Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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Rank Lightning Bolt

5 stars
1
1%
4 stars
4
5%
3 stars
29
37%
2 stars
30
38%
1 star
14
18%
 
Total votes: 78

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stip
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

harmless wrote:
stupidmop wrote:
Mike wrote:6 weeks making a record but probably 50 weeks of touring. I wish it was the other way round.
So does Jeff! I'm pretty sure he said he hates it and wish they'd record more.
harmless wrote:I think the "fixing" of songs, yet still being friends, can be explained by the fact that they just don't have time in the studio to jam and cook the songs. That's for young people. They just have ideas, and BO'B says "That one, that one, that one", and puts them into an electrical gadget then says "Play!" The word "Efficiency" was used a lot during Backspacer. Do other bands use words like that? Or do they go in and jam it out till it's done? Jamming *may* be for young people, but it's also for people with divergent styles who want to make a unified, consistent showcase of a band's best music.
I'm sure a large part of this has to do with how awful everyone is at interviews. We'd never really know if they were super excited/inspired because they mostly give the same interview.
Did they do this when they were awesome? Remain so poker-faced and business-like about everything for the press?

Yes they did. Stuff didn't come out until right around an album dropped. But pearl jam had to start this 3 months out because of the tour announcement, and lets be honest, there's probably not 3 months of press you can do. Not sure why BoB was doing stuff, and we have a few mike interviews, but we know an epk (a 10 minute movie talking about the record) was made, we'll get more interviews, and in the meantime we've had those little vignettes, two videos, the listening party, the album artwork launch.

that's actually WAY more than I think we've gotten in the past.

How far out from the album was WWS released, after all. Remember when the big pre launch event was 5 seconds of the chorus played on the radio?


The tricky thing is that we're basically expecting big stuff to happen every day because we gather here every day to talk about it. And nothing will match that pace or those expectations. This week was sirens. Next week I bet we get some more interviews or the EPK. We'll have a dozen interviews when the album is out.


The 4 years thing is a bit discouraging, but it is also a bit deceptive. The first year is the backspacer tour and time off. Fine. The next year is pearl jam 20, the film, the book, the box set. It's really after PJ 20 that the clock starts for Lightning Bolt. And in that time soundgarden gets back together. Eddie fucks up his shoulder and has to cancel a tour. Then he has to make it up. And Soundgarden has to tour. And everyone goes off and does side projects. Plus Ole and the Vs. boxset at some point. And a couple of small tours.


Obviously pearl jam is not as much of a priority to them as it once was. And that's a shame. But they really just spent two years since they started working on a record. They had two recording sessions because they didn't want to just release the stuff they did from the first one. Maybe that speaks to a lack of inspiration, but it also speaks to a commitment to do it right. They've had people writing the songs and bringing them in since Yield. That's nothing new.

And the songs we've gotten are a good group of songs. They might be a great group of songs. And BoB is doing what producers do. It's just that we don't usually hear producers talking about it, and BoB has a bit of an ego.
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harmless
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

stupidmop wrote:
harmless wrote:
stupidmop wrote:
harmless wrote:
stupidmop wrote:
harmless wrote:
stupidmop wrote:
Mike wrote:6 weeks making a record but probably 50 weeks of touring. I wish it was the other way round.
So does Jeff! I'm pretty sure he said he hates it and wish they'd record more.
harmless wrote:I think the "fixing" of songs, yet still being friends, can be explained by the fact that they just don't have time in the studio to jam and cook the songs. That's for young people. They just have ideas, and BO'B says "That one, that one, that one", and puts them into an electrical gadget then says "Play!" The word "Efficiency" was used a lot during Backspacer. Do other bands use words like that? Or do they go in and jam it out till it's done? Jamming *may* be for young people, but it's also for people with divergent styles who want to make a unified, consistent showcase of a band's best music.
I'm sure a large part of this has to do with how awful everyone is at interviews. We'd never really know if they were super excited/inspired because they mostly give the same interview.
Did they do this when they were awesome? Remain so poker-faced and business-like about everything for the press?
Yes, unless you go far back enough to when ed was over-emotional and oversharing and wouldn't know a poker face if it walked up to him and bought him dinner.
When was that?
er i'd say 94 and previous
If I knew they'd said "Uh Brendan, uh... fuck it, OK, make us famous", it would be pretty cool.
No it wouldn't :shake:
It might. But I'd have to hear the tone they said it in, and that's part of the problem. Everything BO'B has said that has made him look like an arrogant prick might've been delivered in a jokey, ironic way, but we'll never know.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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stip
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

