Round 1B: Better Things vs. Smile vs. Betterman

[BurtReynolds]

I would argue that Betterman benefits from its live offerings. it is the best bounce about singalong in their entire catalogue other than maybe Do the Evolution, and it is unmatched in the high level live versions department, especially when giving credit for long jam tag ons.

However, Smile is, to my ears, a better composed and more expertly performed song. The studio version is locked in time and space, unable to be replicated or resourced, existing as a testament to the raw power of music crafted by possibly the best band on the planet at that moment.

I'm sorry, I'm not Kevin Davis.

It's a fine comment.

[LoathedVermin72]

I find it curious how a lot of you guys seem to take live performances into such heavy consideration when voting. I kinda feel like that shouldn't be a factor. I get it, but it seems like if we're voting on studio cuts, we shouldn't be worrying about how they feel live, or how well or poorly they're often performed, or whether or not one "groans" when the intro is played.

I don't know that I am voting based on studio versions -- I feel more like I'm voting based a more pervasive, cumulative impression of the song, one which encompasses everything from the most meticulously technical elements of the composition to the most intangibly abstract feelings I've developed about the song simply by virtue of having carried it with me through my life for any length of time. For me -- someone who has always greatly enjoyed live PJ and ultimately spends considerably more time with it than with the studio records -- live versions account for no small fraction of mu total engagement with any given song, so discounting them would be disingenuous to my experience with the song. Sometimes it feels more appropriate to call back to that scope of experience than other times, but it certainly doesn't feel unreasonable to suggest that the way a song like "Smile" has managed to stake out a relatively unique space in the band's canon is a feather in its cap.

ignore all that and vote 4 studio

[Kevin Davis]

I'd still vote for "Smile." I still stand by the spirit of my year-old comment even in reference to studio versions exclusively.

[LoathedVermin72]

ignore all that and vote 4 better man

[BurtReynolds]

I'm gonna stop listening to Debbie Gibson now and play some No Code. I don't think I've listened to a PJ album in about a year.

[Kevin Davis]

Man, all that yapping and I hadn't even voted yet. One more for "Smile."

[Kaius]

I'm gonna stop listening to Debbie Gibson now and play some No Code. I don't think I've listened to a PJ album in about a year.

It's so so good.

Fucking lightning bolt lol.

[Kaius]

I didn't really laugh out loud. I felt gross inside.

[BurtReynolds]

I'm gonna stop listening to Debbie Gibson now and play some No Code. I don't think I've listened to a PJ album in about a year.

It's so so good.

Fucking lightning bolt lol.

It's two completely different bands.

[Kaius]

I'd listen with you but I'm scoping out this new Sia that dropped.

[Kaius]

They should kick out Eddie and hire Sia.

[BurtReynolds]

They should kick out Eddie and hire Sia.

Couldn't hurt. Does she take pictures with Bill Maher?

[Kaius]

Oh heavens no.

[LetMeSleep]

Guys even the studio Betterman has a live bed track.

[Birds in Hell]

Sia went to my high school. Not while I was there, unfortunately, though she was there at the same time as my older brother.

Riveting story, I know.

Guys even the studio Betterman has a live bed track.

I was going to mention this.

Still blows my mind.

[stip]

Smile is a solid song. A nice simple sentiment, and the crunchy guitars and harmonica gave it a neil young bar band feel that was/is unique for them.


but smile lacks the emotional arc of betterman, its pure catharsis, and the incredible feat of misdirection that you get from combining a pop chorus with a pretty heartbreaking semi-autobiographical tale of spousal abuse. the shifting dynamics in that song are amazing, and played out or not, smile never made you feel the way you did the first time you got to participate in a betterman sing along

[WaitingForBluey]

This is so easy it's laughable. Betterman is not a PJ song. It's a Bad Radio song that became an EV solo song with PJ playing in the background (like an early forbearer to Just Breathe). Smile is classic PJ. And it slays the crap that is Betterman 1,000 out of 1,000 times.


EDIT: In fact, if I could make one PJ song disappear completely from ever having existed, it would be a death match between Last Kiss and Betterman.

[Simple Torture]

Guys even the studio Betterman has a live bed track.

I was coming here to post this. Wasn't it chud (RIP) who figured this out?

[stip]

BoB said it in an interview

[LetMeSleep]

Chud is BoB?