185. The End vs. Last Soldier

Post by **stip** » Fri April 02, 2021 12:05 am

The End vs. Last Soldier

Post by **stip** » Fri April 02, 2021 12:19 am

This is close, but there is a magical kind of natural, unaffected, and unassuming charm to Last Soldier that makes it, pretty easily, the best solo song Mike has written (that's all him, right?). I do like The End, but they have similar songs that are better (I think it's second from the bottom for me in terms of album closers ahead of only All or None), and Last Solider feels somewhat unique in the catalog. It gets my vote

PHATJ · Post by **PHATJ** » Fri April 02, 2021 12:27 am

Couldn’t care less

Jaeti · Post by **Jaeti** » Fri April 02, 2021 12:42 am

I like The End. It can be very affecting, but isn't every single time I listen to it.

I hadn't heard Last Soldier in a long, long time before this started. There are some really awkward lyrics in there, but some good ones, too. It's not amazing, but neither is The End.

Last Soldier.

VinylGuy · Post by **VinylGuy** » Fri April 02, 2021 2:29 am

Last Soldier

I really like it while im kind of indifferent towards The End.

liebzz · Post by **liebzz** » Fri April 02, 2021 2:47 am

VinylGuy wrote:Last Soldier

I really like it while im kind of indifferent towards The End.

This precisely.

Anders · Post by **Anders** » Fri April 02, 2021 4:49 am

Really like Last Soldier

wease · Post by **wease** » Fri April 02, 2021 11:50 am

PHATJ wrote:Couldn’t care less

dad · Post by **dad** » Fri April 02, 2021 6:01 pm

Anders wrote:Really like Last Soldier

digster · Post by **digster** » Fri April 02, 2021 7:15 pm

The End may be my favorite piece of music Ed's done on acoustic guitar; most of the time, he's just power strumming or fingerpicking pretty straightforward ideas, but The End is very nice even as a piece of music in its own right. But Last Soldier is a powerful, little song, and the band's able to move into that kind of country shuffle more naturally then you might think. I wonder why that didn't make Riot Act; thematically it could've fit, and I could easily see it sliding somewhere into that last, more musically diverse, half of the record. I'll go with Last Soldier for now.

dad · Post by **dad** » Fri April 02, 2021 8:08 pm

digster wrote:The End may be my favorite piece of music Ed's done on acoustic guitar; most of the time, he's just power strumming or fingerpicking pretty straightforward ideas, but The End is very nice even as a piece of music in its own right. But Last Soldier is a powerful, little song, and the band's able to move into that kind of country shuffle may more naturally then you might think. I wonder why that didn't make Riot Act; thematically it could've fit, and I could easily see it sliding somewhere into that last, more musically diverse, half of the record. I'll go with Last Soldier for now.

this is where I'm at with Last Soldier. just enough to sound like a country song, still pearl jam.

Post by **stip** » Fri April 02, 2021 11:31 pm

staying open one more day

Red Mosquito