Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Riot Act

[digster]

It's fascinating how differently people can hear things; Mike's 'All or None' solo is, without question in my mind, the best solo he ever played on record.

I don't think I have a problem with his solo. I have a problem with the song its coming out of, which does take away from the experience of the solo

It's also their last five-star song, IMO, besides possibly Man of the Hour. So I can hear it supporting what's a fantastic song already. It's probably the only solo he's played that actually had an emotional impact, besides "wow, that sounds really cool."

[bada]

First time I heard You Are I was actually pissed. I thought it was the dumbest song I ever heard and a complete waste of space. I was wrong.

yup, pretty much for me too, on both counts

I wasn't till I saw it live that it clicked. As I was watching it I was wondering why Mike didn't play the riff he was doing live on the album and then when I listened to the album it was there. Somehow I didn't hear it before! I much prefer it live Mike rules but the album version is good too. I mean Love Is A Tower is kinda silly but over all I really like it.

[harmless]

Okay, I'm gonna go back now and listen to TMW again, just for the drumming. I'll make sure i clean out my butts before I do

One of the reasons I like his drumming on this song is that he uses brushes. This is something he stopped doing after Riot Act, for some reason I could never figure out. "Speed of Sound" is the worst offender for a song that should've been played with brushes instead of sticks. But I was commenting on the album version, you might be right about the chop suey version... is that the 'live' video one? I'm not surprised Matt sounds too loud if so.

[stip]

it is live.

[mikejasond]

I think I Am Mine is one of my least favorite Pearl Jam songs. Probably my least favorite that people actually like. I dunno...I just find it to be really boring, and especially hate the chorus. The instrumental parts are cool, but I don't like the rest.

I like Save You and Can't Keep a lot though

[mikejasond]

I'm listening to it again now for the first time in a while. I don't know all of these songs since this is the album I listened to the least. Probably only 3 times or so ever. But I know some from live versions and PJ radio.

Can't Keep: I still really like this song, and find it to be a great opener...at least for this album. Obviously it wouldn't work on a Backspacer but it's good for this one.

Save You: I always thought this one was one of the cooler PJ songs. I really really really like the tambourine-ish sound...or shakers or whatever it is on the chorus. I think Pearl Jam's best rock songs are always pretty groovy too, maybe the lack of that is why I hate the ones from Binaural. Even World Wide Suicide is pretty bouncy. The riffs on Save You are all cool. The lyrics aren't amazing, but I put less value on lyrics unless the song is brought way up by them (Elderly Woman, Black) or way down (can't really think of an example right now unless Satan's Bed is supposed to be serious). It's sort of a jump from Can't Keep, but this song has so few good songs they might as well group them all together and get it over with.

Love Boat Captain: I dunno why you guys all hate on this song. I actually like it. I don't like the 'All you need is love' line though. I don't like when songs quote other songs, it sort of takes me out of it for some reason. I like the song building up as it goes. I love whenever Eddie gets to soar with his voice ("when all is lost THERE WIIILLL be you"). I also don't think Eddie sounds bad here at all, I dunno. He sounds fine to me, even if it's not quite Given to Fly. I also like the final verse going back to him and the organ. That whole rise and fall structure of the song is great. I think this one of the most natural feeling builds they have, (to me Unthought Known felt sort of artificial...maybe it was the keys). Overall I just like it.

Cropduster: Oh. THIS song. I forgot this song was a song. Despite that it's not bad. But to me this for some reason gets associated in mind with this generic mid-era-PJ sound, as just a generic song for them in the period. I dunno if they really wrote a lot of songs that sound like this, or if I just for some reason consider this song to be many songs but all I know is whenever I hear it I feel like it's same-y with their others. Also I dunno the lyrics, but if this has anything to do with crops and harvest it does not at all make that impression on me. I like the "world thought me" part of the song though. It's okay overall. It's not bad but I would never listen to it on my own volition.

Ghost: See my comments on Cropduster. I feel the same way about Ghost with sounding kind of generic to me. I guess I just don't see what's really to like about it. I mean they're playing and playing and it sounds nice and all, but nothing connects with me. It's just there. I don't have much of a feeling at all about it. The solos are nice though. It just doesn't seem to go anywhere, it feels static to me, like the rockers did on Binaural even if the feel is different. It just seems like it's all in one chord or something until the chorus, and Eddie isn't doing anything interesting either so I'm just hanging there feeling like nothing's happening. To me Life Wasted is a similar song done much much much better, and what modern-Pearl Jam ideally would sound like. This song would never be on one of their first couple albums, and I just don't in general like this era for them.

