DINOSAUR JR. – FARM

I used to play in a band that was a bit like Dinosaur Jr., just three guys in a basement, big over-driven amps, raucous guitar played blisteringly loud. We wanted to be rock-stars; we were rock-stars, amongst our friends at least. But we could never get the vibe right. Where was the soul? Why didn’t our songs sound as gut-punchingly heavy, as high as Feel the Pain? Listening to Farm, I realise the difference. It’s not that we missed something; it’s that we did too much. Key changes? Forget it. Complex time signatures? No point. The legacy of Dinosaur Jr., from their humble beginnings to their celebrated naughties comeback, is the kind of stupid, simple feel-good grunge music that every teenager wants to make when they’re angry and don’t have a girlfriend – Dinosaur still do it right, even though they must all be fourty plus (no judgin’!). Take Over It as Exhibit A: over-the-top wah wah riff, dumb chord progression, predictable stuff that done by anyone else wouldn’t rate a mention. But it’s executed with so much passion, so much energy it doesn’t matter, and the same could be said for any of the cuts on Farm. Raw, simple, the best kind of comeback album; the kind that sounds like they never really left.

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