I Bet On Sky

I've been listening to Dinosaur Jr since about 1989 or something ridiculous. I first heard them on a skateboard video ('Speed Freaks') and not long after a friend of mine managed to buy one of their records, and that was it. I've had a weird relationship with this band over the years - loving them, then not listening to them for years, then getting back into them big time. I think at this point I can safely say that I will never tire of this band. Their older records seriously never get old, and these days they are back together and still cranking out new material which sounds every bit as good as the stuff that is now 20+ years old. So I was stoked to hear recently through a post that Mark put on Facebook that there was a new album out. A week later & I was in London & popped into an actual record shop to buy a copy. This record is called 'I Bet On Sky' and I am assuming that all copies come on purple vinyl.

What I love about the artwork of all recent J. Mascis related products is that there are always some quirky characters knocking about. Take this one, for example. Very cute.

I've only listened to this one about 3 times so far, but already there are a couple of tracks that stand out. Overall though, this is not a departure from the usual sound. There are songs that remind me of the band's different eras. A couple that definitely sound like they could have been on 'Bug' or 'You're Living All Over Me', and a few that sound more like they would have been on the mid 90s major label releases. Clearly I need to listen to it more to decide exactly where I rank it in the league of Dinosaur releases, but at least I can say for sure that this is no stinker and is well worth checking out if you're a fan.