Customer Reviews

Ear-Bleeding Country: The Best of Dinosaur Jr

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like with most things that Rhino issues, this is a solid collection and you get a lot of music for the cost of purchase (19 tracks). For fans like me that didn't really get into Dino Jr until their MTV-era ("Out There", "Feel The Pain")it's nice to have a good chunk of material from their pre-WB indie days. Also nice is the inclusion of J Masic's solo turn on "Take A Run At The Sun" and a new track from his new band, J Masic and The Fog. All in all, if you own no Dino Jr. at all then this is a good place to start. As with any band, some great songs are missing from this "best of" but, that criticism aside, "Ear Bleeding Country" is a cool collection.

Dinosaur Jr mastered the quiet/loud dynamics and layered their sonic assault with acoustic guitars before Kurt Cobain became a legend and bands like Tripping Daisy .... in the alternative punchbowl. This compilation has great artwork and an excellent 11 page essay. The track listing boasts more in-depth information that the original albums, too. But the real reason to jump on board is the amazing remastering done by the wizards over at Rhino. "Repulsion" has always been a classic, but it's never jumped out of the speakers the way it does here. The early stuff has been in need of some sonic clean-up for years. Major fans will quibble about the track listing, but that's to be expected when compiling a songwriter like Mascis onto one disc. I wouldn't remove a single track... I just might add a couple personal favorites. So, embrace indie rock history... Get yourself a little Dino and see if you can make your ears bleed, raise some gooseflesh, and jam along on your air-telecaster. And Rhino, how about a remastered "You're Living All Over Me"?

From there inception as a post hardcore sonic terrors until the end as grunge survivors, 'Ear Bleeding Country' Dinosaur Jr's best of covers a great deal of territory. Full of great tracks, some classic some merely good, the one thing you should take away from listening to this collection is that J Mascis, boy could he play guitar. A generation of who were brought up on grunge owe that guitar sound to J, one of the few originals of the last 25 years.

What this fails to do however is give a good overview of the band. The early tense savagery of the more punk albums especially isn't really on show on this collection, and is rather under represented. However its still great fun, often thunderous, and almost reveling in a slacker ethic. Though I'm sure every fan would have come up with a different best of 19 songs, this is still as decent a starting place you'll find for the band, after which if you're interested you should get 'You're Living All Over Me' then 'Bug' then 'Greenmind' and 'Whatevers Cool With Me', followed by the rest at random. Of interest long time fans still is the pretty flower of a 'Take A Run At The Sun' which J did for a movie soundtrack, and is probably the best example of his softer sider you'll ever find.

The other high lights, the first seven songs, 'Whatevers Cool With Me', 'Start Choppin', 'Feel The Pain' and 'I'm Insane'. Really just enjoy and then hopefully you'll discover the rest of what the band has to offer.

When I was in Junior High, I thought Dinosaur Jr. was it. While everyone else was absorbed in Pearl Jam and the Kurt Cobain/shotgun incident, I was rocking out to J. Mascis and co. I don't know what happened to me over the last seven or eight years, but I just sorta forget about them. I was in the store the other day and saw this sitting on the shelf and decided to pick it up after looking at the track listing.

Listening to this "best of" compilation brought back as many memories as flipping through an old year-book. I just can't believe I ever lost track of this great band. Now that I'm older, I can appreciate them a lot more. It almost makes me feel nostalgiac. I generally don't care for "best of" or "greatest hits" albums that much but this is really one worth owning. I mean, with 19 tracks, it's more of an anthology. If, for some reason, or another, you missed out on this highly underrated band (or guitarist/singer/songwriter, I should say) this is where to start. Highly reccommended for anyone who claims to like "alternative" music or just good music in general.

I never got into Dinosaur jr before. I really dont know why! But this was the perfect chance to catch up. It may take a few listens to like, but once you get to know the songs, they wont get out of your head. If you never heard these guy before, they sound like a mix between the pixies and nirvana...if that makes any sense. but these guys have been around a long time before them. anyway, great album. pick it up. also check out the new billy joel's greatest hits. also a good one.

