Monday, July 14, 2008

Belle & Sebastion - Freak Scene, Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene (solo version)


Now this is odd. Belle & Sebastian, a gentle indie-pop band, covering Dinosaur Jr. one of the loudest most blistering bands of the 80's. However the cover works and works well. It goes to show you that despite being best known for their quiet-loud dynamic and use of feedback (which preceded the Pixies and of course Nirvana by several years), and uses of riffs and solos,
techniques the indie scene barely ventured before them, they had deeply rooted pop sensibilities. On the other hand it shows you that Belle & Sebastian has more balls than they are often given credit for.

This version of Freak Scene is a bit hard to come by. It's from a Peel Session in the early 2000's, when Dinosaur Jr. was still the J. Mascis project it had been since 1988. Of course, the full band reunited in 2005, and along with Mission of Burma are one of the few reunion acts who are not only as tight as they were in their heyday, but have recorded new material that holds up with their previous work.

Anyways, this version of the song is noteworthy as it is just J. with his acoustic guitar. However he still whips out the distortion at times, particularly during the solo.

Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene (Peel Session)
backup link

Belle & Sebastian - Freak Scene (Live)
backup link

Freak Scene music video


Freak Scene solo performance

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