Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[E.H. Ruddock]

I can't shake the feeling I get from some of these songs that they sound like they are Backspacer songs. But only some. Not sure if that is the production or what, but Lightning Bolt, Mind Your Manners, My Father's Son, and Swallowed Whole have that sound for me.

On the other hand, Yellow Moon, Pendulum, Sirens, and Infallible don't and I'm really enjoying those songs much more.

After many listens now I can't decide if I like Getaway or not.

[Farmer John]

The Getaway glow has faded quite a bit for me. Yellow Moon, on the other hand, keeps...uh...rising.

[harmless]

I like Getaway a lot other than the dreadfully unexciting intro. I just wish there was more going on there. But the rest is cool enough.

[EJ]

Its a good album. And, I'm still listening to it start to finish. Some listens certain songs stand out, and other times those same songs don't.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

I like Getaway a lot other than the dreadfully unexciting intro. I just wish there was more going on there. But the rest is cool enough.

That's what knocks to way down for me, it gets pretty good, but takes a bit to get there

[hlniv]

So, it's a been a solid month, and yes, it's time to reflect a little

Getaway - It's hard to resist skipping due to the flat intro. I wish it had that initial POP like some of the other album openers. It gets there, but if anything, this song has become a little dull through more listens. It never was a 5 star song for me, but i think it's 3.5 at best. I love how it finishes, i just don't always get there.

MYM - This is holding up well. It's short and fast, easy to listen to and it rocks. It has grown

My Father's Son - Best rocker since Comatose or Severed Hand, maybe since Save You. It's different, yet somehow it's still exactly Pearl Jam. 5 stars

Sirens - Bleh. I skip it all the time. I like it OK, but there's only a few types of occasions where I want to hear it, when those occasisions arise, it's a great, lovely song. The performance is fine, but, it's just not what I want to hear very often when I put on PJ. And its already overplayed

Lightning Bolt - This one has also grown a lot. Hearing the live versions and Fallon have vaulted into a highlight song for me. However, all i hear on the album cut are the damn shakers and tambourines. Horrible mix, this song should be so much better on the record.

Infallible - Still can't put my finger on this one. I love it at times, and others it just plods. The jumbled mix has a lot to do with it, i still can't distinguish hardly any individual parts, it's just a wall of sound. I've had moments where it's my favorite on the record, and others, where i just skip it immediately.

Pendulum - Why couldn't they have added a 90 second rock out at the end of this, when the drums get interesting? I still like it, I'll listen through almost every time it starts, it's a moody sing along, and that will always mean it will play well for me. But, it just feels stunted. This could have been Present Tense with the right rockin' outro.

Swallowed Whole - Solid, I immediately enjoyed it the first couple of times I heard it and I still do almost unchanged. I think the bridge into the solo is one of the best moments on the album

Let the Records Play - Bleh. Bridge is decent, but this one is and will remain a skipper for quite some time. I just don't think they hit the mark with what they were trying to do. Either blues it out and own it, or take that opening riff and do something a little edgier with it. This song suffers from an identity crisis. Worst song on the album.

Sleeping by Myself - I enjoy this more now that I've somewhat forgotten how idiotic it is to even be on the album. It really is a nice song, the mix and production seems perfect for it, i find myself wanting to hear it and it rarely gets skipped now. Definitely has grown

Yellow Moon - Classic PJ. Has only grown for me. Lyrics are engaging, and the last 60-90 seconds of this reminds why I like this band. The whole becomes more than the sum of the parts.

Future Days - This song gets a bad rap. The damn piano and the thin cheap sounding intro guitar are hard to get past, but once you do, it's a beautiful song. The middle half of the track is top notch.

30 day summary
Great - My Father's Son, Yellow Moon, Lightning Bolt

Good - Getaway, MYM, Pendulum, Swallowed Whole, Sleeping by Myself

Hit & Miss (Sometimes good, sometimes poor) - Sirens, Infallible, Future Days

Poor - Let the Records Play

[Mine]

Pendulum - Why couldn't they have added a 90 second rock out at the end of this, when the drums get interesting? I still like it, I'll listen through almost every time it starts, it's a moody sing along, and that will always mean it will play well for me. But, it just feels stunted. This could have been Present Tense with the right rockin' outro.

Jeff and Stone were hanging out jamming and Jeff was playing keyboards and Stone was playing bongos with a guitar cable for a weird effect.

-John Burton stayed late and was recording and guiding the idea

-"IF BRENDAN WAS THERE" Jeff says, IT LIKELY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN RECORDED

-When Ed got a hold of it, it was on... he put such a beautiful but haunting vocal and lyric to it.

