Earlier this month, one of the seminal albums from American indie-rock’s late-’80s/early-’90s heyday was reissued in style, complete with informative booklet and bonus tracks. The release prompted speculation that Lou Barlow’s former band might one day live again.

That band was, of course, Sebadoh.

“There was an idea that we would go and play a show where we played the entire Sebadoh III record,” Barlow says. “But it was premature; we would have had to throw it together. I don’t know, reuniting the original Sebadoh seems only slightly less unlikely than reuniting the original Dinosaur.”

That’s Dinosaur as in Dinosaur Jr — the enduring trio of Barlow, J Mascis and Murph that for three killer albums in the late-’80s gave rock and roll a reason to live.

Frontman and guitar hero Mascis unceremoniously relieved bassist Barlow of his duties in 1989 — reportedly by informing the frustrated would-be singer-songwriter the band was breaking up — and kept Dinosaur alive in name if not entirely in spirit (drummer Murph too would eventually be dismissed) for the better part of another decade.

And as for the original Dinosaur, we would never see their like again. Or so it seemed until Barlow’s most unlikely scenario came to pass last year, in the wake of reissues of those all-important first three albums. A year later, improbably, a new Dinosaur Jr album is in the works.

“I’ve just remained open-minded about it,” Barlow says of the experience. “It all sort of hinges on what J wants to do, and he said he wanted to make another record with me and Murph. So it’s like, okay.

“All the reunion shows, for us, have been good. And the more things we do, the more the bad memories are erased.

“It’s almost like reclaiming something positive out of Dinosaur: Every step we take has a way of taking away the bad parts.”

And if Dinosaur’s return is cathartic for the band’s original lineup, it’s a godsend for fans craving a taste of the real thing. Many is the band that owes a debt to Dinosaur Jr. As Barlow, whose own songs would have to wait for Sebadoh, is quick to admit.

“In a lot of ways, J’s songwriting on those first records is still superior to just about anything else from that period,” Barlow opines.

“I feel very strongly about that period of time, and I feel that (the band’s second album) You’re Living All Over Me stands as a great metal record; it’s still before its time, in a weird way.

“At the time when we came out, ’87 and ’88, the music we were inspired by, and what we were aspiring to, was dark.

“And not to denigrate The Pixies, but I’m not a huge Pixies fan. I found most of their material to be like throwaway material — kinda fun but super-light. And it’s interesting to look back on that time. Like, people don’t like dark, so much.

“Maybe they think The Pixies and PJ Harvey and stuff like that is dark, but I’ve never felt it. I definitely felt it with Dinosaur.”