Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[Lament]

The "I'm the rare person who actually likes Pearl Jam on this Pearl Jam message board" schtick is more tired than a Sgt. Crackpot gif of chud posting dog pictures while Ruddo stands in the background getting pissed off at a thread where someone makes a joke about stip liking The Fixer.

Get off of the fucking cross people.

I'm a new member so if I'm retreading that line, I didn't mean to. I'm just a bit frustrated that some people seem to not want to give the material a chance and it seems to me that shitting all over Future Days and Sirens is getting tired too. They may or may not be the greatest songs in the PJ catalog but they don't deserve endless bashing.

Why don't they deserve endless bashing? There are as many if not more well-written, articulate criticisms of these songs than there are praises. I think a well-thought out, well-explained criticism of ANYTHING is preferable to mindless rah rah-ing of whatever material is in question. Why is "THIS SONG IS GREAT!" with nothing adding to it any less stupid than "THIS SONG SUCKS" without any context? I'll never get "tired" of somebody giving a thoughtful explanation of their feelings on a song/album, positive or negative. I don't think the problem is people liking or disliking anything; The only problem is people who can't add something intelligent/interesting/funny/clever to their assessment. That's the line that needs to be drawn in here at this point, people who are capable of posting something that is worthwhile in ANY terms whatsoever versus those who can't.

[Norah]

Seriously, the production is pretty bad.

Sweet, has your CD arrived? If not how on earth can you comment properly on production. The stream isn't the best quality.

That's clearly not what he was referring to. The quality of the stream is clearly good enough to judge the production. The quality of the recording is clearly very good, but the PRODUCTION is bad. The style of every song is done in a very cheesy way, or not style appropriate.

Yeah, in a word it's cheesy. It's not quite as glossy as Backspacer, but there's this real sterile gloss over most of this.

Besides that, when the mix gets really busy, things start to sound pretty harsh on my ears. And not in any good way.

[WtOB?]

Seriously, the production is pretty bad.

Sweet, has your CD arrived? If not how on earth can you comment properly on production. The stream isn't the best quality.

That's clearly not what he was referring to. The quality of the stream is clearly good enough to judge the production. The quality of the recording is clearly very good, but the PRODUCTION is bad. The style of every song is done in a very cheesy way, or not style appropriate.

Yeah, in a word it's cheesy. It's not quite as glossy as Backspacer, but there's this real sterile gloss over most of this.

Besides that, when the mix gets really busy, things start to sound pretty harsh on my ears. And not in any good way.

yeah, and when i turn the volume up i find i can hear less of what's going on that if i turn it down. which is a shame.

[Lament]

Some people want the angst of Versus and ten. But this band is now fifty, they are not going to relate to your 13 to 18 year old self. They are adults now, and drop the fucking leashh is very far behind them. So if you want a teenage point of view from 50 year olds who dickS are struggling to work, maybe look elsewhere.

Can you link me to the post where someone said they didn't like the material because it didn't relate to their 13-18 year old self? Or is this a response to an imaginary criticism that no one has actually made on this board?

[nyquillyn]

Eddie sounds particularly harsh in spots.

[stip]

The "I'm the rare person who actually likes Pearl Jam on this Pearl Jam message board" schtick is more tired than a Sgt. Crackpot gif of chud posting dog pictures while Ruddo stands in the background getting pissed off at a thread where someone makes a joke about stip liking The Fixer.

Get off of the fucking cross people.

I'm a new member so if I'm retreading that line, I didn't mean to. I'm just a bit frustrated that some people seem to not want to give the material a chance and it seems to me that shitting all over Future Days and Sirens is getting tired too. They may or may not be the greatest songs in the PJ catalog but they don't deserve endless bashing.