This could've been a better Best of CD if it were a two disc complete with live tracks and more tracks from the albums. But we do get the hard to find tracks Take a Run at the Sun, Just like Heaven and Whatever's cool With me. But most of the tracks from the eariler albums like Dinosaur, You're living all over Me and Bug are gone. From Dinosaur we only get Repulsion which is a pretty good song, but why not include Bulbs of Passion? J Mascis himself said it's one of the songs that really made them what they were even before they became Dinosaur jr. On YLAOM the tracks Lose, the Lung and Show me the Way are skipped over. Lose is probably Lou Barlow's best contribution to the band, the Lung is just great and Show me the Way is amazing for a cover song. We do get the awesome In a Jar and Little Fury things though. From Bug the tracks They Always Come, Pond Song and Let it Ride are missed out on.

Actually come to think of it only two tracks from each album are featured on this compilation. And they're usually the more popular songs like Feel the Pain (Without a Sound) and I'm Insane (Hand it over). Not to say they're bad songs, it's that the Dino jr veterans would like to see the less accessible tracks from the OOP albums on here.

With that being said pick this up if you're a newcomer to Dinosaur Jr or J Mascis's work. But if you've grown to Dinosaur Jr like I have then skip it and seek out the other albums.

I would also like to say that sometime later this year You're Living all Over me, Dinosaur and Bug are getting reissues. Keep that in mind.

How can any review of the best of Dinosaur Jr exclude "The Lung"? IMHO, that is like the best of The Who excluding "My Generation", or the best of Wire not including "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W" on their best of, the latter of which really did happen. J, if you approved this, wise up.

This is a decent place to start if you have never owned a Dino Jr CD in your life. One listen to powerful songs like Little Fury Things, Freak Scene, and the sublime Get Me will clue you in to the life-changing potential of this little rock band from Western Mass, who laid the foundation of the early 90s shoegazer sound of bands like My Bloody Valentine.

However, I am really disappointed at the overall track selection of this compilation. To wit:

1) No Dinosaur Jr retrospective is complete without their awesome cover of Peter Frampton's Show Me the Way, or a couple of the other signature songs from You're Living All Over Me: The Lung, especially, and Tarpit.

2) Songs from the last 2 Dinosaur albums are almost completely disposable (besides for historical purposes), with the exception of Feel the Pain, which was only remarkable in the sense that it earned them a lot of radio airplay.

3) Take a Run at the Sun is a nice bonus, but I would have much preferred samples from J's work on the Gas Food Lodging soundtrack.

4) The inclusion of a song by J Mascis & the Fog is inappropriate, since this is a retrospective of Dinosaur Jr, and the Fog formed after Dinosaur Jr officially broke up in 1997.

Again, this is a decent start for total newbies, but an arguably better one would be the full-length albums Where You Been or You're Living All Over Me. That latter CD desperately needs to be put back into print!

This is a solid overview of Dinosaur Jr's body of work. It's pretty well balanced although some may say there should have been more songs from the indie albums. But since I have the first three already I felt like it was a plus that it offered a healthy dose of the major-label era period. The welcome inclusion of the two Mascis solo cuts gives a richer picture of what Dino Jr is all about.

The sound on the early cuts is noticeably cleaned up on this disc. In particular on "Repulsion." Rhino tinkered with sound. It's higher fidelity, but that's only a relative term. There's only so much one could do in that department. Some fans may prefer the murky soup of the original early LPs. I like both. I for one am curious to hear the recent remasters now to see how they compare.

I've always really liked this band. They're a bit punk, a bit grunge, and even alt-country (hence the title). Of course this cd isn't perfect, and is missing songs. I wish it had "Muck", "Goin' Home", and Bowie's "Quicksand", but what can you do. It's still a solid 19 track disc. Included are the hits "The Wagon", "Out There", and "Feel The Pain", as well as a cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven", the non-album track "Take A Run At The Sun", and "Where'd You Go", with The Fog. Overall, this is a sweet collection of "Dinosaur Jr.", and will go great with your "Sonic Youth", or Neil Young" cd's.