General Pearl Jam Bitching

[VinylGuy]

I find it ridiculous that they're trying so hard to flog an album that doesn't have a tracklist.

this.

Release the artwork already, what the fuck are you hiding?

I'm even sceptical about this being the actual album cover or title.

Me too...specially about the artwork.

[stupidmop]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

[harmless]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

[Mine]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

[harmless]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

[stupidmop]

The latter sounds like a depressing way to make music.

[stupidmop]

How close were those interviews with stone and Jeff saying 'I can't tell you about the album because it has a tendancy to change on me' and 'I'm ready to go when they are', to when they announced the album?

*affixes speculation bowtie**

[harmless]

Oh, yeah, good point. It's just this idea that the album-making process is a game of Chinese Whispers, and whatever we get is the album we get, and all we can do is hope it's good. I guess that's the new context against which we hope and speculate.

[Mine]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

If judging by the music i think it shows in the diversity of styles or some may even call it inconsistency. You can also tell by the way they talk about their songwriting process. The closest to working together as a band must have been Vs. Didn't Jeff used to say something similar in interviews when s/t was released as in s/t was written as a band and it being the 1st time since s/t.
Anyway 10 was half done musically before eddie joined in so it starts right from the begining. Vs. was probably the closest to a band working in studio together, Vitalogy and No Code were the albums eddie wanted to make and 1/2 the band hated and after that it was a songwriting mess of random collections of songs. From Yield on it's pretty clear that the bulk of the songwritng is done prior to the band getting together in studio because the songs don't really give much cohesion to those albums. Riot Act may be an exception here but even than a lot is due to production.
It's also mirrored in this forums perception of their music especially with new songs when people guess who wrote the music. Another example of this is Binaural. It's been mentioned often here that while most think Binaural could have had a better tracklist with all the outtakes that have surfaced yet there will never be an agreement to what the best tracklist would be. I think the this diversity in appeal to their songs within the fanbase is a consequence of that. I mean if they ever worked together that much i think the diversity of opinions within the fanbase would be at least less pronounced.

[harmless]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

If judging by the music i think it shows in the diversity of styles or some may even call it inconsistency. You can also tell by the way they talk about their songwriting process. The closest to working together as a band must have been Vs. Didn't Jeff used to say something similar in interviews when s/t was released as in s/t was written as a band and it being the 1st time since s/t.
Anyway 10 was half done musically before eddie joined in so it starts right from the begining. Vs. was probably the closest to a band working in studio together, Vitalogy and No Code were the albums eddie wanted to make and 1/2 the band hated and after that it was a songwriting mess of random collections of songs. From Yield on it's pretty clear that the bulk of the songwritng is done prior to the band getting together in studio because the songs don't really give much cohesion to those albums. Riot Act may be an exception here but even than a lot is due to production.
It's also mirrored in this forums perception of their music especially with new songs when people guess who wrote the music. Another example of this is Binaural. It's been mentioned often here that while most think Binaural could have had a better tracklist with all the outtakes that have surfaced yet there will never be an agreement to what the best tracklist would be. I think the this diversity in appeal to their songs within the fanbase is a consequence of that. I mean if they ever worked together that much i think the diversity of opinions within the fanbase would be at least less pronounced.

These are all real possibilities. I suppose if there was evidence that this was a historical approach then there's no reason to think anything of it either way. We may get a good album, we may not, and it was always thus. It's not like I've been totally happy with every album from the outset, not even the first 7.

[stupidmop]

Do we have any demos from songs that show us a drastic difference from whatever the writer came up with to how it ended up? Other than the fixer and puzzles and games maybe?

And when people say Eddie had most control over an album what does that mean about the songs he didn't write? Stuff like tremor christ or something, did he arrange those too or does he just work with what the band/writer gives him? I've always wondered.

[harmless]

At the moment, what score would we give Lightning Bolt as an album? I'm going 3.5/5.

[Mine]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

If judging by the music i think it shows in the diversity of styles or some may even call it inconsistency. You can also tell by the way they talk about their songwriting process. The closest to working together as a band must have been Vs. Didn't Jeff used to say something similar in interviews when s/t was released as in s/t was written as a band and it being the 1st time since s/t.
Anyway 10 was half done musically before eddie joined in so it starts right from the begining. Vs. was probably the closest to a band working in studio together, Vitalogy and No Code were the albums eddie wanted to make and 1/2 the band hated and after that it was a songwriting mess of random collections of songs. From Yield on it's pretty clear that the bulk of the songwritng is done prior to the band getting together in studio because the songs don't really give much cohesion to those albums. Riot Act may be an exception here but even than a lot is due to production.
It's also mirrored in this forums perception of their music especially with new songs when people guess who wrote the music. Another example of this is Binaural. It's been mentioned often here that while most think Binaural could have had a better tracklist with all the outtakes that have surfaced yet there will never be an agreement to what the best tracklist would be. I think the this diversity in appeal to their songs within the fanbase is a consequence of that. I mean if they ever worked together that much i think the diversity of opinions within the fanbase would be at least less pronounced.

