Dinosaur Jr. Album: “Fossils”

Dinosaur jr's first 1991 release. Its not much of a cd the only new song is keep the glove and then there is the two that appered on the just like heavan single, as a matter of fact the whole single is on here. If you want to buy this here is what your looking forward to.

Little fury things (from your living all over me)

In a jar (from YLAOM)

Show me the way *cover* (from YLAOM)

Freak scene (from BUG)

The only song from bug on this album. This song kinda put dinosaur jr on the map for higher class indie rockers. I love the guitar and lyrics AND vocals *another dinosaur jr classic*

Keep the glove (new)

This is a folk rock song with the crazist solo at the halfway point this one is perfect to crank because the solo is LOUD and crushing one of J mascis's best songs.

Just like heavan *single*

I remember seeing this music video a few years back but the video is rarely shown. As you may or may not know this one is a cure cover and an amazing cover too. Its a smart blend of acoustic and hard rock and instead of the cures nice little "you" in the chorus you get the whole band screaming "YOU!" then j mascis goes back to normal vocals. What an amazing song.

Throw down *off of the single*

Very Very short filler song (I think 45 seconds) of acoustic. If you listen to brand new love by sebadoh, after the song is over you can hear this song in the background for some reason.

Chunks *off of single*

Chunks is a cool punk song made for some rights group of whatever but the song has freak scene style guitaring with Henry rollins style vocals. What a great blend.

By this cd if you dont have enough money to get both your living all over me or bug but if you do get them and not this, this one is for people who want every cd by the band (like me).

This CD rocks. In typical Dinosaur fashion, guitars sound like jackhammers and vocals require lozenges. Fortunately, this makes for a charming combination and redresses old greats like Peter Frampton's "Show Me the Way" and The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" in very sexy clothing. In the case of the latter song, the Dinosaur version might even be better.

There are some real Dino Jr. gems here. This is the only cut of "Throw Down" I've been able to find, which I think is a very underappreciated song. Fans have sometimes complained about J Mascis' voice, but the music fits his voice beautifully here. This includes an almost kidding version of Peter Frampton's "Show Me the Way" which sounds like a really good garage band version; assuming, of course, that the garage band included one of the world's best electric guitar players. I think J. Mascis does with his guitar what Frampton needed the voice box for (or whatever thing that was that Frampton used). In any case, I'll always think of that song differently now after having heard Dino Jr's version. They've taken a vapid, almost simpy song and brought it alive.

I agree with a previous review that the Dino Jr. version of "Sounds Like Heaven" is better than the Cure's original. And "Keep the Glove" is superb. I envy the people who haven't heard this collection yet: they still have the pleasure ahead of them. Buy it while it's still available (I doubt they're making any more of 'em.)

"Chunks" is a song by Last Rights, a Boston hardcore band who only played one show in 1983 in Greenfield, MA and then put out a 7" record on Taang! that notoriously had a rare sleeve of Hitler (limited to 100). Mascis and Barlow were in the MA hardcore band Deep Wound together and they played at that show, and I always took the song to be them just giving a nod to their roots on this. Interestingly, a couple of times before the recent reunion of the original lineup of Dinosaur Jr, Lou came onstage at a couple gigs J was playing and they covered some of their Deep Wound material. The Last Rights stuff can be found on a joint cd also featuring Negative FX put out by Taang!. Deep Wound stuff is actually kind of hard to find, although Lost and Found put out a bootleg of it.

This is neat little dinosaur jr CD with a bunch of old songs and a couple of new ones. Chunks is an ok song its better then throw down. Just like heavan is amazing so is show me the way and the rest is good too. Buy it if you want to.