Gigaton: Official album thread

[LetMeSleep]

my mood tanked pretty hard tonight, so I just went to bed and put this album in my ears; god, it's almost becoming a friend

Around Seven o'clock, make a Quick Escape to the bedroom. Who Ever Said that's too early to go to bed probably has insomnia that Comes Then Goes. Throw on your headphones and Take the Long Way as you imagine standing at the River Cross watching the Dance of the Clairvoyants as your eyes get heavy and begin the Retrograde into the land of Never. Destination has arrived so Buckle Up because everything is Alright.

Still refusing that song exists, huh?

[Ms Harmless]

my mood tanked pretty hard tonight, so I just went to bed and put this album in my ears; god, it's almost becoming a friend

Around Seven o'clock, make a Quick Escape to the bedroom. Who Ever Said that's too early to go to bed probably has insomnia that Comes Then Goes. Throw on your headphones and Take the Long Way as you imagine standing at the River Cross watching the Dance of the Clairvoyants as your eyes get heavy and begin the Retrograde into the land of Never. Destination has arrived so Buckle Up because everything is Alright.

I giggled

[Leatherhead]

I sometimes like making playlists of certain eras, but I've never been able to mix anything with ST songs. ST has always kind of felt like it stood alone, maybe Gigaton is the answer? Maybe not.

[Jaeti]

my mood tanked pretty hard tonight, so I just went to bed and put this album in my ears; god, it's almost becoming a friend

It's twelve friends.

[stip]

I sometimes like making playlists of certain eras, but I've never been able to mix anything with ST songs. ST has always kind of felt like it stood alone, maybe Gigaton is the answer? Maybe not.

they go okay with some vitalogy songs and your habit/dte style songs

[96583UP]

we're at 1035 pages

and yes, there was a 500+ page pre-launch thread

but i still feel like we have really have only scratched the surface

can we stop dancing around the real issues?

enough cosmetic exploration of this album.

i challenge all of you to look deep within yourselves and take this analysis to the next level

[Ms Harmless]

Gigaton is the zenith of Pearl Jam's late career, or perhaps their entire career, or perhaps any band in the world's entire career; in this essay, I will fuckin feel like talking about Gigaton, I will Actually Listen to Gigaton, and I will...

[Ms Harmless]

my mood tanked pretty hard tonight, so I just went to bed and put this album in my ears; god, it's almost becoming a friend

It's twelve friends.

found twelve friends we'll always know

[stip]

walking back from the grocery store so I cant post but this will be my first full album listen since I started my full album playthrough. Looking forward to it!

[evenslow]

Man, is it a very pleasant surprise to have an album that most people here like. Not that it would ruin whatever I thought of the music, but it just raises the enjoyment to another degree when there's such positivity all around, especially in this fucking pandemic.

To see people like McP come out of the woodwork and write consistently insightful words about a Pearl Jam album in the year 2020 has been quite the revelation.

I'm just happy they pulled another one out of the hat.

[VinylGuy]

Im super exited to listen to this one today, specially after going through LB yesterday.

I think it was Kevin Davis who thought that coming back to LB might help him with that album and instead it got worse? That happened to me yesterday.

[PHATJ]

LB is a mess.

[Ms Harmless]

I can't listen to LB since Gigaton landed, not because all the songs are all bad, but because I can't hear them underneath all the treacle

[stip]

Lightning Bolt didn't shift that much for me one way or the other. While Gigaton was definitely a better use of Ed (vocally and lyrically. Some of his best lyrical work on any album), and it is a better album, period, it did reconfirm my belief that gigaton is not a quantum leap forward in songwriting, and that Lightning Bolt is really marred by its terrible production/sound (and Gigaton is enhanced by the fact that it is Pearl Jam's best sounding record in almost 20 years, which almost certainly amplifies our appreciation for it). The core songs are all pretty solid. Not as good as the ones on Gigaton (again, better record), but totally unfairly maligned - especially given the level of vitriol leveled at it.

[VinylGuy]

I just finished to listen to Gigaton, and jesus christ this album is so much better than LB. In every way. Every song on this album is better in every possible way really...besides it sounds awesome sure...but i mean, Matt Cameron guys. He sounds so bored and out on LB and here, its a monster. Mike...his solos in QE, DOTC, Never Destination, TTLW...jesus its 1995 Mike.

Im thinking this album will be a top 3 for sure with time.

[PHATJ]

I just finished to listen to Gigaton, and jesus christ this album is so much better than LB. In every way. Every song on this album is better in every possible way really...besides it sounds awesome sure...but i mean, Matt Cameron guys. He sounds so bored and out on LB and here, its a monster. Mike...his solos in QE, DOTC, Never Destination, TTLW...jesus its 1995 Mike.

Im thinking this album will be a top 3 for sure with time.

[VinylGuy]

I mean, they arent even in the same universe.

What an amazing album this is.

[Jorge]

Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

[RockPusher]

I mean, they arent even in the same universe.

What an amazing album this is.

Agreed. Look at any critical discussion of Pearl Jam worth its salt and earnestness comes up as a huge part of their value proposition. As such, you would assume that they are always trying to be the best version of themselves, to push what they are capable of. For my part, I naturally assumed that their capabilities and boundaries had diminished somewhat over the years, such that LB represented what they were capable of when it came out. Gigaton upends that completely! Oh, Matt could drum like that? Oh, Mike could incorporate those styles of play into studio songs? Clearly there was some kind of inhibiting factor before. THIS is what they sound like, with it removed.

[stip]

Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

It is. The gigaton album bounce may help Backspacer, but not sure about Lightning Bolt (which I think is related to my production theory. If we some day get a lightning bolt remix/remaster that will put that to the test)