Gigaton: Official album thread

[Jaeti]

It's funny because of how cheesy Retrograde is, I keep listening to it and it's growing on me in kind of a bad way but maybe also a good way. Like it's so bad, yet I kind of like the ear worm melody. And the ending is good.

Hahaha, yeah, I think this is going to happen to me, too. I'm prepared for it.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[B]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I enjoy them, but I can see Vin's point. They could be from a different album than the rest of the songs the way they slow down and soften up. Or, you could view it as the end of the journey you've been on throughout the album.
It wouldn't be odd for them to be on Side C by themselves.

[dad]

Well, I don’t feel humiliated about it yet, but I did add a few notes while listening this morning. I think this is more or less how I’m gonna feel about this record for a while. Maybe in a few years, with the benefit of having outlasted the times, I’ll feel differently. Maybe.

I might add to this tomorrow, or just wish I never wrote it instead. One or the other. Or neither. But this is something I like about the record.

This is an album about surviving past the end. It’s an unexpectedly appropriate subject for this day and age, and Pearl Jam is a uniquely authentic musical voice for it. They are capable of capturing, without fetishistic assumption or romanticism, the real experience of survival. They know what it means to live with losses that you can’t outdistance. They know it’s not always going to feel like it was worth it.

So save your predictions, and burn your assumptions. But the band also wants you to feel the natural jubilance of the phrase “there’s much to be done.” Their reaction to the bitter end isn’t trademark fury, but just the same I’m still alive, different day.

In some ways this record reminds me of albums that came out in and were colored by the shadow of 9/11, even though they were recorded well before. It’s a happy accident without the happy: the little band from Seattle calling out, offering one last bit of song before vanishing into the strangled contractions of the city’s newest epidemic. One last pep talk to carry into isolation with you, a final rendition of their favorite promise: you’re not alone, not really. “I can hear you singing in the distance,” they assure the listener. “I can see you when I close my eyes.”

The lyrics spend less time than usual seeking answers to trademark big questions, and focus instead on offering whatever small lessons the band picked up along the way. It makes for a less optimistic listen, with fewer pie in the sky assurances of inevitable redemption, but it also leaves you with the sense that those small lessons might actually have been the answers all along. Simple rules to live by: stand back when the spirit comes. It’s alright to say no to something if it makes you feel less safe, even if saying no means being seen as a disappointment in your own home. Turn sideways from a dangerous undertow, but do not be deterred by it.

Lessons on surviving, from a band that had to learn each of the above rules the hard way. The first song says it directly, acknowledging perhaps the most universal truth: “the answers will be found in the mistakes that we have made.”

The inspirations were clearly (primarily) Trump and climate change, but the band’s empathetic fixation on surviving hardships (both physically and spiritually) make this the ideal album to carry into uncertain quarantine. It’s an album that wants you to feel less alone. First, do no harm. Then: buckle up.

Even the president, lazily disparaged, is subsequently sympathized with in terms the band cannot help but understand. “His best days gone, hard to admit,” and here the smugly-strutting song becomes a mother’s hug. “Angry punches, with nothing to hit.” It’s like a Riot Act song all grown up...still furious for all of the denied and powerless, but now able to find its own reflection in the failures of the powerful.

Pearl Jam used to make albums about surviving the moment. Then, for a while there, they sort of made albums about remembering what it was like to be surviving the moment. Now, they’re finally ready to talk about you do next. Which in its way is just another kind of promise to survive. Whoever said it’s all been said gave up on satisfaction.

I could very well end up humiliated by how much I like this. I’ll live with it. Because whether or not this is a great record, it hits me right now because I’m pretty scared but hoping, and a hope dies last.

Thanks McP. This thread is going way too fast for me to keep up, and I'm bummed that I'm probably missing some good, deeper reflections on the album. Glad I caught this one, but also hoping that RM can re-up the more detailed reviews (maybe in a separate thread?) after the dust has settled.

same.

[Anders]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I couldn’t disagree more about Buckle Up. Possibly the best song on the album.

However, I like hearing your negative take. It gets a bit much when everyone is all happy go lucky ‘greatest band/album/song’ for page after page.

[Vindicator]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I enjoy them, but I can see Vin's point. They could be from a different album than the rest of the songs the way they slow down and soften up. Or, you could view it as the end of the journey you've been on throughout the album.
It wouldn't be odd for them to be on Side C by themselves.

