Merge to Reissue First Three Dinosaur Jr Albums
J Mascis highly anticipates next visit to MENSA eyewear center

The Mascis continues! Merge Records is preparing to reissue Dinosaur Jr.'s first three records in early 2005. The albums in question, Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me, and Bug document the pre-major-label era of the band, and represent the band in a time before J. Mascis was content to simply exercise his solo chops, as future Sebadoh frontman Lou Barlow was still around to keep him in check.

Although a release date has not been set, sources speculate that February will be the earliest that the discs might surface. Bart Dahl, one of Mascis' managers (he needs more than one?), told us that the band isn't necessarily pushing for a quick release, as they want to ensure that the bonus material is as tight as possible.

Nothing is completely hammered out as of yet, but a great deal of unreleased material has been hinted at, including (but not limited to) video footage, unreleased tracks, and lots of never-before-seen photos, many submitted by fans. The artwork, of course, will remain unchanged, but all expanded liner notes will accompany each release. An interesting side note to all this is that 2005 will mark the 20-year anniversary of the original release of Dinosaur-- perhaps this is more than just coincidence, no?

In other J. Mascis news, a new incarnation of his band The Fog has been making the rounds, featuring Dave Schools from Widespread Panic on bass and Kyle Spence from The Tom Collins on drums. This new line-up has played a few shows, and, according to Dahl, everything is working out wonderfully. Assuming all continues to go well, a new album from J. Mascis and The Fog should be expected soon.

J. Mascis: http://jmascis.com
Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com