Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[bada]

Found it. Starting 12/3 it's going to be on the Encore Love channel every night starting from the beginning. I'm psyched.

[Lament]

I always appreciate how seriously you take the listening, whatever conclusions you draw. It feels as if you still think they deserve that... which is nice. I felt like you about Binaural and Riot Act to begin with (for years actually) so there may be hope for this album yet.

I do what I can...

Seriously, though, a lot of people here who I respect like the album a lot, so I do want to give it a fair shake. I'm sure I'll bust it out again in a few months for a start-to-finish listen to see if my feelings change. I've had my fair share of albums that were kinda dormant in my mind for years before all of the sudden walloping me over the head. In the meantime, as I mentioned in the first post, Swallowed Whole will probably keep getting regular plays, as will My Father's Son to a lesser extent, and honestly maybe even Sleeping By Myself here and there after the "moment" I had with the song the other night.

[harmless]

I always appreciate how seriously you take the listening, whatever conclusions you draw. It feels as if you still think they deserve that... which is nice. I felt like you about Binaural and Riot Act to begin with (for years actually) so there may be hope for this album yet.

I do what I can...

Seriously, though, a lot of people here who I respect like the album a lot, so I do want to give it a fair shake. I'm sure I'll bust it out again in a few months for a start-to-finish listen to see if my feelings change. I've had my fair share of albums that were kinda dormant in my mind for years before all of the sudden walloping me over the head. In the meantime, as I mentioned in the first post, Swallowed Whole will probably keep getting regular plays, as will My Father's Son to a lesser extent, and honestly maybe even Sleeping By Myself here and there after the "moment" I had with the song the other night.

I have found that focusing on one-three songs at a time has helped. They're all so different.

[HardTI]

I seriously don't get the dislike of LTRP here. I understand it's mostly just the chorus that people don't like, but what specifically is it about the chorus that people don't like? I'm by no means arguing the merits of anyone's opinion or taste. I'm just wondering what it is specifically that makes the chorus a deal breaker.

I'm going to say again that I really really like this album. Tracks 1-3 are blistering rock songs. These songs all rival any of their counterparts in the catalog Getaway I compare with Ghosts or any other mid tempo rocker. MYM is on par with songs like Save You. MFS is one of their best rock songs, period.

Sirens is still a beautiful ballad. The lyrics are beautiful and Stone and Matt really shine on this one (along with Ed' vocals).

Lightning Bolt isn't holding up as well for me over time, but I'd still consider it a 3.5 or 4 star song. It's catchy and fun and is a really well written tune.

Infallible is fucking awful on the album, but the underlying song is very very good. Live is where this song shows it's true colors. This could have been an all time great PJ song if it was produced differently.

Pendulum seems to be universally loved. I don't love it though. It's the type of song I should love but it just doesn't work for me. I still give it a solid 4 stars and I expect it to click one day and be a 5 star.

SBM is as good or better than I could have imagined. I really only imagined one way they could have pulled it off, and they did just that. Totally met my expectations.

Swallowed Whole is right with MFS as the records best 2 songs and 2 songs that belong in the conversation of Pearl Jam's best songs. I really don't need to elaborate on why this song is awesome (except someone needs to explain to me the "phantom drums" that they hear at the beginning.)

LTRP is fun, has some wicked guitar licks, and really has some nice lyrics. The chorus neither adds or subtracts from the song. There definitely was room to turn the song into something more special, but it's a totally good song as is.

Yellow Moon = Meh. Maybe it will click one day but there's really nothing going on that makes me think it has much of a chance. I can't pick out anything I hate about the song and I also can't pick out a single thing that I love about it. It's just there and serves no purpose.

Future Days can suck an aids dick and die.

[EJ]

LTRP has a wretched chorus/chorus cadence. Once you have the "jeepers creepers" song in your head, it cannot be unheard when listening to this song.

It's a shame too. The rest of the song is pretty good. But this part of it dominates eh song so much that it is hard to appreciate the rest.

Also, I'm still of the hopeful belief that this song did not sound like Stone had envisioned it. Just watch his vignette. There's a dirtyness in his playing there that doesn't find it's way on the finished song.

[stupidmop]

LTRP has a wretched chorus/chorus cadence. Once you have the "jeepers creepers" song in your head, it cannot be unheard when listening to this song.

