Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[blueviper]

https://voca.ro/18N1LJF2kOPX

damn you!


They should re-record Infallible with no gimmicks and lots of distortion.

[stip]

I love the 'ah ha, uh huhs' at the end of Sirens. It's like an inversion of the do-do-do-do-do-do at the end of Black, in the same way that Sirens as a whole is a mirror experience of that song. But I wish they had more of that stuff in the catalog in general

[stip]

Also love how delicately intentional Yellow Moon is. really nice vocal from Ed on this. The only thing keeping this song from five stars is the bridge (big fan of the lyrics, but it feels like it doesn't know if it wants to reach or stay subdued), and Mike's final solo is just a little too bright for the duskiness of the song

[Ms Harmless]

I love the 'ah ha, uh huhs' at the end of Sirens. It's like an inversion of the do-do-do-do-do-do at the end of Black, in the same way that Sirens as a whole is a mirror experience of that song. But I wish they had more of that stuff in the catalog in general

my sentiments *exactly*

I also like the staccato "ah ah ah ah" BVs on Pendulum

[VinylGuy]

Also love how delicately intentional Yellow Moon is. really nice vocal from Ed on this. The only thing keeping this song from five stars is the bridge (big fan of the lyrics, but it feels like it doesn't know if it wants to reach or stay subdued), and Mike's final solo is just a little too bright for the duskiness of the song

yeah he shines there. Its his lower register at his finest. Kinda reminds me of how he sings the ballads in Vs. The whole song has an energy that reminds me of that album.

[stip]

I love the 'ah ha, uh huhs' at the end of Sirens. It's like an inversion of the do-do-do-do-do-do at the end of Black, in the same way that Sirens as a whole is a mirror experience of that song. But I wish they had more of that stuff in the catalog in general

my sentiments *exactly*

I also like the staccato "ah ah ah ah" BVs on Pendulum

same

[DeeDee]

2 stars.

It hasn't aged well.

[oneway23]

I will defend this album until the sirens come for me.

[stip]

I will defend this album until the sirens come for me.

what are your favorite LB tracks?!

[oneway23]

I will defend this album until the sirens come for me.

what are your favorite LB tracks?!

Aww yeah...we're gettin' all hot and bothered now, baby!

Honestly stip, I have no shame in admitting that I'm a sucker for the schmaltz on this one.

Sirens and Future Days, barring Bo'b's piano, have become so much more meaningful over the past few years, though, to be fair, I've never been as hard on either one of them as most here.

Same goes for the title track. I still love it.
Cheezy, on the nose, overwrought, whatever you wanna say, the Lil' Lady is my Lightning Bolt, and, that's all there is to it. Gets me every time. I'm there for it.

Pendulum is another favorite...Yellow Moon - I love the vibe...Getaway is a good one that has stayed with me.

I'd say the rest, maybe not quite as much, though, I'm not a skipper or a re-tracker. I listen to full albums, as intended.

My signature is an Ed quote from the Giga album cycle, and, I've loved it since he first said it.
Closely mirrors my own view on albums as full artistic expressions.

Anyway...yeah.

[stip]

Lightning Bolt, until Gigaton, was the only post Vs album I listened start to finish every time. Mind Your Manners and Lightning Bolt are not, if not five star songs, super close. And I love Yellow Moon, Sleeping By Myself, Sirens, Future Days, Pendulum. LTRP is fun. Infallible, Getaway, Swallowed Whole, and MFS are all fine. Hideously underrated album

[VinylGuy]

Stip, LB is not a five star song at all. And that studio version is anemic, boring and has a FADE OUT.

MYM might be a 3.5 maaaaybe.

[stip]

Stip, LB is not a five star song at all. And that studio version is anemic, boring and has a FADE OUT.

MYM might be a 3.5 maaaaybe.

Even with the criminal fadeout, and the weak beginning, I just love the build and the breathless celebration of the finale. But some of this probably just speaks to how badly I was trying to will a song light Waiting For Stevie into existence.

MYM is awesome. Full stop.

[VinylGuy]

Stip, LB is not a five star song at all. And that studio version is anemic, boring and has a FADE OUT.

MYM might be a 3.5 maaaaybe.

Even with the criminal fadeout, and the weak beginning, I just love the build and the breathless celebration of the finale. But some of this probably just speaks to how badly I was trying to will a song light Waiting For Stevie into existence.

MYM is awesome. Full stop.

yeah, WFS is that song very well done and produced.

MYM also lacks the ferocity of React Respond for example. I havent come back to LB but i can imagine its half baked songs and horrible sound will stand out more after DM.

[stip]

Mind Your Manners is more frustrated than ferocious, computationally and thematically, and is juxtaposed with a more optimistic frustration in the 'self realized...' section about how we don't realize our individual and collective potential.

People may not like how MYM sounds - that's a taste thing and it is what it is. But it's also such a misunderstood song (I think)

[VinylGuy]

I like it enough, specially live yes.

[oneway23]

Forgot Swallowed Whole. Its R.E.M.-inspired intro is enough to win me over.
I'm good with Sleeping By Myself, too. It's a little kitsch maybe, sure, but, I find it charming.

[stip]

Forgot Swallowed Whole. Its R.E.M.-inspired intro is enough to win me over.
I'm good with Sleeping By Myself, too. It's a little kitsch maybe, sure, but, I find it charming.

the frustrating thing about swallowed whole is that it has all that REM/great outdoors energy drained from it. gigaton and DM really make it clear how sterile and lifeless the LB production is. i love the songs

[RockPusher]

Forgot Swallowed Whole. Its R.E.M.-inspired intro is enough to win me over.
I'm good with Sleeping By Myself, too. It's a little kitsch maybe, sure, but, I find it charming.

the frustrating thing about swallowed whole is that it has all that REM/great outdoors energy drained from it. gigaton and DM really make it clear how sterile and lifeless the LB production is. i love the songs

Sterile and lifeless production is exactly the problem. I recognize you are talking about mixing and such, but the dreamer in me likes to imagine them going back to this one and approaching each song from the album as a demo for which the Dark Matter song creation process will be applied. Put some non-meticulously-planned jams on this thing!

[stip]

Forgot Swallowed Whole. Its R.E.M.-inspired intro is enough to win me over.
I'm good with Sleeping By Myself, too. It's a little kitsch maybe, sure, but, I find it charming.

the frustrating thing about swallowed whole is that it has all that REM/great outdoors energy drained from it. gigaton and DM really make it clear how sterile and lifeless the LB production is. i love the songs

Sterile and lifeless production is exactly the problem. The dreamer in me likes to imagine them going back to this one and approaching each song from the album as a demo for which the Dark Matter song creation process will be applied.

Release the Josh Evans cut!