Song of the Moment: Pendulum

[Norah]

Do you guys give out 5 stars when a song reaches a specific level of greatness and then within the 5 stars songs there's still a lot of room for differences in quality? Or do you enjoy all your 5 star songs about equally?
I asking because I couldn't give songs like Pendulum 5 stars myself even though I really like it a lot. There are just so many songs that I enjoy so much more. Do you think Pendulum gets close to the greatness of Corduroy, Immortality, whatever 5 stars song there are for you?

This is why Pendulum is a 4 star song for me.

[Thejambi]

1-5 is a bit limiting. Not all 5 star songs are equal not do they get that ranking from me for the same reasons. Pendulum is a slow brooding type song revolving around atmosphere and I think it accomplishes that successfully.

[dimejinky99]

Ill never love this song.

Good opener though.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Im so excited to see this song in a couple of days

[Whale and Wasp]

It would be one of Pearl Jam's finest in my opinion.

Master/Slave
Oceans
Garden
Brother (Rough Mix)
Animal
Indifference
Last Exit
Corduroy
Not For You
Aye Divinita
I Got ID
Sometimes/Hail Hail
Who You Are
In My Tree
Red Mosquito
Present Tense
Brain of J
No Way
Low Light
In Hiding


Two jams from Touring Band
Of the Girl
Rival
Sleight of Hand
Can't Keep
CropDuster
Ghost
All or None
Severed Hand
Parachutes
Amongst the Waves
Unthought Known
Speed of Sound Demo
Swallowed Whole
Pendulum
Yellow Moon

Strangest Tribe

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Ill never love this song.

Good opener though.

What keeps you from being able to love it?

The only knock on it for me is that its a little too short

[Strat]

Ill never love this song.

Good opener though.

Sure, with that attitude you will never love it.

[numbers]

Do you guys give out 5 stars when a song reaches a specific level of greatness and then within the 5 stars songs there's still a lot of room for differences in quality? Or do you enjoy all your 5 star songs about equally?
I asking because I couldn't give songs like Pendulum 5 stars myself even though I really like it a lot. There are just so many songs that I enjoy so much more. Do you think Pendulum gets close to the greatness of Corduroy, Immortality, whatever 5 stars song there are for you?

This is why Pendulum is a 4 star song for me.

It's why we should be ranking them on a scale of 1-10.

[stip]

That's what .5s are for!

[Thejambi]

I'll admit I do grade on a curve.

[Kevin Davis]

What keeps you from being able to love it?

The only knock on it for me is that its a little too short

I don't know that there's much of a song underneath all the treatment--it's kind of like "Of the Girl" that way, where the song as a written work is serviceable but mainly a vehicle for the presentation, when (with this band anyway) it's usually the other way around. Apart from engineering choices (that vocal effect--ugh) there's really nothing I would do to make "Pendulum" any different; I think it does what it sets out to do pretty perfectly, and I'm happy to see this band making these kinds of musical decisions again. But I don't think it's destined to crack "Immortality," "In My Tree," etc. "Great Pearl Jam Song" status--it's a masterful representation of one thing Pearl Jam does well, where their five star songs are masterful representations of all of it.

[BurtReynolds]

4.3

[Mine]

What keeps you from being able to love it?

The only knock on it for me is that its a little too short

I don't know that there's much of a song underneath all the treatment--it's kind of like "Of the Girl" that way, where the song as a written work is serviceable but mainly a vehicle for the presentation, when (with this band anyway) it's usually the other way around. Apart from engineering choices (that vocal effect--ugh) there's really nothing I would do to make "Pendulum" any different; I think it does what it sets out to do pretty perfectly, and I'm happy to see this band making these kinds of musical decisions again. But I don't think it's destined to crack "Immortality," "In My Tree," etc. "Great Pearl Jam Song" status--it's a masterful representation of one thing Pearl Jam does well, where their five star songs are masterful representations of all of it.

Well said by i don't think Pendulum is limited by the kind of song it is in the sense that there is still room for improvement underneath that presentation.

[Got Some]

Very QOTSA I like it!!!

[stip]

What keeps you from being able to love it?

The only knock on it for me is that its a little too short

I don't know that there's much of a song underneath all the treatment--it's kind of like "Of the Girl" that way, where the song as a written work is serviceable but mainly a vehicle for the presentation, when (with this band anyway) it's usually the other way around. Apart from engineering choices (that vocal effect--ugh) there's really nothing I would do to make "Pendulum" any different; I think it does what it sets out to do pretty perfectly, and I'm happy to see this band making these kinds of musical decisions again. But I don't think it's destined to crack "Immortality," "In My Tree," etc. "Great Pearl Jam Song" status--it's a masterful representation of one thing Pearl Jam does well, where their five star songs are masterful representations of all of it.

that is nicely said. Within my own rankings I'd give a 5 star ranking to something that does just one thing well as long as I really adore it. Comatose is a 5 star song for me, even though they are more limited. I suppose within that designation the best 5 star songs are the ones that do it all

[harmless]

What keeps you from being able to love it?