These are all real possibilities. I suppose if there was evidence that this was a historical approach then there's no reason to think anything of it either way. We may get a good album, we may not, and it was always thus. It's not like I've been totally happy with every album from the outset, not even the first 7.

They seem to be relying more on their acquired skills then actual inspiration this days. This is why i think this songs sound appealing at 1st but don't age well.

[harmless]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

If judging by the music i think it shows in the diversity of styles or some may even call it inconsistency. You can also tell by the way they talk about their songwriting process. The closest to working together as a band must have been Vs. Didn't Jeff used to say something similar in interviews when s/t was released as in s/t was written as a band and it being the 1st time since s/t.
Anyway 10 was half done musically before eddie joined in so it starts right from the begining. Vs. was probably the closest to a band working in studio together, Vitalogy and No Code were the albums eddie wanted to make and 1/2 the band hated and after that it was a songwriting mess of random collections of songs. From Yield on it's pretty clear that the bulk of the songwritng is done prior to the band getting together in studio because the songs don't really give much cohesion to those albums. Riot Act may be an exception here but even than a lot is due to production.
It's also mirrored in this forums perception of their music especially with new songs when people guess who wrote the music. Another example of this is Binaural. It's been mentioned often here that while most think Binaural could have had a better tracklist with all the outtakes that have surfaced yet there will never be an agreement to what the best tracklist would be. I think the this diversity in appeal to their songs within the fanbase is a consequence of that. I mean if they ever worked together that much i think the diversity of opinions within the fanbase would be at least less pronounced.

These are all real possibilities. I suppose if there was evidence that this was a historical approach then there's no reason to think anything of it either way. We may get a good album, we may not, and it was always thus. It's not like I've been totally happy with every album from the outset, not even the first 7.

They seem to be relying more on their acquired skills then actual inspiration this days. This is why i think this songs sound appealing at 1st but don't age well.

Yup. The late songs definitely need that spark that says they were necessary years later.

[Mine]

Do we have any demos from songs that show us a drastic difference from whatever the writer came up with to how it ended up? Other than the fixer and puzzles and games maybe?

And when people say Eddie had most control over an album what does that mean about the songs he didn't write? Stuff like tremor christ or something, did he arrange those too or does he just work with what the band/writer gives him? I've always wondered.

I seem to remember Stone hated what Ed did with Spin the black circle. I doubt Stone would have disliked Vitalogy as much as he did if what he wrote wasn't changed a lot - actually that would be a decent reason for resentment.

[Mine]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

If judging by the music i think it shows in the diversity of styles or some may even call it inconsistency. You can also tell by the way they talk about their songwriting process. The closest to working together as a band must have been Vs. Didn't Jeff used to say something similar in interviews when s/t was released as in s/t was written as a band and it being the 1st time since s/t.
Anyway 10 was half done musically before eddie joined in so it starts right from the begining. Vs. was probably the closest to a band working in studio together, Vitalogy and No Code were the albums eddie wanted to make and 1/2 the band hated and after that it was a songwriting mess of random collections of songs. From Yield on it's pretty clear that the bulk of the songwritng is done prior to the band getting together in studio because the songs don't really give much cohesion to those albums. Riot Act may be an exception here but even than a lot is due to production.
It's also mirrored in this forums perception of their music especially with new songs when people guess who wrote the music. Another example of this is Binaural. It's been mentioned often here that while most think Binaural could have had a better tracklist with all the outtakes that have surfaced yet there will never be an agreement to what the best tracklist would be. I think the this diversity in appeal to their songs within the fanbase is a consequence of that. I mean if they ever worked together that much i think the diversity of opinions within the fanbase would be at least less pronounced.

These are all real possibilities. I suppose if there was evidence that this was a historical approach then there's no reason to think anything of it either way. We may get a good album, we may not, and it was always thus. It's not like I've been totally happy with every album from the outset, not even the first 7.

They seem to be relying more on their acquired skills then actual inspiration this days. This is why i think this songs sound appealing at 1st but don't age well.

Yup. The late songs definitely need that spark that says they were necessary years later.

Interestingly how ITW worked in favour of that for ed. That album is a better listen start to finish than most of their albums.

