Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[dimejinky99]

That solo is cheesy as fuck. Totally can picture richie sambora playing it.

Old man rock. ya.

Strat.. Be a pal and mail me would ya?

[warehouse]

You'll like this song if you liked Betterman and Wishlist style songs. It's a commercial song that will get recognition. If you don't like that, you'll hate this. It's a pop song. Meaning nothing more than... popular culture will like it.

So, my guess, most here will hate it. #hipsters

[harmless]

It's probably good that I've never heard any of this "adult radio" shit people keep comparing it to.

[Strat]

Ed sounds absolutely wonderful. Hitting the entire vocal range.

But yea im....kind of....i dont know.

Illumineddie - you are fucking weird. Wishlist and Betterman are great and this is....

[sward]

OFFER OR REQUEST FOR BANNED OR COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE MATERIAL DELETED. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST. -THE MANAGEMENT

[Jaeti]

Yeah, I don't think this will be liked around here. But, all things considered, I was prepared for worse. I dunno.

[hailroad]

Here are my thoughts on everything we've heard so far:

1. Getaway-to me this song builds and gallops along to a great finish. I love the pacing, vocal delivery, and guitar solo.

2. Swallowed Whole-in the vein of Setting Forth, but in a good way. Love how the song builds, vocal delivery, and solo. My only complaint is the last 15-20 seconds of the song. You've built up some great momentum only to have it dissipate in the end.

3. Mind Your Manners-love the swagger in this song, though I wish the guitars were a bit dirtier.

4. Lightning Bolt-I have a love/Meh relationship with this one. I like the guitar tones they are employing here and Eddie, though helped by some layering sounds good again.

5. LTRP-love the main riff and guitar tones. Just not sure if the lyrics match the music and swagger of the solo.

6. Sirens-I'm hoping this comes off better live when it's stripped to guitars/drums/vocals because it is just too straightforward for my tastes. Eddie's vocal are something special though.

[McParadigm]

That solo is cheesy as fuck. Totally can picture richie sambora playing it.

Old man rock. ya.

That acoustic guitar part could have easily been the basis for something much more....ahh.....I mean....

Even with the move away from the Neil Young/Who approach, I never quite saw this coming.

It's so....

uhhhh

[Oh, Jimmy]

Pink Floyd was over-produced and cheesy, right? So I'm gonna need more.

No, they weren't.

[Jaeti]

It's very straightforward. I think it's very 80s. I don't think that will sound totally out of place once we have this whole album. Having caught my breath to breathe, I'm still breathing.

[sward]

Well. The only cheesy part to me anyway is the solo. Bits and pieces of Ed's delivery made me think of the 80's ballad comments. So I can see where and how these terms were applied. That said, Ed sounds amazing on this, if you ask me. So I'm going to lean on the earnest side of things.

[IlluminEddie]

Ed sounds absolutely wonderful. Hitting the entire vocal range.

But yea im....kind of....i dont know.

Illumineddie - you are fucking weird. Wishlist and Betterman are great and this is....

This is about something real. And this totally adds to the conceptual feel of the album as a whole.

Wishlist is retarded lyrically. But, for example, my wife loves Wishlist and pretty much just tolerates Pearl Jam. Wishlist was relatively popular. This will be similar to that in some ways. That's my point, nothing more. Also, I think this is a much better song than Wishlist because it is.

P.S. Whoever said this was Pink Floyd'ish is crazy.

[Strat]

That solo is cheesy as fuck. Totally can picture richie sambora playing it.

Old man rock. ya.

That acoustic guitar part could have easily been the basis for something much more....ahh.....I mean....

Even with the move away from the Neil Young/Who approach, I never quite saw this coming.

It's so....

uhhhh

Its basically Turning Mist on steroids. Turning mist as if stone, eddie, jeff and matt ran it thorugh their systems after mike wrote it...

[Tuolumne]

Cheesiness is increasingly becoming a word I think needs to be defined with examples before being used.

In a broad sense, I think "cheesy" (or "corny," or any of its many synonyms) typically refers to something that feels emotionally phony despite the fact that it is manipulated and manufactured to be just the opposite. Think of those big Nashville ballads sung from the perspective of dads giving their daughters away to be married, or soldiers coming home from the war in pine boxes while the entire town of Pissville, Kentucy stands by saluting, unable to decide if their tears are tears of grief or tears of pure American pride. Really just listen to a pop country station for a half hour and you'll have a pretty good understanding of the term.

To use a more relevant example, I would cite the difference between hearing "Future Days" with all the accompaniment from Wrigley, and hearing the unadorned inner-ear monitor thing that leaked, with just Eddie and the guitar. The latter is a naked and honest sentiment (albeit not a particularly exciting one, and not a particularly great song), but when you bring in the piano, the strings, etc. you get this feeling of someone behind the curtain really trying to sell that emotion, to put it across in a theatrical, unduly dramatic way. That's where the manipulation comes in, and I think where most people get off the wagon.

I'm not sure I agree with this, since it doesn't seem to account for something that is cheesy but still genuinely moving. Maybe what you describe is one end of a cheese continuum.

I think Pearl Jam is one of those bands that you either buy into or not. There's always been a sincere and earnestness that either people have loved or makes some uncomfortable. There's a certain hokiness you buy into, I've felt, since Ten. The Nirvana/Sonic Youth side of the spectrum hated Ten cause they liked the whole "detached cool" thing. That hokiness is something very American, and which resonates in a very middle-American way. It's something that alot of people eat up but doesn't necessarily stand up well to critical review (the kind that happens in journalism and now message boards).

[Strat]

Ed sounds really amazing and there are a few melodic turns that make me think this could have been great but its just...

Uh....

[klvitalogy]

Definitely took me a few listens to "get" this song. But I'm starting to like it.

[guitar_davey]

Ok Canadians. Try this.

Create a new account in Rdio.

Make your address American.

Play Sirens.

Or wait until Thursday.

Didn't work for me.

[harmless]

Pink Floyd was over-produced and cheesy, right? So I'm gonna need more.

No, they weren't.

Yes, they were. Cheesy as hell, but very inventive and interesting as well. I'm more trying to defend the possible quality of cheese than bash Pink Floyd. But let's not be stupid and say they weren't excessively produced.

[Monkey_Driven]

I don't really ever see this song getting past 3 stars for me and I like songs like Just Breathe. It has some really nice elements, but it just doesn't feel like PJ.

[Acidfuel]

bon jovi