Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[Bi_3]

25th anniversary!

[stip]

Speaking of this beautiful gift, I was on the State of Love and Trust podcast this week to talk about Lightning Bolt on its 10 year anniversary. Good time and (I think) a pretty good listen. It's a longer episode with a conversation about Candlebox and one of the hosts (jason) meeting Stone Gossard. The L-Bolt conversation starts maybe 30 minutes in.

Are the hosts also insane people who like this terrible album?

I will say this. They are excellent about being respectful towards things they don't like. It's not an 'attack and run down' vibe in general. So I think one may like it, one may have a Strat like relationship, and then there's me. I'm almost certainly several steps above.

In general both hosts are folks who have a deep knowledge of the catalog, have their particular loves and comparative dislikes, but can generally find something to like in almost all Pearl Jam

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[stip]

Strat is my archetype for someone who finds things to enjoy about most Pearl Jam, even though he has clear hierarchies of preferences, and some things he cares about a lot more than others. even when he has hyperbolic moments they are coming from a place of love.

If I asked Strat to talk about Lightning Bolt, I bet he could find something nice to say about almost every song, even the ones he thinks (comparatively) are kinda shit

[stip]

Getaway - A fun toss-off that really suffers from the anemic production. I think there’s an enjoyable, if easy, song in here somewhere and I think the chorus succeeds in connecting despite its limitations.

MYM - Dumb song, really fun Mike chorus. I do like the delay effect on Ed’s vocal. Next.

MFS - Best song in the album. Ed songs awesome on the last verse. The guitar colorations are great fun. This song deserves to be surrounded by better material!

Sirens - I think what doesn’t work here isn’t the cheeze, nor the production, nor the “ah-ahs” at the end, all of which have been ridiculed in the past. It’s simply that the composition is really plodding.

LB - If this were a minute shorter and produced like a scrappy little garage number, with Jack or someone groovier on the drums, it could be really fun. But as it stands it’s a piece of shit.

Infallible - I hate how Ed sounds like a lecherous old man when he does his “heh heh heh” mouth breathing thing. This song is neither edgy enough in the verses nor uplifting enough in the chorus. Failed experiment, but I do appreciate the effort.

Pendulum - Would’ve gone to bat for this once upon a time, but repeated performances have worn me down. Some songs should only exist as deep cuts.

Swallowed Whole - There are moments I enjoy, like how Ed sounds on “feel the planet humming,” but overall this song is, like Infallible, simultaneously overworked and undercooked. Does nothing for me one way or another. It’s just there.

LTRP - This is an awesome song, you fools! Stone and Mike are having a blast, and I wish the outro jam went on for another 90 seconds. It’s not their best work but it’s a fun, bluesy bar rock number that has never gotten its proper due. I enjoy the hell out of it.

Sleeping By Myself - I loved the ukulele version. I don’t hate this one, but it’s trying too hard.

Yellow Moon - I think Ed views this song as menacing and poignant. It mostly makes me want to take a nap.

Future Days - Genuinely love the underlying composition, and find great emotion in the “I believe…” part of the song. The production sucks, the vocal take sucks, the piano sucks, so bad that I feel no real need to defend it more than that.

Some thoughts after a few listens the last few days:

I think the writing and choices are much stronger than they get credit for. The production sucks the edge off this album, and I may reproduce it internally.

Getaway - this is my least favorite opener, although I'd probably still listen to it over Sometimes (a better song, but one I pretty much ONLY listen to on a full No Code listen). Maybe the only Lightning Bolt song I skip. It's a groovy bass line they didn't do much interesting with. There are some cool moments they could have built off of (the guitars cutting out of the start of the second verse, the RVM-like sirens at the end), but those are glimpses of what might have been. One of Eddie's weaker lyrics on an album with generally strong writing - I do really like 'everyone's a critic looking back up the river. Every boat is sinking in this town). He has captured the chorus sentiment better elsewhere, including this record.

