Avocado Demos II leak!

[EJ]

Only Cloud in The Sky is beautiful. Very reminiscent of RH's In Rainbows. But, this would've been out there first! I'm not sure what Ed could've done with this one though. It'd have to have some really hushed words.

[digster]

This is a cool little peek into the process. It's pretty wild how differently S/T could have turned out. Really, the only new thing here on the same level of completion as Cold Concession/Let it Ride is 10 Billion Years, and that's gorgeous. It captures this really bittersweet, sad atmosphere. I wish, like the others, it had gotten it's day. S/T really could have used the help.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[digster]

I agree with all that, especially the part about Ed being WAY too high in the mix. It does him no favors to make the vocal feel so separate from the song itself. I'd also say that Yellow Moon, though it's a good song, might be on of their bigger missed chances. I think with the right approach that song could have been fantastic; it's just a few tweaks away.

[EJ]

good post traga

[epilogue]

Guys, 10 Billion Years is a nice track, but let's not go nuts

Oh no, I'm gonna go nuts. For that song?! Absolutely. It deserves it.

[stip]

Guys, 10 Billion Years is a nice track, but let's not go nuts

Oh no, I'm gonna go nuts. For that song?! Absolutely. It deserves it.

Sure. That was in response to the 'Pearl jam should get rid of eddie this is so good' comments

[stip]

as a recording engineer, trag, what do you think of the production on Lightning Bolt?

Eh... It more-or-less fits into their production style from S/T onward. I think of the last few records as being marked by three distinct things:

1. A very beefy, crisp drum sound. Matt's kick, snare, and toms are very boomy, and the crack of the snare is often a little too hard -- if every snare hit is a 10, it has nowhere to go when a song gets heavier, you know? But the first part of Sleeping By Myself was a nice surprise -- I didn't think Matt had it in him to play something so understated.

2. Brickwalled limiting. Every part of every song is LOUD. For example, the palm muted intro to Getaway is obviously being played with less intensity than the rest of the song, yet the actual volume of this part if maybe just a couple db lower than the chorus. Stupid. Were they to mix/master their songs with more headroom, like their older records, the quieter parts would be more quiet, the louder parts would jump out more, and the overall dynamics would be a lot more enjoyable, to my ears anyway.

3. The combination of Ed's newer vocal stylings, with the decision to have his vocals mixed right up front of the song, is a real bummer. I loved the Vitalogy -- Yield era, partly because the guitars sounded so ferocious, which is due to the vocals and drums being less overpowering in the mix. Their new records are so heavy Ed's vocals and Matt's drums, that the guitars almost become an afterthought.

There are a few specific decisions that drive me nuts on Lighting Bolt. The title track frustrates me to no end. The extended outro is needlessly long, and hopelessly muddled. What the fuck is that percussive sound that keeps repeating? I'm guessing it's a few toms, but it sounds like a few cardboard boxes. There's just too much going on there to really let any specific instrument shine, and everything sort of becomes indistinct from each other. I imagine if this song were produced like a Yield track, and it ended about 90 seconds earlier, I would love it as a small, tight, punky rock number. Instead it sounds like they're grasping for Quadrophenia-era Who, and instead end up sounding like...BOB-era Pearl Jam. Go figure.

I also think the mixing on Yellow Moon is pretty crappy -- I understand they're going for a more muted, almost Fleetwood Mac vibe, but that could have been achieved more effectively by using A) a significantly dampened drumkit, and B) recording this drum kit in a dry isolation booth. It's a cool song, but again, needlessly muddy production, and again, too loud. It's like they left the mics set up after they recorded one of the louder numbers, and then just tried to mix it into a different sound. I think the older records benefitted from the cobbled-together nature of the prodution, because the mic/instrumentation choices for each song are distinct from one another, whereas all their recent albums sound like they were recorded on the same day, in the same room, with the same equipment.

Oddly, I think MYM benefits from the more modern production. I don't think they could have executed that song in '95, and I love the delay effects on Ed's vocals.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head...

What are the delay effects?

[Strat]

That ed doing backup vox on 10 billion years? Sounds great

[McParadigm]

You might think of it as a slightly echoey quality. And you can really hear Ed singing to it in that song...changing his delivery style to respond to the effect. It's a great technique that's a distant descendant on the slap-back hallway echo Sun used to use.

[Strat]

I dont think Ed needs to go I just think the band needs to drop the idea of what pearl jam is supposed to be. Maybe that takes gettig a new producer.

I never thought they lost the capabliity of writing good music, it just seems their idea of what a pj record should be is hindering them

Great solo by mike on 10 billion years

[McParadigm]

You guys are liking these a whole lot more than me. Ten Billion is nice, though it's no Sunburn. It might sound cool segued into Man On His Back Counting Stars by Low. Other than that, the comic babble-singalong in LW is the only thing here of note. The rest sounds good...some even sounds more like a No Code follow up than Yield does...but Pearl Jam isn't a band that can really grab me in instrumental form.

[Strat]

The drums on Lucky 13 are great. Thats matt cameron doing what he does best.

[bada]

lol Eddie needs to go. Goof balls. PJ minus Eddie couldn't draw enough to fill my garage. Well unless they got Scott Stapp then sky's the limit.

[Strat]

Breeze in D.

Who knew that pj could do more intricate guitar work? Beautiful. Cool song.

Goddammit pearl jam. Really piss me off.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Thenews15]

these songs make it to you tube yet? I lack the technology on my computer devices to unzip them.

[Norah]

these songs make it to you tube yet? I lack the technology on my computer devices to unzip them.

http://www.7-zip.org/

[Mine]

The drums on Lucky 13 are great. Thats matt cameron doing what he does best.

This one has some Corduroy in it i think.

[stip]

You guys are liking these a whole lot more than me. Ten Billion is nice, though it's no Sunburn. It might sound cool segued into Man On His Back Counting Stars by Low. Other than that, the comic babble-singalong in LW is the only thing here of note. The rest sounds good...some even sounds more like a No Code follow up than Yield does...but Pearl Jam isn't a band that can really grab me in instrumental form.

I generally feel the same way, and none of this other than an occasional Ten Billion Years (which I like significantly more than sunburn) and maybe the demo version of Big Wave is going to get regular listens once the newness wears off, but it's still a cool Easter egg, and it is cool to see how some songs developed and intriguing to get a glimpse down the road not taken.