Where You Been

About the Album

Where You Been, released in 1993, represents Dinosaur Jr at a creative and commercial peak. The album marked a significant evolution in their sound, incorporating orchestral elements and more complex arrangements while maintaining their signature guitar-heavy approach. It was their most successful album to date, reaching number 50 on the Billboard 200, while the single "Start Choppin" became a hit on alternative radio. The album was recorded at Sorcerer Sound in New York City, with additional recording at Fort Apache Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts. J Mascis took an even more meticulous approach to production than on previous albums, layering multiple guitar tracks and adding orchestral elements to songs like "What Else Is New." The production by Mascis and engineer John Agnello achieves a perfect balance between the band's raw power and their increasingly sophisticated arrangements.

Where You Been showcases Dinosaur Jr’s most ambitious songwriting to date. The album features some of Mascis’s most accomplished guitar work, particularly on the epic opener “Out There” and the hit single “Start Choppin.” The songs incorporate more varied arrangements, including strings and acoustic elements, while still delivering the massive guitar sounds fans had come to expect. The album’s emotional centerpiece, “What Else Is New,” demonstrates Mascis’s growing confidence as a melodic songwriter.

“By the time Where You Been surfaced, Seattle had completely exploded, and given that Dinosaur Jr.‘s sound, attitude, and more were as proto-slacker as could be, the temptation must have been great to cash in. But J Mascis stuck to his guns, and there’s little about Where You Been that would have seemed out of place on Green Mind or even some earlier records. Recorded with a full band throughout, Mike Johnson and Murph lay down does-the-job rhythm tracks while Mascis tackles almost everything else. Where You Been is occasionally moody and dark but otherwise is more rough fun. Opening track “Out There” is one of the most mournful things Mascis has recorded, with an especially yearning chorus, but his fiery solo still makes it classic Dinosaur Jr. “Start Choppin” immediately follows, its quick, catchy lead riff helping to make it as close to a radio hit as the band ever had — and, of course, a big ol’ solo or two adding to the fun of it all. From there on in it’s a puréed blast of punk, classic rock, and more. It may be business as usual, but it’s good business just the same, whether it’s the gentle “Not the Same,” on which Mascis does his best Neil Young impersonation, or the stuttering feedback snorts and rips on “Hide,” on which he borrows a bit back from disciple Kevin Shields. Other highlights include “Get Me,” a melancholic, steady cruncher with another trademark solo of the gods, and the unjustly ignored “What Else Is New,” which sounds like a mid-’70s rock ballad with louder volume and none of the crud, right down to the concluding string section.”

• by Ned Raggett, AllMusic.com