Dinosaur Jr. still fearsome on reformation tour

Dinosaur Jr. has been touring steadily since they reunited last summer, though with a blistering set earlier this month at the 9:30 Club, Dinosaur proved they still have plenty of bite.

Years before the northwest grunge explosion in the early ’90s, Dinosaur Jr. was already slacker rock icons. The trio became famous for their live shows, playing hard-rocking, beautiful ballads at deafening volumes (the 2001 best of collection was aptly titled “Ear Bleeding Country”). But perhaps the biggest contribution of the band was front man J Mascis’ re-popularization of the guitar solo in the underground scene, something punk rock had made uncool over a decade ago.

Mascis’ barely conscious demeanor was balanced by bassist Lou Barlow’s spastic playing and enthusiastic back-up vocals and hard-hitting drummer “Murph” (born Emmett Jefferson Patrick Murphy III).

The band released three critically acclaimed records in the ’80s before Barlow was fired from the band amid tensions with Mascis. The story of the band’s original lineup is expertly told in Michael Azerrad’s brilliant chronicle of the American underground scene of the ’80s, “Our Band Could Be Your Life.”

Barlow would go on to form his own rock band, Sebadoh. Though Dinosaur continued for another seven years or so after his departure, the later records became more solo Mascis affairs, with Mascis playing most of the instruments on the bulk of the tracks.

J’s classic rock influences became more apparent, his singing and songwriting style being often compared to Neil Young.

Though these latter-day Dinosaur albums are all solid hard rock records, the dynamic of the band’s sound had significantly changed and they never received the same kind of attention from its early days.

Last year, Merge Records re-released their first three albums “Dinosaur,” “You’re Living All Over Me” and “Bug.” In the era of re-issues with more bonus tracks than you can shake a stick at, the Dinosaur re-releases seem paltry. The songs have been digitally re-mastered, and all of the discs include new linear notes, but they each include only one bonus track.

If you already own the originals there is no real need to go out and replace them, however if you have never heard them to begin with, then you should immediately go to your nearest record store and pick them up.

At the 9:30 Club, a stop several days into its latest tour, the band casually strolled onto the stage like they could barely be bothered to show up, only to be greeted by thunderous applause.

Mascis still appears as lethargic as ever, but he – as well as the whole band – is noticeably older and heavier. His once dark hair is now totally grey, and he very much resembles a computer programmer or middle-aged comic book geek.

However, despite his deceptively unthreatening, doughy appearance, Mascis is undoubtably still the most impressive, innovative rock guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. He plays with the chops of the best heavy metal, or modern blues guitarist, but with a raw, intensity that tugs at your gut in a way Eddie Van Halen or Stevie Ray Vaughn never could.

In contrast to Mascis, Barlow moves like a tornado caught in an oversized plastic bubble. With his spastic herky-jerky bass strumming he looks like he’s doing some bizarre aerobics routine, jumping and thrashing around without really going anywhere.

Murph sat quietly behind the drum kit for most of the show, looking happy just to be playing.

The trio opened with their epic up-tempo punk rock tune, “The Lung,” wasting no time before kicking the show into high gear.

The band’s set consisted almost entirely of material from the group’s afformentioned first three records, with the exception of the explosive “Wagon” from 1991’s Green Mind and their 1989 raucous version of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven.”

Barlow even took the mic for two of his songs “Forget the Swan” and “Lose.” However, the highlights of the show were the Mascis penned tunes. “Little Fury Things” alternates between screaming and singing about chasing for something unattainable and “Freak Scene” is a great straightforward rock song based on Mascis and Barlow’s dysfunctional relationship.

Mascis’ lyrics focus mostly on loneliness and feeling awkward. When looking at some of Dinosaur’s lyrics in print, (“Bugs have feelings just like me”) you’d swear they were written by some nauseating emo band.

But whereas Conor Oberst cannot open his mouth without making me want to vomit, Mascis has the uncanny ability to take ridiculously self-deprecating lyrics and make them sound earnest. He ends “The Quest” by repeatedly screaming “Why won’t you be my friend?” without sounding like a jackass.

The group closed the set with the aptly titled “Sludgefest,” an ironically pretty song with several raunched-out solos. The song really best exemplifies what the band is all about: strikingly beautiful songs veiled behind layers of shrieking distortion.

The show can be downloaded at www.freesofree.net, an archive of Dinosaur and J Mascis shows.