It's a shame too. The rest of the song is pretty good. But this part of it dominates eh song so much that it is hard to appreciate the rest.

Also, I'm still of the hopeful belief that this song did not sound like Stone had envisioned it. Just watch his vignette. There's a dirtyness in his playing there that doesn't find it's way on the finished song.

That just makes the final outcome worse

[EJ]

Well, it redeems Stone at least. Or does it?

[stupidmop]

Id rather believe that for some reason they all thought that it was a good idea, rather than stone just going 'meh whatever' when eddie shat all over a cool song or whatever.

I think.

[Lament]

Stone doesn't care. He's too busy volumizing his hair.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Stone doesn't care. He's too busy volumizing his hair.

Best hair in the band right now

[Birds in Hell]

Stone doesn't care. He's too busy volumizing his hair.

Best hair in the band right now

Yeah, it's obviously been time well spent.

[Lament]

Stone doesn't care. He's too busy volumizing his hair.

Best hair in the band right now

Yeah, it's obviously been time well spent.

I agree. Long after we've forgotten 85% of the material on LB, we'll still remember the glory of Stone's hair circa-2013.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Stone doesn't care. He's too busy volumizing his hair.

Best hair in the band right now

Yeah, it's obviously been time well spent.

I agree. Long after we've forgotten 85% of the material on LB, we'll still remember the glory of Stone's hair circa-2013.

Its just beautiful

[HardTI]

There's gona be some really cool stone hair gifs coming right guys?

[Lament]

There's gona be some really cool stone hair gifs coming right guys?

Paging Sgt. Crackpot...

[hlniv]

Stone doesn't care. He's too busy volumizing his hair.

Best hair in the band right now

Yeah, it's obviously been time well spent.

I agree. Long after we've forgotten 85% of the material on LB, we'll still remember the glory of Stone's hair circa-2013.

Its just beautiful

From tonight's show

[harmless]

I seriously don't get the dislike of LTRP here. I understand it's mostly just the chorus that people don't like, but what specifically is it about the chorus that people don't like? I'm by no means arguing the merits of anyone's opinion or taste. I'm just wondering what it is specifically that makes the chorus a deal breaker.

I'm going to say again that I really really like this album. Tracks 1-3 are blistering rock songs. These songs all rival any of their counterparts in the catalog Getaway I compare with Ghosts or any other mid tempo rocker. MYM is on par with songs like Save You. MFS is one of their best rock songs, period.

Sirens is still a beautiful ballad. The lyrics are beautiful and Stone and Matt really shine on this one (along with Ed' vocals).

Lightning Bolt isn't holding up as well for me over time, but I'd still consider it a 3.5 or 4 star song. It's catchy and fun and is a really well written tune.

Infallible is fucking awful on the album, but the underlying song is very very good. Live is where this song shows it's true colors. This could have been an all time great PJ song if it was produced differently.

Pendulum seems to be universally loved. I don't love it though. It's the type of song I should love but it just doesn't work for me. I still give it a solid 4 stars and I expect it to click one day and be a 5 star.

SBM is as good or better than I could have imagined. I really only imagined one way they could have pulled it off, and they did just that. Totally met my expectations.

Swallowed Whole is right with MFS as the records best 2 songs and 2 songs that belong in the conversation of Pearl Jam's best songs. I really don't need to elaborate on why this song is awesome (except someone needs to explain to me the "phantom drums" that they hear at the beginning.)

LTRP is fun, has some wicked guitar licks, and really has some nice lyrics. The chorus neither adds or subtracts from the song. There definitely was room to turn the song into something more special, but it's a totally good song as is.

Yellow Moon = Meh. Maybe it will click one day but there's really nothing going on that makes me think it has much of a chance. I can't pick out anything I hate about the song and I also can't pick out a single thing that I love about it. It's just there and serves no purpose.

Future Days can suck an aids dick and die.

So you really, really love the album and can't understand people disliking LTRP, but you dislike 2 or 3 others?

[HardTI]

I seriously don't get the dislike of LTRP here. I understand it's mostly just the chorus that people don't like, but what specifically is it about the chorus that people don't like? I'm by no means arguing the merits of anyone's opinion or taste. I'm just wondering what it is specifically that makes the chorus a deal breaker.

