Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[ontheroad]

I don't love every song we've heard, but i do think Ed sounds amazing on all of them. Seems they are striving for melody with this album.

Could "Lightning Bolt" be their "All That You Can't Leave Behind" or "By The Way"?

[evenslow]

This song sounds more like a KOL song than anything else I can think of.

Really? Even use somebody didn't sound quite so 80s to me?

Once a song like that becomes ubiquitous the "sound" and identity changes. My first impression of it being an 80's-era U2 song has since faded and now it's just "Use Somebody."

Same thing *could* happen for Sirens.

[Django Butterworth]

I put everything in order and it only makes me want the studio version of the soundcheck song (Infallible?)that much more.

With even these 7, Future days makes a fine closer.

[Tuolumne]

I haven't heard this song yet but I find the commentary here hilarious (usually when RM think it's funny it is not). The divisive reactions have me so intrigued. Haven't see this in forever..... Maybe PJ are in that "there's no guilty pleasures anymore" stage with this? You know, we're in this era of music where everyone listens to everything, Taylor Swift has hipster fans and Taylor Swift fans have Grizzly Bear songs on their playlist, things like that ......

I found this post very interesting and thought provoking. Thanks.

Yeah, this was good.

Cool. It is a really confusing era in music. I mean, Justin Timberlake is fine and all, but he's regarded as some kind of timeless legend by a shitton of people, and not just by pop fans. Like hardcore hipsters who love Arcade Fire and Tom Waits sincerely love him. And it's totally fine and the younger generation sees no problem with something that is a complete contradiction to me. I personally don't get it at all. But it's the era we now live in.

[Mirella]

Just these 6 songs we have already make 24 minutes...its going to be alot longer then backspacer...

one of the reviewers from one of the listening parties took down song lengths, and it looked like around 46 minutes im pretty sure

but some of the songs he clocked turned out to be longer, like Getaway...

Yeah, as he wrote: he forgot to start timing, and Getaway is the first song . Then with one of the others, there was a problem starting or stopping.

groetjes,
Mirella

[Juvenal]

I can't stop smiling at how absurd and wonderful this song is.

That could be it. It's absurd but I like it.

[jtr101]

I feel like LTRP is cheesier than this song.

[harmless]

The only reason I took Taylor Swift and Nicky Minaj off my MP3 player is that I needed to fit NIN on it.

[warehouse]

I feel like LTRP is cheesier than this song.

thats a delicious type of cheese

[Dugg]

I feel like Mike is still walking the train tracks strumming out Sirens. I hope he's okay.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

This song sounds more like a KOL song than anything else I can think of.

Really? Even use somebody didn't sound quite so 80s to me?

'Arizona.'

if it sounds anything like Arizona then im pretty sure i will love this one

[harmless]

"It's a fragile thing, this life we lead..." is the weak point of this song I think.

[harmless]

This song sounds more like a KOL song than anything else I can think of.

Really? Even use somebody didn't sound quite so 80s to me?

'Arizona.'

if it sounds anything like Arizona then im pretty sure i will love this one

It's Arizona with more spandex.

[Boing]

Well..... just wow.... really good, song my fave so far by a mile. New sound and all the rest, but I think this is a really good song, can see me singing this like a banshee in the shower then grabbing something for some air guitar

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

please do not request leaked material or post links to leaked material

[evenslow]

"It's a fragile thing, this life we lead..." is the weak point of this song I think.

yep

[Release_Me]

I just posted this in the sirens thread:

okay, after 5 or 6 listens it's a very pretty song so utterly unlike anything I expected to hear from them--almost like everything that I expect from pearl jam is there and turned inside out. I was expecting this to be a huge song, and nothing like this.

It is utterly cheesy in a glorious way because, while it has just about every cheesy affectation you can think of short of strings, I do not doubt for even one second that this is absolutely 100% sincere--like someone chose to adopt every one of these conventions because they love them without thinking of them as conventions. It's just bizzare.

Haven't gotten to the lyrics yet.

Eddie sounds wonderful

The music is very pleasant...

This song will be great or a skipper based entirely on one factor and one factor only: Will I want to belt this song out at the top of my lungs.

I have no idea. If I do it'll be amazing. If I don't it'll be an ipod shuffle listen.

Well, there is no obvious chorus to sing along to. Which is one of the things I like about it. Only PJ would do a full on 80s power ballad without a chorus. This could also be a grower which is not usually the case for for these types of songs.

This. So much this. This is an 80s power ballad without the one thing that made 80s power ballads so cheesy. A singy-songy chorus. The vocal melody here is probably the most complex of all the songs we've heard from LB so far. That is ironic considering the song is packaged most like a pop song. The lack of an easy to sing chorus/bridge makes this song more of a grower than any of those that came before.

Ed sounds absolutely spotless here. Those of you who think that he sounds bad singing any part of this, well, I just want some of what you're smokin'. This is as peerless a vocal performance (considering the requirements of the song) as he has given in the last 20 years. I'm not speaking of difficulty necessarily, but just execution and doing what the song needs. He is fabulous here. Honestly, I couldn't get into the song until I listened to it loud with headphones one. Now, I am hooked.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

This song sounds more like a KOL song than anything else I can think of.

Really? Even use somebody didn't sound quite so 80s to me?

'Arizona.'

if it sounds anything like Arizona then im pretty sure i will love this one

It's Arizona with more spandex.

i see

[AllNiteThing]

Every new song I hear from this album I so far love. The difference between them and the last two albums though is that I feel there is much more variety and a little more depth to the music/melodies/lyrics than we've gotten recently.

One of the big reasons I love this band is the variety of sounds and styles they've explored over the years, there really is so much to choose from depending on your mood and feeling at the time, more so than most other bands I've been into. This album really takes that another step, with the blues-boogies style of LTRP punk/metal of MYM and now 80's power ballad style of Sirens. I'm really excited to hear where they go with Pendulum and Yellow Moon, after hearing how 'odd' they are.

I understand people not getting or not liking Sirens for it not sounding like classic Pearl Jam, but if you see how they have explored different styles, it's not unexpected. We know Mike is a HUGE fan of classic and 80's rock, so I'm surprised we haven't gotten a song like this sooner. We should be happy that they're not afraid to try something out of the norm for them.

Most of us have gone through an 80's phase or maybe still appreciate the cheese-rock from that era, and I for one am happy they've tried, and succeeded with a song in that style.

[piratebob]

Nickelback wishes they'd written a song as good as this.

that's the song 'Sirens' reminded me of!!! Reminds me of 'Photograph'