Beyond (Dinosaur Jr. album)

Beyond is the eighth studio album by the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. It was their first LP in a decade after 1997's Hand It Over, and the first album by the original lineup since 1988's Bug.

Beyond
Studio album by
Dinosaur Jr.
ReleasedMay 1, 2007
RecordedSeptember–December 2006
VenueBisquiteen (Amherst, MA)
GenreAlternative rock, indie rock, noise rock
Length49:34
LabelFat Possum
ProducerJ Mascis
Dinosaur Jr. chronology
Hand It Over
(1997)		 Beyond
(2007)		 Farm
(2009)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic79/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blender[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[4]
NME8/10[5]
Pitchfork8.4/10[6]
PopMatters[7]
Slant Magazine[8]
Spin7/10[9]
Sputnikmusic[10]
Stylus MagazineB+[11]

Promotion

The band planned a full world tour in 2007[12] and played "Almost Ready" on the Late Show with David Letterman to support their album.[13] A music video was made for "Been There All the Time", featuring Sonic Youth front-man Thurston Moore and his daughter, Coco. It was directed by Matt Dillon.[14]

Release

The album was released through Fat Possum Records in the US[15] and through the Play It Again, Sam label in Europe[16][17], Australia, New Zealand[18] and Japan.[19] It was also released in Ukraine through Moon Records.[20] Both Fat Possum and PIAS released limited edition versions of it containing an extra 7 inch with the 2:47 track "Yer Son".[21][22] The respective labels would go on to reissue the album in 2014, 2015 and 2016[23], the former even releasing a downloadable 256kbit/s MP3 version of it.[24]

Reception

The album has a Metacritic score of 79 based on 31 reviews, indicating "[g]enerally favorable reviews".[25] Zach Baron of Pitchfork gave the album a very positive review, comparing it favorably to other comebacks of the year. He writes: "Beneath Beyond's crystalline production is the sublime result: years and years of weariness and aging and conflict put back into the bottle. [...] Less a theme park of the past and more of an actual trip there [...] Beyond is nostalgic for everything but the band's own glory days. If anything, it's an exercise in making their entire twenty-year output sound contemporary again."[26] Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the "very existence of this new album is a surprise, but the real shock is that Beyond is a flat-out great record, a startling return to form for J Mascis as a guitarist and songwriter and Dinosaur Jr. as a band." He found the album to be less noisy and more stylistically diverse than the earlier efforts of the trio ("this sounds like the album that could have been released instead of Green Mind if Lou had stuck around, or if Dinosaur made the kind of grand major-label debut many expected them to deliver in the days before Nevermind.") He also finds the album to be "very different" from their past efforts "in that for the first time, Mascis is assertive about his talent. He sounds engaged -- in music, in life [...] -- and it gives the album a powerful sense of purpose that the classic Dinosaur albums were lacking by their very design." He concludes by writing that "Beyond isn't merely a worthy album from a reunited band, it's simply a great record by any standard."[27]

A mixed review came from Q, who wrote that "The spark that made initial albums such as Bug so special is still missing." [May 2007, p.123]

Accolades
Publication Country Accolade Rank
Paste US The 100 Best Albums of 2007 98[28]
Pitchfork US The 50 Best Albums of 2007 28[29]
WOXY.com US 97 Best Albums of 2007 67[30]
Classic Rock UK Top Albums of 2007 17[31]
Uncut UK Top Albums of 2007 50[32]
Glide US Glide's Best Albums Of The Decade 42[33]

"Almost Ready" was used on the Major League Baseball 2K8[34] and Skate 3[35] soundtracks, and "Pick Me Up" is downloadable content from the Rock Band series. The songs "Almost Ready" and "Crumble" were used in Alien Workshop's skateboarding film Mind Field.[36]

