Gigaton: Official album thread

[RockPusher]

Gave this a listen yesterday, first time in a while.

I legitimately enjoyed Dance of the Clairvoyants, Alright, Never Destination and Retrograde.

I'd say I like those songs as much as any others from the "modern" Pearl Jam era.

Pretty ho hum on the rest.

It's hard for me to grok Pearl Jam fans used to what we've been given in the past 15 years calling Who Ever Said and Quick Escape ho hum, but you do you. I'm glad you found 4 you dig.

Quick
I do enjoy Who Ever Said, if not quite as much as those four above, but I still find nothing at all to like about Quick Escape.

Quick Escape is not good. It would be the 3rd worst song on Lighting Bolt. I liked it at first but I see no reason Pearl Jam should sound like Bush

I wish I were a mod so I could ban you for that baseless Bush comparison!

[Tj]

Gave this a listen yesterday, first time in a while.

I legitimately enjoyed Dance of the Clairvoyants, Alright, Never Destination and Retrograde.

I'd say I like those songs as much as any others from the "modern" Pearl Jam era.

Pretty ho hum on the rest.

It's hard for me to grok Pearl Jam fans used to what we've been given in the past 15 years calling Who Ever Said and Quick Escape ho hum, but you do you. I'm glad you found 4 you dig.

I do enjoy Who Ever Said, if not quite as much as those four above, but I still find nothing at all to like about Quick Escape.

The heavy bass groove? Ed's vocals? The drums? Guitar solos? Nothing? Just listened to it again, fuck this song is great.

. bass groove cool. Guitars wankery at its worst. Matt did the best he could. Ed lyrics and vocals are bad over produced.

I think Rats does everything this song is trying to do, but Rats does it without trying

[PHATJ]

Gave this a listen yesterday, first time in a while.

I legitimately enjoyed Dance of the Clairvoyants, Alright, Never Destination and Retrograde.

I'd say I like those songs as much as any others from the "modern" Pearl Jam era.

Pretty ho hum on the rest.

It's hard for me to grok Pearl Jam fans used to what we've been given in the past 15 years calling Who Ever Said and Quick Escape ho hum, but you do you. I'm glad you found 4 you dig.

I do enjoy Who Ever Said, if not quite as much as those four above, but I still find nothing at all to like about Quick Escape.

The heavy bass groove? Ed's vocals? The drums? Guitar solos? Nothing? Just listened to it again, fuck this song is great.

. bass groove cool. Guitars wankery at its worst. Matt did the best he could. Ed lyrics and vocals are bad over produced.

I think Rats does everything this song is trying to do, but Rats does it without trying

Lunacy

[Bammer]

Josh, let me be clear: For the record, I really do enjoy Gigaton. Several tracks I’m not wild about but overall, very enjoyable.

So anyway with that being said: Are you happier posting in this thread when someone loves the album and you post to agree with them, or the other way around and you post to disagree with them? Which do you look forward to more when you click open this particular thread?

[PHATJ]

Josh, let me be clear: For the record, I really do enjoy Gigaton. Several tracks I’m not wild about but overall, very enjoyable.

So anyway with that being said: Are you happier posting in this thread when someone loves the album and you post to agree with them, or the other way around and you post to disagree with them? Which do you look forward to more when you click open this particular thread?

I have never thought about it like that. I’m just usually interested in what people are saying on a particular day. Generally I’m much happier when people really love Pearl Jam, because I do too. And especially Gigaton recently. But I also like the general banter, no matter which direction it goes.

I have very few people I actually and actively dislike on RM. I know most of you just think of me as the Trump idiot that some like to provoke and others just like to mock. But ultimately, I don’t really care about that. I don’t actually know any of you anyway. And if I had my choice, I’d mostly just like to rank things and bullshit about my favorite songs and debate which ones suck.

[Release_Me]

Pretty amazing that this band has fans with such massive differences in tastes. Never Destination and Retrograde, while not bad songs by any stretch, are in the bottom 3 for me on this album. QE is an all-timer and WES is one of their top 3 or 4 openers.

[sweeper]

I'm still trying to get over the Rats comparison.

