Riot Act: Official Album Thread

[stip]

at this point riot act starts to feel long, and with 5 songs to go.

Green Disease is a song I should like more than I do. the pop punk vibe isnt my thing, and some of the lyrics are on the nose, but I do really like the chorus and everyone plays with commitment.

If this came earlier I might like it more. Maybe instead of LBC. Or put you are in where LBC is and slot this as a mid album pick me up

that surprises me, as I'd say the chorus is the most "pop punk" section of the song

it's that happy vibe against the aggressive vibe of the verse that they repeated over and over after this album, but never got fully right until... "Never Destination", possibly? "Marker" gets close

The chorus totally is, but it works for ne.never destination is definitely the best version of this kind of song. I think The Fixer is aiming for something a little different, and Marker feels (to me) altogether different. Like prototype Achtung Baby U2

[stip]

I was SO excited for the idea of arc but Ive never enjoyed it. It suffers from the monochromatic sameness issue I have with Riot Act. Maybe I just want it in a higher register (hard sun/retrograde outro)

[Ms Harmless]

1/2 full doesnt quite work, and I dont quite know why. Lyrics are good, Eddie’s performance is appropriately engaged for the song, and the everyone is playing hard. Maybe Im just ready for Riot Act to be over (I am) or maybe the music mimics the anthematic chaos of so many great mid tempo songs without capturing the core. But it has always felt a little flat to me. Even live.

Maybe it just feels too much like red mosquito, which is superior in every way

it is very like RM, and yes RM is better, but I also think this barnstormer slaps

[stip]

All or None, like thumbing my way, works better for me in the abstract. But despite a believable lived in performance and some blistering work by Mike at this point I feel like I already heard this multiple times. And stone’s basic guitar part isn’t interesting enough in itself. If this song felt more like an outlier it would be more powerful

[Ms Harmless]

at this point riot act starts to feel long, and with 5 songs to go.

Green Disease is a song I should like more than I do. the pop punk vibe isnt my thing, and some of the lyrics are on the nose, but I do really like the chorus and everyone plays with commitment.

If this came earlier I might like it more. Maybe instead of LBC. Or put you are in where LBC is and slot this as a mid album pick me up

that surprises me, as I'd say the chorus is the most "pop punk" section of the song

it's that happy vibe against the aggressive vibe of the verse that they repeated over and over after this album, but never got fully right until... "Never Destination", possibly? "Marker" gets close

The chorus totally is, but it works for ne.never destination is definitely the best version of this kind of song. I think The Fixer is aiming for something a little different, and Marker feels (to me) altogether different. Like prototype Achtung Baby U2

that's fair

I think The Fixer is different too; it's a brighter, more 80s pop punk, almost Riot Grrrl, but... without the Grrrl

[stip]

Riot Act is tough for me. With a few exceptions I quite like the first 9 songs (it feels more cohesive to me than no code, yield, or binaural), and once S/T confirmed that Eddie’s tired performance was a choice I really warmed to it. But this album runs out of steam for me hard in the back third, and it drags the whole thing down.


It doesnt quite fit but I wish Undone was wad on here. Huge fan


This is also Mike’s last unequivocally great album

[Ms Harmless]

incidentally that's kinda why I like The Fixer but I wish it was sung by... Debbie Harry

[stip]

I feel Eddie aimed for a very similar song with Unthought Known, arguably Amongst the Waves, and Lightning Bolt - all of which are notable improvements. I think he really figured it out with Lightning Bolt. He can stop now

I prefer Love Boat Captain to those. The band strenghts are way more focused on this song than in ATW or LB. And the production of course is miles better.

But im a pretty big fan of LBC and both LB and UK are songs i dont wanna go back to. ATW grow a lot in the last couple of years

I also like LBC even more than ATW and UK (which I also like)

what draws you both to it?

Besides the band sounding way better and more articulate, there is a genuine feeling in LBC thats not quite in both UK and LB. There is actually a theme, the lines of

It's an art to live with pain, mix the light into grey,
Lost nine friends we'll never know, two years ago today
And if our lives became too long, would it add to our regret?

Are so powerful and moving, and the music is carrying every sentiment on its shoulders...im not really touched by anything thats happening in both LB or UK because they lack of meaning to me.

sure, but it always felt a bit like an average holocaust movie winning an academy award to me. The sentiment and actual experience is carrying the day, rather than the artistry or performance

[stip]

I feel Eddie aimed for a very similar song with Unthought Known, arguably Amongst the Waves, and Lightning Bolt - all of which are notable improvements. I think he really figured it out with Lightning Bolt. He can stop now

I prefer Love Boat Captain to those. The band strenghts are way more focused on this song than in ATW or LB. And the production of course is miles better.

But im a pretty big fan of LBC and both LB and UK are songs i dont wanna go back to. ATW grow a lot in the last couple of years

I also like LBC even more than ATW and UK (which I also like)

what draws you both to it?

Besides the band sounding way better and more articulate, there is a genuine feeling in LBC thats not quite in both UK and LB. There is actually a theme, the lines of

It's an art to live with pain, mix the light into grey,
Lost nine friends we'll never know, two years ago today
And if our lives became too long, would it add to our regret?

