Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[harmless]

The whole thing about Stone saying "It's going to alienate people, like No Code did" in the first session, and then saying "It sounds like Pearl Jam" in the second, doesn't have to be explained by a move from freaky awesomeness to Backspacer 2, by the way. It could just be that he was told to reign it in, don't say our new album will alienate, you'll put everyone off, etc. It doesn't necessarily indicate what kind of music he was referring to, just that the later quote was less revealing in its info. If anything, if this album is any move away from Backspacer at all, he may have felt the need to warn the pop fans about it. You know, all those people who have got on board since Backspacer...

In fairness a severe left turn artistically was predicted and expected after the last one.
I'm not buying the logical extension argument at all apart from that one song being a left over.

Sometimes songs don't find their place til later. Pj have demonstrated this often in the past.

I was only worried about that one review implying that Lightning Bolt itself sounded more like Unthought Known than it had already, played live, and also that half of the songs were entertaining but less challenging rock songs a la Backspacer. Having said that though, there are also less challenging rock songs on Riot Act and Binaural ('Get Right is a cool but uncomplicated song, so is Green Disease), so are we getting anything wildly different than normal? Possibly not.

[Cleverman]

RANK THE REVIEWS!

Debate if the reviews would be better if Dave A was still with the band!

[harmless]

The whole thing about Stone saying "It's going to alienate people, like No Code did" in the first session, and then saying "It sounds like Pearl Jam" in the second, doesn't have to be explained by a move from freaky awesomeness to Backspacer 2, by the way. It could just be that he was told to reign it in, don't say our new album will alienate, you'll put everyone off, etc.

No one tells the Bossman to reign it in.

He could have been pissy that day. Or bored. Or just fucking with us.

Like God.

Well, they can tell him to rein it in very nicely if he agrees "yeah, that was a bit much... sorry." You've got to be a bit careful of fan reaction if your last album was a pop record, yanno? They don't have any plans to alienate now; that's the P.R. line I guess.

[Cleverman]

The whole thing about Stone saying "It's going to alienate people, like No Code did" in the first session, and then saying "It sounds like Pearl Jam" in the second, doesn't have to be explained by a move from freaky awesomeness to Backspacer 2, by the way. It could just be that he was told to reign it in, don't say our new album will alienate, you'll put everyone off, etc. It doesn't necessarily indicate what kind of music he was referring to, just that the later quote was less revealing in its info. If anything, if this album is any move away from Backspacer at all, he may have felt the need to warn the pop fans about it. You know, all those people who have got on board since Backspacer...

In fairness a severe left turn artistically was predicted and expected after the last one.
I'm not buying the logical extension argument at all apart from that one song being a left over.

Sometimes songs don't find their place til later. Pj have demonstrated this often in the past.

I was only worried about that one review implying that Lightning Bolt itself sounded more like Unthought Known than it had already, played live, and also that half of the songs were entertaining but less challenging rock songs a la Backspacer. Having said that though, there are also less challenging rock songs on Riot Act and Binaural ('Get Right is a cool but uncomplicated song, so is Green Disease), so are we getting anything wildly different than normal? Possibly not.

This is probably for another thread, but I'm of the opinion UK would be more liked if it had been on a better album...say Yield or something. Does that make sense?

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

RANK THE REVIEWS!

tied for first the one with the sketches/the one with the track lengths
And all the rest are 2nd

[DaveVedder]

RANK THE REVIEWS!

Debate if the reviews would be better if Dave A was still with the band!

If Dave A would still be in the band everything would be better!

[WaitingForBluey]

I'm not saying the reviews so far suggest this but... If someone told us at the outset that Lightning Bolt was going to sound like equal parts "a logical extension of Backspacer" and equal parts "something new and different, dark and moody, experimental, strange"... I'm pretty sure most of you would have been pleased with that, right?

[NothingBetterMan]

I'm not saying the reviews so far suggest this but... If someone told us at the outset that Lightning Bolt was going to sound like equal parts "a logical extension of Backspacer" and equal parts "something new and different, dark and moody, experimental, strange"... I'm pretty sure most of you would have been pleased with that, right?