[harmless]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

If judging by the music i think it shows in the diversity of styles or some may even call it inconsistency. You can also tell by the way they talk about their songwriting process. The closest to working together as a band must have been Vs. Didn't Jeff used to say something similar in interviews when s/t was released as in s/t was written as a band and it being the 1st time since s/t.
Anyway 10 was half done musically before eddie joined in so it starts right from the begining. Vs. was probably the closest to a band working in studio together, Vitalogy and No Code were the albums eddie wanted to make and 1/2 the band hated and after that it was a songwriting mess of random collections of songs. From Yield on it's pretty clear that the bulk of the songwritng is done prior to the band getting together in studio because the songs don't really give much cohesion to those albums. Riot Act may be an exception here but even than a lot is due to production.
It's also mirrored in this forums perception of their music especially with new songs when people guess who wrote the music. Another example of this is Binaural. It's been mentioned often here that while most think Binaural could have had a better tracklist with all the outtakes that have surfaced yet there will never be an agreement to what the best tracklist would be. I think the this diversity in appeal to their songs within the fanbase is a consequence of that. I mean if they ever worked together that much i think the diversity of opinions within the fanbase would be at least less pronounced.

These are all real possibilities. I suppose if there was evidence that this was a historical approach then there's no reason to think anything of it either way. We may get a good album, we may not, and it was always thus. It's not like I've been totally happy with every album from the outset, not even the first 7.

They seem to be relying more on their acquired skills then actual inspiration this days. This is why i think this songs sound appealing at 1st but don't age well.

Yup. The late songs definitely need that spark that says they were necessary years later.

Interestingly how ITW worked in favour of that for ed. That album is a better listen start to finish than most of their albums.

Not sure about most of their albums, but certainly their later ones. I guess it's just pot luck whether this one will be consistent or not. I just find it kind of frustrating that I loved all 7 until S/T and now I get worried with every new one.

[Mine]

At the moment, what score would we give Lightning Bolt as an album? I'm going 3.5/5.

sounds fair. the arrangements seem to be better this time around and that's promising.

[harmless]

At the moment, what score would we give Lightning Bolt as an album? I'm going 3.5/5.

sounds fair. the arrangements seem to be better this time around and that's promising.

Just slightly more detailed, which is nice.

[Mine]

I don't even think they're a real band anymore.

I heard that boom guy writes all the music and hired some dudes that vaguely look like the old pearl jam to go on tour with, after the real Eddie Vedder sold the rights to the name pearl jam for some really good Hawaiian weed.

No one told matt Cameron however, who thinks he's in the real pearl jam.

If this happened, this would happen. I do seriously wonder, though, whether they're actually in the studio together very often. Or whether they go to the studio to record their individual parts at different times, and then Brendan O'Brien makes 'magic' on everything they've recorded, in a dark room all by himself.

Honestly i don't think they ever were that kind of band and it shows.

Really? You think it's always shown? In what ways?

If judging by the music i think it shows in the diversity of styles or some may even call it inconsistency. You can also tell by the way they talk about their songwriting process. The closest to working together as a band must have been Vs. Didn't Jeff used to say something similar in interviews when s/t was released as in s/t was written as a band and it being the 1st time since s/t.
Anyway 10 was half done musically before eddie joined in so it starts right from the begining. Vs. was probably the closest to a band working in studio together, Vitalogy and No Code were the albums eddie wanted to make and 1/2 the band hated and after that it was a songwriting mess of random collections of songs. From Yield on it's pretty clear that the bulk of the songwritng is done prior to the band getting together in studio because the songs don't really give much cohesion to those albums. Riot Act may be an exception here but even than a lot is due to production.
It's also mirrored in this forums perception of their music especially with new songs when people guess who wrote the music. Another example of this is Binaural. It's been mentioned often here that while most think Binaural could have had a better tracklist with all the outtakes that have surfaced yet there will never be an agreement to what the best tracklist would be. I think the this diversity in appeal to their songs within the fanbase is a consequence of that. I mean if they ever worked together that much i think the diversity of opinions within the fanbase would be at least less pronounced.

These are all real possibilities. I suppose if there was evidence that this was a historical approach then there's no reason to think anything of it either way. We may get a good album, we may not, and it was always thus. It's not like I've been totally happy with every album from the outset, not even the first 7.

They seem to be relying more on their acquired skills then actual inspiration this days. This is why i think this songs sound appealing at 1st but don't age well.

Yup. The late songs definitely need that spark that says they were necessary years later.

Interestingly how ITW worked in favour of that for ed. That album is a better listen start to finish than most of their albums.

Not sure about most of their albums, but certainly their later ones. I guess it's just pot luck whether this one will be consistent or not. I just find it kind of frustrating that I loved all 7 until S/T and now I get worried with every new one.

What's frustrating to me is that i know they're perfectly capable of doing better than this. It's like they're keeping it safe on purpose.