The only knock on it for me is that its a little too short

I don't know that there's much of a song underneath all the treatment--it's kind of like "Of the Girl" that way, where the song as a written work is serviceable but mainly a vehicle for the presentation, when (with this band anyway) it's usually the other way around. Apart from engineering choices (that vocal effect--ugh) there's really nothing I would do to make "Pendulum" any different; I think it does what it sets out to do pretty perfectly, and I'm happy to see this band making these kinds of musical decisions again. But I don't think it's destined to crack "Immortality," "In My Tree," etc. "Great Pearl Jam Song" status--it's a masterful representation of one thing Pearl Jam does well, where their five star songs are masterful representations of all of it.

Well said by i don't think Pendulum is limited by the kind of song it is in the sense that there is still room for improvement underneath that presentation.

Personally I think "Of The Girl" and "Pendulum" are both doing some pretty interesting things in the rhythm department, and the way the rhythms segue between sections. So maybe that's 2 things this song is doing well?

[Mine]

What keeps you from being able to love it?

The only knock on it for me is that its a little too short

I don't know that there's much of a song underneath all the treatment--it's kind of like "Of the Girl" that way, where the song as a written work is serviceable but mainly a vehicle for the presentation, when (with this band anyway) it's usually the other way around. Apart from engineering choices (that vocal effect--ugh) there's really nothing I would do to make "Pendulum" any different; I think it does what it sets out to do pretty perfectly, and I'm happy to see this band making these kinds of musical decisions again. But I don't think it's destined to crack "Immortality," "In My Tree," etc. "Great Pearl Jam Song" status--it's a masterful representation of one thing Pearl Jam does well, where their five star songs are masterful representations of all of it.

Well said by i don't think Pendulum is limited by the kind of song it is in the sense that there is still room for improvement underneath that presentation.

Personally I think "Of The Girl" and "Pendulum" are both doing some pretty interesting things in the rhythm department, and the way the rhythms segue between sections. So maybe that's 2 things this song is doing well?

I'm not arguing that. I agree with Kevin Davis when he says there isn't much of a song beneath the treatment but i don't agree that this kind of presentation excludes there being more of a song underneath it. This doesn't in any way mean this songs aren't doing anything well.

[harmless]

What keeps you from being able to love it?

The only knock on it for me is that its a little too short

I don't know that there's much of a song underneath all the treatment--it's kind of like "Of the Girl" that way, where the song as a written work is serviceable but mainly a vehicle for the presentation, when (with this band anyway) it's usually the other way around. Apart from engineering choices (that vocal effect--ugh) there's really nothing I would do to make "Pendulum" any different; I think it does what it sets out to do pretty perfectly, and I'm happy to see this band making these kinds of musical decisions again. But I don't think it's destined to crack "Immortality," "In My Tree," etc. "Great Pearl Jam Song" status--it's a masterful representation of one thing Pearl Jam does well, where their five star songs are masterful representations of all of it.

Well said by i don't think Pendulum is limited by the kind of song it is in the sense that there is still room for improvement underneath that presentation.

Personally I think "Of The Girl" and "Pendulum" are both doing some pretty interesting things in the rhythm department, and the way the rhythms segue between sections. So maybe that's 2 things this song is doing well?

I'm not arguing that. I agree with Kevin Davis when he says there isn't much of a song beneath the treatment but i don't agree that this kind of presentation excludes there being more of a song underneath it. This doesn't in any way mean this songs aren't doing anything well.

Yeah, I was more adding something rather than disagreeing with anything you guys were saying.

[EJ]

Jeff pronounces this as pendewlum in one of the interviews. I've always pronounced it as pendjalum, and I don't know why. I may have to reconsider some things.

[Kevin Davis]

i don't agree that this kind of presentation excludes there being more of a song underneath it.

No, I don't agree with that either--I didn't say that, did I? I would cite "Fatal," "Nothing As It Seems," "Strangest Tribe," and "Sleight of Hand," to name just a few, as examples of songs that are both masterfully written on a skeletal "music and lyrics" level but are equally evocative as mood pieces, as vehicles for the band to stake out a certain atmospheric space and play around with the sonic canvas.

Personally I think "Of The Girl" and "Pendulum" are both doing some pretty interesting things in the rhythm department, and the way the rhythms segue between sections. So maybe that's 2 things this song is doing well?

Sure--I mean, in pieces, there are many things this song does well. And of course no song is going to be a showcase for everything the band does well, simply because it would be extremely rare for some of those things (like the ferocious rip of "Brain of J" and the desolate drone of "Dead Man," for example) to exist within the scope of the same song. I think I just meant that this song was more of a showcase for sonics, whatever that entails, than for songcraft, and that in most cases the "five star" material--that truly uppermost echelon, that top 5% of their material--brings both of those things to the table in some form.