MYM - Five star triumph. It's not a perfect song - the main riff is not the most exciting thing in the world, especially given how cool the intro and outro are, but it's a great and hugely underappreciated lyric, a strong growly vocal performance that moves away from the more screechy choices on S/T and Backspacer, awesome mike solo, great call and response outro, and really cool transitions into the excellent 'self-realized' chorus.

My Father's Son - great sentiment, but I think the lyrics are a little clunky. Great bridge and top notch music all around. It's a weirdly spooky song. This improved a lot for me on these most recent listens

Sirens - Trag is right - Sirens is a bit plodding and Mike's solo doesn't work. But I like the heartfelt performance (I love the ohs at the end) and Sirens works really well for me if I settle into its pacing

Lightning Bolt - Another triumph. After a weaker first verse (and an on the nose chorus) great lyrics all around, incredible energy that never flags, awesome mini solos after the first verse, genuinely cathartic outro that makes me excited to be alive and for what comes next, and the church bell effect is really cool. It does miss that solo it ramps up for that we never get

Infallible: They reworked this into 7 Oclock, which was much better. One of my favorite lyrics on the album, but Eddie's voice doesn't get menacing enough in the verse or transcendent enough in the chorus, and like I think I said a few pages back the music is more quirky or foreboding - a much darker verse would elevate the chorus. I like Infallible, but I don't love it, and I should.

Pendulum: Production notes aside, I think its a pensive, atmospheric, effective song and I really dig the second half. Love seeing this early in a show

Swallowed Whole: It's an into the wild/REM hybrid that should push every one of my buttons and never quite launches - it feels too indoors. Love the outro, and the transition into the bridge. While Mike does great work on MYM and Lightning Bolt, his more epic solos on this record don't feel like his best stuff

Let the Records Play: I echo Trag's thoughts. This is one of their better cool down songs

Sleeping By Myself: Love this little guy. Should have been the third single. The solo does try too hard (see Swallowed Whole), and doesn't need to be here (this is a song that shuffles and doesn't need that soaring moment), but I love how sheepish this version is.

Yellow Moon - I don't get menacing from this and I don't think that's the vibe. everything feels very intentional, like it is demanding focus on and recognition of every single moment in a scene that would get disturbed by any sudden movement. It does take away from the poignancy of the bridge (and previous Mike solo comments) but I love the feel of this song as a still picture, rather than a moment

Future Days: Yes the piano sucks, and with the caveat that I sang this song to my daughter every night for 6 months to a year.


Future Days (and Sirens) are schmaltzy moments, but Eddie has always been sincere and worn his heart on his sleeve, and this is exactly how the dude on Ten would respond to finally having people in his life he couldn't live without. I wouldn't want every song to be in this space, but I love that these two are.


I still love this record. It's firmly 5 in my rankings. if I went song by song it would roughly be this:


Mind Your Manners
Lightning Bolt
Sleeping By Myself
Sirens
Future Days
Pendulum
Yellow Moon
Swallowed Whole
Let the Records Play
Infallible
My Father's Son
Getaway

Infallible dropped a fair bit, but again I like all these songs but Getaway, which is fine. Swallowed Whole through MFS are all pretty bunched together

[stip]

Holy shit

Stip is back!!

Hey stip!

Hey Dime! How are things?

[dimejinky99]

Holy shit

Stip is back!!

Hey stip!

Hey Dime! How are things?

