Song of the Moment: Sirens

[mastaflatch]

i can't do anything about it by now - it's stuck in my head. it's somewhat annoying though. last night i put it on and going from record to record, i ended up playing Amnesiac (2002) and when Pyramid song arrived, i felt almost ashamed about me liking Sirens. i mean, i like music and i don't think musical genres should be bluntly compared to each other but this struck me as: back in 2000, 2001, Radiohead and Pearl Jam both had the potential to make something that would change the face of "modern rock". of course, we know what happened and it's not really important in the end as long as we enjoy the music but still...many PJ fans think that this song is a "departure" or a radical change. come the fuck on. at best it's a great song - we're far from any kind of revolution here.

has anyone argued that it is a radical departure in any context other than not a song that they expected pearl jam to write?

idk but the polarization that this song brings suggests this. some people saying that it's the last straw etc.

[stip]

having not read those threads I couldn't speak for the pit but here I think the radical departure is within the context of what pearl jam should be writing, not the inherent cleverness of the song or anything


(I'd rather listen to sirens than pyramid song I think--even though pyramid song is certainly the more interesting song)

[mastaflatch]

i was having a hard time reconcilling those 2 concepts;
- music that i like (Pyramid and Sirens) and that make me feel something positive
- music that is making me feel optimistic and/or curious about the future of the band (Pyramid)

back in the day, a song like Sirens would have ended up on Lost Dogs. The Fixer wouldn't even have seen the light of day (maybe in the Cameron-intended form). it's hard to come to grips with this band.

[stip]

i was having a hard time reconcilling those 2 concepts;
- music that i like (Pyramid and Sirens) and that make me feel something positive
- music that is making me feel optimistic and/or curious about the future of the band (Pyramid)

back in the day, a song like Sirens would have ended up on Lost Dogs. The Fixer wouldn't even have seen the light of day (maybe in the Cameron-intended form). it's hard to come to grips with this band.

Well, the question is does Siren represent something like a new direction for the band? Probably not. Every song on Lightning Bolt seems to come from a different place musically, although since they were all recorded at the same time there is a certain unity that this gives the songs. Songs like Sirens and Fixer seem to indicate that the kinds of songs you might not have associated with pearl jam may be on the table, but that's not the same thing, is it? That the band would write Sirens doesn't necessarily mean that every song will be sirens

That may not actually address your point/concern, though

[E.H. Ruddock]

Listening to this song makes me feel the same way most Australians must have felt when they first heard "Straight Lines" by Silverchair.

[mastaflatch]

i was having a hard time reconcilling those 2 concepts;
- music that i like (Pyramid and Sirens) and that make me feel something positive
- music that is making me feel optimistic and/or curious about the future of the band (Pyramid)

back in the day, a song like Sirens would have ended up on Lost Dogs. The Fixer wouldn't even have seen the light of day (maybe in the Cameron-intended form). it's hard to come to grips with this band.

Well, the question is does Siren represent something like a new direction for the band? Probably not. Every song on Lightning Bolt seems to come from a different place musically, although since they were all recorded at the same time there is a certain unity that this gives the songs. Songs like Sirens and Fixer seem to indicate that the kinds of songs you might not have associated with pearl jam may be on the table, but that's not the same thing, is it? That the band would write Sirens doesn't necessarily mean that every song will be sirens

That may not actually address your point/concern, though

i'll ackowledge that you've made a good effort and that i feel pretty vague tonight anyway.

[Dugg]

Listening to this song makes me feel the same way most Australians must have felt when they first heard "Straight Lines" by Silverchair.

That post might as well have been written in Swahili for me...

[E.H. Ruddock]

Listening to this song makes me feel the same way most Australians must have felt when they first heard "Straight Lines" by Silverchair.

That post might as well have been written in Swahili for me...

You must not be Australian

[Dugg]

Listening to this song makes me feel the same way most Australians must have felt when they first heard "Straight Lines" by Silverchair.

That post might as well have been written in Swahili for me...

You must not be Australian

You are correct. But I did google Straight Lines so you win. That song is hot garbage.

[mastaflatch]

.

[Bammer]

Maybe I'm just caught up in the excitement of new PJ music and the tour, but this may be their best song since the '90s. I love it.

[Tamar]

First Impression: I listened to the song 3 times on Youtube. I was familiar with the lyrics of the song, as I read them here in the forum,
and since I really liked them,
I expected to fall on the "I really like it!" group of fans. Mmm.. well, no.
It's not even the music. It's true that the acoustic guitar in the beginning, some parts of the melody, the oh-ha at the end, don't sound like
PJ, it's not that - their style does emerge here and there. It's just that the execution of the song is overproduced, overthought, over calculated,
instead of just being about raw emotion - what PJ has always been about. Eddie does not seem to be moved by the song.. So I wasn't moved either.

P.S. I really like LB and was moved by FD (with all its clunkiness).

[Birds in Hell]

I've cooled on this one somewhat on further listens. I'm still quite fond of the intro and verses, the solo section and Stone's echoing guitar parts but the rest of the song isn't doing as much for me now as it did on initial airings. Ed's voice still sounds pretty good.

[harmless]

I've cooled on this one somewhat on further listens. I'm still quite fond of the intro and verses, the solo section and Stone's echoing guitar parts but the rest of the song isn't doing as much for me now as it did on initial airings. Ed's voice still sounds pretty good.

Same. As Crocodile Dundee said, "You can live on it, but it tastes like shit."

[harmless]

i can't do anything about it by now - it's stuck in my head. it's somewhat annoying though. last night i put it on and going from record to record, i ended up playing Amnesiac (2002) and when Pyramid song arrived, i felt almost ashamed about me liking Sirens. i mean, i like music and i don't think musical genres should be bluntly compared to each other but this struck me as: back in 2000, 2001, Radiohead and Pearl Jam both had the potential to make something that would change the face of "modern rock". of course, we know what happened and it's not really important in the end as long as we enjoy the music but still...many PJ fans think that this song is a "departure" or a radical change. come the fuck on. at best it's a great song - we're far from any kind of revolution here.

When I used the term "radical departure", I wasn't really being positive though. If a moving train radically departs from the track, you've got problems, yes?

[harmless]

Someone posted this on the Pit, I thought it was interesting:

"I haven't studied the song much at all yet.... But, before it came out I was wondering if there was a Kurt Vonnegut reference as in the sirens of Titan.... I read this book after Ed gave me a copy of a man without a country... The richest guy on the planet traveled the universe searching for the meaning of life... The meaning of life was “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
It's been a while since I read it, but just a thought..."

[Norah]

You know, I never read Sirens of Titan.

[harmless]

I've only read Slaughterhouse 5 but I loved it. I should really read more Vonnegut, definitely.

[Norah]

Yeah you should. My favorites include Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr Rosewater.

[Norah]

Also, Breakfast Of Champions.