I guess neither Jeff,Stone, John Burton and latter Ed were able to "guide the idea" anywhere further.
This was linked in the B'OB bitching thread and i'm surprised it was largely ignored.
I agree with you about Pendulum but I'm surprised when people praise the song writing in this songs because i think it actually displays Jeff's and Stone's weaknesses as songwriters far more than does their strengths for the reasons you described.

[digster]

As time goes on, Pendulum and Yellow Moon in particular feel more away from the pack in terms of album highlights.

Mind Your Manners has remained one of the better songs, in my eyes, which surprises me considering how I felt when I first heard it.

[WtOB?]

-"IF BRENDAN WAS THERE" Jeff says, IT LIKELY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN RECORDED

man, bo'b is the worst guy.

[stupidmop]

Pendulum - Why couldn't they have added a 90 second rock out at the end of this, when the drums get interesting? I still like it, I'll listen through almost every time it starts, it's a moody sing along, and that will always mean it will play well for me. But, it just feels stunted. This could have been Present Tense with the right rockin' outro.

Jeff and Stone were hanging out jamming and Jeff was playing keyboards and Stone was playing bongos with a guitar cable for a weird effect.

[bctrack]-[/bctrack]John Burton stayed late and was recording and guiding the idea

-"IF BRENDAN WAS THERE" Jeff says, IT LIKELY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN RECORDED

-When Ed got a hold of it, it was on... he put such a beautiful but haunting vocal and lyric to it.

I guess neither Jeff,Stone, John Burton and latter Ed were able to "guide the idea" anywhere further.
This was linked in the B'OB bitching thread and i'm surprised it was largely ignored.
I agree with you about Pendulum but I'm surprised when people praise the song writing in this songs because i think it actually displays Jeff's and Stone's weaknesses as songwriters far more than does their strengths for the reasons you described.

I think on a different album it would have worked well as a little interlude/non song, the problem as it is, is that the music is so different/ much more interesting than the rest of lb so it stands out too much to do that here.

And as always, fuck bo'b. Srsly.

I saw a quote somewhere (from the new issue of deep I think?), where Jeff said his current favourite pj album is binaural, be still my b-balling heart. Binaural finally gets some lovin.

[VinylGuy]

Pendulum - Why couldn't they have added a 90 second rock out at the end of this, when the drums get interesting? I still like it, I'll listen through almost every time it starts, it's a moody sing along, and that will always mean it will play well for me. But, it just feels stunted. This could have been Present Tense with the right rockin' outro.

Jeff and Stone were hanging out jamming and Jeff was playing keyboards and Stone was playing bongos with a guitar cable for a weird effect.

[bctrack]-[/bctrack]John Burton stayed late and was recording and guiding the idea

-"IF BRENDAN WAS THERE" Jeff says, IT LIKELY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN RECORDED

-When Ed got a hold of it, it was on... he put such a beautiful but haunting vocal and lyric to it.

I guess neither Jeff,Stone, John Burton and latter Ed were able to "guide the idea" anywhere further.
This was linked in the B'OB bitching thread and i'm surprised it was largely ignored.
I agree with you about Pendulum but I'm surprised when people praise the song writing in this songs because i think it actually displays Jeff's and Stone's weaknesses as songwriters far more than does their strengths for the reasons you described.

I think on a different album it would have worked well as a little interlude/non song, the problem as it is, is that the music is so different/ much more interesting than the rest of lb so it stands out too much to do that here.

And as always, fuck bo'b. Srsly.

I saw a quote somewhere (from the new issue of deep I think?), where Jeff said his current favourite pj album is binaural, be still my b-balling heart. Binaural finally gets some lovin.

Jeff is going trough a very interesting phase as a songwriter.

[harmless]

I like Getaway a lot other than the dreadfully unexciting intro. I just wish there was more going on there. But the rest is cool enough.

That's what knocks to way down for me, it gets pretty good, but takes a bit to get there

Like I've said, I wish more Pearl Jam songs were truly awesome from the beginning these days. So many of them seem to be exercises in getting to the end (the exciting bit). One of the reasons I like Sirens is because, whether you like it or not, there's something *going on* from the beginning.

[WtOB?]

Pendulum - Why couldn't they have added a 90 second rock out at the end of this, when the drums get interesting? I still like it, I'll listen through almost every time it starts, it's a moody sing along, and that will always mean it will play well for me. But, it just feels stunted. This could have been Present Tense with the right rockin' outro.

Jeff and Stone were hanging out jamming and Jeff was playing keyboards and Stone was playing bongos with a guitar cable for a weird effect.