Are so powerful and moving, and the music is carrying every sentiment on its shoulders...im not really touched by anything thats happening in both LB or UK because they lack of meaning to me.

i get that critique of UK. Lightning Bolt is abstract but feels like bottled liberation. genuinely one of my favorite pj songs

[Ms Harmless]

I feel Eddie aimed for a very similar song with Unthought Known, arguably Amongst the Waves, and Lightning Bolt - all of which are notable improvements. I think he really figured it out with Lightning Bolt. He can stop now

I prefer Love Boat Captain to those. The band strenghts are way more focused on this song than in ATW or LB. And the production of course is miles better.

But im a pretty big fan of LBC and both LB and UK are songs i dont wanna go back to. ATW grow a lot in the last couple of years

I also like LBC even more than ATW and UK (which I also like)

what draws you both to it?

Besides the band sounding way better and more articulate, there is a genuine feeling in LBC thats not quite in both UK and LB. There is actually a theme, the lines of

It's an art to live with pain, mix the light into grey,
Lost nine friends we'll never know, two years ago today
And if our lives became too long, would it add to our regret?

Are so powerful and moving, and the music is carrying every sentiment on its shoulders...im not really touched by anything thats happening in both LB or UK because they lack of meaning to me.

sure, but it always felt a bit like an average holocaust movie winning an academy award to me. The sentiment and actual experience is carrying the day, rather than the artistry or performance

I just think you want a different type of performance, which is valid

[stip]

maybe, but LBC shoukd be right in my wheelhouse

[stip]

having said that, I get why others would like this one. I am more puzzled by how much I don’t

[Ms Harmless]

it is the resigned glint of hope that I love about LBC (and all of Riot Act); there's nothing that reaches the all-out jubilation in the closing jam of, say, "Better Man" (or for you, "Lightning Bolt") but that is because the boat is moored by the line, and the fact of, "Lost 9 friends we'll never know / two years ago today"; it is simultaneously grieving while trying (musically and lyrically) to stir hope in the listener; see how "all you need is love" is so hecking *unconvinced* of its truth, because, like all of Riot Act, it wants to still believe, but it is exhausted... you have to sit with it, grieve with it for your own losses, and then its quaint little platitudes begin to carry the intimacy of two old friends getting drunk and comparing notes on what might be left to live for; it's not a lot, on this album, but the brightness of that hammond organ that starts up the song just sounds like the damn sun rising to me

Riot Act is not the all-guns-blazing fight to get it back again that came later, but its nuanced and complex searching is beautiful and important to me

[LetMeSleep]

it is the resigned glint of hope that I love about LBC (and all of Riot Act); there's nothing that reaches the all-out jubilation in the closing jam of, say, "Better Man" (or for you, "Lightning Bolt") but that is because the boat is moored by the line, and the fact of, "Lost 9 friends we'll never know / two years ago today"; it is simultaneously grieving while trying (musically and lyrically) to stir hope in the listener; see how "all you need is love" is so hecking *unconvinced* of its truth, because, like all of Riot Act, it wants to still believe, but it is exhausted... you have to sit with it, grieve with it for your own losses, and then its quaint little platitudes begin to carry the intimacy of two old friends getting drunk and comparing notes on what might be left to live for; it's not a lot, on this album, but the brightness of that hammond organ that starts up the song just sounds like the damn sun rising to me

Riot Act is not the all-guns-blazing fight to get it back again that came later, but its nuanced and complex searching is beautiful and important to me

Spot on. Nick Cave's Skeleton Tree is similar tonally. And it ends with a quiet acceptance of that grief.

[Ms Harmless]

there's hope on the periphery on Riot Act, but it willingly sits with its heavy grief, and I love that about it; it's not angry anymore, it's just worn out

[Ms Harmless]

"Can't Keep" says "I can't stay here, I have to move on", and "Save You" says "I won't leave you here, we have to move on"

what a fucking fantastic 1-2 punch

[Ms Harmless]

it is the resigned glint of hope that I love about LBC (and all of Riot Act); there's nothing that reaches the all-out jubilation in the closing jam of, say, "Better Man" (or for you, "Lightning Bolt") but that is because the boat is moored by the line, and the fact of, "Lost 9 friends we'll never know / two years ago today"; it is simultaneously grieving while trying (musically and lyrically) to stir hope in the listener; see how "all you need is love" is so hecking *unconvinced* of its truth, because, like all of Riot Act, it wants to still believe, but it is exhausted... you have to sit with it, grieve with it for your own losses, and then its quaint little platitudes begin to carry the intimacy of two old friends getting drunk and comparing notes on what might be left to live for; it's not a lot, on this album, but the brightness of that hammond organ that starts up the song just sounds like the damn sun rising to me

Riot Act is not the all-guns-blazing fight to get it back again that came later, but its nuanced and complex searching is beautiful and important to me

Spot on. Nick Cave's Skeleton Tree is similar tonally. And it ends with a quiet acceptance of that grief.

I'd never heard that, it made me cry

yes! very Riot Act tone

[LetMeSleep]

I'd never heard that, it made me cry

yes! very Riot Act tone

Try the whole album. It tears me apart. If not the whole album then just the last 3 songs alone will have you in a heap.

[stip]

there's hope on the periphery on Riot Act, but it willingly sits with its heavy grief, and I love that about it; it's not angry anymore, it's just worn out

i agree. it is what i love about its best moments.

[stip]

and very nicely put