Gigaton: Official album thread

[digster]

I was sure Gigaton would pick up a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album (since it's one of only a handful high-profile rock albums of the last year), but no, it got fully snubbed

The rock category is usually a sausage fest. This year it's..... what's the opposite of a sausage fest? Anyway, PJ is packing way too many sausages to be shortlisted.

I think the biggest reason was its release date, at least in the U.S.; every artist releasing music in the first part of the year was negatively impacted by COVID to a degree, but Gigaton came in late March, and I just don't think anyone was paying attention. The moment it was released I think led it to be memory-holed in a way albums that came out even just a few weeks later weren't.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[VinylGuy]

You guys pay attention to the grammys? Interesting.

[RockPusher]

I was sure Gigaton would pick up a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album (since it's one of only a handful high-profile rock albums of the last year), but no, it got fully snubbed

The rock category is usually a sausage fest. This year it's..... what's the opposite of a sausage fest? Anyway, PJ is packing way too many sausages to be shortlisted.

I think the biggest reason was its release date, at least in the U.S.; every artist releasing music in the first part of the year was negatively impacted by COVID to a degree, but Gigaton came in late March, and I just don't think anyone was paying attention. The moment it was released I think led it to be memory-holed in a way albums that came out even just a few weeks later weren't.

Reminds me a little bit of what happened with Deconstruction, the amazing album by 2/3 of Jane's Addiction that very few people ever really noticed.

[VinylGuy]

I was sure Gigaton would pick up a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album (since it's one of only a handful high-profile rock albums of the last year), but no, it got fully snubbed

The rock category is usually a sausage fest. This year it's..... what's the opposite of a sausage fest? Anyway, PJ is packing way too many sausages to be shortlisted.

I think the biggest reason was its release date, at least in the U.S.; every artist releasing music in the first part of the year was negatively impacted by COVID to a degree, but Gigaton came in late March, and I just don't think anyone was paying attention. The moment it was released I think led it to be memory-holed in a way albums that came out even just a few weeks later weren't.

Reminds me a little bit of what happened with Deconstruction, the amazing album by 2/3 of Jane's Addiction that very few people ever really noticed.

Thats a cool album. Im a huge Eric Avery fan.

[RockPusher]

I was sure Gigaton would pick up a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album (since it's one of only a handful high-profile rock albums of the last year), but no, it got fully snubbed

The rock category is usually a sausage fest. This year it's..... what's the opposite of a sausage fest? Anyway, PJ is packing way too many sausages to be shortlisted.

I think the biggest reason was its release date, at least in the U.S.; every artist releasing music in the first part of the year was negatively impacted by COVID to a degree, but Gigaton came in late March, and I just don't think anyone was paying attention. The moment it was released I think led it to be memory-holed in a way albums that came out even just a few weeks later weren't.

Reminds me a little bit of what happened with Deconstruction, the amazing album by 2/3 of Jane's Addiction that very few people ever really noticed.

Thats a cool album. Im a huge Eric Avery fan.

I'm just getting started with bass, so I should be...

[VinylGuy]

I was sure Gigaton would pick up a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album (since it's one of only a handful high-profile rock albums of the last year), but no, it got fully snubbed

The rock category is usually a sausage fest. This year it's..... what's the opposite of a sausage fest? Anyway, PJ is packing way too many sausages to be shortlisted.

I think the biggest reason was its release date, at least in the U.S.; every artist releasing music in the first part of the year was negatively impacted by COVID to a degree, but Gigaton came in late March, and I just don't think anyone was paying attention. The moment it was released I think led it to be memory-holed in a way albums that came out even just a few weeks later weren't.

Reminds me a little bit of what happened with Deconstruction, the amazing album by 2/3 of Jane's Addiction that very few people ever really noticed.

Thats a cool album. Im a huge Eric Avery fan.

I'm just getting started with bass, so I should be...

Oh he is such a good bassist to listen and learn from....My fav bass line from him is Mountain Song with Three Days in close second.

[Tj]

Easy to say my least favorite album. It feels dark and claustrophobic. Where as the dark stuff is usually expansive ie Ten and Binaural. There are some great moment. 1-3 are fantastic then it gets so bad so fast.
.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[PHATJ]

Easy to say my least favorite album. It feels dark and claustrophobic. Where as the dark stuff is usually expansive ie Ten and Binaural. There are some great moment. 1-3 are fantastic then it gets so bad so fast.

I agree it feels claustrophobic

Kinda like pandemic life.

