My least favorite album

[Kaius]

My least favorite is also Lightning Bolt.

[epilogue]

So is a world with a shitty version of Cold Confession better than a world without it at all? Sure it'd be nice to have a lossless copy but until the reissue we won't. Even then maybe not.

Wanna come over and cuddle?

[Birds in Hell]

So is a world with a shitty version of Cold Confession better than a world without it at all?

*waves hand in a non-committal fashion*

I don't have a firm answer for that, part of me is definitely tempted to say yes but that's probably not surprising to anyone.

It's just...regrettable, I guess. It probably wouldn't have been difficult, especially in this day and age, to make a good rip. Had a song like that surfaced in the 90s, it probably would have done the rounds after a few cassette generations and still sounded better than the mess of encoding artifacts we're currently left with. Convenience is great but not at the expense of quality.

[LetMeSleep]

When CC and LiR leaked Trapzagadonda floated his theory that maybe it was lo res rip as part of a pre reissue release. It makes sense to just throw around really low quality mp3s for reference only just in case they get leaked, so if you want to release them later they still have currency.

[Norah]

So is a world with a shitty version of Cold Confession better than a world without it at all? Sure it'd be nice to have a lossless copy but until the reissue we won't. Even then maybe not.

Maybe. But with the two batches already out there, if Pearl Jam came to me tomorrow and said they'd either release lossless copies of all those songs that were leaked, or leak another batch at 128kb/s I'd take the former.

[epilogue]

I just really want to hear the songs. That's the bottom line for me. I'm not picky.

[Birds in Hell]

So is a world with a shitty version of Cold Confession better than a world without it at all? Sure it'd be nice to have a lossless copy but until the reissue we won't. Even then maybe not.

Maybe. But with the two batches already out there, if Pearl Jam came to me tomorrow and said they'd either release lossless copies of all those songs that were leaked, or leak another batch at 128kb/s I'd take the former.

Absolutely.

[BurtReynolds]

I should give Backspacer some credit for trying to be different, but when the result is such a complete and total embarrassment, I can't award any points for creativity. There is "going out of your comfort zone" and then there is "we have no idea what the fuck we are doing but we are going to record it anyway but let's hurry up I have to pick the kids up at daycare did I tell you I met Obama?"

Lightning Bolt is microwaved Pearl Jam: limp and lifeless. In fact, it's kind of like a Hot Pocket: overcooked from the outside, yet somehow ice cold in the middle. Seriously, how does one album sound simultaneously labored over and half-assed?

However, the decaying mass of gray goo that is Lightning Bolt vaguely resembles something that Pearl Jam could once do effortlessly, so I give it a slight edge. but let's face it: these are the worst of the worst.

[Django Butterworth]

I should give Backspacer some credit for trying to be different, but when the result is such a complete and total embarrassment, I can't award any points for creativity. There is "going out of your comfort zone" and then there is "we have no idea what the fuck we are doing but we are going to record it anyway but let's hurry up I have to pick the kids up at daycare did I tell you I met Obama?"

Lightning Bolt is microwaved Pearl Jam: limp and lifeless. In fact, it's kind of like a Hot Pocket: overcooked from the outside, yet somehow ice cold in the middle. Seriously, how does one album sound simultaneously labored over and half-assed?

However, the decaying mass of gray goo that is Lightning Bolt vaguely resembles something that Pearl Jam could once do effortlessly, so I give it a slight edge. but let's face it: these are the worst of the worst.

Hardly.

GET OFF MY LAWN.

[BurtReynolds]

I should give Backspacer some credit for trying to be different, but when the result is such a complete and total embarrassment, I can't award any points for creativity. There is "going out of your comfort zone" and then there is "we have no idea what the fuck we are doing but we are going to record it anyway but let's hurry up I have to pick the kids up at daycare did I tell you I met Obama?"

Lightning Bolt is microwaved Pearl Jam: limp and lifeless. In fact, it's kind of like a Hot Pocket: overcooked from the outside, yet somehow ice cold in the middle. Seriously, how does one album sound simultaneously labored over and half-assed?

However, the decaying mass of gray goo that is Lightning Bolt vaguely resembles something that Pearl Jam could once do effortlessly, so I give it a slight edge. but let's face it: these are the worst of the worst.

Hardly.

GET OFF MY LAWN.

you made this thread. Now lie in it.

[LetMeSleep]

See I think they were pretty successful with Backspacer. The result isn't that far off the brief. And as a one off I have no problem with it. It's been said many times but if they'd followed it up rather quickly with something of substance, it wouldn't be such a statement. Instead we waited 4 years for LB which was a development in any way. It's a PJ equivalent of a cassette copy of a taped VHS recording of a tv signal with a dodgy antenna. (Man those were sad days.)

[Django Butterworth]

I am. Both backspacr and lightning bolt are better than riot act.

[BurtReynolds]

I agree with my opinion more.

[BigRedLedbetter]

I kinda miss those old treasure hunt days. Where you couldn't get picky about bitrates and whatnot. You just took what you could get and the shitty quality didn't matter as much.

I do too. I also miss the days of bootleg CDs. I had a Friday morning record store ritual to go check out what "imports" came in that week!

I was always so dubious of those things, but man I always ended up buying them. There was a decade there were I'd buy anything that had Pearl Jam on it.

I loved this one back in the day...

YES! I have that one.

[BigRedLedbetter]

I agree with my opinion more.

Quote of the day.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

Lightning Bolt and Avocado are easily their biggest pieces of shit.

Yield and Binaural are masterpieces.

[Django Butterworth]

Lightning Bolt and Avocado are easily their biggest pieces of shit.

Yield and Binaural are masterpieces.

Meh.

[EJ]

Lightning Bolt is definitely their worst album title.

[Kevin Davis]

Most record shops didn't let you listen to the boots before purchase either. I got quite a few lemons because of this.

I was fortunate to have a local record shop where the personnel were pretty understanding about this. We were 13 year-old kids with $7 per week allowances, and these guys understood that wasting $40 on a poor-sounding bootleg would have been a lot of lawns mowed and dog shit cleaned up for nothing. I suppose they figured that even if they went through half a dozen duds they'd eventually arrive at something that sounded good enough to us, which they always did. I maybe bought ten of these things over the years -- the last one was early in 1999 when i spent $35 for the Melbourne '98 show and it was pressed on CD-R. I was wary of buying any after that, and then of course shortly after that the official bootleg program was launched.

I do miss those times, but I think "the thrill of the hunt" just kind of ran parallel to the general sense of musical discovery during those years -- anything you found that was new and surprising was a part of the world that held potentially untapped secrets and was therefore disproportionately exciting. Like so many things from my adolescence, I don't think paying $40 for a concert recording made by a miscreant with a tape recorder in his pants would be nearly as exciting for me now, even if I hadn't been spoiled by years of unlimited bootleg access -- though I do believe there's value in having a deep appreciation for the few things you do have rather than having the world at your fingertips and being unfazed by it.

[Strat]

I miss being a teen some times.