DINOSAUR JR.

When Dinosaur Jr. got back together more than 20 years after their formation and legendary break-up, there was a lot of concern that the guys were just hawking the old catalog and taking the old show on the road as a marketing stunt. But the album "Beyond", released in 2007, was the answer to this fear: "F**K YOU". Restoring the sound established by the unassailable hat-trick gambit of their first three albums - Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me and Bug - Beyond continued the band's march to rock greatness, making old ears smile and new ears bleed.

And then came Farm, the 9th full-length album with the original lineup: J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph. If Beyond was Dinosaur Jr.'s return to form, then Farm is proof that Dinosaur Jr. can (and still do!) deliver timeless, exhilarating rock music. Farm contains the typical Dinosaur Jr. palette: soaring and distorted guitars, unwavering hooks, honeyed melodies. Sometimes quite 70s guitar-epic, sometimes perfect for sitting by a babbling brook with Joni and Neil, these songs get stuck in your head and stay there, bouncing merrily around. The earworm-worthy "Plans" is a nearly seven-minute classic rock dessert, while "I Don't Wanna Go There" is a meat-and-potatoes main course that combines a blunt lead guitar with a straightforward delivery à la James Gang or Humble Pie.

This expanded deluxe edition of Farm includes four songs never pressed on vinyl and never released worldwide: "Houses", "Whenever You're Ready" (The Zombies cover), "Creepies" (instrumental), and "Show". "Whenever You're Ready," a cover of the pop-rock classic The Zombies, is incredibly good for a hidden gem; Murph stomps on the kit with a sledgehammer, J and Lou layer low-end and fuzz like two halves of a brain, and just when things feel the biggest, breeziest, and most colossal, J comes in with a lightning-fast guitar solo. Pure electricity and melody as only he can create it. Recorded at J Mascis' Bisquiteen Studio in Amherst, Massachusetts, Farm was produced by Mascis himself and delivers the unique energy of one of America's greatest living rock bands.