All good brother. Just taking it all in.
Saw you post something wat eats back about where to go with glens stuff
Lucky you he was in tele the other night.
I think this one’s too busy and too wordy. But it’s still got heart.
You’d know better. Great to see you back mo chara!
https://youtu.be/96V7olylxyM?si=nmCKp1udbmaZq7bF

[dimejinky99]

And josh what’s his name plays on it too

[Ms Harmless]

I listened to Lightning Bolt (the song) the other day and still like the things I liked about it initially; it sounds like the theme for a surfy 90s teen dramedy like 90210, and I mean that in a good way; Ed's vocals sound like a leery old man in the intro verse which is slightly off-putting but I really enjoy it when the drums kick in

if they wanted to go pop (again) with this album, I think this one almost succeeds in doing what it's trying

[Ms Harmless]

I'm a big pop music fan, I've got a lot of time for bands attempting to sound "bright" and "fun" and not quite getting there entirely, I enjoy the experiment; the problem with Lightning Bolt and Backspacer is not the majority of its stuff but its (comparatively few) irredeemably low points, which I can't quite get past to give them a full listen

[Ms Harmless]

I used to have a similar struggle with S/T but no more, "Big Wave" and the cheesy lyrics of "Inside Job" have nothing on "Supersonic" and the worst of LB

[Ms Harmless]

Pearl Jam are at their best when they don't try any overly lighthearted fun; they proved that for the first run of seven studio albums, then again on Gigaton; for me they're a band with no skips but for on two albums, which is excellent odds, I know I'm on the wrong thread but that's all I'm asking for from the 12th album, no skips

[coptheriotact]

The actual sound of this album makes me dislike it the most. There is no situation to ever play it, especially not in front of other people. I tried to play my LP in the lounge room a few years ago (while home alone) and it sounds so processed and flat that I turned it off around sirens and then sold it.

Its like the instruments are polished at the wrong point in the mixing phase or something,awful tones, awful drum sound. the songs themselves have a big concept but get weighed down by the most standard rock production sound + the idea that it has to sound like pearl jam.

GETAWAY - is a distorted digital mess in places but EV and Jeff have an ok thing going on. Stone and Mike seem to be on a different page
MYM - sounds like they are trying too hard - solo is good. - bad music/ lyrics
MY FATHERS SON - bad bass tone on bass driven song? overall, not too bad.
SIRENS - a lot of classic PJ tracks start of a bit dreary and then come to life as they get going. small town,alive, jeremy, betterman etc. this one stays one paced. that acoustic guitar part creates internal groans and sighs everytime
LIGHTNING BOLT - I don't like this. but combine the best parts of this, whoever said and in the dark and moved it off lightning bolt sessions it could be ok?
INFALLIBLE - Everything went wrong at every stage
PENDULUM - There's no creation of tension, space or atmosphere anywhere else. it teases missed opportunities. its good, but it not that good 2.5/5
SWALLOWED WHOLE - The best song with the worst sound. EV sounds like he just got out of hospital/hungover or both. It's a delicate song where everything sounds blown out for no reason. i remember getting the leak and thought i was getting really good at hearing the differences of MP3, but no. its sounds like a 128kpbs mp3
LTRP - bad. very bad. if they recorded this somewhere around 98 it might not suck, all their quirky songs sounded great back then. light and fresh like "happy when im crying" or something.

Thats enough of LB for me... yellow moon is ok..

[Jorge]

this abortion of an album

this beautiful gift

I love the diversity of thought on this board

[dimejinky99]

Getaway is among my favourite of all the album openers.
Doesn’t get enough love at all in my opinion

[Lounge Lizard]

MY FATHERS SON - bad bass tone on bass driven song? overall, not too bad.

My gripe with MFS is that it's a Soundgarden rip-off

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[VinylGuy]

I would like to remember how awful the production and the mix is in this album. The lack of different and interesting guitar tones and the horrible sound of the drums.

[Farmer John]

MY FATHERS SON - bad bass tone on bass driven song? overall, not too bad.

My gripe with MFS is that it's a Soundgarden rip-off

Even though it's a bass driven song, it's always reminded me of Sleater-Kinney. Especially the chorus.

[Lounge Lizard]

MY FATHERS SON - bad bass tone on bass driven song? overall, not too bad.

My gripe with MFS is that it's a Soundgarden rip-off

Which songs? I know the first notes are the same idea as the intro to Dusty, but wasn’t sure if there was something else you were referring to?

Dusty by Soundgarden