duga's Top 25 Albums of 2012

duga · 12-23-2012, 08:30 PM

The holidays are in full swing and I've got my top 10 to get through! Here we go...

NUMBER 10

Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky

No matter where my music taste is now, I will always have a soft spot for my first love: fuzzed out, crunchy, in your face guitars. I can pinpoint where my interest in music started with one album, but the first whole genre I identified with was grunge. It’s simplicity combined with the potential for pretty intense raw emotion really attracted me to it. When a band has nothing more than fuzzy guitars, drums, and bass and they can still make the magic happen…I absolutely love it. Dinosaur Jr. delivers exactly that on I Bet On Sky.

This is officially the album that got me into Dinosaur Jr. I had heard You’re Living All Over Me and even after listening to it several times, I still didn’t really “get” it. With I Bet On Sky, it all clicked. The fuzzed out craziness, the dare I say orgasmic J. Mascis solos…I couldn’t get enough. While Farm is a bit better overall, it was a bit bloated in some spots…I Bet On Sky is a lean fuzz machine. Unfortunately, the solos don’t ever reach “I Don’t Want to Go There” heights, but they are still completely satisfying. Fans of Dinosaur Jr. will love it…people who are on the fence may find out why so many people swear by them. Reunion versions of bands rarely work out, but somehow these guys are one example of where it did better than work out. Their reunion albums are better than when they were first on the scene.

If I had to think of a criticism for this album it would be the same criticism I have for almost all Dinosaur Jr. albums. Sometimes everything can start sounding the same. In fact, it took me a while to start differentiating the majority of Dinosaur Jr. albums from each other. As for as that goes, though, this is one of their more varied efforts. Aside from the Lou Barlow missteps on “Rude” and “Recognition” (Lou, even if those were serious efforts they really sound like filler...kudos to J for letting you stretch your songwriting efforts more than on other albums, though), every song on here has its own unique catchy qualities. In fact, I found myself listening more to the riffs rather than waiting for the Mascis solo, which I’ve found is not usually how I enjoy a Dinosaur Jr. album.

All in all, this one is worth your time…either if you are already a fan of the band or if you are trying to get into them. These guys have aged like fine wine in terms of songwriting skill. They’ve locked into each other’s styles as effortlessly as, say, Rush but still have that alternative bite to keep things interesting. If you are like me and this is your first DJ outing, get ready to be listening to a lot of them afterwards. Working my way backwards through their discography has been a lot of fun.

duga · 01-09-2013, 11:17 AM

Ok, so I was planning of writing this over my break but I ended up having way too much fun, so now it's gonna bleed slowly into 2013. I'll add a post when I'm bored and not completely sick of writing my thesis. This is gonna be a rough 4 months...not looking forward to it at all.

12-23-2012, 08:30 PM	#21 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	The holidays are in full swing and I've got my top 10 to get through! Here we go... NUMBER 10 Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky No matter where my music taste is now, I will always have a soft spot for my first love: fuzzed out, crunchy, in your face guitars. I can pinpoint where my interest in music started with one album, but the first whole genre I identified with was grunge. It’s simplicity combined with the potential for pretty intense raw emotion really attracted me to it. When a band has nothing more than fuzzy guitars, drums, and bass and they can still make the magic happen…I absolutely love it. Dinosaur Jr. delivers exactly that on I Bet On Sky. This is officially the album that got me into Dinosaur Jr. I had heard You’re Living All Over Me and even after listening to it several times, I still didn’t really “get” it. With I Bet On Sky, it all clicked. The fuzzed out craziness, the dare I say orgasmic J. Mascis solos…I couldn’t get enough. While Farm is a bit better overall, it was a bit bloated in some spots…I Bet On Sky is a lean fuzz machine. Unfortunately, the solos don’t ever reach “I Don’t Want to Go There” heights, but they are still completely satisfying. Fans of Dinosaur Jr. will love it…people who are on the fence may find out why so many people swear by them. Reunion versions of bands rarely work out, but somehow these guys are one example of where it did better than work out. Their reunion albums are better than when they were first on the scene. If I had to think of a criticism for this album it would be the same criticism I have for almost all Dinosaur Jr. albums. Sometimes everything can start sounding the same. In fact, it took me a while to start differentiating the majority of Dinosaur Jr. albums from each other. As for as that goes, though, this is one of their more varied efforts. Aside from the Lou Barlow missteps on “Rude” and “Recognition” (Lou, even if those were serious efforts they really sound like filler...kudos to J for letting you stretch your songwriting efforts more than on other albums, though), every song on here has its own unique catchy qualities. In fact, I found myself listening more to the riffs rather than waiting for the Mascis solo, which I’ve found is not usually how I enjoy a Dinosaur Jr. album. All in all, this one is worth your time…either if you are already a fan of the band or if you are trying to get into them. These guys have aged like fine wine in terms of songwriting skill. They’ve locked into each other’s styles as effortlessly as, say, Rush but still have that alternative bite to keep things interesting. If you are like me and this is your first DJ outing, get ready to be listening to a lot of them afterwards. Working my way backwards through their discography has been a lot of fun. __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...

01-09-2013, 11:17 AM	#22 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	Ok, so I was planning of writing this over my break but I ended up having way too much fun, so now it's gonna bleed slowly into 2013. I'll add a post when I'm bored and not completely sick of writing my thesis. This is gonna be a rough 4 months...not looking forward to it at all. __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...