Track Listing

All tracks are written by J Mascis except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Almost Ready" 3:08
2."Crumble" 4:04
3."Pick Me Up" 6:32
4."Back to Your Heart"Lou Barlow4:31
5."This Is All I Came to Do" 5:21
6."Been There All the Time" 3:40
7."It's Me" 5:14
8."We're Not Alone" 4:35
9."I Got Lost" 4:37
10."Lightning Bulb"Barlow3:45
11."What If I Knew" 4:01
Total length:49:34
Japanese Edition Bonus Tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Yer Son"2:51
12."Tiny Town"0:40

Personnel
  • J Mascis – lead vocals, guitars, production, writer (1-3, 5-9, 11)
  • Lou Barlow – bass, vocals, writer (4, 10)
  • Murph – drums, percussion
  • Rick Myers – design, artwork
  • John Agnello – sound engineer
  • Justin Pizzoferrato – sound engineer
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • John Agnello – mixing
  • Burk Uzzle – cover photography
  • Philipp Virus – photography
    • Recorded and mixed at Bisquiteen, Amherst, MA.
    • Mastered at Sterling Sound, NYC.

Charts

Beyond debuted at #69 on the Billboard 200 and peaked at #19 on the Top Rock Albums chart.[37][37] In 2012 it was awarded a double silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association,[38] which indicated sales of at least 40,000 copies throughout Europe.

Year Chart Peak
position
2007 Billboard 200 69
gollark: Hmm, that seems like a more sensible way to do it than my check-every-10-minutes idea, actually.
gollark: Oh, that's okay then.
gollark: Running an individual process for all of them sounds really inefficient.
gollark: I would just have a process check the database for 4-hour-old ones every 10 minutes or something.
gollark: Isn't that a problem?

References
  1. "Beyond by Dinosaur Jr". Retrieved May 1, 2020 – via www.metacritic.com.
  2. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r1041597
  3. http://www.blender.com/guide/new/54549/beyond.html%5B%5D
  4. Brunner, Rob (May 25, 2007). "Dinosaur Jr – Beyond". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  5. "Dinosaur Jr | NME". April 30, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  6. "Dinosaur Jr.: Beyond". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  7. Fiander, Matthew (May 3, 2007). "Dinosaur Jr.: Beyond". PopMatters. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Burgess, Aaron (May 21, 2007). "Dinosaur Jr., 'Beyond' (Fat Possum)". Spin Magazine. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  10. Fisher, Tyler (April 29, 2007). "Dinosaur Jr.: Beyond". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 5, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Dinosaur Jr News". Archived from the original on February 3, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  13. Evandro Depiante (July 15, 2009), Dinosaur Jr. - Almost Ready (Live Letterman 2007), retrieved February 28, 2019
  14. "New Dinosaur Jr Video – "Been There All The Time"". Stereogum. April 13, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  15. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  16. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  17. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  18. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  19. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  20. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  21. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  22. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  23. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  24. "Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond". Discogs. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  25. Beyond by Dinosaur Jr., retrieved February 28, 2019
  26. "Dinosaur Jr.: Beyond". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  27. "Beyond - Dinosaur Jr. | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  28. "The 100 Best Albums of 2007". pastemagazine.com. July 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  29. "The 50 Best Albums of 2007". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  30. "97bestof". Dropbox. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  31. "Rocklist.net...Steve Parker...More Classic Rock Lists." www.rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  32. "The Old Acclaimed Music Forum". pub37.bravenet.com. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  33. "Glide's Best Albums Of The Decade". December 14, 2009.
  34. "Major League Baseball 2K8 Soundtrack Announced - Xbox". February 6, 2012. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  35. "Skate 3 Soundtrack Revealed". CINEMABLEND. March 21, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  36. "Alien Workshop - Mind Field skate video soundtrack - Video by Greg Hunt | Skatevideosite". www.skatevideosite.com. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  37. "Dinosaur Jr. Beyond Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  38. "13/12/12: More Independent Artists Take European Gold, Silver and Platinum Awards Than Ever Before | Impala". www.impalamusic.org. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
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