Weirdness Flows: The Songs of Dinosaur Jr (101-110)
110 Does It Float
Dinosaur (1985)
Opens with a busy, spindly guitar line that alternates with some frantically astringent strumming - over which we get a vaguely disturbing, abstract lyric: ‘The rain has washed my dog with fear… the toads are running free.’ Halfway through, it explodes into some abandoned shrieking, pauses for a brief passage of proggish guitar picking (reminiscent of mid-70s Rush) before it collapses into cacophony again. Packs a lot into less than 200 seconds.
109 Gotta Know
Hand It Over (1997)
A laid-back, meditative track that feels a little bog standard until it kicks in just after the two-minute mark with an anguished blast of keening vocals and an urgent, gritty solo. Thereafter, it drifts along dreamily. It’s not a song I’d previously paid much attention to, but with repeated listens, it does get under your skin.
108 I Told Everyone
Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not (2016)
Driven by a persistent, cascading arpeggio, it starts off in a solid if not spectacular fashion until the delightful chord change at 0:47 that leads into a plaintive refrain (‘still intact’). There are other moving ‘shifts’ at 1:15, 1:40 and 2:50, in the midst of which we get one of those trademark somehow-simultaneously-lazy-yet-urgent solos.
107 Hold Unknown
MP3 download only (2018)
Fast-tempo rocker with an undeniably catchy melody, punctuated with concise squalls of blues-rock soloing. Compact and effective.
106 I'm Insane
Hand It Over (1997)
As mentioned previously, one of the enjoyable aspects of Hand It Over is its attempts to broaden the band’s sonic palette. Here, we get an engagingly chirpy piccolo trumpet part (from Donna Gauger) that serves as a nice counterpoint to J’s drawl. As cute and quirky as it is, like ‘Gettin’ Rough’, it does start to get a bit much; thankfully, it gets reined in the second half of the song, which meanders amiably before concluding with an increasingly thunderous coda.
105 Over It
Farm (2009)
Like the trumpet part in ‘I’m Insane’, the squelchy bursts of wah-wah soon seem a little overdone, but before too long the song settles into a energetically heavy groove, topped with a dreamy melody.
104 The Only Other Way
7” single (2013)
A limited edition single (only 500 were issued) that will set you back the best part of £100 according to Discogs. It’s a bouncy three-minute slice of tuneful power-pop framed around a skittering guitar line - a joyful little gem.
103 Take A Run At The Sun
Grace of My Heart (OST) (1996) / Single (1997)
Written for the soundtrack of the musical comedy-drama film loosely based on the life of Carole King, Grace of My Heart, it was credited to J Mascis on the soundtrack album but subsequently released as a Dinosaur Jr single. With its blissed-out atmosphere, sunshine harmonies and meandering theramin, it’s clearly meant to evoke Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in their heyday. Which it does well enough, but it’s also a strong enough pop song to stand on its own two feet.
102 Don't Pretend You Didn't Know
I Bet On Sky (2012)
Driven by a scratchy, insistent riff that provides an effective contrast to a particularly mournful vocal, it also occasionally dips into a trademark heavier, looser chorus. It's elevated by the floating, proggy keyboard in the background (I don’t suppose it’s actually a Mellotron, but it’s at that end of things) and the engagingly amateurish one-finger piano line that wanders around in the second half. The lyric is hard to make out at times, but it seems like rather an odd one in places: ‘Feeling back from the edge of the skip, going deeper and deeper’ makes it sound as if J is trapped in a bin; ‘Crying all the time / discharge is a sign’ sound disturbingly medical. Also features a lovingly understated sustained solo over the last couple of minutes.
101 Plans
Farm (2009)
An expansive, mid-tempo sprawl that swirls with tuneful distortion, longing and regret (‘I got nothing left to be’). There are a couple of compact little solos in the main body of the song before it concludes with a fluid, keening belter. Clocks in at nearly seven minutes but never feels overstretched.
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