A Guided Tour of Lightning Bolt: Infallible

[McParadigm]

Habit is quirky and broken. Comatose feels professional and calculated to me, and a bit forced at times.

I like the punchy ascension and echoey vocals in the bridge though.

[Yeddie Yedder]

My initial comment was more about the chord/note spacing and not necessarily the rhythm or tempo. Habit does feel broken at parts and Comatose is very tight and punchy.

[Birds in Hell]

I love the contrast of the big, ringing, AC/DC-style chords in the chorus/intro to those wiry, interlocking lead parts Mike and Stone play leading into the verse.

There's a few dud songs but the S/T album has some of the band's most thoughtful and enjoyable guitar arrangements, Unemployable is another that just scratches me right where I itch.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Yeddie Yedder]

Comatose is damn near my absolute least favorite Pearl Jam song.

You don't like "Habit", though, so that makes sense.

Are they similar really, though?

I think so. Both abrasive, fast, dissonant, muddy rockers with harsh vocals from Eddie.

Ed actually sounds pretty good on Habit, though.

Not to beat a dead horse, but both the change in Ed's vocals, and the different drumming styles of JI and MC are what separate the two songs as "genuine garage" (Habit) and "multi-platinum recording artists do a garage song" (not Habit).

Really don't see that point. It's not that easy to capture a unique mood and sound as we get with No Code. It may have some fuzzy/murky sounds, but I wouldn't call it lo-fi or garage at all.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Yeddie Yedder]

I agree with most of that, but I don't think achieving a unique sound, such as NC, is all that easy. It really is a masterpiece in my mind.

That said, I appreciate your characterizing of MC. Drives me bonkers. The playing...not the characterization.

[chewm]

I hate both Comarose and Habit.

[chewm]

I love the contrast of the big, ringing, AC/DC-style chords in the chorus/intro to those wiry, interlocking lead parts Mike and Stone play leading into the verse.

There's a few dud songs but the S/T album has some of the band's most thoughtful and enjoyable guitar arrangements, Unemployable is another that just scratches me right where I itch.

So much this tho.

[E.H. Ruddock]

So, how about that Infallible?

[PHATJ]

Habit is okay, I like it far better now than I used to.

Comatose sucks in every way. It may be in my bottom 5 of all PJ album tracks.

Unemployable is pretty damn good. Top 3 from S/T for sure.

[LoathedVermin72]

You guys are weird.

[Leatherhead]

I don't understand how comatose can suck.

[LoathedVermin72]

I don't understand half of the things expressed in PJ chat.

[PHATJ]

I don't understand how comatose can suck.

...because it sounds terrible.

[Yeddie Yedder]

I love the music and melody to Infallible. That said, I really could do without the wood blocks, distorted organ, and other miscellaneous melody additions. From there, I would of changed the tone of the guitars from candy-ass to something a little more aggressive. The wood blocks just freakn' kill me for such a good song.

[McParadigm]

Not to beat a dead horse, but both the change in Ed's vocals, and the different drumming styles of JI and MC are what separate the two songs as "genuine garage" (Habit) and "multi-platinum recording artists do a garage song" (not Habit).

The whole band is a bit Cameron'd on s/t. Every guitar lick is perfectly played, every cue is metronome tight, and Ed is honed in on every note and syllable...even as he screetches through garagey punk.

It makes it a very easy album to appreciate on your first listen, and a very hard one to want to return to down the road (although the singing is much more engaging than the modern era "keep on buildin' your flow oars, keep on lockin' your dough whores").

I'm generally pretty uninterested in live recordings, but I do remember hearing a few performances of World Wide Suicide (maybe that AOL thing?) where Ed's voice was looser and had some smoke to it...and wishing he'd just let it be that on the record. His actual grit sounds much more interesting and alive than his 'designed' grit.

[Kevin Davis]

I've said many times that "S/T" should have been their "Time Fades Away" -- everything about the live versions of those songs is better than the record.

[darth_vedder]

I love the contrast of the big, ringing, AC/DC-style chords in the chorus/intro to those wiry, interlocking lead parts Mike and Stone play leading into the verse.

There's a few dud songs but the S/T album has some of the band's most thoughtful and enjoyable guitar arrangements, Unemployable is another that just scratches me right where I itch.

So much this tho.

I agree. Life Wasted gets shat on, but I like the riff and play between the band around the 21 second mark, then played later throughout the song. It is kinda like a call back to the big riffs of AC/DC.

The guitar play between Stone and Mike is the biggest reason why I like Big Wave. The album is loaded with nice interplay between Stone / Mike, and when Matt loosens up, the band is really on fire this album.

[evenslow]

This shit sounds pretty damn good to me...