Eddie Vedder - Earthling

[Chris_H_2]

the other problem is that they need someone that is willing to challenge them as a band and, in particular, ed with honest feedback and criticism. making an album simply reflecting what ed wants is simply an empty suit. what makes relationships like the one between nigel godrich and radiohead so good is that they have been working together for long, and they are brutally honest with each other (and i realize that the opposite could result with long-term relationships -- complacency and inertia, like with what we got with lightning bolt). but there's absolutely no chance of a new producer with no relationship to the band having the fortitude to lay critiques out in the open.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[VinylGuy]

Im super into a new album with a new producer. It could be mixed by Josh, or they can produce different batch of songs. But if its all Watt, yeah im exited.

Im a huge Gigaton fan ( currently at 4th place in my pj ranking), huge fan of Jeff solo album, and very exited about the new Painted Shield album too.
So the prospect of having a solo album with Ed and other musicians and a PJ album soon, man im in heaven these days.

[Ms Harmless]

if Ed and the band *really* want a "pop" album AND they have the right producer to help them produce one, I could deal with that; but Backspacer and Lightning Bolt felt like "an attempt was made" albums instead of home runs

if they really want to make a pop album, they should be made to listen to 1000 great pop albums front to back first (Emotion by Carly Rae Jepsen, Electric Lady by Janelle Monae etc ), and then be able to cite the influences they want to take forward; the idea that "pop" is necessarily also quick and dashed off is wrong, it takes a deep understanding and familiarity

[Jaeti]

I am not sure where I stand on the continuum of time against quality. I think the idea of having all the time in the world to record is a bit more finite now than say 10 or 15 years ago when they were much younger.

That said, I think the hypothetical discussion of whether people would prefer, before PJ's coffin is nailed shut, (a) one or two more generally strong albums, a la Gigaton, or (b) five or six more albums of average to below-average quality, with a couple of songs that are decent and a handful of others that suck, a la Lightning Bolt, is interesting, and I'm kind of amazed at how many people are saying they'd prefer the latter, just so there could be more of it.

If I was guaranteed two Gigaton-quality albums, then, okay, yeah, I'd wait it out. I guess I don't feel like there's time for that (or the will on the band's part). I'm thinking more in terms of do I want one more Gigaton, or 3+ more Lightning Bolts?

And now that I'm writing it out in words, I'm already at odds with myself.

[digster]

I think the stereotype used to be (and to some respect remains) in terms of rock bands that there was an inherent obsolescence past a certain number of years or decades. As more and more bands reach that point and beyond and continue to put out work, it's become clearer that that doesn't have to inherently be the case, with Gigaton being one example.

If they did it once after that amount of time under their belt, there's no reason they couldn't do it again, and if it takes longer, I'd prefer they take the time. Especially since, as many have mentioned, there's so much great music available that the need for a great PJ album sooner is not pressing in the way it was for me at 15 years old.

[McParadigm]

Pretty fun to be having these conversations about a band who have now had a longer career than all the iterations of Pink Floyd combined.

[basically_infirmed]

if Ed and the band *really* want a "pop" album AND they have the right producer to help them produce one, I could deal with that; but Backspacer and Lightning Bolt felt like "an attempt was made" albums instead of home runs

if they really want to make a pop album, they should be made to listen to 1000 great pop albums front to back first (Emotion by Carly Rae Jepsen, Electric Lady by Janelle Monae etc ), and then be able to cite the influences they want to take forward; the idea that "pop" is necessarily also quick and dashed off is wrong, it takes a deep understanding and familiarity

This is what I want now, a Carly Rae Jepsen inspired pop album.

Edit: Put a damn sax on it and everything.

[evenslow]

thanks for whoever posted that ed ved interview!

[evenslow]

color me extremely 50/50 on watt producing a PJ record.

on the one hand, i'm always into new blood coming into old pj world. could be some unexpected gems.

on the other hand, watt doesn't seem like a good fit for this band at this time. especially after josh did yeoman's work and gave us something pretty damn good.

then again, i haven't heard the entirety of earthling, so maybe it's astonishing.

[evenslow]

also:

long way - really good tom petty cos-playing. nice music.
the haves - the less said, the better.
brother the cloud - i've only listened to it twice, but i really like it. great energy in the vocals. the pop sheen doesn't bother me at all. kinda feels like what the lightning bolt record should have sounded like.

maybe watt is mini-BoB but with an actual handle on how to make them sound comfortably poppy?

feels like he could make them actually have fun or be the death knell "cut the crap" of the band. i guess we're about to find out!

[evenslow]

Pretty fun to be having these conversations about a band who have now had a longer career than all the iterations of Pink Floyd combined.

[Rob]

Pretty fun to be having these conversations about a band who have now had a longer career than all the iterations of Pink Floyd combined.

Yes. We are lucky.

[thesound]

Andrew Watt producing a Pearl Jam album feels like my worst nightmares coming true. I’m honestly wondering whether having BO’B return might be preferable but I will try and suspend judgement.

I was really hoping that after Gigaton they would build upon the ‘experimentation’ and increasingly incorporate more music from the band members (especially Stone & Jeff).

I was hopeful that there may have been a few more albums even better than Gigaton, something incomprehensible prior to it’s release, but I really began to believe it was possible for PJ to release an incredible album again... now I feel that hope being shattered to pieces!

I fear we could end up with more Ed music and even less contribution from the other band members.

[evenslow]

I'm also in the spenno camp of let Stone be Stone. I'm more lukewarm on the MC tracks, but if you told me that Stone had 10 songs ready to go and the band was going to polish them up, I'd be over the moon about it.

[Strat]

Okay but if we get a bunch of let the records play and amongst the waves im blaming you guys !

[evenslow]

yeah no thanks.

[evenslow]

I'd happily take the deal of 2 more records in the vicinity of Gigaton and then they quit. That's actually an embarrassment of riches at this point.

[McParadigm]

It pretty likely that we’re only getting one more record, either way. This entire quality/quantity tradeoff is built on fantasy.

[coptheriotact]

the pop sheen doesn't bother me at all. kinda feels like what the lightning bolt record should have sounded like.

yeah this sounds better than lightning bolt.