Dinosaur (Dinosaur Jr. album)

Dinosaur is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. It was released in 1985 on Homestead Records. The album exhibits a folkier side of the band than on future releases, but some of the tracks on the album showed off a much heavier, more hardcore punk-based side to the band in songs such as "Does it Float", "Mountain Man" and "Bulbs of Passion".

The album was originally released when the band was still known simply as Dinosaur, before a lawsuit forced the name change to Dinosaur Jr. Therefore, it was originally a self-titled album, but subsequent issues kept the Dinosaur title.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B
Pitchfork Media	6.2/10

Critical reception of the album was mixed to positive. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Dinosaur as "impressive" and said it had several standout songs. However, he said the album was overall "uneven" due to the band's apparent struggle to successfully integrate hardcore punk and hard rock with touches of experimental music. Pitchfork Media ranked the album at 6.2 out of 10, describing it as "a fucking mess" with overly lengthy tracks drawing on too many styles to be consistent.

Track listing

All songs written by J Mascis.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Forget the Swan"	5:09
2.	"Cats in a Bowl"	3:35
3.	"The Leper"	4:04
4.	"Does It Float"	3:18
5.	"Pointless"	2:46
6.	"Repulsion"	3:04
7.	"Gargoyle"	2:11
8.	"Severed Lips"	4:02
9.	"Mountain Man"	3:28
10.	"Quest"	4:27
11.	"Bulbs of Passion"	4:13
Total length:		40:25

"Bulbs of Passion" was not featured on the original vinyl LP; it was a b-side to the "Repulsion" single. Subsequent reissues on cassette and compact disc featured it as the last song. The 2005 reissue on Merge Records placed "Bulbs of Passion" as the first track at J Mascis' request. "Yeah, I asked for that," J recalls, "because gave our new direction - it felt like we were our own sound." Also featured was a 1987 live performance of "Does It Float" as a bonus track to close out the album.

Personnel

Dinosaur Jr.

J Mascis - vocals, guitar, tom tom, cymbal, big muff
Lou Barlow - bass, vocals, synthesizer (credited as casio)
Murph - drums, vocals on "Mountain Man", synthesizer (credited as casio)

Additional Personnel

Chris Dixon and Glen - engineering
Jason Talerman - photography
Maura Jasper - cover art
Lou Barlow - back cover art

References

Pitchfork Staff (September 10, 2018). "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 25, 2023. Compared to the scatterbrained cowpunk goth of their 1985 self-titled debut...
Trammell, Matthew (26 November 2015). "Three Decades of "Dinosaur"". The New Yorker.
"Dinosaur".
^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Dinosaur at AllMusic. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
^ Harvell, Jess (April 7, 2005). "Dinosaur Jr.: Dinosaur / You're Living All Over Me / Bug: Pitchfork review". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
Sinclair, Tom (April 11, 2005). "EW reviews the latest album reissues". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
Attfield, Nicholas William James. You're Living All over Me. New York: Continuum, 2011. Print.

v t e Dinosaur Jr.
J Mascis Lou Barlow Murph Mike Johnson George Berz
Studio albums	Dinosaur (1985) You're Living All Over Me (1987) Bug (1988) Green Mind (1991) Where You Been (1993) Without a Sound (1994) Hand It Over (1997) Beyond (2007) Farm (2009) I Bet on Sky (2012) Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not (2016) Sweep It Into Space (2021)
Compilations	Fossils (1991) Whatever's Cool with Me (1991)
Singles	"Freak Scene" "Just Like Heaven" "The Wagon" "Whatever's Cool with Me" "Start Choppin" "Out There" "Feel the Pain"
Related	Discography Deep Wound Sebadoh J Mascis + The Fog Witch The Folk Implosion Rollercoaster Tour

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