and as was just said on the previous page:

We don't get new albums as often as we'd like. You never know when it could all end. This is a great time! Enjoy it. We'll have plenty of time to post less after the album and tour, when we start waiting for the next one.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stupidmop »

Stip, ever the voice of reason :thumbsup: Though i don't like the new songs as much as you, or most of em at all...

If we ever find out brenden is super nice i'll be hurt more than when i heard sirens :shake: Bo'B bashing has become quite an enjoyable past time for me.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

stupidmop wrote:Stip, ever the voice of reason :thumbsup: Though i don't like the new songs as much as you, or most of em at all...

If we ever find out brenden is super nice i'll be hurt more than when i heard sirens :shake: Bo'B bashing has become quite an enjoyable past time for me.
pastime*
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stupidmop »

harmless wrote:
stupidmop wrote:Stip, ever the voice of reason :thumbsup: Though i don't like the new songs as much as you, or most of em at all...

If we ever find out brenden is super nice i'll be hurt more than when i heard sirens :shake: Bo'B bashing has become quite an enjoyable past time for me.
pastime*
Pasthyme?
Spoiler: show
:oops:
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harmless
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

It feels fucking great to Getaway from the choppy sea of confusion and bemusement which is Sirens, back to the first four leaked songs. I might listen to those for a while.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by BDB »

i just now heard the album version of Sirens - was listenting to the video version over the past 2 days.

BoB should be sent on a trip to belize
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harmless
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

BDB wrote:i just now heard the album version of Sirens - was listenting to the video version over the past 2 days.

BoB should be sent on a trip to belize
There's a lot of things I like about it, but it's settled, and I don't like the outro. No more twinkly noises please BOB.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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harmless
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

It's also moved down in the poll :lol:
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Noaheb »

BDB wrote:i just now heard the album version of Sirens - was listenting to the video version over the past 2 days.

BoB should be sent on a trip to belize
:thumbsup:
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Dr. Van Nostrand »

stip wrote:and as was just said on the previous page:

We don't get new albums as often as we'd like. You never know when it could all end. This is a great time! Enjoy it. We'll have plenty of time to post less after the album and tour, when we start waiting for the next one.
Very true
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Fuzzcharger
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Fuzzcharger »

harmless wrote:It's also moved down in the poll :lol:
It's fallen in value quicker than Facebook shares.
Lament wrote: Like I always say, "Anyone who thinks getting kicked in the nuts by one person sucks has never gotten kicked in the nuts by two people at the same time."
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Thenews15 »

Perhaps we all overanalyze things way to much in here. We pick apart every note, cord, pound of the drum, every word and every space. What's up with that? why do we do this to this band? Other bands don't have their fans do this like PJ that I'm aware of. It's just Rock music, if we have less clutter in our minds worrying about EVERYTHING this band does with this album. Shouldn't we just pop in the album, close our eyes, stop worrying about everything, and enjoy the ride? Occum's Razor kind of thing.

