Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Hi, posting from Berlin. I'm at the listening party.

of course you are can you hook us up with the track list?

[harmless]

Slightly disturbed that no one's said "This is a great album guys!"

Someone should at least have the decency to tell us what songs flat out suck.

This is also true.

[NothingBetterMan]

Slightly disturbed that no one's said "This is a great album guys!"

Someone should at least have the decency to tell us what songs flat out suck.

This is also true.

Although we'd never really know what is true or not without further knowledge of what the person liked/disliked from past PJ albums.

[Cleverman]

Hi, posting from Berlin. I'm at the listening party.

Please only give us your review of Betterman (live).

[harmless]

Slightly disturbed that no one's said "This is a great album guys!"

Someone should at least have the decency to tell us what songs flat out suck.

This is also true.

Although we'd never really know what is true or not without further knowledge of what the person liked/disliked from past PJ albums.

This is also true.

[EJ]

waiting for "it sounded like a Pearl Jam album."

[lecherouslittlestump]

Hi, posting from Berlin. I'm at the listening party.

Please only give us your review of Betterman (live).

Fast, punchy, lots of power chords. It lasts about 2 mins. Quote from BOB: "We're aiming for the stratosphere with this one. This ain't your dads Pearl Jam."

[lecherouslittlestump]

I'm looking forward to dimitrispearljam's reasoned, coherent, nuanced critique of the album.

[Lounge Lizard]

OK, give them time to get to their laptops and have a beer along the way... But no more!

[harmless]

For our sakes, I hope the pubs let them take crates of beer home.

[Mirella]

I remember Mirella from the alt.music.pearljam newsgroup....

ah, those were the days.

Enjoy, Mirella!

Thanks

[harmless]

If I were to express it through butchered Pearl Jam lyrics, I might even say that the listeners had a reeeeeeaaal responsibilityyyyyy here.

[SaturdayNightSeizure]

Ok i`ll try to write some thoughts. It`s really impossible to give a real review case after one listen i can never judge a Pearl Jam album. So it might be that after 5 listens i would write the complete opposite. I even might mix up some songs cause like 10 minutes after i heard it i forgot most of it

Getaway:
- pretty catchy uptempo song. It`s nothing crazy innovative but a great opener for the album i would say. I think the second verse was only voice and drums which was pretty cool. The melody is really catchy and you can sing along after first verse. But yeah it`s a bit - don`t know how to say it but it`s like a mixture of some PJ songs i heard before. So when i heard this i was a bit afraid that they really don`t have anything new to say...

- MYM:
You know that already. Only think i would say that it`s the fasted song on the record.

- My Fathers Son:
When it started i remember me saying what is that? That`s not Eddie singing! But it was Eddie First i really thought it`s Stone singing. Might just be because the room was pretty noisy. Other than that i think it was decent but a bit too long. Got a bit bored towards the end.

- Sirens:
I have to say i did not liked this song very much. I was really disappointed with this one because of all the hype. It`s a pretty (too) radio friendly ballad. Comparing it with Black is a joke too me. It was still interesting the guitars sounded a bit like 80 rock too me. But yeah I think i liked this song the least of all.

- Lighning Bolt:
I liked it much more than the live version we`ve all heard. I think it might be in my top 4 of this album.

- Infallible:
Liked this one a lot too! It has a nice Groove. Reminded me a bit of No Way. It`s not like No Way but the way a simple powerfull groove dominates this song just reminded me of it. Don`t remember much more only that i really liked it.

- Pendulum:
Really nice slow song with a psychedelic touch. Brandon said they recorded this one already for Backspacer but it didn`t made it...

- Swallowed Whole:
Didn`t really got into this one. It reminded me of something from Into The Wild but one of the more upbeat songs like Setting Forth..

- Let The Records Play:
Easily one of my favs. Good old school blues rock. Sounded like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club meets Black Keys!
Really nice can`t wait to hear it again.

- Sleeping By Myself:
I don`t know... It`s a bit like a joke. It`s not that much different than the Uke version but with a funny groove. Don`t know how to say it but it`s difficult to find a reason why this one should be on the album. It really feels like a joke. Not in a bad way but just like they make fun of themselves or something.

- Yellow Moon
Don`t know felt it was a bit boring.

- Future Days
Eddies voice is great but still it`s a bit boring to me.

So all in all i think it`s pretty great but the ending (last 3 songs) for me felt a bit like filler material. Like they had not enough and just put some Eddie solo material at the end. The album is heavy on production. Even more than Backspacer i would say. I have to say i liked it cause that`s what they should do in the studio but i`m sure there will be some people complaining about. So for me it a bit like Backspacer but with more depth and a bit more experimentation.
Ok that`s it for know. I realize this might not really help people to get an idea of the album. In the end it`s really impossible to say anything after one listen And again often the songs i don`t like first become my favorites later and the other way around so don`t take this too serious...

[stupidmop]

SOUNDS SUPER DUPER EXCITING

[sward]

well..I'm glad there was no false hype happening with the first big review we got, but I am definitely coming away from that underwhelmed!

[Strat]

Harmless just offed himself

[Mirella]

Thanks for sharing! I hope people will not be 'noisy' tomorrow. Too bad we did not buy that 'shut up and listen to Pearl Jam' shirt...

groetjes,
Mirella

[Lounge Lizard]

Ok i`ll try to write some thoughts.

Thanks a lot! That was interesting

[AllNiteThing]

- My Fathers Son:
When it started i remember me saying what is that?

[liebzz]

So what Mike McCready said about 10 times over the last year...okay.