Okay, I dig Dinosaur Jr. but don't own any of their discs. So if I want to get the "definative" Dinosaur Jr. disc, which one is it?

Educate me.

You need King Kool to answer that.

Fuck that guy. He was a dipshit.

Purists will tell you that Green Mind is the way to go but Where You Been is the money shot. Get that one first.

j.

Where You Been.

Mock all you like, but I'm suggesting "Without a Sound."

That's a fairly solid record but some of the songs are kinda pedestrian.

j.

King's ranking:

I guess I missed something (re: King Kool).

I've written these down; I suspect that the local shop isn't going to have alot of Dinosaur Jr. in stock, will they? I mean, all of these are still "in print" (being pressed/published), right?

c-

My experience is that chain stores don't carry a lot of Dinosaur Jr. Best bet would be your local independent or go online. You can find Where You Been very, very cheap on eBay.

j.

I love J Mascis and his work with Dinosaur JR.

I would say start with "where ya been".

Once your hooked on that check out "Green Mind"


By that time hopefully you be addicted and you can buy them all!

If you find the John Peel BBC sessions its a good pick up because you can hear his song ALONE on it which is probalby my fav Dino track (it was originally on the last album they made "hand it over" (i use the album cover for my little picture )

Also of note His last album he put out under J Mascis and the Fog "Free so Free" I feel is one of the better albums he has ever made. I love the sound and tone of the guitar.

The first three albums are sometimes hard to find, but he is rereleasing all of them in march.
Dinosaur, You're Liveing all over me, and Bug are the three albums he will reissue.

As I mentioned just before Where Ya Been and green Mind would be better albums to start with, and if you wanted to you could pick up any of the earlier albums when the are reissued. They will hopefully have better sound because the originals are out of print and the sound was not so great.

Where You Been (1993) is probably the best place to start. It's very accessible, easy to find, and the songs are very good. It was well produced as well to get the best of J's vocals and guitar work together, something that you won't find on any other Dinosaur Jr albums.

Green Mind (1991) is probably the "best" album, from an objective sampling of fan opinions. The songs are all great, and it is well produced enough to not sound like something they made in somebody's basement. From the same era, the Whatever's Cool With Me disc is nearly as good, but is only an EP.

My personal favorite is Bug (1988). It's still pretty raw, but Mascis's guitar work had really come into it's own by that time. A lot of my more "punk rock" friends are really high on You're Living All Over Me (1987), but it has never really done it for me. It could be that the CD I have is REALLY low quality mastering. I don't know if it has ever been remastered so it doesn't sound like shit.

Without A Sound (1996) is really weak IMO. The songs are not very good, and it sounds like too much effort was spent on trying to recreate the great vocals on Where You Been without enough concentration on the guitar work, which is really the bread and butter of Dinosaur Jr.

If you can stand J Mascis's voice on the older albums, you should absolutely, positively, try to find his solo acoustic live album called Martin And Me (1996?). It is mostly Dinosaur Jr songs with a few fantastic covers such as "Anticipation" by Carly Simon, and "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" by The Smiths. I just found this disc used a year ago or so, and I have listened to it dozens of times, it's fantastic. You should also try to find Fossils, which is a collection of early singles that includes the most awesome "Just Like Heaven" by the Cure. Robert Smith once said that he wished he had performed the song like Dinosaur Jr did.

--PunkDavid Jr

Martin & Me is a great disc I too got it about 1.5 years ago. I love how it opens with Thumb one of my favorite songs and it sounds so good acoustic i was really surprised when i first heard it how much i liked that version.

I think his acoustic guitar is a Martin, and thus the title of the album. That's pretty cool.

--PunkDavid

Yeah i agree 100%. My ex gf was a huge dino fan and she actually bought the album (i of course got a copy of it ) and she was like i wonder why he called it that. I told her just what you suggested and she thought i was crazy....

anyway i think it makes perfect sense espcially since martin's are sweet acoustic guitars!

Yeah, I've got a D-1.



--PunkDavid

I want to be you.

My five favourite Dinosaur Jr songs:

1. Turnip Farm
2. What Else Is New
3. Alone
4. Start Choppin'
5. Get Me

j.

I'd say either Where You Been? or the Whatever's Cool With Me EP.

Could the cover of "Green Mind" be more cool, or what?