Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[Tj]

Has Just Breathe leaked yet?

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Has Just Breathe leaked yet?

[harmless]

It's out there.

[Fuzzcharger]

Has Just Breathe leaked yet?

Yes. All over my face and mouth every time I listen to it.

[harmless]

Has Just Breathe leaked yet?

Yes. All over my face and mouth every time I listen to it.

I bet you find it hard to catch your breath to breathe after that.

[Fuzzcharger]

Has Just Breathe leaked yet?

Yes. All over my face and mouth every time I listen to it.

I bet you find it hard to catch your breath to breathe after that.

Sometimes I have to wash my love.

[ABNorman]

Remember the heady days before Backspacer, when Bo'B was a returning hero, destined to save the band from mediocrity? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[harmless]

Everyone remembers. It's comforting, sometimes, to remember that most of the songs on S/T were terrible. Both records have their problems. Any accusation of MOR can also be levelled at S/T.

[Mirella]

My notes also say drum tracks above it but I cannot exactly remember what was said about them.

I have that in my notes as well. I think that was related to the cutting tape remarks. That they had a lot of cool drum tracks and they were sometimes used for another song. Or at least that is what I understood from it.

groetjes,
MIrella

[stupidmop]

This, to me, is the takeaway:

Eddie sent me his record before it came out to see if I liked it. I said: “There’s one song on here that we’re gonna steal, because it’s a Pearl Jam song as far as I’m concerned. And there are gonna be the fans who know that record. I don’t know that the rest of the world’s gonna know that song that much.” His record actually ended up doing much better than I thought it would… but I just thought a lyric like that with him singing it is so unusual, and it’s such a sweet, direct, straightforward song that I felt like we needed it very much.

I'm surprised he gave such a direct answer on this. Interesting that Ed would send him the record to get his opinion. I'm also surprised he thought only a smattering of people would listen to Uke Songs and that no one would remember SBM. He knows that almost every PJ fan, at a minimum, was going to get that record. And STILL, he went through with putting it on LB. Flattery will get you everywhere.

Also, artists are often insecure about their art, and in that sense you can see where a guy like Brendan O'Brien, with his confidence in moving forward and creating without wasting time, would be appealing.

I think BO'B had no idea how many people would like, or remember, SBM or Uke Songs because he has no idea how many people like Pearl Jam anymore. He has no idea about the relatively gigantic fanbase and what their feelings and opinions are about anything. It's not his job to care. All he 'knows' is that their move away from his expertise was career suicide, and now they're back.

the tone of that comment aside, what was pretty interesting about that interview was this section:

I think the first cons of making four albums together was that they got tired of being told what to do, which happens to all good artists. Some time after we did Yield, I just think they wanted to do it themselves for a while.

which seems to strongly imply, counter to much of what we've speculated on in this thread, that BoB isn't taking on a new role in the studio with them, and that the same process that produced Vs. through Yield was what also produced Lightning Bolt and Backspacer.

He's also said multiple times that the band listen to him more now though, so even if he hasn't changed the way he works the band has, so the balance is tilted more to his favour than before.Not all the way, but more.

That quote/ interview just sounds vaguely bitchy and arrogant to me, "the band got sick of me telling them how to make shit awesome so they fucked off and did their own piddly thing. I haven't even listened to that shit but now they're ready to make more significant music they've come back, Aw yeah"

Maybe they just wanted to try something different BoB jeez.

[LikeLukin]

The more I read about BoB the more I discredit him for the greatness on Vs - Yield. It's been said a number of times now how the band tended to not listen to him back then when he made suggestions, but are more open to him now. Fuck this guy man.

[dimejinky99]

Are we preparing to blame BOB for our not liking this record?

[Mine]

I remember not crediting him much for his original run with the band but i don't remember many people were of the same opinion.

