Gigaton: Official album thread

[VinylGuy]

I'm not reading this the way you guys are (big surprise!) because:
- They have gotten together in the studio 4-5 times and have lots of material, according to Stone.
- They've toured on an off over the last 3 years, and by all experiences have been joyful events among the band

So, they are not short on material and they are not afraid of or in conflict with one another. Neither of those factors seem to be the problem.

I believe the problem is creative direction. And, yes, maybe they just don't like the material they've come up with so far. So, yeah, maybe it's a creative dry spell. Or, they just don't know how to move forward from this point, after a HoF induction and CC's passing and DT's election, I'm guessing what might be going through his mind might be that if they're going to put something out, it should add something new to the catalogue, or it should somehow encompass all of what they are feeling given the aforementioned events.

Another thought behind it is just the music industry. This is an album oriented band, and what do albums mean anymore? If they are going to spend 6 weeks finishing off their material, they don't want it to just disappear into the ether like everything these days, so what's the point? I'm thinking all of these questions might be going through their minds.

yeah good call. The band is in good spirits although is a fact they dont talk much, specially with Eddie. Its cool to know that Stone says they are half way there with the album and the creative direction is something they sure need to finish it.

[dprival78]

when ed renovated his swimming pool

Spoiler: show

seeing that makes me feel like a proud papa

[LoathedVermin72]

The beginning of the end began the moment they (especially Ed) became self-aware and started writing songs for the fan base and for the live shows, rather than for themselves.

Avocado

[coptheriotact]

Any new music put out will have production shortcuts, average performances and no real experimentation, they just want to write songs that will easily translate to a stadium show, and let BOB flesh the sound out in stale way. I don’t think I want a new album. Even the artwork is terrible now.

[bodysnatcher]

yeah, i'm fully expecting the first single to be PJ-Paint-By-The-Numbers

we're talking Foo Fighters level here.

[Jorge]

It's gonna be funny if the album comes out in 2020 with "Can't Deny Me" on it, resulting in a two-year gap between first single and album release

[bodysnatcher]

holy shit i kinda hope they do that

[Bammer]

Any new music put out will have production shortcuts, average performances and no real experimentation, they just want to write songs that will easily translate to a stadium show, and let BOB flesh the sound out in stale way. I don’t think I want a new album. Even the artwork is terrible now.

Yeah the artwork sucks. Didn’t LB win a grammy for packaging? WTF.

[Bammer]

But I still love Pearl Jam.

[joostone]

I'm not reading this the way you guys are (big surprise!) because:
- They have gotten together in the studio 4-5 times and have lots of material, according to Stone.
- They've toured on an off over the last 3 years, and by all experiences have been joyful events among the band

So, they are not short on material and they are not afraid of or in conflict with one another. Neither of those factors seem to be the problem.

I believe the problem is creative direction. And, yes, maybe they just don't like the material they've come up with so far. So, yeah, maybe it's a creative dry spell. Or, they just don't know how to move forward from this point, after a HoF induction and CC's passing and DT's election, I'm guessing what might be going through his mind might be that if they're going to put something out, it should add something new to the catalogue, or it should somehow encompass all of what they are feeling given the aforementioned events.

Another thought behind it is just the music industry. This is an album oriented band, and what do albums mean anymore? If they are going to spend 6 weeks finishing off their material, they don't want it to just disappear into the ether like everything these days, so what's the point? I'm thinking all of these questions might be going through their minds.

The problem is not creativity but creative direction. Stone and Jeff make it clear that they want to record more and that there are plenty of songs, or song ideas. Jeff released excellent side-projects the last decade. But somehow this band became less collaborative over the years, it's really Ed who has all the creative control. Basically Stone and Jeff are waiting for him to put a little fixin' on it. So, the band should take a different creative direction, Ed needs to give some creative control back to the guys. I have no problem with Stone and Jeff having more control at this point. I remember reading in 2008 that the band had some writing sessions without Ed in Montana, even BO'B was present. Whatever they wrote Ed did not like it, cause I believe 'Amongst the Wave' (or supersonic...cant remember) was the only used song from that session. So the guys had a two week session, and nothing was used. So why bother?

