What is Each Album's Major Flaw?: Riot Act

[PryTo]

PJ's last great truly great album and one that's really aged well. In fact, it may be the album that's aged best over the years. Not much to dislike here. I'd say Love Boat Captain is a big low point. Dumb song with gawdawful lyrics. The other big flaw is Boom. I don't mind the occasional piano, organ, or keyboard. With some groups it really adds a lot. But a big part of PJ 1.0 was the raw energy of a classic two guitars, bass, drums, vocals lineup. Adding a permanent keyboard player to the mix forever changed that original dynamic. Has any great band ever really recovered from such a move? Dizzy what's his name helped doom Guns N Roses, Ed what's his name did a nice job for the Black Crowes, but should have stayed in the background where he belonged. See, I don't even remember their last names. And why do they always have to be hippie burnout types? Anyway, Boom should have been a footnote but Ed brought him on board Yoko Ono style. Never a good thing and an omen of doom for PJ, who never recovered. Riot Act is the last Gasp(ar) [see what I did there?] of a great band.

[Jorge]

I think Boom is used well in Riot Act. A touch of color and texture to the songs, unobtrusive. My problem is how he is used live.

[Birds in Hell]

Though I recall being slightly equivocal about Boom's influence over the years, with the benefit of hindsight I agree that he hasn't added anything of value to the band and, in fact, had a detrimental effect on some of their main strengths (as PryTo noted above).

Its length, rather than being a flaw, is its saving grace; it gives the band enough time and latititude to travel down some alleys that may not entirely pan out but are worth exploring. You Are, if placed on a 10-song Riot Act, would have a lot riding on it, but here the record is not dependent upon each song being a 5-star smash. They sound more relaxed in approach, if not sentiment, here than maybe at any other point in their career.

I think Riot Act is the beginning of the end in some respects, which isn't to say it isn't still a great deal better than much of their subsequent efforts, but I certainly agree with this.

A shorter Riot Act tracklisting would almost certainly have resulted in a lessening of the album's modest charm; the fact that it sounds like a ragtag mixtape of b-sides and outtakes is one of the main things that keeps me returning to the album and helps present its weaker moments as interesting experiments, not clunky failures.

[stip]

i think he gets a bad rap because of how prominent he is on LBC, but the problems with that song are not because of Boom

[hlniv]

Boom sounds great on this record. He adds nice touches to many songs.

They just need to trot him out live for 2-3 tunes a night and call it good. I think we're all a bit over-boomed. He needs to be a background bit player, and not the 6th member

[Bammer]

Ghost is not distinguishable in any way. Doesn't do anything for me. Neither does Get Right.

I had Cropduster stuck in my head for like a whole year once, and not necessarily because I love the song. Can't explain it.

That said I would be happy to see any of them live, because that means I would be at a Pearl Jam concert.

[Bammer]

Boom sounds great on this record. He adds nice touches to many songs.

They just need to trot him out live for 2-3 tunes a night and call it good. I think we're all a bit over-boomed. He needs to be a background bit player, and not the 6th member

Well they don't let him in many of the press photos. So there's that.

[Huell]

I think Riot Act is the beginning of the end in some respects, which isn't to say it isn't still a great deal better than much of their subsequent efforts, but I certainly agree with this.

It was certainly the last album with sound of the band working together, creating music and since then its the sound of individuals working song ideas. They never have the swing or flow like they did with Riot Act. In a lot of ways, its their New Adventures in Hi Fi, kind of long, has a groove, touches on various parts of their career, a culmination and end of something vital and the start of the band working around their private lives and not the other way around.

If it had a flaw I would say its Love Boat Captain, funeral dirge 3rd song in to start. Its like the third time they do the chorus, it just doesn't have the propulsion to carry through again.

