Cold Confession and Let It Ride - Avocado Outtakes

[OBX_PJ]

My feelings on all these new songs the past few weeks are summed up pretty easily. I was in Chicago and heard "Future Days" and haven't bothered to rip it off the internet to listen to it again. On the other hand, I downloaded CC this morning and have already listened to it about 25 times. Enough said.

[Ledbetterdays]

I listened to them one after the other and I would say absolutely not.

Do either of these bear any relationship to the 'new song' that was recorded at the London soundcheck does anyone know?

[stupidmop]

Didn't one of the fake tracklistings have Cold Concession 2006 version as a bonus track?

yes but no lightning bolt

http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/viewtop ... ion#p76533

These songs are finished enough for me. I'd have also put the SoS demo on backspacer though.

Do either of these bear any relationship to the 'new song' that was recorded at the London soundcheck does anyone know?

Not to me.

[HardTI]

Do either of these bear any relationship to the 'new song' that was recorded at the London soundcheck does anyone know?

Not at all. That song sounded equally as impressive, though.

[Lounge Lizard]

Do either of these bear any relationship to the 'new song' that was recorded at the London soundcheck does anyone know?

Not at all. That song sounded equally as impressive, though.

Cans I hear it somehow?

[---]

CC would never make it on modern rock radio without a ton of "Fixin'". It just doesn't fit in between Atlas Genius, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Muse. MYM as a single makes much better sense, since hearing a PJ song on the radio can get people other than the hardcores interested in the band again for a while.

Again, this is the problem. Subordinating the songwriting/creative process to commercial/stylistic/reputational outcomes leaves you with hopelessly contrived music short on resonance and vitality.

And leaving CC off of the past two albums was also probably a good choice. It doesn't really fit thematically them. It would work alongside MYM, so here's hoping it makes the cut for Lightning Bolt.

We don't know what else resides on PJ's shelves. It sounds like the S/T sessions contained works with pretty stark thematic divisions. It wouldn't surprise me if there were one or two more songs like the ones just released, at which point it would have been possible to release an album with an entirely different theme and feel. If that's the case, they chose RETURNOFPEARLJAMRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWKKKK over an album with more measured ambitions and stronger songs. It's frustrating to see them write inferior songs like Gone, Come Back, and Inside Job for no reason other than to shoehorn them onto an album whose ex-ante motivation sacrifices craft for an appearance on VH1 Storytellers.

[dimejinky99]

These are real and they're spectacular.

Let's not get carried away. They're rough sketches for songs and they only really spectacular thing about them is that they sound like they're being recorded live.
They're barely even sketches.

You're out of your mind, these are quite clearly finished recordings.

Really Spenno? They're not even mixed never mind mastered and certain lyrics and both vocals seem like rough takes. You're out of your mind of you think these are finished articles.

[its_not_1974]

Cold Concession has great fucking music.

I haven't yet read through the entire thread, but there better be claims of 'shes gonna shes gonna/let it ride" being cringy.

Both are very, very good. LIR sounds so Riot Act

[LooseGroove927]

Considering that everyone thinks this was a planned leak, I can't help but think that at least one of these songs is going to end up on the new record.

[stip]

I wish I could hang around to argue this, but I need to head to a meeting. But the thing to keep in mind with S/T is that it was (I think) clearly governed as much by a need to offer an aggressive response to Riot Act/Bush, as much if not more than commerical concerns.

[Strat]

These are real and they're spectacular.

Let's not get carried away. They're rough sketches for songs and they only really spectacular thing about them is that they sound like they're being recorded live.
They're barely even sketches.

HOw the hell are these just "rough sketches" ????

[stip]

For people who care, the TSIS reviews

We don’t know if this is Eric Snowden risking his life in the pursuit of justice, or Dick Cheney leaking to the NY Times to build support for a war, but who gives a shit. We were all lucky to wake up this morning (or go to bed last night) with two new songs, believed to be from the first S/T recording sessions (the fade outs should give that away, if nothing else). That makes 5 new songs in a matter of weeks. Given a 4 year drought (less Ole) that’s a lot of new music.

Unreleased songs/b-sides/demos have some advantages and disadvantages over official releases. For better or for worse they lack the context of an album to help situate them. Each song is absorbed based on its merits, but the surrounding presence of other songs usually adds extra dimensions to a song. There is no interplay here. Just the music itself. We get a purer experience of the music, but not necessarily a richer one. On the other hand, songs like this also allow the listener to create whatever context they want for the music. Witness the way the Binaural unreleased tracks helped elevate Binaural into the near mythic ‘album that could have been.’ They become idealized songs that could have saved whatever recording session they were a part of. And maybe they could have. I certainly would have enjoyed Binaural more if Sad was on it. But Sad is encumbered only by my fantasies. It gets to be a better song than it might have been if it was forced to exist as a part of people’s larger experience of the album it arrived in. Likewise, a demo or rough mix needs to be filled out, but we do it in our minds, and we are always our favorite producers.

So by way of that introduction, lets talk about Cold Confession and Let It Ride.

Cold Confession: This is a wonderful song. Elements of the raw vulnerability of 4/20/02 (but turned into something worthwhile), the themes and desolation of the Untitled spoken word piece (but without its self-indulgence), and perhaps the scope of All or None, but given the personality that it so desperately needed. It’s a personal, intimate, song—tentative, but not lost. Boom’s keys (and Jeff’s bass) give the song a warmth that contrasts nicely with the chilliness of the song. It feels like a winter wind. This is what the weather was like away from whatever fire Strangest Tribe was recorded in front of.