And comparing them to a song like Alright, which I absolutely loved on my first listen, it's not even close. Jeff knows how to write a delicately beautiful song, as he's shown time and again. Alright lets the song breath, Ed sounds great, the melody is gorgeous. I almost wanted more. It's like Strangest Tribe meets Parting Ways. It's the Pearl Jam I loved.

Let Jeff write more please.

[Monkey_Driven]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I couldn’t disagree more about Buckle Up. Possibly the best song on the album.

However, I like hearing your negative take. It gets a bit much when everyone is all happy go lucky ‘greatest band/album/song’ for page after page.

I agree.

[Anders]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I enjoy them, but I can see Vin's point. They could be from a different album than the rest of the songs the way they slow down and soften up. Or, you could view it as the end of the journey you've been on throughout the album.
It wouldn't be odd for them to be on Side C by themselves.

And comparing them to a song like Alright, which I absolutely loved on my first listen, it's not even close. Jeff knows how to write a delicately beautiful song, as he's shown time and again. Alright lets the song breath, Ed sounds great, the melody is gorgeous. I almost wanted more. It's like Strangest Tribe meets Parting Ways. It's the Pearl Jam I loved.

Let Jeff write more please.

Funny that none of your two comparisons are written by Jeff.

[bune]

OK, I'm inspired tonight so here's my second-listen review. You're welcome.

Who Ever Said: this is really in the same vein as the song "Lightning Bolt," but it's a more fully formed and thought-out take on it. And off the bat, the production on this album is so far superior to maybe anything I've heard Pearl Jam sound like. I'm listening through some decent monitors, and this is a shitty mp3 leak, but wow. The dynamics on this are just incredible. Did you hear the claps The band is just at their best here. It's a standard PJ rocker, but then at around 2:30 we take a turn. And here again, the production just brings this thing to life. Every instrument is so perfectly positioned in the mix, you can pick out each one and focus on it. The vocals at 3:18 are impeccable. Then we get going again...Vedder's delivery is sharper than anything I've heard in a long time. Little lead hiding in the background for a few sections. There's that production again. Dynamics. Matt's just killing it with EV. Ventricles pumpin' overtime. Hey, did you know Matt Cameron is their drummer? And did you realize the whole time this song was on how fucking badass Jeff Ament is? This one won't go down easy...one more burst and we're done.

Superblood Wolfmoon: Not gonna lie, I fucking love this song. It's only gotten better each time I've listened. Let's be honest, it's The Fixer part 2, but it's at least 2-3 times the song that Fixer is. They took the pop edge off just a tad, and again, gave it a little less-slick production, a little heavier verse, and voila. Oh yeah, reminder that Mike McCready is still in this band. Little less Hendrix, little more EVH. The drop after the solo, and oh yeah, I'm Stone fucking Gossard, not sure if you've heard of me but I'm in this band too, and I know a little bit about a thing called fucking guitar tone.

Dance of the Clairvoyants: Again, a few weeks with this one. I liked it so much I intentionally didn't listen to it too much. This is an example of what I've wanted to hear from these guys for a long time. We know you're good at your instruments. Now play them differently. I have to think that maybe not from a songwriting perspective, but from a sonic and philosophical one, this song was a turning point. If there came a time when they scrapped everything they were doing for a new direction, it was when this song came together. Like "Jeremy," I'd offer this up as one of a handful of songs in Pearl Jam's catalog that is really out of the box for what their bread and butter is. And it just all works here. The mix is just flawless. The last couple minutes, Mike's guitar, all the vocals, the drums...there are going to be a lot of bands seeking this guy out after this.

Quick Escape: OK, starts off like you're expecting Rival or something. One of those weird, atonal Stone riffs. Then, what? Zanzibar? Oh, wait, this is Pearl Jam's "Kashmir" I guess. Drums for fucking days. More harmonies...OK, he actually said "Kashmir." They know what they're up to, and they're like, fuck it, we're Pearl Jam. Remember 30 years ago when everyone was saying we were "the next Led Zeppelin" when we only had one record out? Well guess what, we've been around longer than Led Zeppelin was so here you go. Oh yeah, and we got this guy Mike McCready and he has a fuckin' Univibe too. Suck it. This song is fucking awesome. Easily top 10 Pearl Jam. If you disagree, you're a fuckin' noob or something, and I don't know what to tell you. Just stop listening to music. To prove it, here's Mike fucking McCready again (or did they get Jimmy Page on this one?), and don't forget that rhythm section behind him. Oh, you like that? Fuck you, song's over.

