RockPusher wrote:Just listened to this album all the way through after Earthling. Two things occurred to me:
1) The quality of songs is a little better than I remember.
2) The production is dramatically worse than Earthling, an album that many here have derided for having poor production.
Both correct. My gripes about Lightning Bolt are relative to the remainder of their catalogue. How I feel about this album in a vacuum is likely much different - or say as compared to a different artists album.
Production is definitely very poor, especially when you listen to Gigaton before or after. I don’t have issues with Earthling production wise. I think it fits the vibe Eddie Vedder was going for.
Today is Lightning Bolt day. I go back and forth on this, but today I'm putting this ahead of Backspacer, firmly in my number 5 spot. Like Backspacer, it could use a few more next level tracks, but it is full of near greats, and I think it is some of Eddie's best writing. If there was one album I'd love to see someone go back and remix it's this.
Infallible
Yellow Moon
Pendulum
Sirens
Future Days
Mind Your Manners
Let the Records Play
My Father's Son
Sleeping By Myself
Getaway
Lightning Bolt
Swallowed Whole
I remember this coming out and me thinking it was a lot better than Backspacer but now I think Backspacer is pretty darn good and this is pretty meh. I do like some songs. Sirens I like. Sleeping by myself is really nice. Swallowed Whole, Infallible, and pendulum are pretty decent. My Father's Son is interesting. Yellow moon pretty nice. Lightning Bolt is GREAT live. I HATE MYM and Getaway though. I hate MYM even more because they played it so much.
Overall though it just feels sort of tepid somehow especially after Gigaton. I think Backspacer has a more cohesive sound and works well as their short poppy high-energy bright album. At least it has a vision whereas Lightning Bolt really feels like it adds nothing to the discography really
yeah, i agree. I always liked Backspacer more, while this one felt like PJ by the numbers. The main issue i have with this one is the production and how the drums sound. Its just awful really.
There are a few songs from this one that aged good, Pendulum, My Fathers Son, Yellow Moon and Sleeping By Myself.
Getaway aged poorly...and i dont really care for MYM these days. Always hated LB both studio and live....
Occasionally, I have the urge to seek out live versions of these songs as I get nothing from the studio versions. But, after one rushed performance with average 2013 bootleg sound, I give up immediately and listen to anything else.
I liked this briefly on release because it wasn't Backspacer.. but after 6 months it was at the bottom of the rankings.
I famously absolutely adored this album when it came out, but the truth is that I was at the lowest point in my life and I needed to love it for a while
