Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[McParadigm]

[McParadigm]

[Iowaska_Experience]

This is your new grading curve?

[McParadigm]

This is your new grading curve?

I give it star stars out of star

[harmless]

i just cannot fathom how someone (and I know you are FAR from alone) would prefer Riot Act to this.

There's fewer highs, that aren't as high and the low's are way lower.

I forgot to snag the rip of swallowed whole and now the gmails dead. Boo urns.

How do you figure sleeping by myself is about dying harmless?

I don't think it's "about dying" as such. On the surface it's about being cheated on, and the protagonist will be sleeping in his own bed tonight. But "making your own bed and lying in it" is metaphorical for a lot of wider stuff, i.e. accepting the consequences for your own actions, and "sleeping by myself" could mean "going it alone", just as "flying solo" can mean being alone. So I'm just saying that coming where it does in the tracklist, it makes me smirk as a listener because that's what my brain does with the lyrics. There's a sense in which death and afterlife appear there, and this is an amusing inclusion in that spot, a joke about the guy who's just drunk himself to death and will be "sleeping by himself" tonight.

[Tuolumne]

I'm one who takes a very long time to get to a point to review a record. My thinking is it just has to get all the way into my skin and stay there and then ai reflect and then do these silly "rankings".

All I can say is that this record gives me alot to grab onto. A Riot Act fan has got to admit that, atleast from a performance and production standpoint, it is vastly superior. The performances are very passionate where RA felt dulled, and there are rich layers that fill the space where previous records did not.

There's lots of little bridges and outros and added guitar melodies that I haven't even begun the grasp yet, I just know they're there, and that they are interesting enough for me to want to go back many many times and learn them, figure them out, and love it, or discard it. Given the sentiment that it's giving me alot to want to go into, this looks like it has a strong chance to go into the middle of the top half of the "rankings" we all seem to have. There's a sense of sarcasm and metaphors with double-meanings, and just heartfelt emotion that is already starting to resonate.

The songs:
Getaway - by far the most immediately catchy and invigorating song, and it has lyrical themes that seem to represent the whole album well. As good of an opener as I've ever heard them do - reels you right in and gets you coming back for more while prepping you (atleast lyrically) for what's to come.

Mind Your Manners - All about the lyrics, there's still alot here that I'm giong to dig into. Gives me the feeling I had when I heard Vitalogy, but w/ subject matter that is relevant to now.

My Father's Son - another one that hit me over the head. Not sure how this sustain, but initially the bass/drum groove brought me in, and Ed's performance took me to one of his Ten characters.

Sirens - took me awhile to get into this one. Now I'm in and I dig it. I'm still not sure if I've been brought in naturally or in a more synthetic way. Is it just the glossy production that makes me sentimental or has it taken a very authentic hold on me? Only time will tell, so far it feels a little of both but more weighted to an authentic heartfelt sentimentality.

Lightning Bolt - so much to sink my teeth into here, I've got some ways to go with this. All I know is that Ed's performance is possibly the most passionate I've ever heard, it's crazy the places he's going here. Time will tell if I ride this train all the way through. What a performance by the whole band. Should kill live.

Infallible - perplexed me in a way that Tremor Christ first did, and also You Are. The vocal melody has hooked me in, I think I'm going to go a few places with this one, and it clearly goes to a few places I might be ready to go to. Just don't know when.

Pendulum - wow, didn't expect to be reeled in so quickly with this. Why did this bring me in faster than Lightning Bolt? I feel like I already get the sentiment of the song. Spooky and shows the band is still exploring and going places.

Swallowed Whole - not sure what to do with this one yet. I'm going to wait. But I dig the playing and jamming.

Let the Records Play - I dig the funky guitar groove and the solos and jamming, this will be alot of fun live. Not sure what to do with this just yet.

Sleeping by Myself - completes the 3 song section I'm probably going to wait on a little bit, these 3 songs will be ones that I'll come back to later, they'll get plays when I'm doing full album listens. But again, begrudging kudos to BoB (he's too douchy for me to love, but I gotta respect his skill) for making this well performed and produced.

Yellow Moon - another one I wasn't expecting to like right away. This is great, possible classic that I see could be played during an acoustic set. Very possibly better than Lowlight and the one that transports me somewhere.

Future Days - I don't understand what's not to like. A hooky heartfelt vocal melody, lots of pretty things going on in the background. I was at Wrigley and I heard it from clear speakers and it effected me then, and it effects me now. Also works as a closer and brings it home.

Overall, this albums production, initial hooks, the GREAT performances, and layers will bring me back. It's forcing me to listen to lyrics again (have not always been a lyrics guy) in a way that I haven't tried to since the Vitalogy/No Code days. I was expecting to "get" the shorter faster songs first and then dig into songs like Yellow Moon, but the opposite has happened. Yellow Moon, Getaway and Pendulum immediately hit me, and I'm going to dig into some of the others like Lightning Bolt. Should be a great ride.

