Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[LetMeSleep]

How long till we rank the LBsequences?

5 months doesn't sound that long to get the distribution deal, artwork, rollout, EPK etc all in order. Sounds like a pretty well done operation.

[hlniv]

Well that sucks, no Pearl Jam on Letterman 10/8

Which one of you photo-shopped that tv guide picture?

What makes you say that? Not that there was any real proof that it was going to happen anyway...

[TheTVtalkstome]

I'm just glad a few more folks have jumped into the LTRP deep end of the poll with me and Frank.

I'm in. Love the song... Makes me wanna bob my head in my car and sing along.

[Release_Me]

I wonder if we'd like "In Hiding" if it had been written now.

It'd be the best song they'd written in two or three records.

Some would think so, but others would think that it was ruined by Ed's hoarse voice in the chorus. He would've screamed that chorus S/T style if he'd written it now.

He would have sung it in the same style probably because it's not that difficult for him to sing a clean A4, which that note is. I've heard fairly recent live versions of In Hiding which were ok though Ed sounded a bit out of breath. But he's in much better voice it seems these days. Even looks fitter. Probably interlinked the two things.

On S/T, it was more a stylistic choice because of the nature of the songs. Cleaner sounding Ed wouldn't have worked there, those songs needed grittiness. Pretty much similar to the more abrasive parts of Vs. Whether it sounds good or not is subjective.

[Lament]

Guys, it says "Don't Go On Me" on the label right underneath "Dave's Song."

So we can drop it. Mystery solved.


Dave's song is obviously Save You.

[LetMeSleep]

Just watched the EPK. Not that much to require a repeat viewing. Feeling a little underwhelmed. Have they released a transcript of any of those interviews?

[WtOB?]

Just watched the EPK. Not that much to require a repeat viewing. Feeling a little underwhelmed. Have they released a transcript of any of those interviews?

i was disappointed by the lack of carrie too, friend. don't worry, portlandia will be back next year.

[gardenparty]

Has this been posted? Definitive track times...

Cool! Though it is unfortunate the last five track times were swallowed whole by that giant sausage finger

Any chance this nears 50 minutes?

[Release_Me]

Having said that, we've only heard him perform two or three songs. The worst thing about FD was BoB's piano and Ed's lack of guitar skills, again not the voice. I think Ed's biggest voice challenge on this record will be Sirens.

I think it'll be Lightning Bolt. It goes way up there (specifically in the last verse/outro), and as we all know, Eddie's ability to sing up there without straining is severely limited. I feel like Sirens sits fairly comfortably in Eddie range, and he'll be able to emote at the live show.

There's nothing in that Wrigley performance which shows Ed struggling with LB. He pretty much nails everything except the outro where he goes off his game after getting mad at Mike. Singing high while 'straining' as you say is a stylistic choice. That gritty tone requires a certain amount of straining but LB is not the top of Ed's range. Ed's always done the gritty screams because they sound bad-ass and that goes with the style of most of PJ's rockers. Singing high in a clean voice is more metal, especially in the fifth octave. Ed has no issues going upto A4 (In Hiding, Present Tense, Yellow Ledbetter, etc.) in a clean voice. He has also sung a very clean and impressive Bb4 in a live version of Arc from 2009. So within the upper fourth octave, it's a stylistic choice. Not many PJ songs ever go higher than that anyway. An exception is the clean D5 in Dissident (studio) which I've heard him replicate live once in 2003 (that's a difficult one). When Ed screams 'Loooove' in LROM, that's pretty much near the top of his range. Those are also D5s, very powerful but gritty. It's a stylistic thing as well as a skill thing when he sings that high. He hasn't honed the skill of singing clean fifth octave notes ala Cornell, but he can sure as hell scream them.

[Mine]

Having said that, we've only heard him perform two or three songs. The worst thing about FD was BoB's piano and Ed's lack of guitar skills, again not the voice. I think Ed's biggest voice challenge on this record will be Sirens.

I think it'll be Lightning Bolt. It goes way up there (specifically in the last verse/outro), and as we all know, Eddie's ability to sing up there without straining is severely limited. I feel like Sirens sits fairly comfortably in Eddie range, and he'll be able to emote at the live show.

There's nothing in that Wrigley performance which shows Ed struggling with LB. He pretty much nails everything except the outro where he goes off his game after getting mad at Mike. Singing high while 'straining' as you say is a stylistic choice. That gritty tone requires a certain amount of straining but LB is not the top of Ed's range. Ed's always done the gritty screams because they sound bad-ass and that goes with the style of most of PJ's rockers. Singing high in a clean voice is more metal, especially in the fifth octave. Ed has no issues going upto A4 (In Hiding, Present Tense, Yellow Ledbetter, etc.) in a clean voice. He has also sung a very clean and impressive Bb4 in a live version of Arc from 2009. So within the upper fourth octave, it's a stylistic choice. Not many PJ songs ever go higher than that anyway. An exception is the clean D5 in Dissident (studio) which I've heard him replicate live once in 2003 (that's a difficult one). When Ed screams 'Loooove' in LROM, that's pretty much near the top of his range. Those are also D5s, very powerful but gritty. It's a stylistic thing as well as a skill thing when he sings that high. He hasn't honed the skill of singing clean fifth octave notes ala Cornell, but he can sure as hell scream them.

90% of the time people talk about Ed's singing is about their taste and is surprising how few people can tell apart stylistic choices and talent or better said quality of a singer. For the most part compared to the very early days the only noticeable change in Ed's voice is that he sounds older but there are very few singers in rock that are as effective as he is in such a variety of styles. Since his style doesn't fit any of the metal subgeners most people just assume he's a below average vocalist. It's also funny when people start a post about Ed's voice and the only thing good that they can come up with about his performances are screams. Not that there's something wrong with this but you can't make observations based mainly on that .

[Release_Me]

I was merely replying to the insinuation that LB had him straining because he doesn't have the ability to sing high without straining. That needed some clarification. Because first of all, he can sing higher and second of all, on LB it's just a stylistic choice. He could have gone In Hiding on it and it wouldn't work.

[stip]

You never want to go full in hiding

[stip]

Release_me, you should write up a vocal guide (like the drum guide harmless did or backspace/will do for lb if he knows what's good for him) for LB

[LetMeSleep]

Release_me, you should write up a vocal guide (like the drum guide harmless did or backspace/will do for lb if he knows what's good for him) for LB

Where's this drum guide from Harmless? And has he done others? Now that would interest me and I can't believe I missed it.

[stip]

It is on the old board. He only did one for bs, I believe

[LetMeSleep]

I will leave through the old board when I get a moment.

[Release_Me]

Release_me, you should write up a vocal guide (like the drum guide harmless did or backspace/will do for lb if he knows what's good for him) for LB

Ah, ok. I'll see if I can manage. I'll have a look at the drum guide first for an idea of how this thing is supposed to work.

[Mine]

I was merely replying to the insinuation that LB had him straining because he doesn't have the ability to sing high without straining. That needed some clarification. Because first of all, he can sing higher and second of all, on LB it's just a stylistic choice. He could have gone In Hiding on it and it wouldn't work.

The point of my response to you was
I wish posts like this would pop up more often on RM because i know there are a lot of people here who have the knowledge make posts like yours in different areas. It's RM's main strength.

[stip]

Harmless, I was having trouble finding it on rm. could you repost the text in a new thread here?

[LetMeSleep]

http://archive.theskyiscrape.com/viewto ... 0&start=20