It's also interesting that after 'No Code' Ed asked to guys to help writing lyrics. The Yield-Binaural-Riot Act stretch proved to be the most fruitfull era for the band. But when the 'S/T' record came out Ed fully grasped control over the lyrics again. Ed was on some sort of mission back then. 'S/T' was released in 2006, 'Into the Wild' in 2007. On ITW he proved that he was still growing as a musician, all of sudden he was playing all the instruments and fingerpicking guitars. 'Backspacer' came on the shoulder of that creative spur. And that was 10 years ago!! The last decade we saw Ed repeating himself on LB and releasing another solo-record (one that was written in 2001!!).

[joostone]

Oh and..in 2012 Van Halen released 'A Different Kind of Truth'. Im not a fan whatsoever but I remember that it was well received by their fans. Seven of the album's 13 songs are musically re-worked and lyrically re-written songs that had been demoed in the late-1970s/early 1980s, but never officially released.

After the release of 'can't deny me' I have no problems when PJ goes looking for old demos haha

[VinylGuy]

I dont see them doing that. Jeff already have tons of material, Matt too and Stone said its half done.

[Bi_3]

Oh and..in 2012 Van Halen released 'A Different Kind of Truth'. Im not a fan whatsoever but I remember that it was well received by their fans. Seven of the album's 13 songs are musically re-worked and lyrically re-written songs that had been demoed in the late-1970s/early 1980s, but never officially released.

After the release of 'can't deny me' I have no problems when PJ goes looking for old demos haha

I would be fine if it was older demos/music reworked into new songs. It's more likely they will be over three minutes in duration that way.

[Tuolumne]

I'm not reading this the way you guys are (big surprise!) because:
- They have gotten together in the studio 4-5 times and have lots of material, according to Stone.
- They've toured on an off over the last 3 years, and by all experiences have been joyful events among the band

So, they are not short on material and they are not afraid of or in conflict with one another. Neither of those factors seem to be the problem.

I believe the problem is creative direction. And, yes, maybe they just don't like the material they've come up with so far. So, yeah, maybe it's a creative dry spell. Or, they just don't know how to move forward from this point, after a HoF induction and CC's passing and DT's election, I'm guessing what might be going through his mind might be that if they're going to put something out, it should add something new to the catalogue, or it should somehow encompass all of what they are feeling given the aforementioned events.

Another thought behind it is just the music industry. This is an album oriented band, and what do albums mean anymore? If they are going to spend 6 weeks finishing off their material, they don't want it to just disappear into the ether like everything these days, so what's the point? I'm thinking all of these questions might be going through their minds.

The problem is not creativity but creative direction. Stone and Jeff make it clear that they want to record more and that there are plenty of songs, or song ideas. Jeff released excellent side-projects the last decade. But somehow this band became less collaborative over the years, it's really Ed who has all the creative control. Basically Stone and Jeff are waiting for him to put a little fixin' on it. So, the band should take a different creative direction, Ed needs to give some creative control back to the guys. I have no problem with Stone and Jeff having more control at this point. I remember reading in 2008 that the band had some writing sessions without Ed in Montana, even BO'B was present. Whatever they wrote Ed did not like it, cause I believe 'Amongst the Wave' (or supersonic...cant remember) was the only used song from that session. So the guys had a two week session, and nothing was used. So why bother?

It's also interesting that after 'No Code' Ed asked to guys to help writing lyrics. The Yield-Binaural-Riot Act stretch proved to be the most fruitfull era for the band. But when the 'S/T' record came out Ed fully grasped control over the lyrics again. Ed was on some sort of mission back then. 'S/T' was released in 2006, 'Into the Wild' in 2007. On ITW he proved that he was still growing as a musician, all of sudden he was playing all the instruments and fingerpicking guitars. 'Backspacer' came on the shoulder of that creative spur. And that was 10 years ago!! The last decade we saw Ed repeating himself on LB and releasing another solo-record (one that was written in 2001!!).