Alright: Something different. I like it, nice and lush, even the cymbal flourishes. Mix is on point. Mike on the left with the little feedback licks. I never thought I'd say it, but Brendan O'Brien became a liability for this band. Just made everything kind of stale. Maybe this song isn't any more or less interesting than something like "Pendulum" or "Yellow Moon," but goddamn, Josh just makes everything sound better. This is the first lull for the album after a pretty spectacular opening run. But it's nice. Lush.

Seven O'Clock: Starting off kinda serious...you think it's going one way, but then the verse hits and I guess we're going somewhere else. It's got a nice thing going in the verse, but so do lots of songs, so where's this gonna go? A song like this is betting on the chorus and probably a fair amount on the bridge. Good thing Pearl Jam knows how to write songs. But then, the chorus is just OK. Throw some synths in to give it a little something. But wait, this song is over six minutes long? How's that? OK, this little bit between the first chorus and second verse is huge. Josh knows dynamics...something that's sadly been lost in the last 20 years. I guess it's around the halfway point that you realize this is one of those songs that maybe doesn't grab you right away, but you tuck it away because you know it's going to be that one that after a month or two becomes your favorite song. You hear bits of it, because it's a big meal to digest. Here's that bridge I talked about earlier. Harmonies, recorded and mixed beautifully into the outro. Wow. Eddie hasn't sounded this good in so long. At this point, he's definitely the fucking MVP of this record.

Never Destination: From the start, it feels like the first song on the album that could have been inserted on any of the last three. What you might call "PJ by numbers." Nicely mixed solo from Mike. And again we have that drop out that Josh is clearly very good at. Bring up the bass...Jeff's getting down. OK, maybe this song has a little more that those last few albums. Little delay on the vocals...bring up those guitars. All of a sudden, this song's got its thing going on. One thing that stands out to me is I can't think of another time off the top of my head where Matt and Ed are really playing off each other. Nicely done...by the time this one ends, it's gone a lot further than I thought it would when it started.

Take The Long Way: Alright, this has to be a Matt riff. I think he writes guitar riffs that are awesome but have an ulterior motive...to make you hear what a badass fucking drummer he is. Band is on fire. Backup vocals and the mix on them are awesome, as is the guitar work Mike's bringing. The guitars on this record are maybe the best-sounding of any Pearl Jam record. And at this point I'm comfortable saying this is the best-produced Pearl Jam record. By a fucking mile. This fucking solo...the mix. Again, this guy will be producing a lot of rock records in the next 10 years. I fucking guarantee it. If the next RHCP or QOTSA album isn't produced by Josh I'll eat my hat.

Buckle Up: Cool riff. I like what EV is doing here. This one is making me curious about the lyrics, as what I'm picking up sound interesting. I wouldn't go as far as to call this a dud, but it's the first really one-dimensional song on the record. Still sounds fantastic though.

Comes Then Goes: I once got to go to Vince Gill's house in Nashville, and interview him about his guitar collection he had there (or at least part of it). If you're so inclined, PM me for the link to the video. The first one he picked up was his father's guitar, a beautiful old Gibson, and from there, he played some of the most collectible and sought-after guitars you could ever hear. It's definitely there in the video, but I will never forget standing a couple feet away from him, arguably one of the greatest guitar players alive, and hearing the sound that these instruments made when in the hands of someone so capable. What does this have to do with Pearl Jam? Well, I'm sure that Mike, Stone and Ed own some pretty amazing guitars too. And we've probably heard them before on their albums. But never like this. I think this is a good time to co-nominate Josh Evans as MVP of this album. Whatever expensive Martin Eddie's strumming on this one, it sounds every bit as warm and rich as it would probably sound if you were standing in the room. I know that production and engineering isn't everybody's thing, but it's a huge part of what makes successful records. I would love to know how the guitars were miked on this, and again, Josh Evans' schedule is going to be packed for the next several years, and songs like this are why. By the way, it's an absolutely gorgeous song, and it reminds you of why Eddie Vedder is Eddie Vedder. He is at his absolute best here.

Retrograde: More of that sonic treatment on the 12-string, which I would imagine is Mike. Very nice how this song flows in from the last one. Eddie's on point, and once again the harmonies are mixed perfectly. Beautiful guitar work by Mike and Stone. This song really feels like a band effort...Mike bringing the 12-string guitar, but the verse riff is very Stone, with those Middle-Eastern tinges like Strangest Tribe. It's amazing what some production can do, and I don't know why they haven't done more of this over the years. Adding the echo to the vocals at the end just gives this such a richness. Love it.

