?’ is pretty impressive though.
147 Mind Glow
Without A Sound (1994)
Insouciant vocals are one of the charms of Dinosaur Jr, but here J sounds on the verge of dropping off on occasions. Things aren’t helped by the rather throwaway rhyming dictionary nature of the lyric (‘I'm messed up and I'm wishin' now I'd fessed up’; ‘the time I spent discussin' I'll sit back and stop the fussin'’). The song’s not without its charms – there are some nicely understated Spanish guitar flourishes – but overall it’s all a touch too soporific.
146 Keeblin'
B-side to Out There (1993)
Gentle acoustic number that drifts along pleasantly enough. The opening solo is delightfully well-paced, but after that it rather struggles to hold your attention.
145 I Met The Stones
Sweep It Into Space (2021)
Heads-down, no-nonsense rocker. Nothing terribly wrong with it, but rather characterless: if you removed J’s vocal it could be by any one of a hundred rock bands.
144 I Ran Away
Sweep It Into Space (2021)
Coming only a couple of tracks after ‘I Met The Stones’ on Sweep It Into Space, this is a very different beast. A jaunty, hooky pop song that’s easy on the ears if rather lightweight.
143 I Don't Think So
Without A Sound (1994)
Another jaunty one, this time with more of a country vibe. Fun, but more solid than spectacular. Enjoyably odd video though.
142 Pointless
Dinosaur (1985)
A dishevelled blast of astringent guitar and garbled screaming underpinned by a thunderously athletic bass line and aggressive drumming. Having worked itself into a frenzy for nearly a couple of minutes, it winds down into a loose, meandering jam. Like a lot of the debut, it’s stuffed with more ideas than the band can deal with coherently, but it’s still messy fun.
141 Noon At Dawn
Peel session (1993)
Recorded for John Peel’s show in November 1992 (first broadcast in January 1993), Noon At Dawn is a mournful and introspective song, penned and sung (in a doleful baritone) by Mike Johnson. Featuring a touching lyric about regret (‘I can't remember your face / but your voice always rings in my ears’; ‘The taste of her name / is a glorious shame of a sweet mistake’), it seems to have been largely forgotten about subsequently - as far as I can see, it was never played live - although it appeared as a bonus track on the 2019 reissue of Where You Been.
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