Lightning Bolt or Backspacer?

[Django Butterworth]

It's the song from Backspaer that grabbed me immediately. I love it to little, bitty pieces.

[E.H. Ruddock]

You guys have to admit, for a guy that hates ranking everything, my scoring system is pretty bomb.

bottom paged by Django.

[epilogue]

It's an energetic, catchy power pop song. It's unique in PJ's catalogue. I'm down with it.

[epilogue]

Amongst the Waves is great.

You're goddamn right it is.

[darth_vedder]

You guys have to admit, for a guy that hates ranking everything, my scoring system is pretty bomb.

bottom paged by Django.

I want you to do other PJ album threads like this, then when it's all done, rank the Ruddo ranking threads.

[Kevin Davis]

I wonder if more uplifting solo would have helped--something akin to I am Mine or the 'patterns' at the end of Force of Nature?

I've always liked the lead guitar in "Amongst the Waves," actually -- perhaps it's the Thin Lizzy fan in me but I'm a sucker for a good lead guitar harmony, and I think it's something that Mike and Stone always pull off really well on the rare occasions they attempt it. Personally I just think the chorus is a dud -- something about it just feels "off" melodically, but not such that the notes play off each other in an interesting or compelling way. I think the song is supposed to work on a sort of tension/release principle, but instead of cutting loose at the chorus, the song just stalls.

Put it another way: You're driving home and halfway there you suddenly realize you urgently have to take a dump. You're imagining how great it's going to feel to finally get home to take care of business, but right at clutch time you get stuck waiting at the railroad tracks for a two-mile-long freight train.

The chorus to "Amongst the Waves" is like having to wait for a train to pass while trying to keep from shitting your pants.

[Strat]

I just listened to tracks 1-5 on backfacer on my drive. I really enjoy it. I know it takes a sudden drop after that though.

[epilogue]

I like the vaguely dissonant harmony in the verse to "Amongst the Waves," and overall think that musically there's more to the song than meets the ear. But it fails to achieve the cathartic moment it aims for, and as a result always feels somewhat unsatisfying. One of the few "Backspacer" songs that in my opinion worked better live.

I disagree.

But, it did/does work really well live.

[epilogue]

I just listened to tracks 1-5 on backfacer on my drive. I really enjoy it. I know it takes a sudden drop after that though.

I'd say it takes a dip after 6. But Speed of Sound tries its damnedest to pull it back up.

[Strat]

I just listened to tracks 1-5 on backfacer on my drive. I really enjoy it. I know it takes a sudden drop after that though.

I'd say it takes a dip after 6. But Speed of Sound tries its damnedest to pull it back up.

Speed of Sound runs at the speed of my heart. The speed of love.

[epilogue]

I just listened to tracks 1-5 on backfacer on my drive. I really enjoy it. I know it takes a sudden drop after that though.

I'd say it takes a dip after 6. But Speed of Sound tries its damnedest to pull it back up.

Speed of Sound runs at the speed of my heart. The speed of love.

[stip]

I wonder if more uplifting solo would have helped--something akin to I am Mine or the 'patterns' at the end of Force of Nature?

I've always liked the lead guitar in "Amongst the Waves," actually -- perhaps it's the Thin Lizzy fan in me but I'm a sucker for a good lead guitar harmony, and I think it's something that Mike and Stone always pull off really well on the rare occasions they attempt it. Personally I just think the chorus is a dud -- something about it just feels "off" melodically, but not such that the notes play off each other in an interesting or compelling way. I think the song is supposed to work on a sort of tension/release principle, but instead of cutting loose at the chorus, the song just stalls.

Put it another way: You're driving home and halfway there you suddenly realize you urgently have to take a dump. You're imagining how great it's going to feel to finally get home to take care of business, but right at clutch time you get stuck waiting at the railroad tracks for a two-mile-long freight train.

The chorus to "Amongst the Waves" is like having to wait for a train to pass while trying to keep from shitting your pants.

Oh I totally agree the chorus is a dud. And I do like the ATW solo, but it's never felt quite right for the song. Maybe because it's forced to do the lifting that the chorus doesn't do. With a chorus giving you the right kind of catharsis the existing solo works as a reprisal of the song's journey. But without that i find myself thinking the solo is out of place.

[Birds in Hell]

I think the stalled momentum in the chorus is down to the drums. Matt opts for a more restrained feel using the hi-hat where I think a big wash of cymbals would probably more musically (and thematically) appropriate. My ears feel as though they're waiting for that big open feel like the final chorus of Faithfull where Jack swaps to the cymbals (around 2:20) but it doesn't arrive.

EDIT: Actually, Matt does move to the ride cymbal on the final chorus of ATW (at 2:55 or so). I can only surmise, kind of like Faithfull, the idea was that the final chorus feels like a huge release after the modest release of the previous choruses, giving the song somewhere further to go in the final section, but I don't think the same trick works here half as well. I would've preferred Matt move straight to the ride from the first chorus, it feels more fitting here than in Faithfull, and perhaps spice things up with some additional crash hits during that final chorus.

[darth_vedder]

I think the stalled momentum in the chorus is down to the drums. Matt opts for a more restrained feel using the hi-hat where I think a big wash of cymbals would probably more musically (and thematically) appropriate. My ears feel as though they're waiting for that big open feel like the final chorus of Faithfull where Jack swaps to the cymbals (around 2:20) but it doesn't arrive.

EDIT: Actually, Matt does move to the ride cymbal on the final chorus of ATW (at 2:55 or so). I can only surmise, kind of like Faithfull, the idea was that the final chorus feels like a huge release after the modest release of the previous choruses, giving the song somewhere further to go in the final section, but I don't think the same trick works here half as well. I would've preferred Matt move straight to the ride from the first chorus, it feels more fitting here than in Faithfull, and perhaps spice things up with some additional crash hits during that final chorus.

Agree for the most part, but I don't know about the "more fitting thank in Faithfull" part. Faithfull is pretty darn perfect as is, and Jack's use of the cymbal's is my favorite part of the song (I've noted numerous times that I HATE that Matt goes to the highhat in those glorious cymbals parts).

Other than that, spot on. ATW basically leaves me with blue balls.

[Birds in Hell]

My post perhaps wasn't worded very well. It wasn't a criticism of Faithfull - far from it, I think the song is pretty much perfect from a musical standpoint.

[Strat]

The run from Supersonic - the end is really great.

I really love Forece of Nature. Those lyrics are nice

[darth_vedder]

The run from Supersonic - the end is really great.

I really love Forece of Nature. Those lyrics are nice

Take it to the unpopular opinions thread bub

[Leatherhead]

Riding high amongst the waves
I can feel like I
Have a soul that has been saved
I can feel like I
Put away my early grave

Gotta say it now
Better loud
Than too late

Riding high amongst the waves
I can feel like I Have a soul that has been saved
I can see the light Coming through the clouds in rays

I gotta say it now
Better loud than too late


Take these lyrics out of ATW and it'd be a pretty good song. Sounds like something on Christian rock radio.

[epilogue]

I can see the light coming through the clouds in rays is one of my favorite lines in the song. Not because it's good. But because I like the feeling the image evokes. Also, I love the phrasing and the melody.

[McParadigm]

'I can feel like I put away my early grave' is a pretty key lyric on an album that is ostensibly more playful and upbeat than most, but also full of songs about final goodbyes, the need to change, and frustration.

It's a terribly boring song as far as I'm concerned. But it's probably needed to tie those two extremes together, and credit to them for not lazily repeating either the verse or a chorus section under the solo.