October 25–November 1, 2001

cd reviews|rock/pop

Dinosaur Jr.

Ear Bleeding Country: The Best of Dinosaur Jr.

(Rhino/Warner Archives)

When they were on their game, Dinosaur Jr. was the best band in the world. And when they blew chunks, they were pretty okay, too. The distortion liberation front headed by guitar blaster J. Mascis and backed early on by drummer Murph and bassist Lou Barlow (who later left to form Sebadoh) sought to redefine the term "really fucking sum’bitch loud." The knock on D.Jr. was that their albums, while populated with strong songs, all tasted a little samey, as the band’s evolution from punk-influenced to punk-and-country-influenced was gradual. So this compendium has an odd cohesion. Sure, "Repulsion" from ’85’s Dinosaur feels embryonic, but it’s not hard to imagine ’88’s "Freak Scene," ’93’s "Start Choppin" or 2000’s "Where’d You Go" from Mascis’s new project The Fog coming from the same album to begin with. Some might call it stagnation, but we’ll call it consistency. While not an argument for disregarding the band’s back catalog (cuz every man, woman and child should own You’re Living All Over Me ), Ear Bleeding Country is a powerfully loud document of the band that ruled excellently over a small slice of the ’90s.

—Brian Howard