River Cross: When the video of Ed's solo performance of this was posted, I didn't make it 20 seconds in. Seriously, no thanks. After less-than-stellar results of solo Ed songs going to the band (I'm looking at you Sleeping By Myself and Speed of Sound), my hopes for this aren't high. But I like what Matt's bringing, and again, the way it's assembled sonically really finds balance between the organ (which can be grating, and probably why the solo version didn't resonate). It brings back some of that 80s feel of DOTC, like a lost Peter Gabriel song from that era. Not my favorite song on the album, but a strong closer and definitely one that I'm going to want to sit with while I read the lyrics.

This album is a high-water mark for this band. My expectations have been completely surpassed. Eddie Vedder is definitely the MVP, followed by Josh Evans behind the board. His sonic contributions are undeniable, and this is, for me, if not the best-sounding Pearl Jam album, then pretty goddamn close. But what also really shines through on this record is the band. Four of the five of them have spent 30 years together making music, and all five have shared 20 of those years. They are loose, they are comfortable, they are in the zone. They are magnificently in step on this album.

I haven't read many of the lyrics yet, but I am a little surprised that the specter of Chris Cornell and his death don't seem to be a big part of this album. Perhaps it was so personal for them that to put it into a Pearl Jam record felt odd, but I think of something like 4/20/02 and am just a little thrown off. Maybe it's in there and I'm just not hearing it yet. Or maybe they felt the best tribute to Chris was to just put their best foot forward in his honor. I can't imagine he wouldn't have enjoyed hearing this.

It's wonderful. Thank you Pearl Jam for keeping the journey interesting after 30 years. Good night RM.

awesome, thanks for taking the time on that.

Well, I don’t feel humiliated about it yet, but I did add a few notes while listening this morning. I think this is more or less how I’m gonna feel about this record for a while. Maybe in a few years, with the benefit of having outlasted the times, I’ll feel differently. Maybe.

I might add to this tomorrow, or just wish I never wrote it instead. One or the other. Or neither. But this is something I like about the record.

This is an album about surviving past the end. It’s an unexpectedly appropriate subject for this day and age, and Pearl Jam is a uniquely authentic musical voice for it. They are capable of capturing, without fetishistic assumption or romanticism, the real experience of survival. They know what it means to live with losses that you can’t outdistance. They know it’s not always going to feel like it was worth it.

So save your predictions, and burn your assumptions. But the band also wants you to feel the natural jubilance of the phrase “there’s much to be done.” Their reaction to the bitter end isn’t trademark fury, but just the same I’m still alive, different day.

In some ways this record reminds me of albums that came out in and were colored by the shadow of 9/11, even though they were recorded well before. It’s a happy accident without the happy: the little band from Seattle calling out, offering one last bit of song before vanishing into the strangled contractions of the city’s newest epidemic. One last pep talk to carry into isolation with you, a final rendition of their favorite promise: you’re not alone, not really. “I can hear you singing in the distance,” they assure the listener. “I can see you when I close my eyes.”

The lyrics spend less time than usual seeking answers to trademark big questions, and focus instead on offering whatever small lessons the band picked up along the way. It makes for a less optimistic listen, with fewer pie in the sky assurances of inevitable redemption, but it also leaves you with the sense that those small lessons might actually have been the answers all along. Simple rules to live by: stand back when the spirit comes. It’s alright to say no to something if it makes you feel less safe, even if saying no means being seen as a disappointment in your own home. Turn sideways from a dangerous undertow, but do not be deterred by it.

Lessons on surviving, from a band that had to learn each of the above rules the hard way. The first song says it directly, acknowledging perhaps the most universal truth: “the answers will be found in the mistakes that we have made.”

The inspirations were clearly (primarily) Trump and climate change, but the band’s empathetic fixation on surviving hardships (both physically and spiritually) make this the ideal album to carry into uncertain quarantine. It’s an album that wants you to feel less alone. First, do no harm. Then: buckle up.

Even the president, lazily disparaged, is subsequently sympathized with in terms the band cannot help but understand. “His best days gone, hard to admit,” and here the smugly-strutting song becomes a mother’s hug. “Angry punches, with nothing to hit.” It’s like a Riot Act song all grown up...still furious for all of the denied and powerless, but now able to find its own reflection in the failures of the powerful.

Pearl Jam used to make albums about surviving the moment. Then, for a while there, they sort of made albums about remembering what it was like to be surviving the moment. Now, they’re finally ready to talk about you do next. Which in its way is just another kind of promise to survive. Whoever said it’s all been said gave up on satisfaction.

I could very well end up humiliated by how much I like this. I’ll live with it. Because whether or not this is a great record, it hits me right now because I’m pretty scared but hoping, and a hope dies last.

