Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[dimejinky99]

I agree.

[harmless]

It has the best bridge on the album.

Where did you even hear it was eligible for ITW? Pointless comment to make if it was written afterwards.

It really doesn't. LTRP probably has the best bridge.
And have you read the lyrics? Fits more with ITW than LB really.

That's... an interesting view on LTRP.

You wouldn't have an issue where it "fits" if you liked the song. I think it fits perfectly, lyrically. The lyrics are too deliberately spiritual/religious about nature to be part of ITW, imo. Also, given the subject of oblivion and death that it deals with, it's a fine fit for this album. It chimes with the subject of LTRP really well, which also takes place at the end of the world and speaks of oblivion.

[harmless]

Also, "I could be the sun" chimes nicely with Yellow Moon, as its opposite.

[dimejinky99]

Interesting.
SW is at the bottom of the pile for me right now.
Though it was ok live.

I haven't listened to the Brooklyn boots yet.

[stip]

Also, "I could be the sun" chimes nicely with Yellow Moon, as its opposite.

Interesting observation

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Interesting.
SW is at the bottom of the pile for me right now.
Though it was ok live.

I haven't listened to the Brooklyn boots yet.

It was really good live, all of the songs i heard translated really well i think

[harmless]

Also, "I could be the sun" chimes nicely with Yellow Moon, as its opposite.

Interesting observation

I love joining dots between songs; this album is very conducive to it.

[dimejinky99]

Also, "I could be the sun" chimes nicely with Yellow Moon, as its opposite.

Interesting observation

I love joining dots between songs; this album is very conducive to it.

I could be a big hard sun

[McParadigm]

I'm like an opening band for the sun but how fast the sun can drop away which is okay because there's a trapdoor in the sun and don't it make you smile when the lemon yellow sun don't shine its like youre waiting for a sun that just dont come so maybe the sun is just another of those images I'm drawn to and utilize a bit much.

[stip]

I'm like an opening band for the sun but how fast the sun can drop away which is okay because there's a trapdoor in the sun and don't it make you smile when the lemon yellow sun don't shine its like youre waiting for a sun that just dont come so maybe the sun is just another of those images I'm drawn to and utilize a bit much.

6 songs out of 165 is really not a problem.

[McParadigm]

I'm not calling it a problem. I'm not even trying to shit on the lyrics on the album. I'm saying that THAT'S a really surface level connection to draw, and particularly "reachy" considering it utilizes such commonly used imagery.

[stip]

I'm not calling it a problem. I'm not even trying to shit on the lyrics on the album. I'm saying that THAT'S a really surface level connection to draw, and particularly "reachy" considering it utilizes such commonly used imagery.

Two songs about oblivion though. One life affirming and one not

[harmless]

I'm not calling it a problem. I'm not even trying to shit on the lyrics on the album. I'm saying that THAT'S a really surface level connection to draw, and particularly "reachy" considering it utilizes such commonly used imagery.

We're talking about two songs within one album, though. Whether or not Ed has obsessions he constantly writes about (he does), he still writes about them in a particular way in this album as opposed to other albums. Example: "Future Days" isn't just a rehashed "Just Breathe" because it utilises religious end-times language. As usual, I think you'd entertain these ideas if you liked the music more, and you probably even have with past albums. Whether or not Ed meant these connections, they're still part of my enjoyment of the album and obviously should be considered as one of the album's strengths as a piece.

[McParadigm]

Again, I'm not shitting on the lyrics.

And if there IS something about the lyrics on this album that I find interesting, it's the fact that they seem to succinctly package the little contradictions and ambiguities that have featured in Ed's lyrics regarding religion, pretty much from day one. The difficulty he has in separating core concepts from surface level grievances and external destructive manipulations, the seemingly want to be defined as atheistic or at least agnostic matched with an almost obsessive draw toward the concept of transcendence, etc.

For an album that begins by putting its faith in no faith, yet needs a getaway, and ultimately ends by saying that it believes because it can "see" something that cannot be seen, I think most of what is interesting in the lyrics are the pieces that draw back to that journey (if a journey is what it is). Even the title track personifies artistic inspiration as an external force that acts upon you, rather than being a part of you, and celebrates that fact...a celebration which is not hard to connect to the larger concept.

I just think the sun/moon juxtaposition is an unremarkable and possibly unintended connection, and there's not anything about it that jumps out as suggesting that it was a crafted intricacy.

[harmless]

Again, I'm not shitting on the lyrics.

And if there IS something about the lyrics on this album that I find interesting, it's the fact that they seem to succinctly package the little contradictions and ambiguities that have featured in Ed's lyrics regarding religion, pretty much from day one. The difficulty he has in separating core concepts from surface level grievances and external destructive manipulations, the seemingly want to be defined as atheistic or at least agnostic matched with an almost obsessive draw toward the concept of transcendence, etc.

For an album that begins by putting its faith in no faith, yet needs a getaway, and ultimately ends by saying that it believes because it can "see" something that cannot be seen, I think most of what is interesting in the lyrics are the pieces that draw back to that journey (if a journey is what it is). Even the title track personifies artistic inspiration as an external force that acts upon you, rather than being a part of you, and celebrates that fact...a celebration which is not hard to connect to the larger concept.

I just think the sun/moon juxtaposition is an unremarkable and possibly unintended connection, and there's not anything about it that jumps out as suggesting that it was a crafted intricacy.

Nice post, and I agree with you. The sun / moon thing is just a throwaway thing that I enjoy (and the image acts as a kind of synecdoche which links the subjects of the songs together). The icing on a cake. There are much more interesting observations to make, for sure, and you've made some of them here. I don't think these accidents should be dismissed just for being accidents, otherwise we'd have to interview people to find out exactly what they meant, and didn't, and no one really knows.

[harmless]

This probably belongs in the lyrics thread at this point, but I also like how both connotations of "siren" are taken up through the album; "lighthouses" that attract and lure sailors to their deaths on the rocks, and also the rescue services that save our lives. Both links to life and death and mortality / immortality.

[McParadigm]

This kind of discussion is exactly why a fan made documentary of the middle records would be vastly superior to the exercise in masturbation that was PJ20

[harmless]

The Fans Aren't Just Alright, They're Cleverer Than Your Average Celebrity Endorsers.

[dimejinky99]

I'm not sure.
There aren't really any great themes or huge secrets to be discovered or revealed by the band talking about the albums. I really believe them when they say 'we each had about 6 or 7 ideas and we just went in and bashed them all out into songs'.
Is there anything else to discover, really?

[harmless]

You're a bit negative today, dime.