Dinosaur Jr - You'reLiving All Over Me

Wed 25th May, 2005 in Music Reviews

The reissue of Dinosaur Jr’s seminal You’re Living All Over Me album has no doubt impressed a lot of the more recent fans of the band, who may have spent the last years feverishly combing obscure record stores and garage sales for a copy.  Formerly released as a trilogy set with other albums Dinosaur and Bug, the album signified the turn in which the underground scene rose towards mainstream.

Dinosaur Jr presented an aesthetic style quite far removed from anything at the time (perhaps with the exception of Sonic Youth – whose Lee Ranaldo provided backing vocals for You’re Living All Over Me). Not only has YLOAM (as it is affectionately known) been put back into print and given the obligatory remaster, it includes two videos: Little Fury Things and the amusingly prehistoric blue-screens of Just Like Heaven. Despite the beefing up of the band’s sound, the characteristic lo-fi flavour has been retained and hence YLAOM sounds just as authentic and vital as ever.

Opener Little Fury Things serves as a great reminder of the archetypal sound of the underground/alternative scene of the mid- 80’s onwards. Fuzzed-out wah wah distortion and grainy production veil what is essentially a beautifully written pop song. J Mascis sings with the same mumbling faux self-consciousness that Kurt Cobain made hip while piercing feedback signals the close of the song.

Kracked follows with a more playful feel, heavy on kick drum and manic guitar solo. In retrospect, Kracked has a very Pixies feel in the approach of using a juxtaposition of upbeat pop sensibilities with darker, more extreme ambience. Electric acoustic guitar provides some colour in the minimalist bridge, before screams of guitar distortion dominate once more. Grunge structuring fills out Sludgefeast, a mess of sustain and Mascis’ pleading, strangely endearing off-key lyrics. The sound is satisfyingly dense and full of pitch-wavering power. Not to mention by nature very loud.

Crowd favourite Lung sits at an impossibly rapid tempo and treads water in treble mode before being injected with a swarm of grunting guitar and Lou Barlow’s bass. Even by today’s standards, this track is almost intrusive in its levels of emotion, shaking schizophrenically from quiet to loud while Mascis’ vocals are virtually lost in the tangle of sound. The pop approach of In a Jar provides a brief digression from the sonic confusion, rolling along with clean melodies and naïve vocals and climaxing with a cascade of cymbals and ascending guitar solo.

Poledo begins an ominous, almost raga-style number that barely keeps up with itself as it evolves; the vocals are monotonous, while careful plucking provides a dinky melody. A collage of fuzzy samples propel the track forward, an unnerving soundtrack to religious obsession, then its back to that melody. The whole track is cyclic and verging on excruciating in its challenge.

If you’ve heard Dinosaur Jr’s cover of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven, you’re likely to already be a convert. It packs far more of a punch than the original, and the pseudo-metal chorus is fantastic – it almost works a little too well. The videos are a nice addition for the long-term fans out there, although you do get the feeling that more features could have been packed in, considering the wait some have endured for a re-release. Taking J Mascis’ media shunning antics into account, however, it’s not much of a surprise that the fuss and shiny things were kept to a minimum.

The verdict? If you missed out the first time, there’s no excuse now.