Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[BurtReynolds]

I have this terrifying feeling that Backspacer won't disappear from setlists like Riot Act and Binaural have. I can see myself paying big money to watch roughly twenty songs from Ten, Avacado, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt. Thats too much of a risk to take with my finances. I'm out!

[digster]

I don't really see how Getaway isn't a straight up pop melody. I don't mean that in a bad way; I think it's a great melody, but I think it's definitely one of the poppier ones they've ever done.

[dimejinky99]

Stfu

[Lounge Lizard]

Been running around with my kids soccer and softball games all morning. Somebody catch me up on the last 16 pages. Are we all shitting on this now after a day to think about it?

Does Stip still like it? I've been a lurker for about 4 years and my PJ tastes align most with his (ducking), including a love for all things Backspacer.

I haven't heard the leak, just enjoying the discussion.

Getaway is a strong opener, LB is very good, Swallowed Whole is an ITW outtake that works as a PJ song, and LTRP is Shaniah Twain's next MTV hit that doesn't mention Brad Pitt.

[harmless]

wait, wait, and what if... what if... what if the whole album is like... the Moon... with its dark side and it's bright side... and like we've only been allowed to have a look at the bright side so far... but once we hear the rest of the stuff we'll complete the circle and see the dark side too... and that's like the whole idea of the album to have two contrasting kinds of music on it... and this also why there's a track called Yellow Moon almost at the end of the record??? huh? huh??

What about Pearl Jam during the last 10 years even remotely suggests they would put that much thought into this album?

Who cares how much thought they put in if it ends up happening? They had two recording sessions; one was Backspacer II and the other was more of a stretch, allegedly. If that works out, we're going to get the above, no?

[stip]

stip, can we get an opinion index stickied please? so we can see what each member thinks of the tracks so the cool kids don't have to listen to them, they can just look at what their favourite posters think and form an opinion around that? cheers mate.

There is no need. I write stuff up for the main page to save time. Just like what I like!

[Lounge Lizard]

wait, wait, and what if... what if... what if the whole album is like... the Moon... with its dark side and it's bright side... and like we've only been allowed to have a look at the bright side so far... but once we hear the rest of the stuff we'll complete the circle and see the dark side too... and that's like the whole idea of the album to have two contrasting kinds of music on it... and this also why there's a track called Yellow Moon almost at the end of the record??? huh? huh??

What about Pearl Jam during the last 10 years even remotely suggests they would put that much thought into this album?

I just went through the listening party reviews and for all the remaining songs they had "dark, dark, dark" in their descriptions. Yay, this might still work!

[harmless]

wait, wait, and what if... what if... what if the whole album is like... the Moon... with its dark side and it's bright side... and like we've only been allowed to have a look at the bright side so far... but once we hear the rest of the stuff we'll complete the circle and see the dark side too... and that's like the whole idea of the album to have two contrasting kinds of music on it... and this also why there's a track called Yellow Moon almost at the end of the record??? huh? huh??

What about Pearl Jam during the last 10 years even remotely suggests they would put that much thought into this album?

I just went through the listening party reviews and for all the remaining songs they had "dark, dark, dark" in their descriptions. Yay, this might still work!

Yup.

[stip]

The slightly off-putting effect of the shiny production begins to wear off after a while.

It's not even the production really. It's the way they've chosen to interpret 'fun' or 'happy' or 'poppy' . Mym just came on and I was thinking wow this is kicking my ass maybe I was too harsh on it before, and then that fucking metaphysically redeemed part kicked in and reminded me why. Just bleh.

I'm not trying to shit on your parade btw, I'm actually really pleased you like it, cause I know you really wanted to like it.

I think it all boils down to one fundamental thing: how OK are you with the fact that PJ are playing pop rock music? All of our opinions (mine including) will be based entirely on that context.

I don't think it's that; I think it's whether you think their interpretation of it is any good.

Ya I think PJ have always played pop music.

And Yield is their ultimate pop rock record.

When yield came out I had minimal interest in a record that sounded like yield. I wonder if I would feel differently today?

[Tj]

Pearl Jam and U2 have one thing in common. I don't know what either of these bands sound like. I mean one diffinitive sound. these two band have both changed and grew sometimes for better sometimes for worst. That what makes it interesting.

[Mirella]

The bridge of Swallowed Whole is beautiful. I want to say it's the most beautiful thing since... but I'm not going to put a comment like that down for posterity.

I wanted to say that too

groetjes,
Mirella

[harmless]

The bridge of Swallowed Whole is beautiful. I want to say it's the most beautiful thing since... but I'm not going to put a comment like that down for posterity.

I wanted to say that too

groetjes,
Mirella

It's genuinely pretty.