[Iowaska_Experience]

Here's my review:

[McParadigm]

That's not dissimilar to my initial thoughts. I can see it.

[cippociappo]

I really enjoyed stip's review.

Great job.

Love the record. For now it looks like it's gonna rank WAY higher than Backspacer. Which I liked. So....

[harmless]

That's not dissimilar to my initial thoughts. I can see it.

I'm guessing you mean my comments about SBM? I'm wondering if I can track that associative narrative back through the album. I might give it a go.

[harmless]

A Riot Act fan has got to admit that, atleast from a performance and production standpoint, it is vastly superior.

[McParadigm]

That's not dissimilar to my initial thoughts. I can see it.

I'm guessing you mean my comments about SBM? I'm wondering if I can track that associative narrative back through the album. I might give it a go.

I meant the fence sitter. But I liked your SBM comments, as well. The song's pretty new to me, as I only streamed the uke album maybe 3 times over the course of a month when it came out, so I haven't thought much about layered meaning yet.

[harmless]

That's not dissimilar to my initial thoughts. I can see it.

I'm guessing you mean my comments about SBM? I'm wondering if I can track that associative narrative back through the album. I might give it a go.

I meant the fence sitter. But I liked your SBM comments, as well. The song's pretty new to me, as I only streamed the uke album maybe 3 times over the course of a month when it came out, so I haven't thought much about layered meaning yet.

[bada]

People should get off the fence about Swallowed Whole it's great!

[Coach]

Like any post-Yield PJ album, I generally like 4-6 songs, and the rest are "meh." Same holds true for this record, but recycling Sleeping By Myself is pitiful. Not only is it a bad song that we have to buy twice, you make us wait four years for a new album and you include this and Future Days, another clunker?

On a positive note, the four keepers so far are:

Getaway
Sirens
Mind Your Manners
Pendulum

[stupidmop]

i just cannot fathom how someone (and I know you are FAR from alone) would prefer Riot Act to this.

There's fewer highs, that aren't as high and the low's are way lower.

I forgot to snag the rip of swallowed whole and now the gmails dead. Boo urns.

How do you figure sleeping by myself is about dying harmless?

I don't think it's "about dying" as such. On the surface it's about being cheated on, and the protagonist will be sleeping in his own bed tonight. But "making your own bed and lying in it" is metaphorical for a lot of wider stuff, i.e. accepting the consequences for your own actions, and "sleeping by myself" could mean "going it alone", just as "flying solo" can mean being alone. So I'm just saying that coming where it does in the tracklist, it makes me smirk as a listener because that's what my brain does with the lyrics. There's a sense in which death and afterlife appear there, and this is an amusing inclusion in that spot, a joke about the guy who's just drunk himself to death and will be "sleeping by himself" tonight.

Thats pretty cool.

I still really like SBM. Which is doing my unabashed bob-hatred no favours.

I think i prefer eds vocals on this than the uke version, they seem more restrained to me.

[harmless]

i just cannot fathom how someone (and I know you are FAR from alone) would prefer Riot Act to this.

There's fewer highs, that aren't as high and the low's are way lower.

I forgot to snag the rip of swallowed whole and now the gmails dead. Boo urns.

How do you figure sleeping by myself is about dying harmless?

I don't think it's "about dying" as such. On the surface it's about being cheated on, and the protagonist will be sleeping in his own bed tonight. But "making your own bed and lying in it" is metaphorical for a lot of wider stuff, i.e. accepting the consequences for your own actions, and "sleeping by myself" could mean "going it alone", just as "flying solo" can mean being alone. So I'm just saying that coming where it does in the tracklist, it makes me smirk as a listener because that's what my brain does with the lyrics. There's a sense in which death and afterlife appear there, and this is an amusing inclusion in that spot, a joke about the guy who's just drunk himself to death and will be "sleeping by himself" tonight.

Thats pretty cool.

I still really like SBM. Which is doing my unabashed bob-hatred no favours.

I think i prefer eds vocals on this than the uke version, they seem more restrained to me.

I just tried to track this narrative back over the previous songs, and by Jove, I think it works But I need more than ten seconds, and the actual lyrics, to really do it properly.

[BurtReynolds]

it's mcp the one guy who voted for Future Days? that song is pure torture.

[Oh, Jimmy]

A Riot Act fan has got to admit that, atleast from a performance and production standpoint, it is vastly superior.

RA is not my favorite, but it might have the best production of their entire catalog. Ed's performances are my only gripe.

[McParadigm]

it's mcp the one guy who voted for Future Days? that song is pure torture.

You are a vision
Sky blue and jade
These are the days
For which we were made
And I am the miracle