Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[E.H. Ruddock]

Edit NEVERMIND

[LetMeSleep]

I tried jerking off while listening to these. Two things; it didn't work and they don't sound any better.

Hey hey, it's okay.

[harmless]

And it took four years. Let's hope the remaining 5 tracks are jaw dropping and the 11th album drops in 2015.

I'd like to believe this was intentionally leaked to temper expectations.

"Guys, we cut a Shania Twain track. Lightning Bolt is still Lightning Bolt. Another song is built almost entirely around six seconds of vocal melody from the bridge of Thin Air.

But the rest is gonna be better."

The sung rhythm is the same as that part in Thin Air, but man, the notes are totally different and the key is totally different, so it's as similar to Thin Air as Thin Air was to a bunch of other songs before it.

[harmless]

I'm actually quite curious to know what the reaction of these are compared to say when we first started listening to Backspacer - Stip?

Oh wait, did you mean the board as a whole? Similar to this. Same as s/t. Unless a song is pretty bad you would expect a strong reaction. It is new music from a favorite band. The thing is you can't tell the difference between vitalogy and s/t in the first weeks. These could be genuinely amazing or this could be the honeymoon. We won't know for a while.

So in the meantime I plan to fuck my brains out on the honeymoon and ask myself if I should have married this girl when it ends.


One positive is that with a few exceptions the people complaining about these songs are by and large the people who just don't care that much about what pearl jam does (as opposed to what they did) anymore.

I was pleased with Backspacer when it first came out, but not nearly as confidently vocal about it. It could all go wrong FD and SBM could totally ruin it, but I'm now looking forward to all the songs even the haters are. A few of the others are longer so they might change the tone of the record entirely. They might not.

[harmless]

looks like others share the same feelings as me in regard to getaway being the best of the bunch. it's pretty cool and makes me want to go back for more listens to really digest it properly.

lightning bolt is still awful, probably even more awful than i originally thought. there's some of that classic bo'b cheese in there as well as those stupid forced "litnin bawwll!! litnin bawwll! never lettah gaww!!" things. euck.

let the records play is certainly not as bad as supersonic. or at least, i don't think it is yet. i was really turned off the first time i listened, and after a few more i still cringe at those verses. it sounds like they wanna be shania twain or something. thanks a lot stone.

swallowed whole starts out with an unbelievably generic and boring acoustic guitar part which makes me think it's an ed song. not sure about this one yet but at least it ends up going somewhere much better than the start lets on. i think it's ok. too early to tell. looking forward to listening to this one more.

overall there's some potential here for growers, but even if the songs grow on me it still sounds like a band with no direction. nowhere to go. no inspiration. they've forgotten how to write music so they look to their peers and try to write like them, sometimes making tolerable songs and other times falling flat. i thought eddie said this album was about what's going on in the world? where's all that?

When have they *not* looked to their peers and aped their styles? That's what they've always done; the naysayers of PJ disliked them for exactly that reason and we're only just realising it because we don't think they're 'cool' anymore.

Anyway, 'Lightning Bolt' could be the theme song to a new season of Beverly Hills 90210. I would be OK with that.

And the most accurate comparisons with LTRP are T.Rex and Shania Twain.

[WtOB?]

I think Getaway may be the best opener since Go!

let's take it easy here. best since can't keep.

[stip]

I can't wait for a clean version of lbolt

[Lounge Lizard]

All songs except SW are so mainstream they literally couldn't make a mistake as to which one to release as a single next.

LB is a standout though. For some reason it rings to me in the same vein as Beautiful Day by U2 whicvh was a radio hit for some time

[harmless]

If they wanted to go mainstream, this was a pretty damn good attempt. I'm looking forward to hearing any of these songs playing at my local cinema before the movie starts up. I hope there is some darker / more experimental stuff on the album, but I am definitely in the right place to appreciate this. I wouldn't take anything away from the people who don't like it, but for me, these are top-drawer 'PJ Goes Pop' songs, and while I still hate the fucker, Brendan O'Brien probably achieved what he wanted and, I hope, what they wanted from him, in these tracks.

[LetMeSleep]

You guys are on drugs.

[harmless]

You guys are on drugs.

One Vitamin D3 tablet taken twice daily, and 2 Clindamycin antibiotics taken four times daily.

[WtOB?]

guys i really like swallowed whole and getaway.

[WtOB?]

You guys are on drugs.

One Vitamin D3 tablet taken twice daily, and 2 Clindamycin antibiotics taken four times daily.

vitamin D is my favourite vitamin. followed by the ol classic C.

[harmless]

LTRP is bottom of the pile, guys.

[Lounge Lizard]

If they wanted to go mainstream, this was a pretty damn good attempt. I'm looking forward to hearing any of these songs playing at my local cinema before the movie starts up. I hope there is some darker / more experimental stuff on the album, but I am definitely in the right place to appreciate this. I wouldn't take anything away from the people who don't like it, but for me, these are top-drawer 'PJ Goes Pop' songs, and while I still hate the fucker, Brendan O'Brien probably achieved what he wanted and, I hope, what they wanted from him, in these tracks.

at the same time this makes me a little sad, because i turned to pearl jam initially for being NOT mainstream

[harmless]

You guys are on drugs.

One Vitamin D3 tablet taken twice daily, and 2 Clindamycin antibiotics taken four times daily.

vitamin D is my favourite vitamin. followed by the ol classic C.

I had a blood test taken and it came back with depleted vitamin D. So more sunshine, tablets and hopefully a SAD lamp coming at some point. But yes, vitamin C and citrus. Who doesn't like that??

[WtOB?]

LTRP is bottom of the pile, guys.

the chorus sounds like that jeepers creepers song.
jeeeepers creeepers... where'd ya get those peeepers.. he let's the recerds plaaayyyy..

[stip]

You guys are on drugs.

One Vitamin D3 tablet taken twice daily, and 2 Clindamycin antibiotics taken four times daily.

vitamin D is my favourite vitamin. followed by the ol classic C.

Maybe I am punch drunk from lack of sleep but I laughed at this

[injuddstree]

I slept on it.

Didn't work. These are atrocious.

[stip]

If they wanted to go mainstream, this was a pretty damn good attempt. I'm looking forward to hearing any of these songs playing at my local cinema before the movie starts up. I hope there is some darker / more experimental stuff on the album, but I am definitely in the right place to appreciate this. I wouldn't take anything away from the people who don't like it, but for me, these are top-drawer 'PJ Goes Pop' songs, and while I still hate the fucker, Brendan O'Brien probably achieved what he wanted and, I hope, what they wanted from him, in these tracks.

at the same time this makes me a little sad, because i turned to pearl jam initially for being NOT mainstream

In the 90s not being mainstream was mainstream! Interesting times