Riot Act: Official Album Thread

[VinylGuy]

I disagree with this one being the last great Mike album. He is super focused and pretty much every song has an amazing moment from him, but he really brings something amazing on s/t and totally different in Backspacer. I would say LB is the least Cready album, but thats because LB is my least favorite from the band.

He rules so hard in Gigaton...i mean, his solo in Dance is brilliant.

[stip]

he continues to have great moments on all the subsequent albums (life wasted and force of nature outros and the MYM solo come to mind) but this was the last time everything he touched turned to gold, I think

[VinylGuy]

Again, disagree.
I think Mike grew so much with the subsequent albums not only in terms of him actually writing great songs, but his solo performances or rhythm moments. The stuff he is doing in Got Some is fucking wonderful.

And again, he blew my mind on Gigaton.

[7 Years and Maybe Longer]

Jeff songs all walk a very fine line for me, where either everything comes together or it feels like excess for its own sake. Help me falls into the latter category unfortunately. I like the bridge and the outro music, but the lyrics, coupled with the vocal choices, are trying a little too hard and end up feeling a little silly to me.

I actually like this one a lot more live - stripped of a few layers the core song is pretty good

Agree on your last point for this song. In 95% of their catalogue, I prefer the studio version to live. Help, Help is one of the few that improved mightily once I heard a live version on a boot.

[VinylGuy]

I loved Help Help when it came out, then for some reason i kinda hated it, but i kinda hated the whole album. Seeing it live on PJ20 was the moment i fell in love with it again. Its a very cool song.

[stip]

Again, disagree.
I think Mike grew so much with the subsequent albums not only in terms of him actually writing great songs, but his solo performances or rhythm moments. The stuff he is doing in Got Some is fucking wonderful.

And again, he blew my mind on Gigaton.

he is great on Dance and QE. I guess I dont really see him standing out too many other places

And I agree he still has really notable moments on all the albums

[Ms Harmless]

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.

I totally will

[Ms Harmless]

listening to LBC now; that key change at "and the young, they can lose hope..." is absolutely sublime

[VinylGuy]

listening to LBC now; that key change at "and the young, they can lose hope..." is absolutely sublime

Is great, and i love it in the studio version.

[digster]

listening to LBC now; that key change at "and the young, they can lose hope..." is absolutely sublime

Yeah, agreed; I also think the lyrics in this are strong, certainly moreso than the comparable songs stip was citing from later albums (barring the lunkheaded 'love boat captain' lyrics; even at his best, Eddie notoriously seems to have one moment in songs that's a headscratcher). It's dropped in estimation for me a bit over time, but I still enjoy hearing it.

I feel like the band never really made another record like this; this album is a mood, a state of mind to sit in over the course of its running time. I suppose there's a bit of a parallel with No Code, which is another album that remains unified despite a diverse set of songs with disparate sounds.

But I've always found it harder for me to separate the songs on this record from the record itself. They're great songs, but more than that, they're Riot Act songs. It's an album I tend to come back to, and when I do, it tends to be for the whole listen.

[Anders]

listening to LBC now; that key change at "and the young, they can lose hope..." is absolutely sublime

[epilogue]

I just listened to this front to back. It's the first Pearl Jam album I've listened to in its entirety aside from Gigaton since Gigaton dropped.

It's a gorgeous record. Perfection. Definitely my favorite Pearl Jam album and my second favorite album by anyone (that I've heard).

[Thurman Murman]

listening to LBC now; that key change at "and the young, they can lose hope..." is absolutely sublime

I really fell in love with LBC over the years. At this point it *might* be my favorite Riot Act song, or at least top 3.

[Hatfield]

listening to LBC now; that key change at "and the young, they can lose hope..." is absolutely sublime

I really fell in love with LBC over the years. At this point it *might* be my favorite Riot Act song, or at least top 3.

After connecting with so many EV lyrics without hesitation, it took me a while to get over the words: love boat captain and take the reigns. I grew to love the song though and after seeing so many wonderful versions live, I couldn't go back to feeling jilted by the lyric. Ed's sincerity helped as well.

[Thurman Murman]

listening to LBC now; that key change at "and the young, they can lose hope..." is absolutely sublime

I really fell in love with LBC over the years. At this point it *might* be my favorite Riot Act song, or at least top 3.

After connecting with so many EV lyrics without hesitation, it took me a while to get over the words: love boat captain and take the reigns. I grew to love the song though and after seeing so many wonderful versions live, I couldn't go back to feeling jilted by the lyric. Ed's sincerity helped as well.

Totally...i think the live versions are what ultimately won me over but i do love the studio version now as well.

[knee tunes]

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.

Thank you for that

[Juvenal]

I loved Help Help when it came out, then for some reason i kinda hated it, but i kinda hated the whole album. Seeing it live on PJ20 was the moment i fell in love with it again. Its a very cool song.

Help Help is great - it's sinister and Ed's vocal effects are creepy as fuck.

[LikeLukin]

This is the first album in the catalogue that I didn't rate 5 (rated it 4), but it keeps aging really well for me. Love it more all the time.

One thing I always found with this album is that it works really well as a whole, but I never have any desire to see any of these songs on set lists... except for a scattered performance of Ghost. That's kind of ironic since the album was basically recorded live in studio with very little polishing. Now that I'm thinking about it, it kind of feels like music better suited for smaller clubs because I did really love the Chop Suey session and the Showbox DVD...

[Anders]

That’s a good point, perfect songs for the Showbox.

[guitar_davey]

I have a real soft spot for this album.

Even though I'd been a fan since Ten, this was the first album that came out post-2000 bootlegs, which is what made me a superfan.

This was also the first PJ tour I saw (Montreal 2003). Managed to get one of the few performances of Arc and a rare performance of Ghost.

Love me some Riot Act.