[Lounge Lizard]

The opening guitar on SW sounds almost like a xylophone.
For some weird reason I like the sound of xylophones.

[stip]

The slightly off-putting effect of the shiny production begins to wear off after a while.

It's not even the production really. It's the way they've chosen to interpret 'fun' or 'happy' or 'poppy' . Mym just came on and I was thinking wow this is kicking my ass maybe I was too harsh on it before, and then that fucking metaphysically redeemed part kicked in and reminded me why. Just bleh.

God damn it, stop hating my favorite parts of these fuckings songs

[BurtReynolds]

The slightly off-putting effect of the shiny production begins to wear off after a while.

It's not even the production really. It's the way they've chosen to interpret 'fun' or 'happy' or 'poppy' . Mym just came on and I was thinking wow this is kicking my ass maybe I was too harsh on it before, and then that fucking metaphysically redeemed part kicked in and reminded me why. Just bleh.

God damn it, stop hating my favorite parts of these fuckings songs

that line does make me think Eddie Vedder no longer walks among mortals here on Earth. I can no longer relate.

[stip]

Been running around with my kids soccer and softball games all morning. Somebody catch me up on the last 16 pages. Are we all shitting on this now after a day to think about it?

Does Stip still like it? I've been a lurker for about 4 years and my PJ tastes align most with his (ducking), including a love for all things Backspacer.

I haven't heard the leak, just enjoying the discussion.

I love lightning bolt. I like the other three but don't love them. They each have some ideas I think work really well, but are not necessarily sustained throughout the record. But they all have winning melodies that are fun to sing along with, and I may feel more strongly about them in the context of the record/as they become more familiar. I'm never fully sure how I feel about a song until I can sing along with it, which I can't do yet.

these are also all, in different ways, lighter songs, and right now they are being asked to bear the weight of a full album's worth of expectations. Once we hear the more involved songs (again, contextualizing these) I might feel different about them.

I'd give L-bolt 4 stars, with the strong possibility of moving up to 5 (the back half of that song is everything I love about music). The others I'd give 3, with the possibility of rising. Swallowed Whole in particular is a song I think I'm going to grow into.

[stip]

I don't really see how Getaway isn't a straight up pop melody. I don't mean that in a bad way; I think it's a great melody, but I think it's definitely one of the poppier ones they've ever done.

I agree. Just listen to the Doug Getaway.

[Kevin Davis]

Who cares how much thought they put in if it ends up happening? They had two recording sessions; one was Backspacer II and the other was more of a stretch, allegedly. If that works out, we're going to get the above, no?

I can envision these songs fitting in with a more eclectic palette of material more than I envision them fitting in with six more songs in this kind of "post-Backspacer" mode--I just wonder what they're classifying as what, and how relative the descriptions are. If the remaining tracks are indeed a little darker in tone, a little more atmospheric (which initial reviews suggest might well be the case), I can imagine some of these current songs being elevated by the context.

[stip]

Pearl Jam and U2 have one thing in common. I don't know what either of these bands sound like. I mean one diffinitive sound. these two band have both changed and grew sometimes for better sometimes for worst. That what makes it interesting.

they sound like Bono and Ed

Well, the edge has a very distinctive voice as well. More than any of the musicians in pearl jam. Sometimes that works to their advantage and sometimes to their detriment.

It is telling that (as someone said a few pages ago) out of the 6 songs we've heard we have

a soaring stadium anthem
an REM acoustic song
a blues stomp
a so. cal punk number
whatever getaway reminds people of
an acoustic pop lullaby

all from the same band appearing on the same record. If the album ties them all together it'll feel like pearl jam. If it doesn't we'll see the cost of how they write songs these days. But this eclectism is nothing new, and one of the things that I think separated them from their peers (for better or worse). I'm not sure you could break down the recent albums by the pumpkins, AIC, or Soundgarden in quite the same way

[harmless]

Who cares how much thought they put in if it ends up happening? They had two recording sessions; one was Backspacer II and the other was more of a stretch, allegedly. If that works out, we're going to get the above, no?

I can envision these songs fitting in with a more eclectic palette of material more than I envision them fitting in with six more songs in this kind of "post-Backspacer" mode--I just wonder what they're classifying as what, and how relative the descriptions are. If the remaining tracks are indeed a little darker in tone, a little more atmospheric (which initial reviews suggest might well be the case), I can imagine some of these current songs being elevated by the context.

I might be completely and utterly wrong, but yeah... I really think we might've got the 'fillers' first (apart from two still to come). But they are strong 'connecting' songs' if that's what they are. Some people (understandably) feel that there is 'filler' on Riot Act. I don't agree, but that's because I just think the entirety works together. But I wouldn't choose to listen to every song by itself.