By Stan Cierlitsky
We had to wait five years for a new Dinosaur Jr. album, but it was definitely worth the wait. There Near, out this week on Jagjaguwar, packs a real punch. It was put together at Amherst's Bisquiteen Studios by the group's core trio of J Marcis (guitar and vocals), Lou Barlow (bass and vocals) and Murph (drums). On this record, they get a little help from Ken Mauri (piano and organ).
Things kick off with "Several Got Away", the incredible lead single. Not only is this song great for this album, I think it would fit nicely on their eventual "greatest hits" record. It's just a perfect classic Dinosaur Jr. song, and it seems like they might be talking about how we lose people over time. In the video, each member gets picked off by a fire-hand from the sky as they then reform as angels playing the song.
Second single "Blowin' Up" starts with heavy drums before the guitar roars in. This is one of the two tunes that Lou Barlow brought to the record (the other is the R.E.M.-like "No One's Ready"). His voice is just a great compliment to J's. It might be a little softer than J's, but make no mistake, almost every song rocks on this album. The one exception to that might be "Put It Down", a power ballad. It's probably my favorite song on the album and it starts slow in comparison to the others, with Mascis bellowing: "Someone walked away, someone walked away from me." It ends in an emotional and fiery guitar solo that just blows me away. This one sounds like it could have been a track on Built To Spill's classic Perfect From Now On (1997).
Another favorite here is "Take Me With You", a high-energy rocker. "I had enough of you, you know why? You filled a dumpster full of blue sky." Those words remind us how Mascis always has little snippets of great thoughts in his lyrics. He said, "I'm not always sure what a song is 'about' when I'm writing it. I guess the meaning will present itself at some point."
This sixth studio album by the legends Dinosaur Jr. does not disappoint and is a clear highlight of this week's slate of new records. Don't forget to see Dinosaur Jr. on tour. D.C.-area folks can see them in Virginia Beach on September 12 and that's free. Details here.
There Near by Dinosaur Jr. is out this week on Jagjaguwar.