[joostone]

Not sure if this was shared before, but interesting quotes from Stone:

https://www.kerrang.com/features/pearl- ... ltimately/

“I’ve written plenty of songs that he didn’t necessarily respond to and for him to go, ‘That’s the one I want to do’? I couldn’t have been happier,” enthuses Stone. “If I was ever frustrated, all of that went out the window because of him picking, really, the most personal and most ‘me’ song on the record. It was thrilling. It made it all circle around for me again to kind of go, ‘Oh my god, this is so cool how this process works.’ Ed really, really does want to share, so he’s going to pick something from everybody and, in a sense, it really is filtering it through his filter, which is great. If he can see the big picture, and put the puzzle pieces together to make it where he knows it’s right, we’re totally trusting that. He’s our leader. If you have one great moment on a record, you’re like, ‘Got it!’”

“There’s some new territory there, and I think it bodes well for whatever comes next,” says Stone. “I think we’re still scratching the surface in terms of what really could be significantly different sounding songs. I guess I would probably compare [what I’m thinking of] to an OK Computer/Kid A moment, thinking about Radiohead’s transformation and the journey that they went on.”

So do you think that moment still lays ahead for Pearl Jam?

“I hope so,” he says. “It’s not going to be OK Computer, obviously, but a moment where we stumble onto something that is significantly different. That prospect always intrigues me. I’d like to make another record that really shocks people – that makes them go, ‘Wow, that’s unexpected!’”

[VinylGuy]

Yeah, i read it and i loved both of those quotes. I really think they will explore more and more different creative paths.

[injuddstree]

I like Stone's quotes but I don't think Ed has the inclination or, if I'm honest, ability to drastically transform PJs sound for a whole album/era.

[FlatSideofaDog]

Wow, that's interesting. These themes come up in Stone interviews often. And only Stone as far as I know. It makes Ed look like a dictator but given the quality of Stone songs to make the records over the past 28 years maybe the other side of this is that the songs Ed cut just were not that good. Obviously difficult for the person who wrote the songs to see.

[VinylGuy]

I think Ed really need to focus on whatever they give him..while Stone can do like 30 songs at the same time.

[Birds in Hell]

It's honestly pretty frustrating to find out Stone never gave up writing lots of songs for the band, Ed just stopped wanting them on the records (or, as Stone diplomatically puts it, stopped 'responding' to his ideas).

“I write every song for Eddie, ultimately,” he says. “He’s my muse. I would love to write 50 songs a year with him, but it’s just not on the cards; it just doesn’t work like that for him. When he’s in a writing process, it’s different than it is for me. I can write all the time. The way Ed really operates, the way that he loves to get music, is for something that’s immediate for you coming in at a time when he’s ready to connect with it. He likes to be in the process with you. So, if I send him 30 ideas, it’s just too much information for him to manage; that’s just not how his brain works.”

The long and short of it, Stone says, is this: “I write too many songs for Pearl Jam”

Where are all these songs?!

One of the strangest things about modern Pearl Jam albums is they're usually 50-60% Eddie Vedder songs, whereas the guy who wrote the majority of their classic albums is relegated to a token 'quirky' contribution.

Seize the means of production, Stone!

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Birds in Hell]

I don't know, sounds to me as though he's still coming up with 'rhythmic things that butt up against each other' (evidence below), they're just not getting past the gatekeeper in Pearl Jam, and perhaps he feels they don't really fit his solo records either.



If nothing else, I think Stone's quote disproves the idea that he's simply not interested in writing for the band any longer, or that the ideas we're hearing on the recent records (Amongst the Waves, Supersonic, Let the Records Play) represent the cream of the crop.

[VinylGuy]

Stone and Ed's relationship always intrigue me. They respect a lot for eachother and yet they are super different and this quote shows that.

[evenslow]

I read that interview and was just struck by the same things. Can't lie, but it's kind of depressing that a man as talented as Stone has to be beholden to Ed (as much as I love him). The dude wrote almost all of Ten and was a huge contributor to Vs. It's not like he's some sideman that wasn't ever sure of himself.

I understand the band developed in a way that helped it to survive, but excuse me if I think Ed needs to try a little bit harder to get on the other band member's vibe. Instead, it's all of them catering to him b/c he needs to connect with the material. Again, I get it, but seems like it was a pretty cool dynamic when Ed was the new kid in town and had to reckon with the tasty riffs one Mr. Stone Gossard was serving up.

If it's just about "capturing the muse" whenever it strikes him, he should do a solo career.

P.S. this comes from someone who still really enjoys Gigaton.