Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As Good As They Got, April 12, 2005
This was the end of the road for the original Dinosaur Jr. lineup, before Lou Barlow bailed out to pursue his own artistic path. BUG isn't quite as good as YOU'RE LIVING ALL OVER ME, which was released the year before, both on SST originally, but it still holds its own and deserves five stars nevertheless. If "Freak Scene" had come a few years later, during the grunge explosion, it surely would have trumped all else. That song, along with "No Bones" and "Budge", are the band at their true manic peak.
The remastering for the reissue is very good, although there is some tape distortion at the end of "Freak Scene", during the final verse, when things get quiet for a moment. It's pretty bad, and I'm not sure if the original masters were damaged or they were just blowing the levels while mixing it. Anyway, that problem might be more pervasive but I only noticed it on that track. Still sounds way better than the SST CD version.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Study in Contrasts, April 8, 2006
This CD has no less impact than when it came out eighteen years ago. As Byron Coley says on the band's website, it shows their sound becoming more orderly as they were ready to burst from internal strife. Well, sad but true, but tension often makes for the best music of a band's career, and J didn't live up to the manic glory here ever again. (Now this line-up is reunited! Got to see them for the first time with Lou on bass last week. HO-LY CRRRRRAAAP!!!).
So many highlights, where do you start? I think Kurt really learned the soft/hard dynamic from J, and in many ways J's use of it sounds more fresh (likely because a trillion J wanna-be's failed to ever pop up--only a score, Kurt being one of them). The album starts with this in somewhat famous fashion on "Freak Scene," where there's a major chord strumming pattern that is mildly distorted. Within in a minute, the low E power chord is thrashed so hard that the piece resembles a form of proto-death metal. The middle part is really pretty . . . and then back to the death metal. A lot of the songs feature this dynamic & it really never gets boring. If you have the right tools, use them to make as many creations as possible. I think my favorite use of this dynamic is in "Pond Song." It starts out with a delicate picking pattern: "Long distance left you undecided/ I'd sprinkle enough to let you know," J pathetically croons to the girlfriend he never finds. Before you know it, the song is awash in fuzz, reverb, and thrashing chords. This pattern happens to match J's attitude towards his love interest, which alternates between tender yearning and murderous disenchantment, best reflected in "Freak Scene": "Sometimes I don't thrill you/ Sometimes I think I'll kill you./ Just don't let me f**k up will you,/ 'Cos when I need a friend it's still you."
There's so much more to say about this classic, but I will leave it at the guitars for now. Simply put, the interplay between J on guitar and Lou on bass remains a high watermark for alternative. Sometimes muddy, but always evocative of new and fresh emotions, there have been few power trios who have got as much out of their guitars (Rush comes to mind, tho' I know the hipster "cognoscenti" would poo-poo me for saying this). Lou ups the ante with his use of chords and arpeggios on the bass for one thing. J himself is certainly one of the top guitarists in the history of alternative. He's not a harmonic genius in the technical sense: more in the intuitive sense. His use of feedback is heartbreakingly beautiful at times (the solo in "No Bones" amply evidences this). He uses dissonance strategically, creating hooks out of repeating skronky lines after a particularly melodic run (again, the second solo in "Freak Scene" is great for this). He shreds the thing like he's, well, ready to break it in two. Oh yeah, and it's LOUD. I saw them live (without Lou) back in the early '90's. J would play solos and my head literally felt like it was being cleft at the lobes. It hurt!!! But it was the true definition of sublimity: intense pleasure mixed with intense pain. You, too, may be able to feel the pain if they come to your area and smash your head on the punk rock.
Last contrast: I played this to my girlfriend for the first time today. She liked it a lot. Of all the grunge bands in the '90's, this was a good one for the women, 'cos J writes more traditional melodies and also wears his heart on his sleeve, unlike, say, the phrygian modes and D&D bludgeonings of Soundgarden. Male/female, yin/yang, silence/noise, love/hate, within/beyond . . . _Bug_ has more than enough contrasts to keep you occupied for a long, long time to come.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My fist Dino album., August 25, 2005
A Kid's Review
Being 13 years old, I missed all the my favorite bands when they were in their prime (Sonic Youth, Polvo, Pavement etc etc), which is upsetting at times but at least I can get these sweet reissues.
I read about DJ from the coolest record reviewer,Mark Prindle [...] I liked what he had to say and looked furiously for these records. Well, it just happened to be the day that I went to the record store, that these things came out. I had to beg some guy to let me buy it, but I got it!
All the songs are fantastic. Let It Ride has to be the best song on here, in my opinion. The Post is one of the greatest noise songs ever. J is a guitar genious.
I highly recommend this and I'm waiting patiently for the reunited Dino to come down to Florida so I can finally see a great band.
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by Dinosaur Jr. 
