Weirdness Flows: The Songs of Dinosaur Jr (61-70)
70 Seemed Like The Thing To Do
Without A Sound (1994)
Touchingly tender, its sparse simplicity is moving. The gently picked acoustic provides the framework; the electric guitar, awash with chorus and delay, is deployed subtly. The lyric packs a lot of feeling into very few words, and J sounds exceptionally vulnerable. Just lovely.
69 Pierce The Morning Rain
I Bet On Sky (2012)
The busily energetic opening chord progression opens up into another one of those lazy but affecting melodies that J excels at. The whole thing bustles with energy and is rounded off with a thrillingly frantic solo. The accompanying video tells the story of a suburban dad obsessed by his car stereo, and features Henry Rollins as the personification of excessive volume.
68 Your Weather
Farm (2009)
Another trademark dark and intense Lou Barlow number. The chunky bass line and spindly lead guitar complement each other perfectly, and Lou yet again demonstrates his knack for writing songs with a murky verse that then bursts into an uplifting chorus.
67 Loaded
Hand It Over (1997)
Urgent and portentous, it sweeps you along with a despondent vigour spurred by an abrasive siren-like guitar part. The laid-back, bluesy coda is a bewitching conclusion, although it might have been nice to have it extended by a minute or two.
66 It's Me
Beyond (2007)
A chunky piledriver. It does have a somewhat generic lyric, but its relentless intensity - and brace of scorching solos - are impressive.
65 Grab It
Without A Sound (1994)
Speaking of scorching solos, this frantic thrash opens with a cracker; one that seems reluctant to cede the spotlight to the vocal when it arrives. It’s not all heads-down fury - a jangly verse holds its own between the more hectic passages - but overall it’s a wonderfully souped-up adrenalin rush.
64 There's No Here
Farm (2009)
One of the finest qualities of Dinosaur Jr on top form is how J performs his vocals with zen-like detachment whilst all hell breaks loose around him. ‘There’s No Here’ isn’t exceptionally frenetic, but there’s a lot of big guitar, athletic bass and pounding drumming going on, over which he sings with implacable calm. Not that this is one of his lethargic mumbles: he delivers some of the lines (‘I know they say they're right about me now’; ‘and now that time is gone’) with clarity and yearning vulnerability.
63 Be A Part
Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not (2016)
Opens with a moody, swirling blend of arpeggios and gently bluesy soloing before settling into a mid-paced groove. The melodic hook of the verse (‘Come on and…’) is one that the band would revisit at a brisker tempo on the next album (‘Hide Another Round’). Parts of the song – especially the melancholy ‘I don’t…’ passages – sound like a Lou Barlow composition, but the uplifting middle eight (‘Where’s my time…) is pure J. The solo at 2:53 is clean, simple and beguiling.
There’s a familiar theme regarding the beginning/end of relationships, and in places it's a little clunky ('come on I need is all I mean'). However, there's also a teasing hint of infidelity (‘I don't need her to know / when we started’) and some interesting abstraction (‘The space to shine / Is all a blip / And so am I’).
62 What If I Knew
Beyond (2007)
Nicely balanced blend of a poppy melody and whirling, fuzzy riffing. Here, J pulls the opposite trick to ‘To Be Waiting’ (#71), with the solo building as the chorus refrain (‘take it back, you're on the way’) fades from view.
61 Cats in a Bowl
Dinosaur (1985)
The most light-hearted moment on the debut album, there's an endearing quality to the off-key vocals and the rather loose transitions in tempo. The galloping pace of most of the song, plus the deployment of slide guitar and the abrupt ending also give it a bit of a country vibe. The surreal lyric ('price of liquorice has doubled') adds to the sense of fun. One online comment was that it is 'a song that lasts 3:50 but has enough parts and changes for a Who double-side rock opera'.
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