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Rating:
In my personal (and humble) opinion, the key to understanding this CD lies in starting to analyze it from the end. I mean right from the very end, from the second half of the extra four-track CD that distinguishes the "deluxe" edition: the last two tracks are - surprise, surprise! - credited solely to J Mascis. How are they? Indistinguishable from the rest, since the equation J Mascis=Dinosaur Jr always holds true? "Creepies" is a surprisingly short instrumental, opening with a self-reference (from "A Little Ethnic Song", featured on the "Guitarrorists" compilation) and evolves in 2 minutes where the guitar remains surprisingly restrained; "Show", on the other hand, is an amusing heavy piece a little over a minute long, with Mascis's distorted and effected voice emerging in stop and go moments. Two nice pieces, proving that good J left to do everything on his own remains valid, but not genius.
Then, the suspicion that permeated the listening of the entire album resurfaces: Dinosaur Jr is a great *band*, and like all great bands, they are greater than the sum of the individuals that compose it. Like all great bands, they also make music driven by the urgency to have something to say: the new album hits hard and direct, contains some of the most beautiful pieces ever by the Dinosaurs and does not betray the expectations of fans who, after the vanishing surprise effect of the still very valid "Beyond" two years ago, somewhat feared the trio’s second test after nearly twenty years of acrimonious separation. To the first person who comments 'Yes, but "Bug" (/ "You're Living All Over Me" / "Dinosaur," take your pick... It's a matter of taste) is much better' I'll reply that those albums have the advantage of historical perspective and the undeniable benefit of having been written by those barely older than twenty, with all the added value in terms of adolescent spleen that it entails and which in the indie world is as precious as gold. "Farm" is the album of a trio of forty-year-olds (would you ever say that Mascis, 44, is actually younger than Eddie Vedder?) that manages to sound more authentic and fresh than many other recent offerings sold as indie/alternative. Someone once wrote that Lou Reed makes Lou Reed records for Lou Reed fans - outsiders are welcome but not expressly invited. The same reasoning, in my opinion, applies to Dinosaur Jr - and my expectations were calibrated in this sense.
From this perspective, the album does not disappoint at all, containing songs that, as mentioned, aspire to the rank of classics in the band's repertoire, starting with the first single "Over It" with its lightning wah in the opening and the anticipated chorus, continuing with the opener, "Pieces", in line with the sound of "Beyond"; "See You" instead resumes the discourse that "What Else Is New" had started on "Where You Been". A few more words must be spent on "I Don’t Wanna Go There", an almost 9-minute ride reminiscent of the best electric Neil Young, complete with torrential solos placed at the end of the album (before the inevitable last track with Lou on vocals) and for the mid-tempo of "Plans", one of the most beautiful love songs Mascis has written (and sung, his voice is surprisingly solid throughout the album). Lou Barlow's contributions, "Your Weather" and the concluding "Imagination Blind", are immediately recognizable and contribute to giving variety to the CD which, as I have already repeatedly said, I cannot help but recommend.
At this point, I hope Black Francis & Co. listen to it well and get inspired...
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