I'm going to say again that I really really like this album. Tracks 1-3 are blistering rock songs. These songs all rival any of their counterparts in the catalog Getaway I compare with Ghosts or any other mid tempo rocker. MYM is on par with songs like Save You. MFS is one of their best rock songs, period.

Sirens is still a beautiful ballad. The lyrics are beautiful and Stone and Matt really shine on this one (along with Ed' vocals).

Lightning Bolt isn't holding up as well for me over time, but I'd still consider it a 3.5 or 4 star song. It's catchy and fun and is a really well written tune.

Infallible is fucking awful on the album, but the underlying song is very very good. Live is where this song shows it's true colors. This could have been an all time great PJ song if it was produced differently.

Pendulum seems to be universally loved. I don't love it though. It's the type of song I should love but it just doesn't work for me. I still give it a solid 4 stars and I expect it to click one day and be a 5 star.

SBM is as good or better than I could have imagined. I really only imagined one way they could have pulled it off, and they did just that. Totally met my expectations.

Swallowed Whole is right with MFS as the records best 2 songs and 2 songs that belong in the conversation of Pearl Jam's best songs. I really don't need to elaborate on why this song is awesome (except someone needs to explain to me the "phantom drums" that they hear at the beginning.)

LTRP is fun, has some wicked guitar licks, and really has some nice lyrics. The chorus neither adds or subtracts from the song. There definitely was room to turn the song into something more special, but it's a totally good song as is.

Yellow Moon = Meh. Maybe it will click one day but there's really nothing going on that makes me think it has much of a chance. I can't pick out anything I hate about the song and I also can't pick out a single thing that I love about it. It's just there and serves no purpose.

Future Days can suck an aids dick and die.

So you really, really love the album and can't understand people disliking LTRP, but you dislike 2 or 3 others?

What does me disliking a few songs have to do with me being curious about why some dislike LTRP? It's a very specific thing that I'm interested in. Also I said I DO understand that it's mostly the chorus that some people don't like. I was really wondering what specifically about the chorus is grating or not working. Come on, Harmy. My post wasn't that crazy.

And damnit man, YOU were the one I was hoping could answer that "phantom drums" question. Can you explain that part to me? I hear some type of weird clanky bangy noises in the distance in the first 10 seconds or so of SW. Is that the phantom drums or am I just hearing things at this point?

[BladeRunner]

I don't get whether you like the album or not either! What the fuck do you mean with Infallible is awful? yellow Moon is meh? Those are like two of the more 'liked' songs on the album yet you defend LTRP (which is a plodder at best) then bring the hate for obviously better tracks!
Oh btw how could Pendulum not 'click' and be 4 stars man? You need to revisit your mini review and evaluate it again..me thinks.

[HardTI]

I don't get whether you like the album or not either! What the fuck do you mean with Infallible is awful? yellow Moon is meh? Those are like two of the more 'liked' songs on the album yet you defend LTRP (which is a plodder at best) then bring the hate for obviously better tracks!
Oh btw how could Pendulum not 'click' and be 4 stars man? You need to revisit your mini review and evaluate it again..me thinks.

To start I said I really really like the album, so I think that should answer your first issue on whether or not I like the album. If you read what I wrote I was pretty clear that I really really like it and that there are only 2-3 songs that I don't love. Overall that sounds like I think this album is pretty great, no?

About the songs I don't quite care for...personal taste man. I don't really care what you or others like. I said what songs I like and do not love (notice even the songs I didn't love I still have some sort of major appreciation for). I'm happy to elaborate on the songs I don't care for if you ask. That's all I did with LTRP.

Infallible, I actually rather dig, but only live. I don't like that guitar effect or keyboard or whatever the fuck that sound is on the main guitars during the verses. That's really my only beef with the song. Like I said, live the song is amazing so I do actually think it's a great song. I just don't really like the album version.

Pendulum, well I really love the mellow and more atmospheric PJ songs. Songs like Sleight of Hand and Strangest Tribe are 2 of my favorite PJ songs. This song has elements of them both. Basically it has everything I want in a PJ song, but it hasn't resonated with me yet. I can still appreciate a song for what it is without actually enjoying the tune itself, can't I? The song has all of the elements of a PJ song that I would/should love, but I just haven't connected with it yet. I just really appreciate the tune itself. Please don't tell me that you've never found a great song that you just don't quite love. If not I'm sorry you can't appreciate good song writing.