Apparently Dinosaur Jr. didn't get the memo that reunion albums aren't supposed to be any good. Did I say good? I'm sorry, try masterpiece, as in this is their third masterpiece and first since 1988's seminal Bug.
Where has Dinosaur Jr. been you say? Well the original lineup of J, Lou and Murph had been defunct ever since the release of Bug with Lou Barlow going on to form such other amazing bands as Sebadoh (who have also just reunited, Barlow must be going through a mid-life crisis) and The Folk Implosion. J. Mascis kept the Dinosaur Jr. tag going through the 90's with Mike Johnson, but c'mon, without Barlow there pushing and antagonizing J to greatness those late Dinosaur records were nothing more than glorified Mascis solo albums.
With Barlow back in the band, everyone sounds the most reenergized they've been in over a decade in any form. Mascis' guitar work is absolutely blistering on Beyond; I guarantee you won't come close to hearing a better guitar record all year long. Murph's drumming is a revelation, where the hell has he been all these years? The catalyst though is obviously Barlow. Without him Dinosaur Jr. just doesn't work the way it should and finally these two hard-heads realized they needed each other if they were ever to produce another masterwork.

What drove Barlow away in the first place was Mascis going out of his way not to include Barlow penned tracks on Dinosaur records, but here, Mascis goes out of his way to make sure that Beyond is a tandem event. While tracks like "Almost Ready" and "It's Me" are classic works of the J man, Barlow gets his day in the sun as well with sure-to-be classics like "Back To Your Heart" and "Lightning Bulb." If Beyond had never happened, no one would have blamed them for not even trying because reunions rarely work the way you want them to (how bout that new Stooges record huh? Fart!). But Beyond has turned out to not only be the most surprising album of the year, it's actually the album to beat so far in 2007 and frankly I don't know if anything will.