Yeah, with 5 solid songwriters, I think they are largely immune from the problem some bands have of just not having any songs. They are all creative guys and you can tell Jeff and Mike are on a roll individually, at the very least (and we don't know what the other guys have in their library of demos). It's just the question of, can they get on the same page on how they want to execute the next project? I'd also bet selecting a producer might be something in the mix as well.

[bune]

fuck it, start a new band without eddie and see how fast he comes around

[epilogue]

fuck it, start a new band without eddie and see how fast he comes around

[blueviper]

Oh and..in 2012 Van Halen released 'A Different Kind of Truth'. Im not a fan whatsoever but I remember that it was well received by their fans. Seven of the album's 13 songs are musically re-worked and lyrically re-written songs that had been demoed in the late-1970s/early 1980s, but never officially released.

After the release of 'can't deny me' I have no problems when PJ goes looking for old demos haha

PJ should dust of "Anything in Between" it's a cool demo and I don't know why it wasn't used.

[epilogue]

I would be fine if they just released a full, proper, demo/outtake record. If they don't have the time/desire to sit down and make new music, then let Jeff and Stone have at the old tapes, whip them into the best possible shape and release that shit officially.

[bodysnatcher]

yeah just release what they have. we already know they have a history of going in and re-recording things and changing history.

[littlecomment]

I'm not reading this the way you guys are (big surprise!) because:
- They have gotten together in the studio 4-5 times and have lots of material, according to Stone.
- They've toured on an off over the last 3 years, and by all experiences have been joyful events among the band

So, they are not short on material and they are not afraid of or in conflict with one another. Neither of those factors seem to be the problem.

I believe the problem is creative direction. And, yes, maybe they just don't like the material they've come up with so far. So, yeah, maybe it's a creative dry spell. Or, they just don't know how to move forward from this point, after a HoF induction and CC's passing and DT's election, I'm guessing what might be going through his mind might be that if they're going to put something out, it should add something new to the catalogue, or it should somehow encompass all of what they are feeling given the aforementioned events.

Another thought behind it is just the music industry. This is an album oriented band, and what do albums mean anymore? If they are going to spend 6 weeks finishing off their material, they don't want it to just disappear into the ether like everything these days, so what's the point? I'm thinking all of these questions might be going through their minds.

The problem is not creativity but creative direction. Stone and Jeff make it clear that they want to record more and that there are plenty of songs, or song ideas. Jeff released excellent side-projects the last decade. But somehow this band became less collaborative over the years, it's really Ed who has all the creative control. Basically Stone and Jeff are waiting for him to put a little fixin' on it. So, the band should take a different creative direction, Ed needs to give some creative control back to the guys. I have no problem with Stone and Jeff having more control at this point. I remember reading in 2008 that the band had some writing sessions without Ed in Montana, even BO'B was present. Whatever they wrote Ed did not like it, cause I believe 'Amongst the Wave' (or supersonic...cant remember) was the only used song from that session. So the guys had a two week session, and nothing was used. So why bother?

It's also interesting that after 'No Code' Ed asked to guys to help writing lyrics. The Yield-Binaural-Riot Act stretch proved to be the most fruitfull era for the band. But when the 'S/T' record came out Ed fully grasped control over the lyrics again. Ed was on some sort of mission back then. 'S/T' was released in 2006, 'Into the Wild' in 2007. On ITW he proved that he was still growing as a musician, all of sudden he was playing all the instruments and fingerpicking guitars. 'Backspacer' came on the shoulder of that creative spur. And that was 10 years ago!! The last decade we saw Ed repeating himself on LB and releasing another solo-record (one that was written in 2001!!).

It is interesting that during No Code and 3 albums after, Ed did not seem to have any issue going off the reservation with musical styles, and as you noted, even delegating songwriting. Was his approach from S/T beyond taken out of possible fear the band was starting to head towards irrelevancy, their live successes notwithstanding? Was he maybe looking to cement their legacy/RRHOF credentials and also connect to the next generation of fans? Now that those things are accomplished, they really *should* be playing with house money and willing to explore all avenues once again.