Dinosaur Jr. - Pick Me Up Album: Beyond [2007]
dinosaur Jr. were largely responsible for returning lead guitar to indie rock and, along with their peers the pixies, they injected late-'80s alternative rock with monumental levels of pure guitar noise. as the group's career progressed, it turned into a vehicle for j mascis' songwriting and playing, which had the ultimate result of turning the group's albums into largely similar affairs. over time, mascis shed his hardcore punk roots and revealed himself to be a disciple of neil young, crafting simple songs that were delivered at a crushing volume and spiked with shards of feedback. dinosaur jr.'s early "SST" records laid the foundation for alternative rock's commercial breakthrough in the early '90s, and while the band's profile was raised substantially in the wake of nirvana's success, they never really became much bigger than highly respected cult figures. their 1991 major-label debut "green mind", was recorded almost entirely alone by mascis, and its varied, eclectic sound was received poorly in many alternative rock circles. however, on the the subsequent tour, they were supported by nirvana, whose success with "nevermind" soon overshadowed dinosaur jr's. instead of capitalizing on the commercial breakthrough of alternative rock, they released an EP in early 1992 and disappeared to record their next album. released early in 1993, "where you been" benefited greatly from the commercial breakthrough of alternative rock, and many of the articles surrounding the album's release hailed mascis as an alternative godfather. "without a sound" emerged in 1994 to mixed reviews, but the album was a moderate hit, thanks to the MTV and modern rock hit "feel the pain." fast forward to 2007 - when the time came for mascis to retire the band's name, he slyly turned the words of his idol neil young upside down, choosing to fade away rather than burn out. after 1997's "hand it over", mascis ran out the clock, bringing his contract with reprise to a close, doing some solo acoustic tours before forming "the fog" and cutting a couple records with them without making any real impact outside of his devoted fans. and since he didn't break beyond his cult, dinosaur jr. seemed to belong solely to the history books - the band that bridged the gap between the replacements and nirvana, the band that was seminal but not widely popular, a band that for whatever reason wasn't passed down to younger brothers and sisters the way their boston compatriots the pixies were. perhaps it was because, unlike the pixies, they summed up their times too well, since there was no other alt-rock musician that was as quintessentially slacker as j mascis. with his laconic drawl and anthems of ambivalence, he was a figurehead for a generation who chose to stay on the sidelines, so sliding away from the spotlight was a logical path for mascis: he never seemed to really want the fame, so it seemed that he'd be happier on the fringe, which is where he wound up. all of this made the reunion in 2005 all the more surprising: there may have been unfinished business, but such a mess seemed inherent to their mystique. but the group got together to tour in support of reissues of their first three albums, and defying all logic, the reunion worked - working so well that the band decided to record a full-length album, "beyond", releasing it in may 2007. the very existence of this new album is a surprise, but the real shock is that "beyond" is a flat-out great record, a startling return to form for j mascis as a guitarist and songwriter and dinosaur jr. as a band. "beyond" sonically resembles latter-day dinosaur albums; it's not as harsh and it's stylistically varied, ranging from full-throttle rockers to skipping country-rock and elegiac ballads. in a way, this sounds like the album that could have been released instead of "green mind" if their original members had stuck around, or if dinosaur made the kind of grand major-label debut many expected them to deliver in the days before "nevermind". musically, this suits that description - "beyond" is not a breakthrough or reinvention, it's a consolidation of their strengths, which means it sounds very much like the band did at its peak - but in terms of attitude, mascis could never have made an album as assured as this in 1992, simply because he never was this confident. it gives the album a powerful sense of purpose that the classic albums were lacking by their very design. but "beyond" isn't great simply because it's cohesive; it's great because it's as bold, vital, and monstrous as their best early work. it's clear that dinosaur jr. has tapped into the essence of their music, and their thundering roar sounds as vivid and thrilling as it was the first time around.
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