Why don't they deserve endless bashing? There are as many if not more well-written, articulate criticisms of these songs than there are praises. I think a well-thought out, well-explained criticism of ANYTHING is preferable to mindless rah rah-ing of whatever material is in question. Why is "THIS SONG IS GREAT!" with nothing adding to it any less stupid than "THIS SONG SUCKS" without any context? I'll never get "tired" of somebody giving a thoughtful explanation of their feelings on a song/album, positive or negative. I don't think the problem is people liking or disliking anything; The only problem is people who can't add something intelligent/interesting/funny/clever to their assessment. That's the line that needs to be drawn in here at this point, people who are capable of posting something that is worthwhile in ANY terms whatsoever versus those who can't.

lament, in fairness, most of the criticism is hardly well written and articulate. please point some out to me if you see it

[Lament]

I swear, 95% of the complaints about the "negativity" on this board are based around vague ideas about things that have never actually been said on here. It's like there's some weird imaginary enemy people come here to fight against, and rather than stop when they realize said enemy doesn't actually exist, they just keep throwing punches into the wind.

[whygodeep]

"Let the Records Play" sounds like an Elton John chorus shoved into a Led Zeppelin rocker.

[Norah]

I swear, 95% of the complaints about the "negativity" on this board are based around vague ideas about things that have never actually been said on here. It's like there's some weird imaginary enemy people come here to fight against, and rather than stop when they realize said enemy doesn't actually exist, they just keep throwing punches into the wind.

[stip]

the vast majority of the last 15 pages I read was people slagging on the new material, and with no dogs to offset it.

Note I'm not saying they shouldn't do that, but I also understand why, when you feel like celebrating a new record, it is discouraging within HOURS of the release.

[Lament]

The "I'm the rare person who actually likes Pearl Jam on this Pearl Jam message board" schtick is more tired than a Sgt. Crackpot gif of chud posting dog pictures while Ruddo stands in the background getting pissed off at a thread where someone makes a joke about stip liking The Fixer.

Get off of the fucking cross people.

I'm a new member so if I'm retreading that line, I didn't mean to. I'm just a bit frustrated that some people seem to not want to give the material a chance and it seems to me that shitting all over Future Days and Sirens is getting tired too. They may or may not be the greatest songs in the PJ catalog but they don't deserve endless bashing.

Why don't they deserve endless bashing? There are as many if not more well-written, articulate criticisms of these songs than there are praises. I think a well-thought out, well-explained criticism of ANYTHING is preferable to mindless rah rah-ing of whatever material is in question. Why is "THIS SONG IS GREAT!" with nothing adding to it any less stupid than "THIS SONG SUCKS" without any context? I'll never get "tired" of somebody giving a thoughtful explanation of their feelings on a song/album, positive or negative. I don't think the problem is people liking or disliking anything; The only problem is people who can't add something intelligent/interesting/funny/clever to their assessment. That's the line that needs to be drawn in here at this point, people who are capable of posting something that is worthwhile in ANY terms whatsoever versus those who can't.

lament, in fairness, most of the criticism is hardly well written and articulate. please point some out to me if you see it

I will look for more when I have the time, but off the top of my head I believe my criticism of Sirens were fairly well-written. And I know during his lengthy crisis of what to think about the song, harmless made some very valid criticisms of the song. I would argue even you have made some very valid points about ways in which the song misses the mark to some extent.

[Lament]

the vast majority of the last 15 pages I read was people slagging on the new material, and with no dogs to offset it.

Note I'm not saying they shouldn't do that, but I also understand why, when you feel like celebrating a new record, it is discouraging within HOURS of the release.

I didn't join in until I posted that dog a few pages back, and only scrolled back to bask in the glory of chud's immaculate run, so I apologize if the amount of well-written praises greatly outnumber the well-written criticisms, but based on (limited) history alone, I would imagine the majority of this is still meaningless ranting on both sides of the spectrum.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

This will likely go around in circles, but I'm judging the album based on the quality of the songwriting, not the production or sound quality. I just don't think there is any substance to the songs. If this was the Stones catalog, it would be Pearl Jam's "Dirty Work". I would say that it was their "Presence" if we were talking about Led Zeppelin, though there is nothing on Lightning Bolt even remotely as triumphant as "Achilles Last Stand".

[stip]

oh sure. But I'm just talking about over the last twenty pages or so, which is what i thought that poster was responding to


In general there is lots of really intelligent critical things said here.

