injuddstree wrote:The vocal on this annoys the crap out of me.
Same here. The music is up there with some of my all-time favorite things this band has done, but the vocal drags it down to the point that I don't go out of my way to listen to it.
What bit do you have trouble with, that creepy uncle first verse?
Fair enough. I don't mind the creepy uncle intro but acknowledge it's there. I'm glad the song doesn't sound as "nice" as it could, it's not meant to. I was really put off that chorus at Wrigley but it sounds good on the album. And that screamy bit on the last verse / outro is my favourite part of the song; again, it's much better on the album, Wrigley was a trainwreck. But different strokes.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
I don't like the melody. It feels very forced and unnatural. I still have the same disdain for the chorus vocal as I did at Wrigley. I actually don't think it's even a very good take (compared to something like My Father's Son or Swallowed Whole, which I think he sounds great on). The music just hits the spot for me in more ways than I would have ever hoped for, but other than the "Always something, never nothing" part I just wish Ed wasn't singing the whole time. The pre-chorus and chorus are particularly egregious and lazy to me. He's a good enough tunesmith to not have to use getting "rowdy" as a replacement for writing something that's actually melodically interesting. There are obviously some songs where that approach works, but this isn't one of them for me.
Yep, I can see all that. There's definitely a difference between these bloody "Everyone get excited!" kind of songs, and something like In My Tree, where it's exciting without needing to try. I guess, for me, it's The Who influence. I mostly find The Who to be a lot of excitement and rowdy-crowd-making over nothing.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
I guess I feel that Ed lately is constantly telling me "He sure plays a mean pinball." I still like the music enough, but there's only so much excitement I can muster over that.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
I think the issue with this track, is that it's the title track, and it's the first time PJ have had a title track. So naturally, most of us are probably going to place a lot more focus and expectation on it. In reality, it's just a fairly straight forward rock song, with no real standout componants, save for a basic chorus 'hook'.
I think it will be a regular live, which I'm ok with.
Rangi Guy wrote:So skating back to the train station after work today things went wrong.....now my skateboard is at the bottom of the harbour
Yeah, I like it enough. It's pretty typical of most of the Lightning Bolt tracks in that for once, most of what it's doing is pretty great, there's just little niggly issues that are bothering people and some will be dealbreakers. It's a shame.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
It's just disappointing to me because in the past you'd find cases where a great Ed vocal take paired with the perfect melody could take what was otherwise a fairly mundane or mediocre piece of music and drag it out of the doldrums and make it something special, and I feel like here it's the opposite. It's like...the anti-Footsteps.
Lament wrote:I don't like the melody. It feels very forced and unnatural. I still have the same disdain for the chorus vocal as I did at Wrigley. I actually don't think it's even a very good take (compared to something like My Father's Son or Swallowed Whole, which I think he sounds great on). The music just hits the spot for me in more ways than I would have ever hoped for, but other than the "Always something, never nothing" part I just wish Ed wasn't singing the whole time. The pre-chorus and chorus are particularly egregious and lazy to me. He's a good enough tunesmith to not have to use getting "rowdy" as a replacement for writing something that's actually melodically interesting. There are obviously some songs where that approach works, but this isn't one of them for me.
fair enough. I agree it's not his strongest vocal melody to date and the music is certainly doing the heavy lifting for the first half of the song. But I do think the final verse is also really strong vocally on top of the lyrics. The 'crashing stormy waves' part flows well, and then the 'and with no repair in sight' is delivered really well. I'm swept along with it even if the actual melody isn't the greatest .
But I'm no stranger to a chorus taking you out of a song, so I can't really argue with that
Lament wrote:It's just disappointing to me because in the past you'd find cases where a great Ed vocal take paired with the perfect melody could take what was otherwise a fairly mundane or mediocre piece of music and drag it out of the doldrums and make it something special, and I feel like here it's the opposite. It's like...the anti-Footsteps.
although I greatly prefer the music here (and the, well, everything, tbh), it's like Evacuation in that way.
If it's any consolation, apparently not everyone is feeling the MFS vocal take is great. I read someone's rage yesterday as they moaned that the lyrics were totally awful. I wanted to reply that it wasn't autobiographical, Ed was in character, blah blah blah but I wasn't paying for the privilege so I couldn't.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
For me, Lightning Bolt has one of the strongest melodies (esp. pre-chorus) on the record and one of Ed's best vocals. Getaway and Infallible are probably the ones with stronger melodies.
harmless wrote:If it's any consolation, apparently not everyone is feeling the MFS vocal take is great. I read someone's rage yesterday as they moaned that the lyrics were totally awful. I wanted to reply that it wasn't autobiographical, Ed was in character, blah blah blah but I wasn't paying for the privilege so I couldn't.
I've tried to read the pit on slow days here where I was really bored and looking for something to do, and I just don't know how that site is even navigable.
Yeah, I've heard some complaints about MFS that I haven't been able to get on board with. While I agree that the lyrics are horrendous, to me it's the best example of late of Ed singing something aggressive without sounding terrible or thin or strained. I find myself enjoying his performance so much that I pretty much forget my issues with the lyrics. MFS is probably my second favorite song on the record after a week, and one of the only ones I haven't been skipping over when they come on in a playlist shuffle.
harmless wrote:If it's any consolation, apparently not everyone is feeling the MFS vocal take is great. I read someone's rage yesterday as they moaned that the lyrics were totally awful. I wanted to reply that it wasn't autobiographical, Ed was in character, blah blah blah but I wasn't paying for the privilege so I couldn't.
I've tried to read the pit on slow days here where I was really bored and looking for something to do, and I just don't know how that site is even navigable.
It isn't. It's like getting lost in the woods.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
stip wrote:I've tried to read the pit on slow days here where I was really bored and looking for something to do, and I just don't know how that site is even navigable.
It isn't. It's like getting lost in the woods.
The Pit makes reading the comments section at the end of articles seem profound and high brow.
Lament wrote:Yeah, I've heard some complaints about MFS that I haven't been able to get on board with. While I agree that the lyrics are horrendous, to me it's the best example of late of Ed singing something aggressive without sounding terrible or thin or strained. I find myself enjoying his performance so much that I pretty much forget my issues with the lyrics. MFS is probably my second favorite song on the record after a week, and one of the only ones I haven't been skipping over when they come on in a playlist shuffle.
I like the precision in MYM a bit more, in terms of the vocals. MYM is good though
stip wrote:I've tried to read the pit on slow days here where I was really bored and looking for something to do, and I just don't know how that site is even navigable.
It isn't. It's like getting lost in the woods.
The Pit makes reading the comments section at the end of articles seem profound and high brow.
Article comments are one of the worst things about the internet.
