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Bug is just an amazing totally rocking album. I like the way it sounds for the most part. There are flaws but it is a classic.
Since my 1st concert was on their Bug tour of 1989, I think I always associate Dinosaur Jr. with something they used to be. They sounded different back then.
Bug is easily their best material off the first three albums. Eventually they’re going to have to play some different stuff. It will be interesting to see what that will entail.
"BetteDavisLies " wrote:"Flowagain " wrote:yeah he wasnt in pain, ppl were throwin beer atthe roadies. fucking lame, that roadie with the grey strangly hair was pissed. someone hit him with a bottle.
fucking drunk assholes all over.From what I have heard so far about the Kansas show, there were a lot of people who were there because there is not shit else to do in Kansas.. It doesn’t seem as if they really wanted to see a Dinosaur show. (Disclaimer: I realize this does not apply to some of the awesome diehard fans who have already made comments here.) Whether the guy on the front meant to do it or not, as someone noted, J does sing very close to the mic and if you got knocked in the mouth with it, you would instantly feel pain coupled with a quick flash of anger. It is instinctive and biological. Although J plays like God, he is still human. How is that not "professional?" I have never seen any "unprofessional" bands work as hard as dinosaur have on this tour.
The "roadies" to which you are refering are Kevin Sweeney and Kyle Spence. They are the guys who set every single piece of equipment up on stage and make sure it works so you can hear the show that you paid "nearly $30" for (You cheap bastards – It is Dinosaur for god sakes…) Just like the band, Kevin and Kyle do this every night. It is the same routine. Set eveything up and take it down in a new town each day and sometimes, in a new country or continent.
I guess if people are throwing beer at them they should stand back and laugh. Haha! How fucking hilarious..
Is it the Kevin Sweeney in hayride? I went to school with him and lived in Athens, GA while he was out there. I occasionally would say hello to him at a hayride show. He’s a cool dude.
"mobile homeless " wrote:"andyfest " wrote:I’m the one to blame for not learning it." or something to that effect. Maybe if we nag Lou enough he’ll learn it.The irony here is that one of the main reasons why Let it Ride is so good is that it has one of the best bass lines of any of the Dinosaur Jr songs. If Lou is indeed playing the bass line on this recording that is. Things were getting ugly around this time. I always associated this line with Lou, however, as it has his character all over it. The next time you listen to Let if Ride, pay attention to the bass all the way through and you’ll get an idea of just how good he is. It’s this kind of bass that made me consider the original lineup with Lou an order of magnitude more talented than any of the later versions, live or on record. The first three albums have song writing, life, fire, creative force, and a mixture of playing styles that was never quite duplicated. I got all these albums at their release and back then, each was considered a staple. While Green Mind is good, it lacks some of the raw quality of the first three, in my opinion.
The last irony in my view is that compared to all early shows I saw back in the 80s, their sound is now too much VOLUME over quality which seems to be lost on a good number of the patrons these days (perhaps the ear plugs make it a moot point anyway). Then again, I didnt hear them but at one venue on his tour but I can safely say that Lou’s bass was buried in the mix and the sound mediocre at best. The vocals were completely lost as were any ability to recreate microdynamics which are still important in a good number of their songs (especially on the first album – and gives more depth to songs like the Lung to In a Jar where section dynamics allowed more tension build and release etc). Lou is such a great bass player and is another of those perfect mixes of guitar/bass background that it’s a shame that the louder than God doesnt allow the quality to come through. I love LOUD and the wall of sound if it can be pulled off. The trick is allowing the individual lines to roll to the surface where needed, something that wasnt able to come through in Myrtle Beach. And the vocals were so buried in the mix even to the point of being lost, especially on Lou’s songs. The bass drum was poorly mixed as well and was loose and lacked definition; it was overloading the PA big time. If you know the first Dinosaur album well, you know that this wall of sound is not really its driving force. Many of these songs are classics but lost something in the latest tour mix although they were STILL great and blew away so many of the current fare.
