Dinosaur Jr. - Dinosaur

When Dinosaur’s first record was released in 1985, it didn’t make much of a stir. This is understandable, and not because the album is a bit of a sprawling mess, because it’s a pretty great sprawling mess. It’s simply that much of the point of punk had been to "cut out the guitar solos," to quote the Minutemen. Punk rock was in a strange morphing phase in the mid '80s, and, with the exception of Meat Puppets and Otto’s Chemical Lounge, few folks had thought to graft the laconic and woozy sounds of mid '70s rock with the frenetic energy of hardcore (guitarist/ singer J. Mascis had played drums amazingly well in the band Deep Wound). When the label released the album’s best song, the frazzled and distorted "Repulsion," as a single, they started to get college radio play. The band’s far more cohesive followup, '87’s phenomenal You’re Living All Over Me, would prove to be a major blueprint for alt-rock and grunge. Don’t overlook this debut; the slacker-y, adolescent ode "Severed Lips" might be J.’s finest slow jam ever, and when you hear Lou Barlow sing lead on "Forget the Swan," you’ll really wish the two had gotten along better and collaborated more. --Mike McGonigal Amazon.com

my favorite Dinosaur

Dinosaur Jr are about my favorite band, right up there with Meat Puppets, and this album, to me, is their best output. I'm familiar with all three of the original Dinosaur Jr's albums, and I love them all for different reasons, but this album always made me want to keep listening to it over and over in a way that You're Living All Over Me and Bug don't quite acheive. This album is definately more idiosyncratic than the other two and it's diferent from just about anything that's ever been recorded as far as I know. You should probably just buy the album and let the music explain itself to you. August 22, 2007

Pulsating White-Noise

Like a nuclear reaction, an earthquake, and with the inclusiveness of a tree falling in the middle of the forest that only makes a sound by those cool enough to be in the know, came Dinosaur Jr.`s 1985 debut album, "Dinosaur": a white-noise album in the vein of Sonic Youth, another band that used punk and psychedelia flooded with sound to create a girth of atmospheric noise, pummeling the audience with its sonic attack. Seeming reckless, and random, there still is a masterful volley of musical energy realized on the onset, with the newly included track Bulbs of Passion, and its fine stop-go-and explode beat patterns, make it apparent that Dinosaur Jr. laid the groundwork for the genre's of modern Alternative and Grunge. These soundscapes are somber and the stratosphere of passionate noise creates a rush to make it unique and never boring, while the lyrics are fragmented, and devoid of mirth.

Basically this three piece unit's sound came from just letting the speakers go at high volume, and then wailing on their instruments. Singer/guitarist Jay Mascis' vocals sound identical to that of Kurt Cobain, and quality wise there's really no duds here, while each song is done with a penchant and still-learning attitude that tells the listener that they will go on to bigger and better things. There are plenty moments of beauty, too; like in the second song, Forget the Swan, featuring bassist Lou Barlow's singing, and his scruffy, nasal voice is pretty poetic, while the melodies and the dance between complete rock-out riffs, and restrained minimalism are memorable enough to convey an emotion, thus making the song just as good as anything by the later-day seminal grunge rockers, Nirvana. The sonic haze never dissipates, and the whole album only gets better from here; songs like, The Leper, and Does it Float claim their right as minor greats of rock-outs, with plenty of screams, instrument solo's, and simplistic, yet blunt, effective, and depressing lyrics that provide a nice counterbalance to their racketed attack.

Then there are the classic tracks, as the album bristles with ingenuity and will make your head explode. Such as with Repulsion, a melodic hard-rocker with a simmering guitar/baseline that coincides with the aggressive angst of the chorus, and even if many of the actual words are indecipherable, its beautiful stuff, atonally played, and ravishingly delightful; sounding modern even more than twenty years later. Gargoyles, and Severed Lips, the next tracks, are festive songs, shingled with burst of feedback, in which the music and words mesh to an indiscreet mess, yet not an ugly one, but rather one with an acute attention to detail.

Dinosaur Jr. brought guitar rock back to the mainstream, and much like The Pixies, Nirvana, and Fugazi, they defined and invented second-wave alternative rock; cultivating it as genre to be reckoned with, and this noise lyricism harvested a new breed of young and ambiguous rockers that are still influenced by their music to this day. That, my friend, is what rock-and-roll is about; so when you listen to this album, make sure to crank the dial loud, to then be immersed in a tidal of bass wails, and guitar solos. Oh yea, and don`t forget to tell your mom that you will need to keep the turntable blasting all night, because that's what Dinosaur Jr.'s music is made for.


**** (Out of 5)
December 28, 2006

Where it all begins

I suppose it is typical for a first release to be under-appreciated and, perhaps more importantly, under-promoted. "Dinosaur" was originally released by small label Homestead Records, so this was expected.

This is a great album (yeah, I know it's not really an album you little whippersnappers). It's stacked with great songs. There are maybe two songs that I sort of endure, but even those are significant works of art. Mascis doesn't play "Severed Lips" live very often unfortunately, it's the best song there imho.

This release is an essential part of any Dinosaur Jr collection. December 28, 2005

20 years old already? wow?

So Dinosaur JR is now touring the world again in the old and most legendary formation of Jay Mascis, Murph and Lou Barlow. With this is also the release the of the first three Dinosaur JR album that they recorded before Lou left the band to start also legendary Sebadoh.

It's a precursor to the best album they made two years later "You're Living All Over Me". The sound already sounds mostly unproduced and the quality of the songs has not yet reached the high level of that album.

But of course it's great as has classics as 'Repulsion' and the Lou song 'Forget The Swan'. This has made the first Dinosaur JR slowly into a classic indierock album because it didn't cause much of a stir when it just came out. But it doesn't sound dated still. Be sure to get all the new re-releases.

Like all Dinosaur JR, play under loud volume December 1, 2005

It's back!

I'm almost sad that this got re-issued because I really loved blowing the minds of Dinosaur Jr. fans by playing this album for them. This was actually before the band was Dinosaur Jr. and was just Dinosaur. Sure, it's not as good an overall album as YLAOM or Bug, but there are four or five cuts on here that are up with their best songs. Particulary "Forget the Swan". A must have for any Mascis fan. June 19, 2005

More reviews at Amazon.com ...