Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

I call bullshit on any score lower than a 5. I'll give it a safe 6 at the moment.

even with out hearing the rest of the album, i know the newness of it will make it at least an 8 for me to begin with, but i wont be able to objectively rank it for about 6 months or more

And I'll be spinning it constantly for weeks even if it's not great. Even at their worst PJ are still pretty much captivating to me.

But based on what I've heard I'm not optimistic anymore. The last 5 tracks have really left me wanting.

hopefully when you get to hear everything in the context of the album it will work well for you. the songs so far arent what i hoped for, but i think i will enjoy them all, so all it will take are some real good songs to go with them and this can be a great record.

[Heathen]

How do you even get that much into a band if they make you so rarely go fuck-yeah-thats-so-great to begin with?

(That was for harmles, typing on an ipad is terrible)

[WtOB?]

she cawms awn like a stawn

[Got Some]

she cawms awn like a stawn

Love : lightning bolt & MYM
Ok : our future days

[harmless]

How do you even get that much into a band if they make you so rarely go fuck-yeah-thats-so-great to begin with?

1) A lot of their songs did make me do that, just not all of them, 2) life context; growing up, Dave A. was the number one influence in my learning to play the drums; my best friends loved PJ and we all used to listen to their stuff together; my Dad was also a fan and our relationship was strengthened by spinning PJ in the car -- he was kind of emotionally distant sometimes so these times were special; 3) I don't consider the instant reaction the most important thing, and I'm so used to PJ surprising me, making me go WTF, that the excitement of getting something new from them is what makes me a fan. Most of it I grew to love eventually, but you have to admit that every single album has had some of us going "WTF??? I never thought they'd do this." I guess the one constant, the one thing always keeping me interested in the band, was Ed. Now that he isn't the powerhouse he used to be, it's like an old relationship that doesn't always excite me but there's no reason to leave because I still love it.

[harmless]

Actually, these days an instant 'Fuck yeah' will probably guarantee that I'll listen to an album for a few weeks / months and then forget about it. That's happened with King Animal and ...Like Clockwork. Both of these were objectively good albums and I enjoy them when they're on but yeah, there's nothing still revealing itself so I get bored. PJ stuff can take a long time to grow and that's part of the fun.

[Lounge Lizard]

Actually, these days an instant 'Fuck yeah' will probably guarantee that I'll listen to an album for a few weeks / months and then forget about it. That's happened with King Animal and ...Like Clockwork. Both of these were objectively good albums and I enjoy them when they're on but yeah, there's nothing still revealing itself so I get bored. PJ stuff can take a long time to grow and that's part of the fun.

Outside of Taree I find King Animal utterly uninteresting.
And I loooooove SG

[McParadigm]

How do you even get that much into a band if they make you so rarely go fuck-yeah-thats-so-great to begin with?

I like rehashing questions we've covered a million times already, as well. Coffee sometime?

[harmless]

Actually, these days an instant 'Fuck yeah' will probably guarantee that I'll listen to an album for a few weeks / months and then forget about it. That's happened with King Animal and ...Like Clockwork. Both of these were objectively good albums and I enjoy them when they're on but yeah, there's nothing still revealing itself so I get bored. PJ stuff can take a long time to grow and that's part of the fun.

Outside of Taree I find King Animal utterly uninteresting.
And I loooooove SG

'A Thousand Days Before' is the best thing on the album by a country mile, imo. I also like Bones of Birds, Taree, pretty much everything to some extent. Weak points are BATL, N-SA, and Worse Dreams.

[stip]

to answer your earlier question, I am predicting an 8

[LetMeSleep]

to answer your earlier question, I am predicting an 8

I hope so. I really do.

[McParadigm]

I'll chip in with 3.

I think that, for a lot of people, what drew them to this band was their sound, and the intensity of feeling it represented. But for some of us, it was the fact that they didn't just settle for that sound. From their second album onward, they pushed to make that sound accomplish something more...to make it twist and knot and become its own remarkable thing. And they really did seem, from 1994-2000, like they might eventually stumble upon whatever that "other" was. Their willingness to relentlessly pursue something more significant than rock band...to the extent that they'd put something like stupidmop on a record, or make anything resembling No Code...was engaging, at least to me. Even Yield, to some extent, can be offset from something like Backspacer because it reached to be more inviting but maintained the want for that journey.

Post-Riot Act, they've become very content to rely on the sound, and to focus on making it less dangerous and more openly engaging. That's not exactly a critique. Someone (stip?) has posted some pretty good arguments as to why that's happened to them, and there's something to be said for music that isn't so insular (how could you even think to dance with another, once you've seen her standing there?). But the thing is this: it's a dividing moment (or, uh, decade, or something) for the fanbase. If what drew you to Pearl Jam was the sound of Pearl Jam, this new thing can work just fine for you. It's not quite the same sound, but it's got enough of the hallmarks to have a half dozen really great moments each record.

If, on the other hand, what drew you to them was the effort for something more...it's almost the antithesis of what made you care in the first place.

[harmless]

This is true. I guess all I ask from them at this point is that they sound like Pearl Jam.

The weird thing is, I think that they think they're still experimenting and giving us surprises. We might think they've rested on 'a sound', but that's not what they're telling us, which lends support to the 'Everything they say now is spin' theory.

[McParadigm]

A huge number of rock bands mistake that drift into safer waters as being a part of their experimental/growth journey, I think. I wouldn't accuse them of duplicity, or anything.

[elliseamos]

A huge number of rock bands mistake that drift into safer waters as being a part of their experimental/growth journey, I think. I wouldn't accuse them of duplicity, or anything.

well if they're system/model for creating had been one way for a decade+ then wouldn't it stand to reason that their current system/model for creating would feel new and different to them. for better and/or worse.

[stip]

I'll chip in with 3.

I think that, for a lot of people, what drew them to this band was their sound, and the intensity of feeling it represented. But for some of us, it was the fact that they didn't just settle for that sound. From their second album onward, they pushed to make that sound accomplish something more...to make it twist and knot and become its own remarkable thing. And they really did seem, from 1994-2000, like they might eventually stumble upon whatever that "other" was. Their willingness to relentlessly pursue something more significant than rock band...to the extent that they'd put something like stupidmop on a record, or make anything resembling No Code...was engaging, at least to me. Even Yield, to some extent, can be offset from something like Backspacer because it reached to be more inviting but maintained the want for that journey.

Post-Riot Act, they've become very content to rely on the sound, and to focus on making it less dangerous and more openly engaging. That's not exactly a critique. Someone (stip?) has posted some pretty good arguments as to why that's happened to them, and there's something to be said for music that isn't so insular (how could you even think to dance with another, once you've seen her standing there?). But the thing is this: it's a dividing moment (or, uh, decade, or something) for the fanbase. If what drew you to Pearl Jam was the sound of Pearl Jam, this new thing can work just fine for you. It's not quite the same sound, but it's got enough of the hallmarks to have a half dozen really great moments each record.

If, on the other hand, what drew you to them was the effort for something more...it's almost the antithesis of what made you care in the first place.

it's definitely a different sound, and i totally get losing interest. I understand why people got off the train after vitalogy.

[McParadigm]

Play this...



...while watching this on mute...

[Strat]

Goddamnit. IM never going to be able to listen to the Fixer again now.


Thats awesome.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Holy crap thats funny. "when something's cold" happened right as Rocky was running through the stream

[stip]

as if the fixer couldn't get any better!