Song of the Moment: Sleight of Hand

[chuck taylor]

Wonderful song, especially on headphones. An easy 5 stars.

[Leatherhead]

Just remember that to the universe you don't mean a thing, it helps me.

[wease]

I know I used to really harp on this song, but it's grown on me. I dig it now.

[PHATJ]

Nothing compares to the studio version; it's perfect. But this is pretty damn good.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rtkObtLKHNc

[Matters]

I greatly appreciate almost every song on Binaural but I can’t even articulate how much this one means to me so… just bumping this deep cut masterpiece.

[Lounge Lizard]

I just don't know with this one.
It's unusual, surely.
But I always felt like it's something unfinished. Like an early draft version of something unfinished.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[guitar_davey]

This is one Pearl Jam song I can say actually changed my life.

[Jaeti]

I'm lucky to still have my dad around, and sometimes this one hits in a way that "oh dear dad..." in Release might hit for others.

[guitar_davey]

I've heard it live but Eddie fucked up an entire verse.

Is there a consensus definitive live version of this tune?

[dad]

I've heard it live but Eddie fucked up an entire verse.

Is there a consensus definitive live version of this tune?

i don't know about definitive, but you could find a good one from any show August 2000.

[stip]

I just don't know with this one.
It's unusual, surely.
But I always felt like it's something unfinished. Like an early draft version of something unfinished.

I think my problem with this song is that after the spacey bridge, we just get another chorus, with no real uptick in emotion. It pushes the song from moving towards monotonous.

This is where I'm at. Sleight of Hand is actually phenomenally successful at capturing a very particular mood - someone trapped in a roaring, monotonous space, almost suffocating in how expansively claustrophobic it is. There's a lot going on - but without any real emotional release at the end you have a song trying to capture the feel of enervating monotony sounding monotonous. Successful, but why would you want to visit that space. SoH doesn't help you escape from it.

[stip]

it's a great example of a song I genuinely don't like, but can respect.

[igotworms]

Sleight of Hand > Soon Forget > Parting Ways is a fucking mad final 3 tracks. The idea of sandwiching 2 supremely emotional tracks around something as throwaway as SF is just classic PJ of that era. They just didn't give a flying fuck, the crazy bastards.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[knee tunes]

Love SoH

[Leatherhead]

I just don't know with this one.
It's unusual, surely.
But I always felt like it's something unfinished. Like an early draft version of something unfinished.

I think my problem with this song is that after the spacey bridge, we just get another chorus, with no real uptick in emotion. It pushes the song from moving towards monotonous.

This is where I'm at. Sleight of Hand is actually phenomenally successful at capturing a very particular mood - someone trapped in a roaring, monotonous space, almost suffocating in how expansively claustrophobic it is. There's a lot going on - but without any real emotional release at the end you have a song trying to capture the feel of enervating monotony sounding monotonous. Successful, but why would you want to visit that space. SoH doesn't help you escape from it.

To feel.

[Jorge]

That "I'll see you on the other side" and staying on that A chord during the last few bars (with all the extra wah and trem bar effects) give the song a satisfying sense of closure. Still I love how it just kind of meanders. Beautiful song, one of their best

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jorge]

I don't know and I can't listen now, but whether there actually are more guitar effects there or I'm remembering the illusion of more guitar effect facilitated by the arrangement, the result is the same. That nice buzzy resolution