Search - Dinosaur Jr :: Where You Been

A Great Masterpiece

Sean S McVity | North White Plains, NY USA | 09/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dinosaur Jr fans tend to be split into two camps: those who favor the early, Lou-Barlow-era underground sound of Bug and You're Living All Over Me, and those who prefer the fuller, more finished sounds of the J Mascis-centric Green Mind and later albums. To me, it's all so good that I can never decide which I like better. But although I've listened to every album at least a thousand times, Where You Been has always been the one that staggers me. With an unconscious, sleight-of-hand genius for song structure and melody, Mascis created the strongest songs of his career. Although less driven by impulsive inspiration than some earlier stuff (like The Wagon), these songs are more finished, and Mascis has brought in an uncanny knack for instrumentation to add layers of mood to otherwise simple songs. Out There, for instance, is just a basic five-chord folk progression, but those static guitars and stop-rhythms turn it into an epic. Start Choppin, On the Way and Hide are so original that there is simply no analog to them in contemporary music. I have to close with a tribute to Not the Same, the mysteriously oft-maligned ballad; I don't think I've ever heard a sadder or more beautiful song. The whole album leaves me in awe."

Found, but never lost

C. L. Zamor | Mannheim, Germany | 05/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To start off with, I must say that I am not one to blurt out grandiose declarative statements about the greatness of something. I will have to make an exception in the case of D.J.'s Where You Been. I first discovered Dinosaur Jr. back when this album first came out. I heard them on the radio and was mightily impressed. I really hadn't heard anybody quite like them before. At this time, I was very much interested in the grunge movement, particularly Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. I also found I had a strong interest in the Pixies, and a mild interest in Sonic Youth, both of whom hailed from the same Mass. area as DJ. While I still enjoy all of these groups for myriad of reasons, the one group I never tired of was Dinosaur Jr. and in particular this album. I actually started out loving "I ain't saying", but when I bought the cd I lost interest in it. I really dug "Start Choppin'" for its simple bubbly rhythm. For me, "Get Me" is a real gem with its astounding guitar solos and mutterings of J. Most of the other tracks are very good. Easy to listen all through. The thing about DJ that I have always found comforting is that vocally it invokes a sort of "throw my hands in the air" apathy that has carried me through some pretty tough times over the years. Besides, I could actually sing along and very often it would be of a quality near par to J's(lol).
The music is enough to make even the most dedicated lyricists overlook the scratchy, oft-out of key vocals and generally incomprehensible words. I would argue that the lyrics and vocals are part and parsal to the overall DJ experience, though. I have purchased this album twice, and am getting ready to buy another copy of it. After hearing this album, I started checking out DJ's other albums. They were hard to find where I lived at the time, but it became a bit of an obsession to find them. I think GreenMind is a very solid album, maybe even my second favorite and I very much enjoy the EP-Whatever's Cool With Me. The live version of the GreenMind classic "Thumb" is superb and well-worth the cost of the cd. I am not a huge fan of DJ's early stuff, though I own all of it and listen to it on occasion. Fossils is a fun album though. The album following Where You Been, Without a Sound, was initially disappointing to me. I was rather possessive of "my" band and when they started to gain a little attention, I resented the "johnny come lately's" even though I suppose I was one too, as I look back. I didn't give the cd a chance, but as I have listened to it since, I have gained a healthy respect for it. Their last original cd, which I can't remember the name of is also a solid effort.All in all, I must say that Where You Been was one of the first cd's that I could listen to not stop all the way through. I would recommend this to anyone who is nostalgic for the bygone 90's or just those interested in some obscure guitar-driven rock that is fresh and still holds up 10+ years after it was released. When you look at the poor state of rock these days, DJ really shines, especially to those of you who haven't heard much of their music."

Solid Alt Rock From DJ

eRgO | Washington, DC United States | 04/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While Green Mind saw J. Mascis steering Dinosaur Jr's sound to a more diverse and enhanced destination, Where You Been is that destination. The album starts out strong with "Out There," a great rocker, simmering with screaming guitars and woeful vocals. "Start Choppin" was a hit off the album, with a video in steady rotation on MTV. It starts off with a light, catchy riff that suddenly explodes into a wall of distorted guitar strumming, with J singing: "I ain't tellin' you a secret / I ain't tellin' you goodbye." The song continues to build on the initial catchy guitar line and would fit easily on Green Mind. Dinosaur Jr. has always excelled at somehow marrying metal/punk with country twang and melody, and that is never more evident than on Where You Been. "What Else is New?" demonstrates this perfectly, where J. even kind of does a bit of a yodel-type singing along with a very folky guitar line that suddenly blisters into mad Hendrix solos and then ends with strings, and timpani drums. "On the Way" is a fast-paced track that could be a leftover from Bug, and proves that J & Co. are still proficient rockers. "Not the Same" holds the surprise of the album, with more timpani drums, flutes and stark vocals sung in falsetto. Not my favorite DJ song, but interesting and is effective if I'm in the right mood. For me, the album is topped with "Get Me," an amazing song that starts off with slight strumming, then building into a giant riff that climaxes with more solos that say more than all the words on any DJ album. This is a song that, like Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue," can be heard a thousand times and not get tiresome. "Drawerings" falters a bit with a riff that even sounds like the one in "Get Me" but without the same feeling (though I still do like the solos on this one). "Hide" is another fast rocker but doesn't have the catchy chorus of "On the Way." "Goin Home" is one of my favorites - with a great keyboard line and twangy guitars, the song shows the musical breadth of DJ. The album ends with "I Ain't Sayin," which could sum up Mascis' entire lyrical catalog, cause he really ain't sayin much except "I'm rollin' home to you." This album deserves a place in your home if you consider yourself a DJ fan."