[McParadigm]

it is live.

It doesn't quite seem to capture the dignified majesty of this band's gripping stage presence.

[mikejasond]

I Am Mine: As I said above, I think this is my least favorite song of theirs that people actually like. I dunno what it is. I just find it to be a very boring song. I like the intro and any instrumental section (like when they do a heavier version of the intro riff later on after the chorus.) That sounds great. But I find the lyrical sections boring, ESPECIALLY the chorus. I just don't like the way it sounds. I don't like the vocal melody or the guitar line. I dunno. Just a personal thing I guess. The verse is ok at first, but I get tired of it quickly. I also feel like the lyrics sound sort of dumb ("The North is to South what the clock is to time"), which in this case, since there isn't much else to listen to, does take it back a bit for me. If it was a minute shorter I might not mind too much, but the last repeating chorus seals the deal for me and makes me give it a thumbs down. The ending solo can't save it.

Thumbing My Way: Wow I forgot this song was on this album. I love this song. A lot. I dunno what it says about me, but I loved this song as well as Thin Air on the last album. I wish Eddie would do songs like this more often because it so suits his voice. I like all of them, except for Just Breathe, since his voice is missing some quality I can't describe that he had here. In fact, though I love Off He Goes I may like this song a little more. Something in Eddie's voice just feels more raw and authentic. I feel like I'm sitting with him and the band around a fire or something, and it's peaceful (even if the lyrics are dark). I like the shifting keys, which manages to build the song without increasing the volume much. I once again want a folk song album by Pearl Jam, that isn't Ukulele Songs.

You Are: When this song starts it's really cool. But it falls victim to what a lot of songs on this album do. It's pretty boring. The change into the chorus the first time sounds very cool. But then the novelty wears off for me. I like the sound of it but not enough to not feel bored as it continues on. All the songs on this album are so un-exciting with a few exceptions. The whole album drags on, with none of it sounding BAD but none of it exciting.

[mikejasond]

Get Right: I don't remember this song at all. It's pretty much a slightly catchy average song on an album that needs a song that's better than average. Honestly what happened to the band that wrote Even Flow and Once and Daughter? Those songs were so interesting. I do like Mike's soloing but this seems like a filler song to me for sure. A song that really leaves no impression. I can see on this song the style that would evolve into Avocado, but Avocado does it much better because it never feels static.

Green Disease: A lot of the songs on this album are ones I've never liked, and always feel disappointed when they come up on live albums, and wait patiently for it to end to get to something better. This listen through isn't changing my opinion much at all, besides the first half of the album being a bit better than I remembered. I used to lump this album in with Binaural, but Binaural actually has a lot more songs I like, and is a lot stronger in my opinion than this one. It just feels very uninspired to me. Or maybe too much Eddie Vedder influence or something.

[mikejasond]

Help Help: I find it easier to talk about songs I like than those I don't. I don't have much to say about this besides it again feels like a filler track, that is pretty easily forgotten from their catalog. Actually I'd say the only songs on this album so far really worth remembering were Can't Keep, Save You, Love Boat Captain, and I Am Mine (though I personally don't like it.) I also liked Thumbing my Way but its' not really a classic. And actually putting Can't Keep on there is a bit iffy since it really doesn't work as well when removed from its spot as an opener (I honestly feel the same way about Last Exit and Sometimes, both of which I like on their albums, but don't really hold up to me as well as individual songs.) That's fine in context, but it also isn't exactly great that there's so many songs on here that might as well just be forgotten.

Bu$hleaguer: Gahh....honestly this song is hard for me to judge. I so wish he wrote this song about something else. The shots at George Bush kind of make me roll my eyes, and also make the song sound very dated. Not only that, but the lyrics aren't even good enough to make it work. Maybe if they were like amazing or something it'd work in spite of the subject matter, but it just feels sort of awkward to listen to. It's just too in-your-face. But what really bothers me most, is that I really love the music! Like, I love the intro and solo which sound great, and I think the chorus and even the spoken-verses are really cool and its in my opinion one of the best sounding and most interesting songs on the album. I wish he picked another song to talk about Bush and didn't waste this one, because it really could have been a cool song that would be more viable if he had changed the lyrics.