Yeah, exactly that.

wish I could quote all the good takes. Thanks to everyone for taking the time.

This album reminds me of Fear Inoculum in that they take bits of their old songs and sounds and reuse them (Three Fish and ToTD show up in Quick Escape for example) but they manage to make it sound good instead of tired.

Alright sounds like the song that was written after or during a quarantine so to hear it now is kind of awesome (meaning feeling a sense of awe). I mean so much of this song feels like it was written for 40-year-old me...I can already tell that so many of the feelings for this album for me are going to be centered on this song. Kind of like when Ukulele Songs was released and it was exactly what I needed for the crap going on in my life.

I can't wait for Friday.

[Vindicator]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I couldn’t disagree more about Buckle Up. Possibly the best song on the album.

However, I like hearing your negative take. It gets a bit much when everyone is all happy go lucky ‘greatest band/album/song’ for page after page.

I can hear what there is to like. The part that sounds like trumpets is cool and at least adds an layer. It's a weird lullaby like Around the Bend. Guess it's a bit of a grower.

Also Ed, "Firstly do no Hooaarmm" Why does he pronounce things like this

[Vindicator]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I enjoy them, but I can see Vin's point. They could be from a different album than the rest of the songs the way they slow down and soften up. Or, you could view it as the end of the journey you've been on throughout the album.
It wouldn't be odd for them to be on Side C by themselves.

Yep Yep I know that! But Jeff manages to channel a classic PJ vibe in his writing. Quick Escape does it too man. The guy is on fire and easily the best writer in the band.

And comparing them to a song like Alright, which I absolutely loved on my first listen, it's not even close. Jeff knows how to write a delicately beautiful song, as he's shown time and again. Alright lets the song breath, Ed sounds great, the melody is gorgeous. I almost wanted more. It's like Strangest Tribe meets Parting Ways. It's the Pearl Jam I loved.

Let Jeff write more please.

Funny that none of your two comparisons are written by Jeff.

[Anders]

The final 4 songs are absolute molasses to get through. What a snoozefest. Buckle Up is one dimensional and pretty boring overall, Comes Then Goes is so long and boring and again one dimensional, Retrograde is a huge cheese fest the likes of which haven't been seen ever, Sirens wasnt even this cheesy. The Hard Sun esque outro is great and can't save it. River Cross is an ok song but coming from the slog of the previous songs, I'm ready for it to be over. Ed added too many words yet again.

These songs are just so boring. I LOVE Around the Bend, Thin Air, Fatal, Parachutes, stuff like that.

I'm listening to Buckle Up right now to let it grow on me, I can see how it's likeable for some as a grower, but it stays in that same key the whole time. It's just weaker than what Stone has done before. If the rest of the album was better I'd appreciate this as a weird little song, but the rest kind of sucks too.

I couldn’t disagree more about Buckle Up. Possibly the best song on the album.

However, I like hearing your negative take. It gets a bit much when everyone is all happy go lucky ‘greatest band/album/song’ for page after page.

I can hear what there is to like. The part that sounds like trumpets is cool and at least adds an layer. It's a weird lullaby like Around the Bend. Guess it's a bit of a grower.

Also Ed, "Firstly do no Hooaarmm" Why does he pronounce things like this

Worst part of the song when he sings that. Takes me out of it.

[VinylGuy]

Im listening to it again, and kinda forgot DOC is here. Damn this this is so good.

[Vindicator]

I'm really liking Take The Long Way, growing on me even more. Fuck man, this one song alone shows me there's some life left. Let Jeff and Matt write most the next album.

Top 3 songs on the album

Take The Long Way
Quick Escape
Alright


You know, Never Destination just came on...I kind of like it too? Not fucking half bad. It's a decent track, surprised Ed was able to pull it off.

[Jaeti]

Take the Long Way is a song I know I'll come to like because I eventually came around on Ghost. First impression feels similar.

[Jaeti]

Take the Long Way is a song I know I'll come to like because I eventually came around on Ghost. First impression feels similar.

Ghost (The Love Song)

[Vindicator]

Take the Long Way is a song I know I'll come to like because I eventually came around on Ghost. First impression feels similar.

Ghost (The Love Song)

Take The Long way feels like Ghost meets My Fathers Son. I'm really diggin it. The cathartic chorus, the solo and the AWESOME outro.

[pnjguy]

Would be grateful for a link, thank you

[Vindicator]

Would be grateful for a link, thank you

Gotchu

[dimejinky99]

That bridge on seven o clock

I dunno. It’s out of place kinda