Dinosaur Jr. set the standard for convulsive indie-rock guitar fireworks in the Eighties. Incredibly, the band's original lineup — guitarist J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph — hasn't lost a thunderous step. On the second disc since the band reunited four years ago, Mascis moans come-ons like "saaaave me" with the scabrous drawl of a backwoods bridge troll. Avalanching metal riffs and spit-polished solos reach for the sky with a classic-rock charisma the band never went for in its youth. When Mascis wonders, "Should I take it home?" at one point, it's the first time he's sounded like the choice was pretty much his. Now, that's progress.

“Helen Wheels”

A rollicking good-time hard rocker, "Helen Wheels" was not about a woman but about Paul McCartney's Land Rover, the anthemic chorus voicing the vehicle's reckless joy as "she" took to the road. The song was added to the U.S. version of Band on the Run but was issued only as a single in McCartney's native U.K. "I like that because it's a British road song and there's not many of those around," said McCartney. "It's always Route 66. But Carlisle? How many songs have got Carlisle in them?"