Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[McParadigm]

You're right. I failed to mention - there's one obnoxious clink of the ride cymbal that has my future self on the fence if it'll place above one of these albums or not.

Keep rimming away...you're doing a better job of it with every passing minute.

[harmless]

Wow, that quote is excellent.

[evenslow]

This album is really enjoyable. I don't know where it'll place years from now, but I'm really into it right now. And, quite frankly, I don't really care where it places. There's a solid core of songs here that will keep me coming back to it.

More or less, this. EJ, are you by any chance me?

Yes. I am East Coast you.

Oh good, I'll refrain from any further trips to the east coast to proselytize about being even-keeled.

[stip]

I don't know where it'll place years from now, but I'm really into it right now.

You aren't RMing properly.

Sorry, it will place somewhere. There will be albums above it. There will be albums below it.

This is still a very mediocre rimming.

[Strat]

Many artists, who have been around the block a few times, have numerous songs that are laughable, sub par, or not that great. Pearl Jam is one of them. However, it seems as though Pearl Jam gets bashed more than any other artist for having such songs as part of their larger catalogue. I am sometimes guilty of this and I am unsure as to why....

Not just here on the board either....

Im enjoying Lightning Bolt quite much.

[stip]

Strat. Go vote in the lanegan tournament. Preferably for me, but that is not required

[BurtReynolds]

future days is the worst song ever.

[Tuolumne]

This album is really enjoyable. I don't know where it'll place years from now, but I'm really into it right now. And, quite frankly, I don't really care where it places. There's a solid core of songs here that will keep me coming back to it.

I agree. There's a good half dozen songs on this album that i really, really like.

No stars? No points? Rankings? Not computing. Shouldn't you have an hour-by-hour control chart on how the songs' impression changes over time, before discarding the record in anger and threatening "breaking up" with the band? And then come back 2 days later and re-rank it towards the top? And then re-rank it again at the bottom? You're being entirely too reasonable here. This just isn't dramatic enough.

[sward]

Many artists, who have been around the block a few times, have numerous songs that are laughable, sub par, or not that great. Pearl Jam is one of them. However, it seems as though Pearl Jam gets bashed more than any other artist for having such songs as part of their larger catalogue. I am sometimes guilty of this and I am unsure as to why....

Not just here on the board either....

Im enjoying Lightning Bolt quite much.

What I like about these batch of songs is that there seems to be a piece of each of them I love. A certain song...lets say..Swallowed Whole...may not start out strong for me but by the end of the second verse I'm into it fully. For the most part of the last few albums, the songs I don't like, don't even have anything in it that redeems it (to me). So...really happy about this development!

And hell..if I can find ways to like SBM and Future Days, I know Lightning Bolt has got me by the short and curlies.

[harmless]

This album is really enjoyable. I don't know where it'll place years from now, but I'm really into it right now. And, quite frankly, I don't really care where it places. There's a solid core of songs here that will keep me coming back to it.

I agree. There's a good half dozen songs on this album that i really, really like.

No stars? No points? Rankings? Not computing. Shouldn't you have an hour-by-hour control chart on how the songs' impression changes over time, before discarding the record in anger and threatening "breaking up" with the band? And then come back 2 days later and re-rank it towards the top? And then re-rank it again at the bottom? You're being entirely too reasonable here. This just isn't dramatic enough.

I hate to say it but Tuolumne is right. This is subpar RMing.

[McParadigm]

Im enjoying Lightning Bolt quite much.

quite much.

quite much.

[evenslow]

Many artists, who have been around the block a few times, have numerous songs that are laughable, sub par, or not that great. Pearl Jam is one of them. However, it seems as though Pearl Jam gets bashed more than any other artist for having such songs as part of their larger catalogue. I am sometimes guilty of this and I am unsure as to why....

Not just here on the board either....

Im enjoying Lightning Bolt quite much.

I was thinking about this actually while listening to CCR's version of "Hello, Mary Lou" the other day. It's just a fun little cover that usually makes most of my "hanging with humans in a group setting" playlists. Then I thought if there was an equivalent to RM for CCR when Mardi Gras came out, most people would have found a way to tear it apart for being too light or a cover or whatever (HOW DID THIS MAKE THE ALBUM!). Point being, not every song can or should be put under the microscope. Some songs are meant to be enjoyed without dissection.

Coming back to Pearl Jam, "Let the Records Play" is one of those for me. The casual PJ fans I have talked to about the new album have all mentioned really liking that song and it was good to get an outside world perspective on that. There are no mentions of Shania Twain, they just plain and simple like the damn thing.

[McParadigm]

Then I thought if there was an equivalent to RM for CCR when Mardi Gras came out, most people would have found a way to tear it apart for being too light or a cover or whatever (HOW DID THIS MAKE THE ALBUM!).

CCR didn't need a Red Mosquito in order to get totally trashed for making Mardi, when it first came out.

[harmless]

Yup. That LTRP riff doesn't sound like Shania Twain any more than it sounds like hundreds of blues riffs. And that's why Shania Twain uses it.

[evenslow]

Then I thought if there was an equivalent to RM for CCR when Mardi Gras came out, most people would have found a way to tear it apart for being too light or a cover or whatever (HOW DID THIS MAKE THE ALBUM!).

CCR didn't need a Red Mosquito in order to get totally trashed for making Mardi, when it first came out.

Thanks for pull-quoting then nitpicking the least relevant passage from my incredible thesis.

[EJ]

Yup. That LTRP riff doesn't sound like Shania Twain any more than it sounds like hundreds of blues riffs. And that's why Shania Twain uses it.

You're right about that. The Jeepers Creepers jackoff refrain though really ruins that song for me. I actually like that bridge section - I really think they could've built a song around that.

[harmless]

Yup. That LTRP riff doesn't sound like Shania Twain any more than it sounds like hundreds of blues riffs. And that's why Shania Twain uses it.

You're right about that. The Jeepers Creepers jackoff refrain though really ruins that song for me. I actually like that bridge section - I really think they could've built a song around that.

It doesn't bother me because I don't think Stone was going for straight (pun intended) blues. The Jeepers Creepers showtune comparison probably wouldn't bother him at all.

[jdopj]

Many artists, who have been around the block a few times, have numerous songs that are laughable, sub par, or not that great. Pearl Jam is one of them. However, it seems as though Pearl Jam gets bashed more than any other artist for having such songs as part of their larger catalogue. I am sometimes guilty of this and I am unsure as to why....

Not just here on the board either....

Im enjoying Lightning Bolt quite much.

I agree Strat. There are quite a few albums I love that have a song or two that I don't like

Enjoying this very much as well.

[McParadigm]

Yup. That LTRP riff doesn't sound like Shania Twain any more than it sounds like hundreds of blues riffs. And that's why Shania Twain uses it.

What takes it from quality blues to Shania Twain territory is that same mechanical exactness (what Henry Rollins has quipped the session musician "Get. Ting. Paid. By. The. Hour." heartless exaction) that country pop and similar stylings have favored for years, which is as far removed from Chicago blues as you can possibly hope to get, and which is only recently digging its soulless claws into the heart of better music.

[wilkins]

I'm enjoying this record, I cringe at SBM, I cringe at the piano intro and outro of FD, I hit repeat when the album finishes.

I think I'd be extremely happy with it sans SBM and sans BO'B piano on FD (sans FD altogether).

I cringe far more at SBM than FD.

Pendulum is tits, juicy, bouncy, tits.