Ding Ding Ding!

(I could have simply said "yes," but my brain literally did that when I read your question. So here we are.)

[Buby]

This bitch leaked

[harmless]

The whole thing about Stone saying "It's going to alienate people, like No Code did" in the first session, and then saying "It sounds like Pearl Jam" in the second, doesn't have to be explained by a move from freaky awesomeness to Backspacer 2, by the way. It could just be that he was told to reign it in, don't say our new album will alienate, you'll put everyone off, etc. It doesn't necessarily indicate what kind of music he was referring to, just that the later quote was less revealing in its info. If anything, if this album is any move away from Backspacer at all, he may have felt the need to warn the pop fans about it. You know, all those people who have got on board since Backspacer...

In fairness a severe left turn artistically was predicted and expected after the last one.
I'm not buying the logical extension argument at all apart from that one song being a left over.

Sometimes songs don't find their place til later. Pj have demonstrated this often in the past.

I was only worried about that one review implying that Lightning Bolt itself sounded more like Unthought Known than it had already, played live, and also that half of the songs were entertaining but less challenging rock songs a la Backspacer. Having said that though, there are also less challenging rock songs on Riot Act and Binaural ('Get Right is a cool but uncomplicated song, so is Green Disease), so are we getting anything wildly different than normal? Possibly not.

This is probably for another thread, but I'm of the opinion UK would be more liked if it had been on a better album...say Yield or something. Does that make sense?

Yep, and I agree. My personal feeling is that I love it until it gets to the piano break and "Nothing left", at which point the song really has nothing left and runs out of steam. But Lightning Bolt has a much better structure and a couple of parts I find more interesting, so we'll see. I think it's a better song overall.

[harmless]

I'm not saying the reviews so far suggest this but... If someone told us at the outset that Lightning Bolt was going to sound like equal parts "a logical extension of Backspacer" and equal parts "something new and different, dark and moody, experimental, strange"... I'm pretty sure most of you would have been pleased with that, right?

Ding Ding Ding!

(I could have simply said "yes," but my brain literally did that when I read your question. So here we are.)

Absolutely yes, and I'm still happy. To me it's crazy, if the band are even slowly moving back to that more serious, experimental place, to still complain about it not being enough.

[harmless]

I guess a parallel might be that when Yield arrived, I wasn't pissing and moaning that it wasn't No Code.

[evenslow]

This bitch leaked

[harmless]

Someone's Googled the fakes again.

[evenslow]

I'm not saying the reviews so far suggest this but... If someone told us at the outset that Lightning Bolt was going to sound like equal parts "a logical extension of Backspacer" and equal parts "something new and different, dark and moody, experimental, strange"... I'm pretty sure most of you would have been pleased with that, right?

Ding Ding Ding!

(I could have simply said "yes," but my brain literally did that when I read your question. So here we are.)

Absolutely yes, and I'm still happy. To me it's crazy, if the band are even slowly moving back to that more serious, experimental place, to still complain about it not being enough.

I'll be pretty fucking happy if we get 6/12 songs that are experimental and thought-provoking. Then, if 6/12 of the rest are poppier but still well-written, I'll be happy too. Happiness pervades. I'm like the Dali fucking Lama over here.

[dimejinky99]

The whole thing about Stone saying "It's going to alienate people, like No Code did" in the first session, and then saying "It sounds like Pearl Jam" in the second, doesn't have to be explained by a move from freaky awesomeness to Backspacer 2, by the way. It could just be that he was told to reign it in, don't say our new album will alienate, you'll put everyone off, etc. It doesn't necessarily indicate what kind of music he was referring to, just that the later quote was less revealing in its info. If anything, if this album is any move away from Backspacer at all, he may have felt the need to warn the pop fans about it. You know, all those people who have got on board since Backspacer...

In fairness a severe left turn artistically was predicted and expected after the last one.
I'm not buying the logical extension argument at all apart from that one song being a left over.

Sometimes songs don't find their place til later. Pj have demonstrated this often in the past.

