Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Lightning Bolt

[PHATJ]

Finished the second listen through. I enjoyed it again. I don't know if it will have lasting power or if I just like this because it has been so long since I've heard the songs. Either way it is a fun surprise to be liking Lightning Bolt.

[stip]

I really enjoyed my LAL experience walking around on Saturday. Eddie is too up front in the mix a lot of the time, and the production on the album is really sterile (it is easy to fantasize how MYM would have sounded on Vs, or Pendulum on Binaural, or Swallowed Whole on Yield, etc), but there are a lot of interetsing interlocking themes, in general I think this is Eddie's strongest overall vocal performance in a long time (with more passion than we were getting on Riot Act and less of the screeching and straining on S/T and Backspacer), lyrically it's a very solid album, and musically there are a number of pretty interesting tracks on here (infallible, my father's son, pendulum, sleeping by myself, yellow moon in a subtle way), as well as some now standard pearl jam songs which, if by the numbers, really hit those numbers with authority (Lightning Bolt and MYM come to mind).

I love Backspacer and think it is criminally underrated, but it is what it is. The weaknesses (if you think they are there) in tracks like Just Breathe, Unthought Known, Amongst the Waves, etc) are built into the songs themselves. Lightning Bolt feels like it is just slightly out of alignment - that if you just hit the thing with a hammer and nudged it a tiny fraction to the right everything slots perfectly into place.

[VinylGuy]

Its is a more confident version of Backspacer i guess...and yes, i agree Eddie's vocals are great...i also agree about the production, i want more garage-y type of guitars in most of the songs, but some of them sound great, MYM is fucking awesome, MFS and Sirens... they sound amazing ( Stone's guitar in Sirens is specially tasty).

It might suffer a little because it sounds like a PJ by the numbers greatest hits, and the band never did that in the past, but thats just an initial thought.

[stip]

I wonder how much of that is the production failing to give the songs some identity beyond the writing itself. There are certainly some types of songs that are comfortably in their wheelhouse, but PJ has had a formula in place for a very long time. And there are songs like Infallible and MFS and Pendulum that are going to new or less frequented places (within the boundaries of what pearl jam does)

Dirtier guitars would have helped a lot. There is that urgent siren sound at the end of Getaway - abrasive and compelling - that I wish was more prominent throughout, and a song like Swallowed Whole would definitely benefit from a slight looser/sloppier sound.

[ABNorman]

I keep waiting for a listen-through where I DON'T like Lightning Bolt, and it hasn't happened yet. It's still my favourite post-Binaural album, even if the production could've been better.

[VinylGuy]

yes you have a point...I realize what is bothering me is not the writing itself but the production approach to that song.

SW should be a favorite and i really dont listen to it because of how it sounds really...the acoustic guitar is lame, Ed is too upfront in the mix, there is basically no mood at all because it kinda sounds the same as, let say, Lightning Bolt...everything is slick and polish were there should be a more balanced and different approach to every song.

Getaway is a good example of the lack of a good guitar tone...i do love that ending though. Its urgent and dramatic and ed really nails his final vocal part...Going back to Ed, he is so strong in the whole album...he finally puts the feeling and emotion in Hard Sun in pretty much every song here.

[evenslow]

(it is easy to fantasize how MYM would have sounded on Vs, or Pendulum on Binaural, or Swallowed Whole on Yield, etc)

Alas.

[evenslow]

Swallow Hole just sounds so god damned processed.

[Monkey_Driven]

Swallow Hole just sounds so god damned processed.

Indeed. Would be much better if Ed was way back in the mix and the guitars had more room to breathe and it had any sort of atmosphere.

[darth_vedder]

I don't think I have it in me to LAL this. I last did it April 2014, and haven't played a song from it since. Not sure if / when I will.

[Hatfield]

Going back to Ed, he is so strong in the whole album...he finally puts the feeling and emotion in Hard Sun in pretty much every song here.

Well said!

I am one of the first to complain about production. In fact, I am hopeful the band will have the guts to push back on BO'B a little more next time. It's obvious that Jeff isn't as happy with the process, end result as he could be. But, I can deal with the production on Swallowed Whole probably because I love the songs lyrics so much. Stone's guitar additions give the song the interesting flavor that Yield was full of.

[LetMeSleep]

I LAL'd to 2/3 of this yesterday (forget LB, MYM, LTRP and FD. Those songs are dead to me except the intro 5 seconds to MYM is good). Something that struck me is that there are production choices and performance choices that annoyed me on every song. This didn't use to be the case with PJ and if it was, then it was usually on one or 2 tracks per album. It reminded me of a Springsteen review a few years back that said "It’s a quietly powerful moment, but you just know he’s going to do something to ruin it."

