Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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Rank Lightning Bolt

5 stars
1
1%
4 stars
4
5%
3 stars
29
37%
2 stars
30
38%
1 star
14
18%
 
Total votes: 78

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Lounge Lizard
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Lounge Lizard »

harmless wrote:I just think PJ is whatever they decide to put on their albums. I might like it, might not, but it's no less PJ for all that.
every band has an identity. Seems like pj are having an identity crisis
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stip
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
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harmless
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

stip wrote:i like skipping a LOT more than future days. It's a really nice song and Eddie sounds great on it--especially that bittersweet vocalizations at the end when he realizes that this isn't going to last forever and his little girl is going to grow up.

that song caught some shit when it was released but it's really quite good.
Yup. I wonder what will happen when the cleaned-up version of FD is released (if anything).

But at this point, the early performances and the amount of talk they've generated has probably killed any chance it had.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
I began my identity crisis with PJ at Yield, so I'm very used to it now.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by verb_to_trust »

harmless wrote:Gah, I don't mind Future Days but it would've been really helped by something depressing being thrown in there. A vocal note, a chord, whatever. Even 'Skipping' has more tempered feeling than this. I would even like that song to replace it. There's the laughter at the beginning, it's a good song about parenthood, and it would chime well with the 'young innocents' line in MYM.
Its pretty much the same song, only chessier.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

verb_to_trust wrote:
harmless wrote:Gah, I don't mind Future Days but it would've been really helped by something depressing being thrown in there. A vocal note, a chord, whatever. Even 'Skipping' has more tempered feeling than this. I would even like that song to replace it. There's the laughter at the beginning, it's a good song about parenthood, and it would chime well with the 'young innocents' line in MYM.
Its pretty much the same song, only chessier.
It's really not the same song. You just seem to be allergic to sentimentality, imo, which is fine but the songs are totally different.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

harmless wrote:
stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
I began my identity crisis with PJ at Yield, so I'm very used to it now.

it's this incredibly complex mixture of a band moving into new (and often older) themes, declining productivity, a somewhat different sound and perhaps even a different approach to song writing and having this collide with some people not liking the music as much but not wanting to let go of the band and so you get this combo of battered girlfriend standing by her man/need to denigrate the band to diminish internal expectations (pearl jam are generic/they suck live)/finding someone to blame (ed, BoB, Mike, matt, oddly enough not stone or jeff) with the implication that if they just got out of the way everything goes back to normal/people feeling the need to talk extensively about a band they just don't care that much about anymore because they like posting on RM/trolling because it's the internet and it's not okay to enjoy things.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Dr. Van Nostrand »

stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
I think you are right
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

harmless wrote:
stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
I began my identity crisis with PJ at Yield, so I'm very used to it now.

This is my second honeymoon, so I feel young and in love again
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

The only reason people don't blame Stone or Jeff is that they're not as audible :lol:
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by verb_to_trust »

Ed's writing is pretty samey. Especially on the acoustic guitar.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

stip wrote:
harmless wrote:
stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
I began my identity crisis with PJ at Yield, so I'm very used to it now.

This is my second honeymoon, so I feel young and in love again
I'm looking forward to that happening at Lightning Bolt. If it doesn't, no biggy, but I would really like it to. I would love an album I could crank up on the stereo, like, in public and stuff.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Mine »

harmless wrote:Also the vocal melody isn't exactly chipper.
Because it's bland. That melody is really weak.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

harmless wrote:
stip wrote:
harmless wrote:
stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
I began my identity crisis with PJ at Yield, so I'm very used to it now.

This is my second honeymoon, so I feel young and in love again
I'm looking forward to that happening at Lightning Bolt. If it doesn't, no biggy, but I would really like it to. I would love an album I could crank up on the stereo, like, in public and stuff.

I remember the first time I went for my first headphones walk with S/T (which is how i like to listen to new music). At some point fairly early in the record I think I actually was tearing up a bit because it felt, for the first time in over a decade, that the band I loved was back. No Code and Yield were both incredibly uneven records to me, and that the muddy navel gazing monologue I was growing less and and less interested in over the last two albums was finally over. Something had returned that I knew was missing, but didn't realize how much until it came back. that started the first time I heard WWS. I couldn't stop smiling for a few hours afterwards.

That cooled over time, especially as the back half of S/T kinda fell off a cliff for me (the only song I really care about in the back half is come back) but still, it was a great feeling.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

Mine wrote:
harmless wrote:Also the vocal melody isn't exactly chipper.
Because it's bland. That melody is really weak.
when people use the word generic I think what they often probably mean is bland.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Mike »

This thread made me listen to Thin Air and I'm loving every second of it.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Mine »

stip wrote: it's this incredibly complex mixture of a band moving into new (and often older) themes, declining productivity, a somewhat different sound and perhaps even a different approach to song writing and having this collide with some people not liking the music as much but not wanting to let go of the band and so you get this combo of battered girlfriend standing by her man/need to denigrate the band to diminish internal expectations (pearl jam are generic/they suck live)/finding someone to blame (ed, BoB, Mike, matt, oddly enough not stone or jeff) with the implication that if they just got out of the way everything goes back to normal/people feeling the need to talk extensively about a band they just don't care that much about anymore because they like posting on RM/trolling because it's the internet and it's not okay to enjoy things.
it's fanboy-ism if you ask me
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by dimejinky99 »

stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.

This and a million things to go with

Most of all this is down to us talking ourselves into a place and view of the music.
Almost nothing to do with the band. 500+ pages of total bullshit waffle without even having heard the reckrd makes that point though.
Calibrate your enthusiasm
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harmless
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

stip wrote:
harmless wrote:
stip wrote:
harmless wrote:
stip wrote:I think the fans are having an identity crisis more than the band.
I began my identity crisis with PJ at Yield, so I'm very used to it now.

This is my second honeymoon, so I feel young and in love again
I'm looking forward to that happening at Lightning Bolt. If it doesn't, no biggy, but I would really like it to. I would love an album I could crank up on the stereo, like, in public and stuff.

I remember the first time I went for my first headphones walk with S/T (which is how i like to listen to new music). At some point fairly early in the record I think I actually was tearing up a bit because it felt, for the first time in over a decade, that the band I loved was back. No Code and Yield were both incredibly uneven records to me, and that the muddy navel gazing monologue I was growing less and and less interested in over the last two albums was finally over. Something had returned that I knew was missing, but didn't realize how much until it came back. that started the first time I heard WWS. I couldn't stop smiling for a few hours afterwards.

That cooled over time, especially as the back half of S/T kinda fell off a cliff for me (the only song I really care about in the back half is come back) but still, it was a great feeling.
I felt that about Backspacer initially. :thumbsup: What I'd like from the new one is some songs that grab instantly but then stay there.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

this has been an incredible thread Dime, and I will not have you speak ill of it!!!!!!!!
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