I was only worried about that one review implying that Lightning Bolt itself sounded more like Unthought Known than it had already, played live, and also that half of the songs were entertaining but less challenging rock songs a la Backspacer. Having said that though, there are also less challenging rock songs on Riot Act and Binaural ('Get Right is a cool but uncomplicated song, so is Green Disease), so are we getting anything wildly different than normal? Possibly not.

This is probably for another thread, but I'm of the opinion UK would be more liked if it had been on a better album...say Yield or something. Does that make sense?

I've often felt that about UK too. It's pretty much got that classic PJ stamp all over it.
Never understood why it didn't get more love here.

[McParadigm]

I'm not saying the reviews so far suggest this but... If someone told us at the outset that Lightning Bolt was going to sound like equal parts "a logical extension of Backspacer" and equal parts "something new and different, dark and moody, experimental, strange"... I'm pretty sure most of you would have been pleased with that, right?

Ding Ding Ding!

(I could have simply said "yes," but my brain literally did that when I read your question. So here we are.)

Absolutely yes, and I'm still happy. To me it's crazy, if the band are even slowly moving back to that more serious, experimental place, to still complain about it not being enough.

At the rate they're releasing music, you're talking about an almost decade-long journey to accomplish the kind of artistic leap that usually takes 10-16 months.

This is not one of my complaints with the group, but putting out an album every 3-5 years really helps justify it for those who are frustrated in that regard.

[stupidmop]

Swallowed Whole -- Perplexed as to how the title/artwork jive with the reports of the music/lyrics. Curious if it can stand its ground if the two previous songs are as good as expected.

This is throwing me too, so far the lyrics give me a better days kinda vibe, the image does not. One of them says they thought the lyrics were dark compared to the music though, so who the hell knows.

[WaitingForBluey]

I'm not saying the reviews so far suggest this but... If someone told us at the outset that Lightning Bolt was going to sound like equal parts "a logical extension of Backspacer" and equal parts "something new and different, dark and moody, experimental, strange"... I'm pretty sure most of you would have been pleased with that, right?

Ding Ding Ding!

(I could have simply said "yes," but my brain literally did that when I read your question. So here we are.)

Absolutely yes, and I'm still happy. To me it's crazy, if the band are even slowly moving back to that more serious, experimental place, to still complain about it not being enough.

Yea, and what I keep thinking is that if this new album went all the way in a whole new direction then that would leave Backspacer just standing there by itself the one oddball in the PJ catalog. However, if LB really works at mixing a bit of Backspacer with something new and exciting, that might provide a better context for Backspacer and, in the long run, may allow it to hold its proper place in the PJ catalog. Perhaps that's just way too much positive thinking for RM. Sorry.

[harmless]

The whole thing about Stone saying "It's going to alienate people, like No Code did" in the first session, and then saying "It sounds like Pearl Jam" in the second, doesn't have to be explained by a move from freaky awesomeness to Backspacer 2, by the way. It could just be that he was told to reign it in, don't say our new album will alienate, you'll put everyone off, etc. It doesn't necessarily indicate what kind of music he was referring to, just that the later quote was less revealing in its info. If anything, if this album is any move away from Backspacer at all, he may have felt the need to warn the pop fans about it. You know, all those people who have got on board since Backspacer...

In fairness a severe left turn artistically was predicted and expected after the last one.
I'm not buying the logical extension argument at all apart from that one song being a left over.

Sometimes songs don't find their place til later. Pj have demonstrated this often in the past.

I was only worried about that one review implying that Lightning Bolt itself sounded more like Unthought Known than it had already, played live, and also that half of the songs were entertaining but less challenging rock songs a la Backspacer. Having said that though, there are also less challenging rock songs on Riot Act and Binaural ('Get Right is a cool but uncomplicated song, so is Green Disease), so are we getting anything wildly different than normal? Possibly not.

This is probably for another thread, but I'm of the opinion UK would be more liked if it had been on a better album...say Yield or something. Does that make sense?

I've often felt that about UK too. It's pretty much got that classic PJ stamp all over it.
Never understood why it didn't get more love here.

1) Too much production polish
2) Not good structurally; the last third goes nowhere
3) Brendan's piano ruins it