Dinosaur Jr's BUG album "In It's Entirety"

Last year Dinosaur Jr did a tour where they were exclusively playing their 3rd album Bug "In it's entirety". Although Bug is up there with some of my favorite albums, "In It's Entirety" shows are not my favorite so I skipped the New York City show.

When the show came to Washington DC's 9:30 club they had a few of their biggest fans film the show. In a few months the footage they shot will be released as a DVD and Blu Ray. The Official Dinosaur Jr Facebook page is now holding a contest to win a copy of the soon to be releases Dinosaur Jr:Live At the 9:30 Club "In The Hands Of The Fans" Blu Ray. One of the things you can do to win a copy is to write your opinions on the album in your blog and what it means to you. Then post a link to your blog on the wall of the Official Dinosaur Jr Facebook page and a few random fans will receive their very own copies. Even though I really do not want a copy of the Blu Ray , just like when The Cure came through with their first 3 albums "In Their Entirety" , it was an excuse to write out what this Dinosaur Jr album has meant to me these past  20+ years.

The album released prior to Bug, Dinosaur Jr's second album You're Living All Over Me is definitely in my Top 5 favorite albums. Out of the 3000+ CDs in my collection You're Living All Over Me is the one I have listened to more than any of the others. A lot of times it is even listened to twice in a row. Every time I give it a listen the album leaves me just as amazed as when I bought the album in 1988. The album is pure out of control and far above what any other band has every done. Every song is chock full of guitar fuzz, layered riffs, thunderous drumming, loads of hooks over nine perfectly ordered songs. Since I have the original SST Records disc I get the added bonus of Dinosaur Jr's great cover of Peter Frampton's classic "Show Me The Way". To think I bought the album just because they were on SST and would probably sound like Black Flag.

The album kicks off "Freak Scene", the song that would be considered the "Hit". Although there are still the blaring J Mascis guitars a little bit of the Your Living All Over Me fuzz has been stripped off. The song also shows a bit of structure. One of the great things about the previous album was the songs had no structure. They were all over the place and still worked. Just when you think "Freak Scene" is bordering on being a  pop song a great Mascis guitar solo comes in and continues to wail away for the last minute of the song.

Track 3 "They Always Come" begins heavy and bouncy, maybe even a little choppy; but at about 30 seconds a smooth chorus comes in and the song really takes off. It almost sounds as if it is two different songs. When hearing the track I always wonder if maybe the band was split on what direction they wanted the song to take. With neither J or bassist Lou Barlow willing to budge, they just decided to do both, drummer Murph just happy to be banging along. The switch happens again before the second chorus explodes into crashing waves of guitars lasting a minute before being laid to a rest with Lou's bass guitar.

For Track 4 "Yeah We Know" the volume on the fuzz pedal is turned up. One of the things I have always loved is the way you can really hear Murph's drums through all the fuzz. While in Dinosaur Jr, drummer Murph was known for hitting the drums harder than most. This song is definitely great proof of that, especially the thud after each of J's verses.

On Track 5, "Let it Ride", finally a song on this album takes off like all those great songs on You're Living All Over Me. All these members playing their instruments with complete abandon. Lou's pounding bass in songs like this is something that would be greatly missed on all future Dinosaur Jr albums.

Many times people have written that J Macis and Dinosaur Jr sound like Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Honestly I just never heard it. Even on the  indie Neil Young Tribute album, Dinosaur Jr (who does "Lotta Love") really has no resemblance to  Neil. Bug's track 6 "Pond Song" may be the only exception. On the song J's vocals definitely sound a little Neil Youngish. Although the song is probably one of the most melodic Dinosaur Jr songs up to this point, even Crazy Horse didn't turn the volume up this loud as this band.

On Track 7 "Budge" The band once again takes off in the vein of the smooth parts of "They Always Come". Murph can once again be heard pummeling his kit
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Track 8 "The Post" gets  a little dirgey. Although J's guitar is always there and shines through the chorus, , Lou's bass is what carries the song through the each verse.

Track 9 "Don't" is where the sludge is really poured on. The song is J going all out, wailing on his guitar for five and a half minutes with fuzz pedals and whammy bars all over the place. Murph continues to beat the life out of his drum set while Lou screams over and over again "Why don't you like me". With Lou not talking to J for the whole recording and tour of Bug and being kick out of the band shortly after, I wonder who he could have been talking about in this song.

Overall Bug is a great album. Out of a rating of 10 I would probably give it a 9. My only complaint being the songs don't flow into each other too well, almost as if it was a album of singles. Dinosaur Jr would to this day remain one of my favorite bands but none of their albums would compare to Bug, You're Living All Over Me or their great first album Dinosaur. The line-up of bassist Lou Barlow, drummer Murph and our generations first guitar god J Mascis was just perfect. It was awesome when in 2005 the original line up reunited as still are together today.


With Dinosaur Jr's move to Sire for their next album Green Mind, Bug also marks the last of the great albums on SST records. Black Flag had called it quits a few years earlier, The Descendents had turned into ALL and were now releasing record on Cruz Records, Sonic Youth and Firehose were moving on to DGC and Columbia Records and Husker Du had long moved on to Warner Bros and then broke up. Even the Screaming Trees had jumped ship to Epic Records after a short stop on Sub Pop. SST Records was left with Gone, Hotel-X, Bazooka and many more forgettable bands.

Usually I only put one video but this time there are two. The first is of one of the normal tracks in Bug and the second is the last track where bassist Lou loses it a little on  "Don't"