Reunited better than before

A lot of the time when bands break up for whatever reason, they return to their recording lives years later less than the sum of their parts. It doesn't take a genius to see a steady decline in a bands output after extended periods away from recording. Look at The Verve and their 2008 album, Forth. It was a messy album, full of Richard Ashcroft-worthy solo material (that's not a compliment) and nothing to rival their early stuff. You can mark 1997's Urban Hymns as their benchmark, but I personally think that their strongest record was their debut, A Storm in Heaven. It was enchanting; the sound of a band that took all of their creative juices from the ethereal Verve EP and turned it into an impressive dream-world for 40+ magical minutes. This was before their first break-up, and it was when their chemistry worked best.

But come on. Dinosaur Jr. must defy all known musical laws by being just as incredible now as they once were; in fact, perhaps even moreso. Their big (early) albums are always seen to be You're Living all Over Me and Bug, and you can definitely hear the three core artists (Mascis; Barlow; Murph) working their kinetic socks off. Green Mind? Groovy in some parts, but lacking this serious connection between band-mates.

Which is why Beyond and Farm are fantastic records. You have the three core members of Dinosaur Jr. returning ready for action. Mascis' guitar solos are grander than ever before; Barlow's rich bass compliments him wonderfully; and Murph carries perfect percussion to gel it all together. It's the sound of a band reforming as something greater than it ever was, as if all three of the artists involved have learnt from their outside projects (The Fog; Sebadoh) and gone back into the Dinosaur Jr. name with gusto. You can argue that Dinosaur Jr. never left (Mascis continued releasing albums under the name), but by the strength of Farm especially, it's proof that a band truly works best when it pools it's efforts, rather than stumbling in blind and hoping for the best. An extended break from recording, then, can be a wonderful thing.