Performed live for MTV’s 120 Minutes shortly after the release of Where You Been, the vinyl-only Seventytwohundredseconds (in reality, 26 minutes) comprises five tracks: one deep cut from each of the first five Dinosaur Jr albums.
What seems a niche completist release also serves as a curio from a time when a three-legged collie with emphysema could have been invited onto MTV providing it coaxed au courant Sabbath-inspired down-tempo distortion from a cheap guitar.
No wheezing crippled sheepdogs, Dinosaur Jr discharge their live set gloriously while, as ever, seemingly teetering on the brink of chaos. The languorous squalling of Severed Lips leads into an intense Budge, and as-sunny-as-it-gets Get Me is issued into a silent void absent of audience acclaim. Side 2 is made up of a joyfully reckless Thumb and a soulful Raisans.
Despite already having been round the block and witnessed the sorry state of the neighbourhood, Dinosaur Jr were assimilated into the early90s alternative rock sub-genre That Must Not Be Named.
But J Mascis and co. were a crucial influence rather than equals to the likes of celebrated Sub Pop triumvirate Nirvana, Mudhoney and Tad. As with the latter two, Dinosaur Jr eschewed the era’s commercial clamour. As a result, their legacy remains all the more intact.