Thinking of some of their earlier records, Vs. was hard for me to make because I didn’t know any of the guys really. Especially Eddie, and Eddie was very stand-offish in those days. He was just very protective. He would tell me: “You’re Stone and Jeff’s friend” [laughs], when we would get into discussion. That was his defence mechanism. “Alright, man, whatever…”

Didn't Ed say in PJ20 or some interview around that time that he started taking control over the band when they were recording Vs because the lack of leadership within the band made the band more and more controlled from the outside? It makes me wonder if he was referring to B'OB (among others).

[Mine]

Are we preparing to blame BOB for our not liking this record?

It's fair since "we" blamed him for Vs trough Yield.

[LetMeSleep]

The biggest question and the one I'd ask BoB is why is he doing this listening party tour? Why did the band let him do it, what was the motivation? Seriously, his role ended months ago when the record was mastered. Is he so proud of LB that he is leading them?

It's bewildering.

[harmless]

The biggest question and the one I'd ask BoB is why is he doing this listening party tour? Why did the band let him do it, what was the motivation? Seriously, his role ended months ago when the record was mastered. Is he so proud of LB that he is leading them?

It's bewildering.

[harmless]

Are we preparing to blame BOB for our not liking this record?

No, but on the other hand, he's so involved as a producer and multi-instrumentalist, he will be partly responsible for its overall quality. If it's bad, he will deserve part of the blame as much as any member of PJ would. And if it's good, being one of the musicians on it, he'll get some of the credit.

[Django Butterworth]

I honestly can't believe what I am reading.

[harmless]

This, to me, is the takeaway:

Eddie sent me his record before it came out to see if I liked it. I said: “There’s one song on here that we’re gonna steal, because it’s a Pearl Jam song as far as I’m concerned. And there are gonna be the fans who know that record. I don’t know that the rest of the world’s gonna know that song that much.” His record actually ended up doing much better than I thought it would… but I just thought a lyric like that with him singing it is so unusual, and it’s such a sweet, direct, straightforward song that I felt like we needed it very much.

I'm surprised he gave such a direct answer on this. Interesting that Ed would send him the record to get his opinion. I'm also surprised he thought only a smattering of people would listen to Uke Songs and that no one would remember SBM. He knows that almost every PJ fan, at a minimum, was going to get that record. And STILL, he went through with putting it on LB. Flattery will get you everywhere.

Also, artists are often insecure about their art, and in that sense you can see where a guy like Brendan O'Brien, with his confidence in moving forward and creating without wasting time, would be appealing.

I think BO'B had no idea how many people would like, or remember, SBM or Uke Songs because he has no idea how many people like Pearl Jam anymore. He has no idea about the relatively gigantic fanbase and what their feelings and opinions are about anything. It's not his job to care. All he 'knows' is that their move away from his expertise was career suicide, and now they're back.

the tone of that comment aside, what was pretty interesting about that interview was this section:

I think the first cons of making four albums together was that they got tired of being told what to do, which happens to all good artists. Some time after we did Yield, I just think they wanted to do it themselves for a while.

which seems to strongly imply, counter to much of what we've speculated on in this thread, that BoB isn't taking on a new role in the studio with them, and that the same process that produced Vs. through Yield was what also produced Lightning Bolt and Backspacer.

He's also said multiple times that the band listen to him more now though, so even if he hasn't changed the way he works the band has, so the balance is tilted more to his favour than before.Not all the way, but more.

That quote/ interview just sounds vaguely bitchy and arrogant to me, "the band got sick of me telling them how to make shit awesome so they fucked off and did their own piddly thing. I haven't even listened to that shit but now they're ready to make more significant music they've come back, Aw yeah"

Maybe they just wanted to try something different BoB jeez.

Yeah, he's a full-on bonafide dickhead. I'm just trying to get my head back into a space where I can look forward to this BO'B album because I know PJ is on it somewhere. It may as well have "Brendan O'Brien Presents..." on the front cover.

[harmless]

I honestly can't believe what I am reading.

Which bits, specifically?