Saying that, Riot Act grew on me through the years and is my favourite post Yield album. I listened to it alot through some harder times and while Ed sounds defeated in alot of it he is still going. After this it was about self preservation and the long haul, they didnt have another album in them by the sounds of that incarnation

[Brett]

I've stated before that Riot Act is basically the last Pearl Jam album, as far as I'm concerned. It has no bigger flaws than the five albums that came before it, and also benefits from being the only PJ album I bought and got into around the time of its release (I became a fan shortly before it came out, and haven't bothered to buy the three albums that came after).

There's a few weak songs, like "Get Right" and "Green Disease," and some other songs that aren't bad in their own right, but do have some weaker moments ("Bu$hleaguer being the primary offender), but overall it's a pretty decent set of tunes. I like the darkness, I like the tired and resigned feeling, and I like the "live in a room" approach to recording and production. And, as others have said, Boom's presence on this album isn't a problem, it's the fact that he wasn't just a session player for this one record.

[stip]

For people complaining about Boom lingering, is the issue the live shows? Or something he's done on the albums. I think he's used quite well on S/T as well.

[Strat]

For people complaining about Boom lingering, is the issue the live shows? Or something he's done on the albums. I think he's used quite well on S/T as well.

Live show for me. Especially when he plays on songs that require no keys (alive, my fathers son etc....)

[stip]

fair enough. He is overused live.

[Tuolumne]

I'm in agreement with Stip where i also think Binaural and Riot Act or low points. But for these 2 solid albums to be low points show how strong of a band this is, cause it's still pretty darn good.

With that said, THIS is where the band is sort of auto-piloting. They went in and out of the studio, and seemed to be too nice to each other and to me, it shows. Verses linger just a little too long, Ed's vocal melodies don't reach resolution, when the band is going high he's seems to be going low and vice versa - they didn't seem to edit much, and I think there are plenty of places where overdubbing or layering could have helped. I know lots of RMers wouldn't like that comment, but production details like that can really help a song. It's raw and that's the charm of this record, but the band also gives up a certain polish and refinement that exists on the records that followed that I think served them better. Also, I think Ed sings best when he's got a "pro" producer pushing him, he doesn't seem to be pushed here. He's singing like he wants to sing, and he sings with some fire, but he doesn't accentuate certain parts and they sound like demo placeholder. I like to think he'd want another shot at those.

Love Boat Captain is where the record falters. The middle of the record is my favorite, from I am Mine through Green Disease. I love Get Right and I love Matt Cameron's presense on the album. One thing I miss about the band nowadays are the little oddities like Arc and helphelp and I think You Are which is an experiment I think they should revisit in the future. Matt found a really cool riff, why not try something else with that method he used to come up with? Some of the songs are really well written but not always executed really well, especially vocally.

It's a pretty good album, and I thnk they refined certain things on it in later records, but i also think they should go back to some of the cooler ideas and see if they can do something new with them too.

[Norah]

I think Boom is used well in Riot Act. A touch of color and texture to the songs, unobtrusive. My problem is how he is used live.

so much this

[Strat]

I think Boom is used well in Riot Act. A touch of color and texture to the songs, unobtrusive. My problem is how he is used live.

so much this

You're not even trying anymore, are you?

[Norah]

I think Boom is used well in Riot Act. A touch of color and texture to the songs, unobtrusive. My problem is how he is used live.

so much this

You're not even trying anymore, are you?

Would it be better if I faked disagreement in order to be more original?

[Strat]

I think Boom is used well in Riot Act. A touch of color and texture to the songs, unobtrusive. My problem is how he is used live.

so much this

You're not even trying anymore, are you?

Would it be better if I faked disagreement in order to be more original?

Shut up. It was just textbook chud, is all.

[jtmack20]

The Binaural-Riot Act run is the low point in the catalog for me. Where they rank changes but always two of the bottom 3, despite really loving both albums when they first came out. A few major flaws.

1. Few high points. There are some moments on Riot Act I love (Save You, I Am Mine, and Can't Keep in particular) but there are no unconditional 5 star songs.

