Weirdness Flows: The Songs of Dinosaur Jr (31-40)
40 Pick Me Up
Beyond (2007)
Perfectly placed between the understated melancholy of ‘Crumble’ and the dark, brooding ‘Back To Your Heart’, ‘Pick Me Up’ is a furiously pugnacious rocker, packed with snarling, metal-ish riffing. You get a breather in the middle, the band taking their foot of the gas for a minute or so before J launches into a long, fiercely aggressive solo, rounded off with a grandiose, prog-like finale.
39 Pieces
Farm (2009)
Dinosaur Jr do seem to have a habit of selecting cracking tunes to open their albums. Eight of the twelve are in my top 50 (‘Forget The Swan’ wasn’t far behind at number 57), and here we are at number 39 and there are still five more to go after this one. In typical fashion, ‘Pieces’ sees Farm burst from the starting blocks with vigour. Framed around a cascading riff, it crackles with energy, over which J intones a measured, if rather sentimental vocal (‘I need some help to grab the pieces of our love / Wrapped inside me, like you couldn't hurt enough’).
38 The Post
Bug (1988)
A swampy, jagged sprawl that’s perfectly matched to the darkly bitter lyric (‘She's my post to lean on / And I just cut her down’). Grounded by Lou Barlow’s coiling bass line, there’s a range of resolutely acerbic guitar parts, ghostly feedback and a terse solo that sounds like it wants to punch you in the face.
37 Love Is…
36 Left/Right
Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not (2016)
The part that Lou Barlow’s songs play in broadening the appeal of Dinosaur Jr albums should never be underestimated, and on Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not he makes two particularly strong contributions. ‘Love Is..’ is a piece of moodily swirling 60s-ish psychedelia that occasionally sounds as though it might suddenly morph into Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Somebody To Love’. ‘Left/Right’ is even more downbeat and contemplative, and features an achingly lovely, yearning chorus (‘and if you want it, I need it’).
35 Garden
Sweep It Into Space (2021)
Another thoughtful, sparse, beautifully paced Lou Barlow song with another of those wistful yet rousing choruses. This one moves the emotional intensity up a notch with a poignant middle eight (‘raised on the faith…’). As is often the case with Lou’s songs, J refrains from showboating, contributing a brief, restrained, fuzzy solo. The video features animation by Chloe Hemingway and J in a very fetching pair of boots.
34 No Bones
Bug (1988)
Another invigoratingly astringent sprawl from Bug, J crooning desperately (Can't feel, can't go through it’) and at times almost tunelessly over a bed of shards of guitar noise, just about held together by a cascading motif.
33 The Lung
You're Living All Over Me (1987)
The Wikipedia entry for You're Living All Over Me asserts that it represents ‘a refinement of the formula introduced on the band's debut album.’ ‘The Lung’ is a case in point: like a lot of the tracks on Dinosaur, it’s full of variations in tempo and texture, but by this stage the band were getting a far firmer grip on how to shape this into something coherent. At the heart of the track is a cracking garage punk song (albeit one with a rather limited lyric), replete with a nifty solo; all the wandering between approaches enhances rather than distracts.
32 Whatever's Cool With Me
Whatever's Cool With Me (1991)
Power-pop, garage-punk and death metal thrown into a blender and topped with a particularly trademark J drawl - and perhaps the most archetypal Dinosaur Jr song title ever to boot. Somehow simultaneously loose and focused, effortlessly loveable, and without a doubt very cool indeed.
The video below is the US version; the more surreal UK version is here.
31 Lose
You're Living All Over Me (1987)
Placed just before his excursion into experimental sound collage, Lou Barlow’s other contribution to You're Living All Over Me is a bracing onslaught of slashing chords and existential angst (‘I can't believe I was chosen to exist’).
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