Not sure this is the right place to even ask as I dont think many here were around to see a lot of the 80s shows but I thought the sound guy at Myrtle Beach was bordering on useless. J, lou, and murph always went for the great wall of sound, larger than life at times, but they now seem to take this to a level that overpowers the hell out of the club. The House of Blues in Myrtle was the second largest on the tour and maybe they felt the need to fill it. When I walked in during Deadmeadow, I groaned as if taking a bullet, recognizing the sickening overload of the bass and bottom end, too much for th building. I silently cursed the sound man. I prayed that Dinosaur might have a new sound guy would come to the rescue but it was a no go. Still enjoyed the show, but if you didnt know EVERY song by heart, you wouldnt know what the F*ck was going on. I’ve played these LPs to the point of replacing them (by the way, the LP KILLS the CD, even in the latest re-issue with the remixing). They received a rather tepid, smattering of applause for the encore after which Lou said, "I’ve heard some lousy encore calls but that’s the WORST ever." In my opinion, a lot had to do with the sonics which were handled with little skill on that night in Myrtle BEach. I’d avoided the House of Blues like the plague so wondered if the place has sorry sound but was imformed by an old bandmate that he had heard very good in the past.
Sorry to say that this show, while having one of the best set lists of any Dinosaur show I’ve seen since the 80s, was perhaps the worst sounding in terms of balance. On another note, I never wear earplugs and have heard LOUDER shows but ones that were also mixed and mic’ed with more ability and attention to club acoustics. I was going to attend the Chapel Hill show as well just to see, but was unable. Here’s to hoping they pulled this balancing act off in other venues, pleasing more than the "hell yeah, dinosaur jr rocks hard and were killer man" contingent. They still remain one of the all-time greats of that time.
kh
PS –btw, my apologies on the somewhat rambling, uneven, and at times, repetitive post…. I had to get up early and the coffee was sTROONNG. I tried to edit but it went downhill from there.
I saw an eighties show at the old 9:30 Club in DC in 1989 and I would have to agree that Dinosaur Jr. was louder at that show than the House of Blues show I saw in Las Vegas last year. HOB sucks at the mixing part and they’re very closed to having anyone be able to hear soundcheck. That’s both Vegas and HOB and I suppose it’s the particular environment. I thought the wall of sound and overall guitar sound was amazing at the 1989 show and that’s why Bug is my favorite Dinosaur Jr. album. Back in 1989 Dinosaur Jr. also played angrier, faster, and Lou yelled and screamed on several songs.
Also people who are like predators like to target someone who is drinking sometimes too esp. if that person appears to be drunk or the slightest bit slow. Not to preach or anything, but that is the reality of it. Some people hold their liquor better than others.
That is a buzzkill but at least you got your keys back and got to meet J. Going to concerts these days you’re taking your life into to your own hands. Man, those two sounded like a couple of real lowlifes to say the least. The venue can really make all the difference when seeing a band in concert but there always is the bad element just looking for trouble that will show up no matter what.
"Flowagain " wrote:I love that song, its an old one too, youd think they would play it …Has anyone ever heard Let It Ride live???? id enjoy hearing that .I saw Dinosaur Jr. play let it Ride back in 1992 at the Masquerade in Atlanta. At that show, which was to promote their current album at the time "Whatever’s Cool With Me", they played Pond Song, Let it Ride, They Always Come, No Bones, Budge with Murph doing a lot of double bass stuff on that song and a lot of others. I don’t have the whole set list but they played a lot of Bug, several off YLAOM, a few off Green Mind, and Whatever’s Cool too. This show was very amazing and I still think about how great it sounded.
Bug is a great drinking album. The distortion on that album just races through your body and rocks out.
In no order:
No Bones
Pond Song
Let it Ride
Post
Don’t
They Always Come
Freak Scene
Gargoyle
Forget the Swan
Budge
Yeah We KnowForget the Swan
Budge
SludgefeastI would start with Bug first because this is the album that will get you the most excited in a musical sense to see the band live.