Nope, not over it yet.

[Tj]

Retrograde is aces love it . quick escape not so much

[Tj]

Let me be clear it is a fine and ok Pearl Jam Record. That means it is one of my favorite like top 100 albums of all time.

[Mike]

I just think Quick Escape has dull vocals and vocals being the most important thing in Pearl Jams music for me it makes the whole song fall flat. The chorus is completely unmemorable. The song sounds pretty cool and I have no problem with what the band is doing instrumentally. I can completely understand where the love for this song is coming from. Question for people who love the song: Do you like the chorus? If so, what do you like about it?

[stip]

the chorus is the least interesting part of the song for me - I like what eddie is doing in the verses and the outro is really good. But QE is squarely in the middle of the pack for me

[Kevin Davis]

I just think Quick Escape has dull vocals and vocals being the most important thing in Pearl Jams music for me it makes the whole song fall flat. The chorus is completely unmemorable. The song sounds pretty cool and I have no problem with what the band is doing instrumentally. I can completely understand where the love for this song is coming from. Question for people who love the song: Do you like the chorus? If so, what do you like about it?

I do like the chorus -- I can't think of another Pearl Jam chorus that consists equally of a chorale effect from the rest of the band and lyrics from Ed. I've said it before but it makes me think of Def Leppard, which I understand sounds like an insult to some but I mean it as a compliment. That kind of vocal interplay between the lead singer and the other singers in the band is one of their musical strengths.

It surprises me to read this song singled out as being dull vocally; I think it has some of Eddie's most compelling phrasing on the whole album.

[Mike]

I'm not really a 70/80s hard rock and absolutely not a glam rock guy, so that might explain my dislike for it. Nothing engages me about that vocal perfomance. I do really like Ed in other songs (the first three for example, TTLW, Buckle Up...)

[Jorge]

I do like the chorus -- I can't think of another Pearl Jam chorus that consists equally of a chorale effect from the rest of the band and lyrics from Ed.

"Breath"?

[Release_Me]

Yeah QE has really good singing, especially in the verses. The chorus isn't my favourite part of the song but the falsetto is great. The chorus isn't my favourite part of WES either and I love that song too, vocally as well as overall.

[Ms Harmless]

PJ has always written songs with extremely simple, one-repeated-phrase choruses, but this album features their best in a long time, and "Quick Escape" is up there

the backing vocals sound passionate and like they mean it, as opposed to, say, "Got Some", where the same "aaaaahs" felt a bit awkward and ill-fitting

the first, second, and third repetitions of "quick escape!" are completely different melody patterns: one high-lower, one low-higher, the other rising higher again into the best Ed falsetto in ages; it's all really fun to sing, for me, in a way that "I've faced it! a life wasted!" was not

and the last time that phrase is sung, leading into the NIN-style piano and guitar solo, Ed's falsetto matches the first notes of the piano

and there's lots of *space* between the vocals of the chorus, so that they don't get muddied with what the band is doing (which is almost more important, the vocals are basically embellishments for the jam, honestly)

so yeah, not my favourite on the album, but far more compositionally intricate and textural than anything by PJ in the last two, probably three albums

[Mike]

Thanks for the explanation. I can see it being good from a technical standpoint and understand why people might like it. It just gives me nothing on an emotional level. That chorus being more intricate than anything on the last two albums, though? That's where my understanding stops. The last two albums have no special place in my heart but there are several good songs on there and several that have better melodic moments than the chorus of QE. (And last three albums definitely not, better than Parachutes?)

[Ms Harmless]

I don't like Parachutes much, but in any case, comparing it to that would be like comparing "Alive" to "Wishlist"; more specifically I think this is less melodic than a lot of ballads, but not the rockers

[Ms Harmless]

I also think it's a bit telling that when refuting the "better than anything on the last three albums" thing, most people point to Parachutes, a very clear standout on that album (of its type, anyway, it's not really to my taste)

[Mike]

I could also point to Unemployable. Or Sleeping By Myself. Or Speed of Sound (gorgeous song from a songwriting standpoint). Or Swallowed Whole.