2. It's a LONG listen. Like Binaural, this is a long, exhausting listen. It's not particularly demanding or challenging (in a way that Binaural, in its best moments, can claim). It just feels like it goes on far longer than its running time, and like Binaural, it is a record that never really manages to pick up any momentum. The dreary nature of so many of the songs certainly adds to this. A shorter record (even by 2-3 songs) would have helped a lot.

3. Too many weak songs. I think the 3 I mentioned above are great. Ghost and Cropduster are also really good. I happen to like Get Right a lot, but it's easy to dismiss. 1/2 Full is a tired retread of Red Mosquito. All or None, rather than serving as an emotional powerhouse closer, just kinda meanders in a listless sort of way (despite sounding great). Thumbing My Way is another somewhat bland and lifeless song, despite strong lyrics. LBC is arguably the most aenimc anthem in the entire catalog, with that terrible title and 'all you need is love' tripe. You Are is a cool idea that goes nowhere. Green Disease feels like juvenille punk posturing. Bushleaguer took a really cool piece of music and ruinied it with a terrible spoken word (eddie doesn't do these well, IMO) and gave up the chance to say something interesting or important about Bush in exchange for name calling and musings abstract enough to be largely rendered pointless. And Help Help isn't that interesting, despite really wanting to be.

4. The best songs were kept off the record (again). No one complains about the all start list of songs left off Ten because what remained was so good. This was a record that REALLY could have used Undone (the best song from the sessions, probably) and Down (certainly better than much of what is on there)

5. Eddie's voice. Despite having great work from mike throughout (this was his last truly stellar album), an excellent sound, and some creative musical moments, one of the major factors that drag Riot Act down is Eddie's tired, seemingly disinterested performance. I've written at length about how it fits the artistic statement of the album, but certainly the songs suffer as a result. Eddie sounds too defeated on TMW or All or None to drag me in, and You Are, 1/2 Full, and LBC need a lot more soaring energy to work. There are times I think his vocals are quite appropriate for the songs at hand (I Am Mine--the way he seems to be struggling to pull himself out of the mud, Save You--a song about exhausting yourself on behalf of someone else, Ghost--a song about disappearing, Can't Keep--where he sounds less exhausted but in a contemplative way--the sound of someone taking a break from a struggle, rather than giving up on one), but too often they don't elevate a weaker selection of songs that require strong performances to lift.

6. It hurt S/T. S/T is such a conscious reaction to how muted Riot Act felt that what was (with some exceptions) a stronger set of songs got sandblasted by the desire to make everything sound as loud and in your face and un-Riot Acty as possible. And while there are a few songs where I maintain that it worked well (the first 3), the rest of the album really suffers for it, in particular Marker, Come Back, and Parachutes--three very strong songs done a tremendous disservice by the production. And I blame Riot Act for that.

Overall this is probably at the very bottom of the list for me.

I agree with a lot of the above. My main complaint about this album is too many subpar or boring songs. LBC is terrible. Green Disease and a few others aren't much better. I do think the sound of the album and the intent of the album probably raises this one above the more recent efforts. This is probably the last PJ album where they did whatever they wanted and didnt really care if anybody liked it. I think post Riot Act they've been trying too hard, and it hurts the songwriting. If a few of these tracks were cut and a few of the B-sides added, it could have been a much improved album. My tracklisting would be something like this:
Cant Keep
Save You
I am Mine
Down
Ghost
Undone
Thumbing My Way
Cropduster
You Are
Other Side
1/2 Full
Arc
All or None

[hlniv]

Boom sounds great on this record. He adds nice touches to many songs.

They just need to trot him out live for 2-3 tunes a night and call it good. I think we're all a bit over-boomed. He needs to be a background bit player, and not the 6th member

Well they don't let him in many of the press photos. So there's that.

That's true . At least all the fanboi posters on my wall don't have his big nasty mug on it.

Oh wait

I don't have any band pose posters.

That's right. Those are lame

[stip]

i have that MSG poster in my office, and boom is in that. So actually he has as much of a visual presence on my wall as any other band member. More, since he's so big.