1/2 Full: If Red Mosquito didn't exist then I would like this song more, but I mean...cmon. It sounds so similar to it in the 3/4 time and the guitar tone and solos and overall structure. Fact: I used to think this song was Red Mosquito with an alternate title when I used to see it on PJ Radio before I knew them well enough, like how Elderly Woman was sometimes called Small Town. I do like the way it sounds though and I may honestly like the chorus better than the Red Mosquito chorus which I never liked and wished it would return to the verses. So I guess it's not bad, but it's hard not to think of Red Mosquito while it's playing. And I think its too little too late for this album at this point.

[mikejasond]

Arc: As Pearl Jam filler tracks goes, it's better than Aye Davenita I suppose. But I don't like when Pearl Jam puts filler tracks on their albums very much unless they're really good. I like Soon Forget and Push Me Pull Me. I think for a song like this to work, the album would have to be really really good before it, so it feels like a little interlude, but half of this album felt like filler so it isn't earned.

All or None: After in my opinion not having a real great song since Thumbing my Way, the album at least closes on a very nice note. I always Eddie singing the low songs like this. But I will say that as those songs go this isn't exactly one of the better ones. I think this might be the worst of their album closers honestly besides Future Days (I'm of course counting Immortality as Vitalogy's). But it's still good. But they have many songs that fill this role and are much better. For example, I wouldn't really want them to put this song in an Encore 1 or anything, since I'd rather hear them do their other similar songs. But it's good, and I like the solo. It's also one of the songs where Eddie's vocals work out the most. He sounds great on it. I know his sound is different here than it was on the first 5 or so albums, but whatever it is that's different he nails this song and it really hits its mark for me. Actually I'm writing this as I listen and as it continues it really does get better and better. It gets a thumbs up and ends the album on a good note but its not enough to redeem the rest.

[mikejasond]

Overall: I still think Riot Act is the worst album. On first listen I hated all of it. On repeated listens, a couple songs have grown on me. But overall I really only exit with a greater appreciation for Can't Keep, Save You, Love Boat Captain, Thumbing My Way, and All or None. And of those 5, I really would only want the middle three to ever pop up live. And of those three, only Save You I would REALLY want to pop up live. That's not a good track record at all, and the rest of the album is in my opinion very forgettable. Add I am Mine and You Are to songs worth remembering, and I honestly think the rest could be discarded from the catalog and I wouldn't even notice.

Bu$hleaguer comes close to being good, and really could have been, but unfortunately couldn't survive the lyrics. I should have mentioned that before when trying to think of a song that dies because of its lyrics, and its really the perfect perfect example. The song sounds great, and is one of the only songs on the album that I think sounds interesting, but the lyrics shoot it down before it gets a chance to be great.

Overall I think this was the flattest Pearl Jam has ever sounded. I think that's an Eddie Vedder thing, but there's a sense to me that after the song is over its left no impression and they all bleed together a lot for me. This was present in the harder parts of Binaural as well. Life Wasted would finally perfect the modern Pearl Jam sound though, with a similar garage-y simplicity to the riffs, but a sense that you're not just hanging static in one space, but that there's a real life to the songs. That's in the whole band. It sounds less cluttered and boring, and the vocal lines are more interesting as well. I think Avocado is underrated, but as for Riot Act it's still definitely my least favorite album competing with Backspacer, since Binaural on my last couple listens has managed to sit in a third-least-favorite space but has escaped the three-way tie. .

[mikejasond]

Also all Pearl Jam albums are front-heavy besides maybe Backspacer, but this one takes the cake because the first 7 songs are leagues above the last 9.

Edit: This is to the point that my opinion of the album's quality would essentially double if it was just the first 8 songs (I left You Are on because it makes a better closer).

[Jorge]

You have terrible taste, mikejasond, but I appreciate your posts.

[mikejasond]

You have terrible taste, mikejasond, but I appreciate your posts.

lol I'll take it as a compliment.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

I still maintain that the chorus of "I Am Mine" sounds like a bad Creed outtake. Nobody in the whole world agrees with me, but I stand by it.

[bada]

Not enough huuuurrrrsssss.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

Not enough huuuurrrrsssss.

The music. The chords. The keyboard strings in the background. I can see Eddie Vedder on a mountain top with arms outstretched. Mike is on an adjoining mountaintop, ripping a solo.

[DeLima]

Wendy we need you in OB for a moment. Stip just called Bleach a novelty record.

[Jorge]

It doesn't really sound like Creed. Doesn't that dude write exclusively in drop D?