Gigaton: Official album thread

[Ms Harmless]

I just find there to be WAY more intrusive and out-of-place keys on LB; whatever they were used for here is more tasteful

[liebzz]

"They left the guitars at home" is such an utterly bizarre take on this album

I agree with this. The guitars are very present, but maybe presented in different ways throughout. The first two songs feature guitar solos, DotC prominently showcases an almost John Frusciante like guitar interlude into the second half of the song, Quick Escape has a huge guitar outro, Never Destination is completely guitar driven, Take the Long Way has Soundgarden like guitar arrangements, Comes Then Goes has an excellent acoustic arrangement, Buckle Up is totally focused on that circular like repeating riff...I would venture to say not only is it guitar centric but may be the most guitar inventive album of theirs maybe yet because they don’t all fall in line with prototypical Pearl Jam solos and rhythms.

[RockPusher]

Speaking of which, the more I hear it, the more I love Quick Escape's guitar solo. I don't care if it's "easy" or "unoriginal." It totally works for what the song requires at that moment, and it totally bangs into my head that THIS ELEMENT of Pearl Jam is still here, something anyone who goes to their concerts (R.I.P. for now) knows already, but something you may not know from listening to LB or BS.

[Ms Harmless]

one thing I particularly love is how feedback and ambient guitar noise is used in the album; the noise into "Never Destination" is great, then the guitar is k i n d a clean but with what I can only describe as a cracking distortion underneath; and then Jeff's distorted bass really beefs it up (are we counting bass?)

[stip]

I just find there to be WAY more intrusive and out-of-place keys on LB; whatever they were used for here is more tasteful

fair enough. Im just saying that keys and other instruments on l-bolt are there as accents and color (and only on a few songs). they are much more prevalent here (almost every song) and more significantly integrated into the songs themselves. And as was just pointed out, the ambiance is the key factor in a few songs (which guitars may contribute to but are of secondary importance). unusual for pearl jam

[Ms Harmless]

OK MY RANKING *clears throat*

7 O'Clock
Never Destination
Take the Long Way
Buckle Up
Alright
Who Ever Said
Quick Escape
Comes Then Goes
DOTC
River Cross
SBWM
Retrograde

I think it's a testament to the refreshing nature of this album that I put its "Supersonic" at number 2

there are no bad songs here and this will obviously change because I'm human

[stip]

never destination at number 2, huh. is that the highest its appeared on any lists?

[Ms Harmless]

I wouldn't be surprised

[reconstruction_ seeds]

every song on Lightning Bolt has a guitar as its centerpiece. Keyboards are far more prominent on this album than any other.

No complaints about keys when they are in addition to a significant amount of guitar.

[Ms Harmless]

I just find there to be WAY more intrusive and out-of-place keys on LB; whatever they were used for here is more tasteful

fair enough. Im just saying that keys and other instruments on l-bolt are there as accents and color (and only on a few songs). they are much more prevalent here (almost every song) and more significantly integrated into the songs themselves. And as was just pointed out, the ambiance is the key factor in a few songs (which guitars may contribute to but are of secondary importance). unusual for pearl jam

I think "more significantly integrated into the songs themselves" is a great point; the keys don't sound like an afterthought at any point (I'm still working on the synthesized guitar on Who Ever Said)

[reconstruction_ seeds]

r_s, the way you are saying this same thing over and over again in multiple threads is starting to look a lot like trolling.

Im not sure how it came across to others but my interest has been turned to greta van fleet, so I'll probably not post much more about pj anyway! I like gigaton but i want to wait and see what direction pj take in the future.

[Kevin Davis]

I’m really starting to feel the Yield comparisons more and more. This album is such a great one to spend meditative time with.

I wish I could find something about it to meditate on. Lyrics aren't enough, in the end theyre just someone's words and opinions. Lyrics that arent quality can ruin an album though. To me, Gigaton has become like a very good nursery rhyme leather-bound hardback with fantastic cover art . It's very catchy from cover to cover but after a week you already know what's in it . it doesn't matter if Ed takes an unexpected vocal detour on a bridge or verse occasionally, the instrumentation is nearly absent. They left the guitars at home.

Do you like jazz?

I used to. I think i could get into it again.

There is so much instrumentation in it! Sometimes, only instrumentation!

[RockPusher]

I’m really starting to feel the Yield comparisons more and more. This album is such a great one to spend meditative time with.

I wish I could find something about it to meditate on. Lyrics aren't enough, in the end theyre just someone's words and opinions. Lyrics that arent quality can ruin an album though. To me, Gigaton has become like a very good nursery rhyme leather-bound hardback with fantastic cover art . It's very catchy from cover to cover but after a week you already know what's in it . it doesn't matter if Ed takes an unexpected vocal detour on a bridge or verse occasionally, the instrumentation is nearly absent. They left the guitars at home.

Do you like jazz?

I used to. I think i could get into it again.

There is so much instrumentation in it! Sometimes, only instrumentation!

Personally, I adore dark jazz

[VinylGuy]

jesus this album is so guitar oriented i cant believe there is people who dont hear them.

also, they sound soooo good and tasty. LB´s guitars sucked hard.

[RockPusher]

LB´s guitars sucked hard.

Only now do I realize that they did, and that they didn't have to. I wrote a glowing review of LB when it came out. I had no idea that they could sound like they do on Gigaton. I sincerely believe now that if they use this new approach to whatever output they have in the future, they can continue to sound like classic Pearl Jam. I was totally convinced that was an extinct thing.

[VinylGuy]

Not only the guitars sucked, but also the mix is so weird...awful 80s keyboards and clean pianos are above the guitars and there is no groove. Ed´s voice is above it all...Brendan pop´s ideal of that album fucked up big time with some songs.

[reconstruction_ seeds]

So you guys have some jazz and dark jazz referrals? Someone asked me a while back about mahavishnu orch. I have all their albums but I got burnt out on them

[evenslow]

Hymns of the apocalypse: Pearl Jam’s new album was made for this pandemic moment

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... die-vedder

[bodysnatcher]

Hymns of the apocalypse: Pearl Jam’s new album was made for this pandemic moment

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... die-vedder

No one man can be greater than the sun

I thought it was "No one man can be greater than the sum" ?

[reconstruction_ seeds]

jesus this album is so guitar oriented i cant believe there is people who dont hear them.

also, they sound soooo good and tasty. LB´s guitars sucked hard.

It's not bad in that aspect compared to today's rock but not for a Jimmy Page fan, or at least not for this one. It's a very good albumwith that aspect not considered but I want more from the next one. That's all I'm saying.