The 'Just Like Heaven' cover is pretty amazing. One of the greatest covers of all-time I'd have to say. Totally agree with whoever said including it on the original would have made it the great indie rock record of the 1980s. When I burned it onto a CD to play in my car I included it on the end along with 'Chunks' from their Fossils collection.
I don't view Bug as nearly as hit-or-miss as some of you guys do and I don't understand why J shunned the album nearly as much as he did (other than for personal reasons, obviously). The only standout track on it for me is 'Freak Scene' but every other song is either above average or average Dino Jr. The difference with YLAOM is that it has several standout tracks. Don't sell the self-titled short either, while none of the songs on it really grab my attention, they all have that classic sound I have grown to love so much.
As for 90s Dino Jr., don't forget about Whatever's Cool With Me. I agree that Green Mind was the best but it just had too many slow ones for me. 'Puke + Cry' is ****ing awesome though. Then there are a few good ones on Where You Been but then it got really bad with Without a Sound basically being all filler plus 'Feel the Pain'. My main quibble would be in regards to Hand It Over, which is surprisingly strong and really underrated IMO. Without Barlow, J was much more inconsistent as a songwriter but you still saw those flashes of brilliance.
I have never really given Beyond the full treatment because it was released before I really got into the band and by the time I worked through their 80s material Farm was released. So I'm partial to Farm but I still need to give Beyond a fairer chance. Plus, 'Almost Ready' is the best thing they have recorded this decade...
|