I bought this during the Tuesday Record From Spillers year. It was before I'd read Our Band Could Be Your Life, but after I'd got a copy, so I knew they were a part of it. Similarly, I knew they were playing the All Tomorrow's Parties festival I was going to that summer but it was a few months before I'd see them.
Dinosaur Jr were one of those names you'd always known without really knowing why. I had a very rough idea of what they'd sound like without having consciously heard them. I was browsing Spillers that day and saw this one - the description that the shop had put on the sticker used all sorts of terms along the lines of "legendary" and "important", so I figured Bug was as good a place as any to start. I think it also mentioned Freak Scene - a song whose reputation precedes it. Plus, I'm pretty sure it mentioned the green splatter vinyl, which sealed the deal (and, for the record, is an incredibly appropriate colour and looks amazing).
I don't listen to Dinosaur Jr anywhere near enough. Playing Bug now I think it's incredible - Freak Scene is a huge opener, They Always Come is lovely, Let It Ride is incredibly catchy, Budge is great and The Post is almost a grunge-ballad (in the best possible sense). Don't sticks out like a sore thumb, but I love it for that. I read in OBCBYL that it was Lou Barlow rallying against J Mascis, which sounds about right; it's a brutal affair, blistering, deafening and intriguing. I remember being genuinely scared the first time I heard it - who just casually drops that song at the end of a record? This reissue has Keep the Glove added on as the final song, which you kinda need after Don't. In my memories, the album is just Freak Scene and Don't but there's great stuff between those two that I always forget about.
For whatever reason, I've never given Dinosaur Jr much attention. They're not the easiest band to get into, but definitely worth more effort than I've given over the years. When I saw them at ATP they were the loudest band I'd ever seen (an accolade since taken by Swans, also at an ATP) - it's easy to mistake that wall of noise for a bad thing, almost like the band don't want you to enjoy them. I really should give them more time. I've not played this record in years before today and now I feel terrible about that fact. I promise to do better - I will listen to Dinosaur Jr more.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 11/03/08
Colour: Green splatter
Etching: none
mp3s: no
