Where You Been Dinosaur Jr. (Warner)

‘ the break I immersed myself in new wave Pugh Rhino’s super-duper new punk comps) ‘it made me very aware of how unmelodic epetitive most alternative rock is. So, on listen to Where You Been, 1 initially dis- ‘ed mastermind J Mascis (Dino Jr. inall but Ne) as a tuneless, clueless schmuck -- and a PPY singer to boot. rt the Crazy Horse-ish electric grandeur of ‘re You Been really grew on me. This is a Y fiery rave-up. The pleasures of Where en are a tad superficial and this isn’t Ymy thing, but if it’s yours it don’t get no t. Guitars!

7

The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two em hea eT)

Hard to believe it’s been over a year since Van Morrison has released an album. To fill the gap we get this compilation, released to a substan- tial, ifnot chart topping, audience. Volume One (double platinum in the U.S.) is Van’s biggest seller ever. That first one needed to up the number of discs or tighten the scope, though, which is what this one kinda does, concentrat- ing on Morrison’s Polygram material. Unfortu- nately, stuck in the middle of everything we get two Them tracks (but they do sound nice here.) Why? Same label. Meanwhile, left out is Van’s stunning Warner’s material. Also excluded are the Polygram tracks that appeared on Volume One, but I don’t know about you but I can live without ‘em. Anyway, this is a pretty exploita- tive little compilation, and, as far as I can see, arbitrarily selected. But since Van’s recent music is more mood than song oriented, a random selection will suffice. Exciting this is not, but it is appealing, for this sort of thing. So, y’know, slip it on and... water the plants, or whatever. Unlike Van Morrison’s recent music, his prime material is both gentle and powerful. Astral Weeks, as|’ve said a million times, is my favourite album ever, and Moondance and St. Dominic’s Preview aren’t far behind. Veedon Fleece at its best is really beautiful and Jnto the Music is great. Anyone with any kind of interest in this man, one of the greatest and most origi- nal vocalists rock has ever produced, should skip his barely there newer stuff and check out the awesome emotional kick of these albums. Still, I’m going to go so far as to say that this rather trashy anthology is all you need of his

Polygram stuff.

Lucky Thirteen Neil Young (MCA)

1

Here it is: Neil Young’s bad side, 64 minutes of

it, preserved for posterity. The album opens

with two Trans (yikes) outtakes and then gets

much better, to the point where it’s only bland. A fucking hustle that merits a boycott.

Number Ten J.J. Cale (BMG)

4

Very, very anonymous, laid-back guitar dude. Competent but dull.

NeW ifs

No, were not dead. Gert your AUBMUSSLOS in A SAF. fhe most opensve, radical and beautiful issue ever

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