Backspacer: Official Album Thread

[VinylGuy]

I loved Amongst the Waves when BS came out. It is still easily my favorite song from BS, but I haven't listened to it in a year or two. I always thought the hate that song received was unwarranted.

There's something about the bridge/rhytmn section during the solo that just sounds like classic PJ. Gets me every time.

It would be a much better song if the chorus came in harder. Why does that guitar have to be so damn muted?

Exactly.

[stip]

that's what makes it a middling song (still solid) with some great moments. Those verses are some of my all time favorites, and there's nothing else they really have that sounds like them. Watery and reminiscent while still being fairly hard driving.

[Coach]

I loved Amongst the Waves when BS came out. It is still easily my favorite song from BS, but I haven't listened to it in a year or two. I always thought the hate that song received was unwarranted.

There's something about the bridge/rhytmn section during the solo that just sounds like classic PJ. Gets me every time.

It would be a much better song if the chorus came in harder. Why does that guitar have to be so damn muted?

Exactly.

I think that would have given it much more lasting power.

[stip]

unthought known has the same problem. Two songs with really nice builds that plateau instead of rise.

[VinylGuy]

unthought known has the same problem. Two songs with really nice builds that plateau instead of rise.

True.

I still think that how the guitars sound is the main problem of this album.

[Coach]

agreed, but I'm still a fan of both, much more of UK though

[dimejinky99]

I think UK really acheives what it sets out to do whereas ATW feels like it doesnt get there. its almost ther ebut just missing something.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[chewm]

Amongst the Waves is alright, a lot better than Unthought Known for sure.

[McParadigm]

I like the sinking feeling you get when UK finally leaves that chord progression. The build (imperfectly done) really helps you miss how hypnotic that repetition becomes until suddenly it's pulled from under your feet.

I just wish it had more to offer after that moment. It's a bit like Springsteen's The Rising: one superb musical moment with a lot of material around it that is artificially sweetened.

Amongst the Waves and Lightning Bolt have the same problem to me: everything is solid except for the chorus. In both songs, after lots of build, the pinnacle is way too mannered and restrained to offer the catharsis it treats like a birthright. Lightning Bolt is just a stop gap (it manages to do better at the very end, as Ed stops singing and offers some genuinely ecstatic sounding yelps) and Amongst is fucking dull and way overstays its welcome (I can never stand to listen to all three choruses on that one...I honestly don't remember if it fades out or what at the end).

I suppose Marker would have suffered from the same problem, but it had some very feisty passion to it and the musicianship in the verses is just fucking stellar.

[Mine]

after lots of build, the pinnacle is way too mannered and restrained to offer the catharsis it treats like a birthright.

this also describes Inside Job

[dimejinky99]

i think the plan was there would be that those sections would be a lot more prominent and have more balls in the live setting..

[Mine]

so to paraphrase they'd made them better in the studio if they knew how

[dimejinky99]

Well they dont write to Ed's current live vocal capability, so perhaps not.

[Mine]

as if you can't tweak a vocal to death in studio if needed.

[digster]

Whatever problems LB has (and there are big ones), I still feel overall it's a step above this record. This album, to me, contains more of PJ's worst songs in one place than any other record. Johnny Guitar and (sometimes) The End I return to, but the rest have faded.

[EJ]

but it had some very feisty passion to it and the musicianship in the verses is just fucking stellar.

Yes! Marker is just great.

[dimejinky99]

having seen both songs several times over a few tours, Unthought Known works far better live than Amongst the waves..yes it gets played more often but there's a reason for that.

[stip]

I like the sinking feeling you get when UK finally leaves that chord progression. The build (imperfectly done) really helps you miss how hypnotic that repetition becomes until suddenly it's pulled from under your feet.

I just wish it had more to offer after that moment. It's a bit like Springsteen's The Rising: one superb musical moment with a lot of material around it that is artificially sweetened.

Amongst the Waves and Lightning Bolt have the same problem to me: everything is solid except for the chorus. In both songs, after lots of build, the pinnacle is way too mannered and restrained to offer the catharsis it treats like a birthright. Lightning Bolt is just a stop gap (it manages to do better at the very end, as Ed stops singing and offers some genuinely ecstatic sounding yelps) and Amongst is fucking dull and way overstays its welcome (I can never stand to listen to all three choruses on that one...I honestly don't remember if it fades out or what at the end).

I suppose Marker would have suffered from the same problem, but it had some very feisty passion to it and the musicianship in the verses is just fucking stellar.

As much as I love l-bolt the chorus is certainly the weakest part of that song.

[stip]

Force of nature has a great chorus performance.