[bctrack]-[/bctrack]John Burton stayed late and was recording and guiding the idea

-"IF BRENDAN WAS THERE" Jeff says, IT LIKELY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN RECORDED

-When Ed got a hold of it, it was on... he put such a beautiful but haunting vocal and lyric to it.

I guess neither Jeff,Stone, John Burton and latter Ed were able to "guide the idea" anywhere further.
This was linked in the B'OB bitching thread and i'm surprised it was largely ignored.
I agree with you about Pendulum but I'm surprised when people praise the song writing in this songs because i think it actually displays Jeff's and Stone's weaknesses as songwriters far more than does their strengths for the reasons you described.

I think on a different album it would have worked well as a little interlude/non song, the problem as it is, is that the music is so different/ much more interesting than the rest of lb so it stands out too much to do that here.

And as always, fuck bo'b. Srsly.

I saw a quote somewhere (from the new issue of deep I think?), where Jeff said his current favourite pj album is binaural, be still my b-balling heart. Binaural finally gets some lovin.

jeff is definitely my fav these days.

[Strat]

Pendulum - Why couldn't they have added a 90 second rock out at the end of this, when the drums get interesting? I still like it, I'll listen through almost every time it starts, it's a moody sing along, and that will always mean it will play well for me. But, it just feels stunted. This could have been Present Tense with the right rockin' outro.

Jeff and Stone were hanging out jamming and Jeff was playing keyboards and Stone was playing bongos with a guitar cable for a weird effect.

[bctrack]-[/bctrack]John Burton stayed late and was recording and guiding the idea

-"IF BRENDAN WAS THERE" Jeff says, IT LIKELY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN RECORDED

-When Ed got a hold of it, it was on... he put such a beautiful but haunting vocal and lyric to it.

I guess neither Jeff,Stone, John Burton and latter Ed were able to "guide the idea" anywhere further.
This was linked in the B'OB bitching thread and i'm surprised it was largely ignored.
I agree with you about Pendulum but I'm surprised when people praise the song writing in this songs because i think it actually displays Jeff's and Stone's weaknesses as songwriters far more than does their strengths for the reasons you described.

I think on a different album it would have worked well as a little interlude/non song, the problem as it is, is that the music is so different/ much more interesting than the rest of lb so it stands out too much to do that here.

And as always, fuck bo'b. Srsly.

I saw a quote somewhere (from the new issue of deep I think?), where Jeff said his current favourite pj album is binaural, be still my b-balling heart. Binaural finally gets some lovin.

jeff is definitely my fav these days.

When did he say this and why has he not pushed for more binaural on stage !?

[KurtLeon]

I Guess its time for me to do my gif review of Ligtning Bolt.

Getaway:


Mind Your Manners:


My Father's Son:


Sirens:


Lightning Bolt:


Infalible:


Pendulum:


Swallowed Whole:


Let The Records Play:


Sleeping By Myself:


Yellow Moon:


Future Days:

[stip]

I was able to give this a good loud listen for the first time in about a week on my way into work this morning.


I really love this album. Such an enjoyable listen from start to finish, and one of my favorites to sing along to. Possibly my favorites. Sirens, Infallible, Pendulum, Sleeping by Myself, and Future Days in particular.

you like Future Days? Its the only one i cant stand. It might be the worst PJ song from their official albums.

It was the last hold out. It was even an ephinanal moment or anything. I just started getting used to it, and then I started zeroing in on parts I liked, and then one day I found myself skipping to it and thought 'holy crap, I really like this song'.

I'd put it ahead of getaway, mfs, LTRP, and swallowed whole. And the only person who won't think I'm crazy is McParadigm

[stip]

I like Getaway a lot other than the dreadfully unexciting intro. I just wish there was more going on there. But the rest is cool enough.

after the science says lyrics there is this really cool screeching guitar thing happening in the background that I wish was more prominent throughout the song.

[Strat]

I was able to give this a good loud listen for the first time in about a week on my way into work this morning.


I really love this album. Such an enjoyable listen from start to finish, and one of my favorites to sing along to. Possibly my favorites. Sirens, Infallible, Pendulum, Sleeping by Myself, and Future Days in particular.

you like Future Days? Its the only one i cant stand. It might be the worst PJ song from their official albums.

It was the last hold out. It was even an ephinanal moment or anything. I just started getting used to it, and then I started zeroing in on parts I liked, and then one day I found myself skipping to it and thought 'holy crap, I really like this song'.

I'd put it ahead of getaway, mfs, LTRP, and swallowed whole. And the only person who won't think I'm crazy is McParadigm

Epophany. Like lightning struck my brain.....

[WaitingForBluey]

I Guess its time for me to do my gif review of Ligtning Bolt.

Future Days:

I just laughed my ass off at this for some reason

[Heathen]

ephinanal