That's what I"m doing. No offense, but I'm not worried what people say on a message board about their music, it's what I feel about it that matters. If somebody doesn't like it, I don't care. It has no effect on my enjoyment. There's a lot of good people in here, Pearl Jam has brought us together and that's pretty special. Certainly they have songs that I don't like at all, but that's my choice also. And I have my reasons, also for them. I just skip them. It is nice to share some joy with fellow people because I know few people excited about them as I am. It's all good.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Fuzzcharger »

So just to confirm when I woke up at 5am and checked this page in a state of semi-consciousness, some guy was 'punking' us all with his posts and implications. Was that a weird dream? I can't even remember which LB related thread it was.
Lament wrote: Like I always say, "Anyone who thinks getting kicked in the nuts by one person sucks has never gotten kicked in the nuts by two people at the same time."
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Fuzzcharger »

Thenews15 wrote:Perhaps we all overanalyze things way to much in here. We pick apart every note, cord, pound of the drum, every word and every space. What's up with that? why do we do this to this band? Other bands don't have their fans do this like PJ that I'm aware of. It's just Rock music, if we have less clutter in our minds worrying about EVERYTHING this band does with this album. Shouldn't we just pop in the album, close our eyes, stop worrying about everything, and enjoy the ride? Occum's Razor kind of thing.
I do this to all bands I am emotionally invested in.

Try spending 5 minutes on a Metallica board.
Lament wrote: Like I always say, "Anyone who thinks getting kicked in the nuts by one person sucks has never gotten kicked in the nuts by two people at the same time."
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stip »

Illumineddie in sirens
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Noaheb »

okay so I asked my friend his opinion on these songs since he's not a PJ fan but likes their music and has a pretty good general knowledge of them...he's also a pretty good musician with good taste in music imo...also he hasn't heard much of anything from the last two albums...Anyway, I really only wanted good/sucks/not bad/cheesy etc but he went a little further so for what its worth heres his take on them-

Getaway: has a classic PJ groove to it, but almost incorporates something 80s-ish, almost early U2

Lightning Bolt: just another song showing why they've been able to continually grow and head in new directions over 20 years despite not having mainstream popularity outside of the same old songs they still play off of Ten/VS. (my fave of what you sent)

Let the Records Play: nice blues/swamp groove to this one into a chorus that fits perfectly because it sounds like it doesn't belong - make sense? It's like an REM chorus, only done right - LOL!

Swallowed Whole: classic PJ - could fit on any previous album if it wanted to (maybe not Vitalogy)

Future Days: pretty

Cold Confession: sounds like they're reaching for something but aren't quite getting there - a little monotonous - something's missing, one of their power breaks maybe?

Let it Ride: definitely like it - the chorus and into the solo is what I mean in the previous one as a power break - it changes and opens up into a nice flow

Sirens: great song. very great song. nuff said.


As it goes with all of what I've heard of them over the years, it sounds like they've once again changed the setup as far as what they play on each song. Different guitars, less amps, more of a live presence… each album sounds different production-wise. But they're all consistently good albums. I wasn't a huge fan of Binaural but…. can't please everyone all the time!



I know that last comment about Binaural may disqualify him for many here but...yeah
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

Fuzzcharger wrote:
harmless wrote:It's also moved down in the poll :lol:
It's fallen in value quicker than Facebook shares.
but not Youtube views.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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harmless
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

Thenews15 wrote:Perhaps we all overanalyze things way to much in here. We pick apart every note, cord, pound of the drum, every word and every space. What's up with that? why do we do this to this band? Other bands don't have their fans do this like PJ that I'm aware of. It's just Rock music, if we have less clutter in our minds worrying about EVERYTHING this band does with this album. Shouldn't we just pop in the album, close our eyes, stop worrying about everything, and enjoy the ride? Occum's Razor kind of thing.

That's what I"m doing. No offense, but I'm not worried what people say on a message board about their music, it's what I feel about it that matters. If somebody doesn't like it, I don't care. It has no effect on my enjoyment. There's a lot of good people in here, Pearl Jam has brought us together and that's pretty special. Certainly they have songs that I don't like at all, but that's my choice also. And I have my reasons, also for them. I just skip them. It is nice to share some joy with fellow people because I know few people excited about them as I am. It's all good.
:thumbsup:
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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