Dinosaur Jr – There Near – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Another album from Dinosaur Jr, it’s now their sixth album post-reformation and thirteenth overall.  It’s very much a ‘business as usual’ album for them, i.e., lots of good-natured rock ‘n’ roll songs, giving guitarist J Mascis a chance to unleash his ‘shredding’.  It opens up with Several Got Away, all ebullient guitar riffing and Mascis’ groaned vocals.  No Friends is similar, a slightly heavy pop/rocker, slightly reminiscent of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World.  There are plenty of these: Everything At Once, Take Me With You, Walk Me Back, but many of them are a bit interchangeable.

On any Dinosaur Jr. album, Lou Barlow’s songs are there for a bit of variety, and here, the mid-paced rocker Blowin’ Up provides a change of pace.  Following this, Gone Off has the band almost in party mode while Clam Along is a tough-sounding, brawny rocker.  Put It Down is a bit slower, an anthemic framework for Mascis’ shredding before we finish with the Barlow-sung rocker No One’s Ready.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of this, but as Dinosaur Jr albums go, it’s just not that memorable.  Great for when you’re in the mood to just ‘rock out’, but not sure it’s an album you’ll return to over and over.

Several Got Away