I'm also so tired I can't see straight, so for all I know people were just busy praising this thing

[Soulfire]

"Let the Records Play" sounds like an Elton John chorus shoved into a Led Zeppelin rocker.

And it doesn't work.

Wish they would have just kept to the "Led Zeppelin rocker" and left out the "Elton John" bit. If you haven't read my review of that song, you probably should. It's buried in this thread somewhere and I think you'll see that we share some similar sentiments.

[stip]

the vast majority of the last 15 pages I read was people slagging on the new material, and with no dogs to offset it.

Note I'm not saying they shouldn't do that, but I also understand why, when you feel like celebrating a new record, it is discouraging within HOURS of the release.

I didn't join in until I posted that dog a few pages back, and only scrolled back to bask in the glory of chud's immaculate run, so I apologize if the amount of well-written praises greatly outnumber the well-written criticisms, but based on (limited) history alone, I would imagine the majority of this is still meaningless ranting on both sides of the spectrum.

no doubt. But it's the first day. It's the first few hours. It's okay to tone it down a little bit so people can enjoy themselves. We have four years to destroy this thing


(I don't personally care. I know who is ripping the album apart and it is precisely who I expected)

[mackeycold]

I swear, 95% of the complaints about the "negativity" on this board are based around vague ideas about things that have never actually been said on here. It's like there's some weird imaginary enemy people come here to fight against, and rather than stop when they realize said enemy doesn't actually exist, they just keep throwing punches into the wind.

Yeah Yeah Yeah


Joined: Tue March 12, 2013 10:21 am
Posts: 76
Production stinks to high heaven.

Infallible is top notch.

Pendulum and Records get a pass. Getaway maybe growing a little bit.

Rest is pure shite.

There have been a lot of comments about The production being shit with no rationale behind them. Not defending, just pointing that out. And a lot of posts like that providing no further analysis but to say that they hate the album or sirens or fd or bob. Alan Sepinwall wrote a cogent critique of Breaking Bad's finale. I love the finale but his piece is well-thought out and has clear criticisms. These posts do not. You're right that someone just hashing out praise isn't interesting or thoughtful either but I challenge someone to write a response to just one of stip's paragraphs about lb or it's songs that's as analytical and thoughtful.

[whygodeep]

"Yellow Moon" might be one of my favorite songs on this record when all is said and done (especially love the solo on this)...even if the intro is virtually a clone of "Lowlight."

[Soma.]

I just find the production complaint to be old and tired. Binaural was the last well produced Pearl Jam album. That was a long time ago. Being surprised by the production being sub-par is like flipping out that the sun rose this morning.

Source: Someone who doesn't really like Pearl Jam anyway, and can correctly identify and label a spade.

[darthvedder81]

The "I'm the rare person who actually likes Pearl Jam on this Pearl Jam message board" schtick is more tired than a Sgt. Crackpot gif of chud posting dog pictures while Ruddo stands in the background getting pissed off at a thread where someone makes a joke about stip liking The Fixer.

Get off of the fucking cross people.

I'm a new member so if I'm retreading that line, I didn't mean to. I'm just a bit frustrated that some people seem to not want to give the material a chance and it seems to me that shitting all over Future Days and Sirens is getting tired too. They may or may not be the greatest songs in the PJ catalog but they don't deserve endless bashing. I mean, for Christ's sake, R.E.M. made an entire record that not even the entire band likes (around the sun) and if you really remember them because of that record, then you're ignoring a hell of a lot of good music. I feel the same way about the bitching over those tunes in particular.

Some people want the angst of Versus and ten. But this band is now fifty, they are not going to relate to your 13 to 18 year old self. They are adults now, and drop the fucking leashh is very far behind them. So if you want a teenage point of view from 50 year olds who dickS are struggling to work, maybe look elsewhere.

I'm not looking for the angst of Ten and Vs. at all actually. I'd be happy with the creative, mature band that crafted such classics as No Code, Yield and Binaural. What happened to that band?