Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[hlniv]

This is quickly devolving into a debate over the definition of "similar"

Same thing happened to the "experimental" thread

[stip]

I think Sirens is good. But I never said it's as good as Black.

[dimejinky99]

It's far more enjoyable than black. Black is embarrassing. Bad teenage poetry.
Good melody though

[harmless]

WTF? Yes there's a bad teenage poetry aspect to Black, but come on, Sirens isn't bad teenage poetry?

[dimejinky99]

No. He just doesn't write about love as well as he does about loss.

I'm glad he's not writing about loss anymore. It was getting a bit much.

[Thejambi]

You're just being difficult if you argue that Sirens and Black don't come from the same part of the PJ warehouse.

[dimejinky99]

Oh I'm not!! They definitely do!!

[Thejambi]

I know, I'm just saying in general.

[dimejinky99]

I'm just bein a jerk I never eve liked Black in any way.

[Thejambi]

The LO2L version is pretty fantastic.

[dimejinky99]

Just checked. I've seen black 17 times. Only one time stands out. Dublin 06 had something really strange going on. They even jammed out a little at the end and ed was all emotional.
The others, don't remember at all.

[McParadigm]

You're just being difficult if you argue that Sirens and Black don't come from the same part of the PJ warehouse.

Who cares? Ivan Drago and Tommy Gunn are both villains in Rocky movies, but that says nothing about how much harder Sirens Tommy Gunn sucked than anything else that ever happened in the history of the world ever.

[Thejambi]

You're just being difficult if you argue that Sirens and Black don't come from the same part of the PJ warehouse.

Who cares? Ivan Drago and Tommy Gunn are both villains in Rocky movies, but that says nothing about how much harder Sirens Tommy Gunn sucked than anything else that ever happened in the history of the world ever.

but butts

[McParadigm]

hahaha omygod

[dimejinky99]

OT but I lold

[Jorge]

You're just being difficult if you argue that Sirens and Black don't come from the same part of the PJ warehouse.

Explain it to me please

[harmless]

You're just being difficult if you argue that Sirens and Black don't come from the same part of the PJ warehouse.

Explain it to me please

Structurally, they remind me of one another. They're both ballads with near the same tempo and similar dynamics (albeit with less extreme changes and less guitar in Sirens). Ed sings in a similar range on both, ranging from low to high. They both have a bookend aspect: the muffled "mmmm" on the intro of Black mirrors the "Hear the sirens" intro in its 'teaser' quality, as well as its duration, and that mirroring also happens at the end, where the "doo-doo-doo" of Black could recall the "Ooh-Aah" of Sirens. The rhythm section recalls Black in the sense that the bass is prominent in the mix (I don't think it's the fretless bass featured on Black), and Matt's playing and his drum tone remind me a little of Dave Krusen's drumming on Ten. No Matt drumming has ever made me think "sounds like Dave K" on first hearing. In terms of mood, Sirens is about the safety of love as opposed to the pain of loss (Black), so you could say it's the light antithesis to Black. So as I say, Black 2013 -- a song cut from the same cloth but made by a bunch of happy 50 year-olds with no angst left.

[Jorge]

Yeah, I just listened to the studio version of Black for the first time in years and I think I hear it. They're very different tonally though.

[harmless]

Yes they are.

[harmless]

Wait, there was another thing I meant to attach to the dynamics comment: the pre-choruses. "Mmmm, and all I taught her was..." changes rhythmically and musically in a similar way, and for a similar duration, to "Let me catch my breath to breathe...". And thinking about it now, don't they both have a not-sure-which-bit-is-the-chorus feel to them?