Eddie is the star here, and it’s nice to have a showcase song for him. He is perfect here, barely held together—like spiderweb cracks on a pane of frosted glass. It feels real without the affectations that (for some people) mar a song like The End. The music helps understate him. If this song was starker OR lusher it would have been too much.

I haven’t been able to sit down with lyrics yet, but what I can make it sounds good—clearly a song about trying to right yourself after a devastating loss. Full of water metaphors, which, even if overused, Eddie tends to write effectively. But oddly enough, it doesn’t FEEL like a water song. I don’t picture the ocean. Nevertheless, it all builds quite nicely to the centerpiece lyric: “And to himself/a memory clear/a cold confession that only/that only he could hear,” before launching into what passes for an appropriately understated bridge.

An advantage this song does have over some recent Eddie songs is that it is a song about loss, rather than the fear of loss. It’s an easier sell, since it is more natural to relate to the experience of having lost something, instead of having to imagine what someone else possesses. But to the song’s credit, it avoids catharsis, without wallowing in its loss (where thumbing my way and all or none lose me). Instead we get a much darker resolution. He is united with what he lost (either in reality or fantasy, but it doesn’t matter), and finds no comfort there. Whatever came between them is still there. There’s a wall now, and there is no way it won’t keep them apart. And the song winds down on that realization—the illusion of the happy ending that isn’t fooling anyone.

This is a great song, and we’re lucky we have it. I think it is easily better than most of S/T, although I understand not including it. S/T is an album full of grand gestures, spleen venting, and combat. This is too understated for that record. Still, at least we have it now.

Let It Ride: I am a bit less impressed with this one, but it may just reflect my own idiosyncratic tastes. I know many will disagree, but this is a less polished/traditional version of Force of Nature (which is one of my favorite pearl jam songs)—both in terms of the lyrical content and the feel of the songs. This is a song describing the girl the FoN narrator is waiting for.

We have a muscular, unadorned riff that gives the song a kind of purposeful purposelessness. It’s not going anywhere in particular, but it marching to nowhere with some shit kicking determination. It plays off oddly, and (to my ears) not always successfully, with Eddie’s vocals, which seem to be moving with far less deliberation than the music (although he sounds good—and I really like the moaning at the end). I have no doubt that same contrast will be precisely what makes this song appealing to others. Lots of nice work from Mike, but I’m not sure precisely what it is adding to the song. The accusation gets thrown around a lot that Mike solos often have no rhyme or reason—no direction or purpose. I almost always disagree, but not hear. I LIKE what I’m hearing, but it feels like the solo is moving off in its own independent direction, away from the song. I think that’s my issue. The sideways plodding riff, the slow moaning vocals, and the frantic soloing feel spliced together to me, the opposite of the organic feel that its fans seem to be praising.

Lyrically what I can make out seems pretty good (although the outro, once worked out, may not hold up to the verses)—these are better written songs than much of S/T, which is probably eddie’s weakest lyrical outing to date. “Like a book with no ending read backwards to beginning” is a really nice line. Overall the song seems to be describing an independent, disaffected woman declaring her independence. Let it Ride feels like a Springsteen inspired phrase, but it needs to move more than it does. I think that may be my single biggest concern with this song. For a song about movement and independence this plods a bit. Quite possibly by design—at this stage in their careers my default reaction is to assume everything they do is deliberate—but nevertheless the song suffers for the weaker melody.

But again, these are my tastes. I love Backspacer. And the people who don’t seem to be falling over themselves for this song. It is certainly not as ‘easily digestible’ as many of the recent efforts, and that could very well be a strength of this song. And I like the song, don’t get me wrong. But Cold Confession is the far superior effort.

[---]

Let It Ride is my favorite Pearl Jam rock song since Cropduster. I really, really, really dig it.

[Heathen]

I wish I could hang around to argue this, but I need to head to a meeting. But the thing to keep in mind with S/T is that it was (I think) clearly governed as much by a need to offer an aggressive response to Riot Act/Bush, as much if not more than commerical concerns.

*comical

[stip]

Let It Ride is my favorite Pearl Jam rock song since Cropduster. I really, really, really dig it.

i pretty much wrote that entire let it ride piece wanting to throw the caveat into every line that 'if you are a thodoks you'll love this'

[stip]

threads are up for each song

[---]

Let It Ride is my favorite Pearl Jam rock song since Cropduster. I really, really, really dig it.

i pretty much wrote that entire let it ride piece wanting to throw the caveat into every line that 'if you are a thodoks you'll love this'

[E.H. Ruddock]

My guess is that Lightning Bolt will be their last album, and they know it. They'll tour for the next two years, then, as a big money making attempt will release a Lost Dogs 2,3, and 4 with 15 years worth of unreleased material. They'll never have to rehearse them or play them live, but will have the entire fan base gushing about the songs for another couple of years.

[dimejinky99]

These are real and they're spectacular.

Let's not get carried away. They're rough sketches for songs and they only really spectacular thing about them is that they sound like they're being recorded live.
They're barely even sketches.

HOw the hell are these just "rough sketches" ????

Because bad they been finished and completed in any way, they'd be compressed to all hell, given the brick wall treatment and we'd have finished vocals on them.
These two still have signs of life. Not much else on ST feels like these at all because they've all been digitally processed to death and all life taken from them.

[harmless]

Saw Kurt's original post last night and thought it was B.S. Glad it wasn't!

I do tend to think this leak was a strategic drop by someone in the know, though. While I don't think these will be on Lightning Bolt, maybe they were just a distraction from the bad feedback they've been seeing on the title track and Future Days?

Why though? What's the point of a distraction? If it's not to bide time while they make the album better, they may as well be unapologetic, man up and cope with the backlash.