Pendulum - sounds exactly like a studio made song. There's not enough feel to it. It's been built up layer upon layer and in essence is fine but to my ears it lacks the cohesion that a band performance demands. Percussion is also too rigid although I'm sure that's the repetitive mechanical feel BoB was aiming for.

Sirens - is a great sounding song that a 15yo LMS pre Ten etc would have liked. His mum would have sung along while doing some ironing I'm sure.

MFS - Nice performance. I think Ed has moments here but he gets annoying. Maybe it's the lacklustre music of the chorus. I want more tonally and I want more space.

Stip often says Binaural is claustrophobic for him but this album really lacks air and space. Every song seems to have its own character of sound but they all feel boxed in and restricted. Most apparent is....

Swallowed Whole - I like this song but hate the production here. Like Pendulum it feels like a studio track overdubbed to hell instead of a band playing in a room. Mike's solo is a freeing moment on the album.

Infallible - Good percussion and sounds on this. The production doesn't go far enough into a dark corner for me. The overly familiar poppy chorus melody needed to be offset with some darker brooding tones.

SBM - this is nice enough but I don't put on a PJ album for this. Ed solo release is fine but this isn't a PJ song (in my eyes).

Getaway - Jeff owns this track. It has energy and is fine. 3 stars track that at least sounds like a band playing live. Ed needs to lose the yeah yeahs.

Yellow Moon - seems warm and nice enough but bores me to tears.

Good performances from every member overall. Some nice production choices can be found but they are few and far between. A live band performance of most of these tracks could improve the feel of these songs, coupled with a nice room sound. Ultimately I don't think the songs are good enough.

[evenslow]

interesting take
im gonna have to listen to this all the way through again

[LetMeSleep]

interesting take
im gonna have to listen to this all the way through again

[evenslow]

interesting take
im gonna have to listen to this all the way through again

Haven't listened all the way through in probably 3 years. I'll bring a helmet.

[PHATJ]

I LAL'd to 2/3 of this yesterday (forget LB, MYM, LTRP and FD. Those songs are dead to me except the intro 5 seconds to MYM is good). Something that struck me is that there are production choices and performance choices that annoyed me on every song. This didn't use to be the case with PJ and if it was, then it was usually on one or 2 tracks per album. It reminded me of a Springsteen review a few years back that said "It’s a quietly powerful moment, but you just know he’s going to do something to ruin it."

Pendulum - sounds exactly like a studio made song. There's not enough feel to it. It's been built up layer upon layer and in essence is fine but to my ears it lacks the cohesion that a band performance demands. Percussion is also too rigid although I'm sure that's the repetitive mechanical feel BoB was aiming for.

Sirens - is a great sounding song that a 15yo LMS pre Ten etc would have liked. His mum would have sung along while doing some ironing I'm sure.

MFS - Nice performance. I think Ed has moments here but he gets annoying. Maybe it's the lacklustre music of the chorus. I want more tonally and I want more space.

Stip often says Binaural is claustrophobic for him but this album really lacks air and space. Every song seems to have its own character of sound but they all feel boxed in and restricted. Most apparent is....

Swallowed Whole - I like this song but hate the production here. Like Pendulum it feels like a studio track overdubbed to hell instead of a band playing in a room. Mike's solo is a freeing moment on the album.

Infallible - Good percussion and sounds on this. The production doesn't go far enough into a dark corner for me. The overly familiar poppy chorus melody needed to be offset with some darker brooding tones.

SBM - this is nice enough but I don't put on a PJ album for this. Ed solo release is fine but this isn't a PJ song (in my eyes).

Getaway - Jeff owns this track. It has energy and is fine. 3 stars track that at least sounds like a band playing live. Ed needs to lose the yeah yeahs.

Yellow Moon - seems warm and nice enough but bores me to tears.

Good performances from every member overall. Some nice production choices can be found but they are few and far between. A live band performance of most of these tracks could improve the feel of these songs, coupled with a nice room sound. Ultimately I don't think the songs are good enough.

Nice review. I tend to agree a lot with this. I think the album has a lot of good songs that just get killed with production choices.

[Rangi Guy]

Chucked this on to listen to with my daughter this morning. I think that as a whole this album isn't too bad, but if I'm in the car and a song from this randomly comes on - I tend to skip it.

[guestT]

I put it on right after watching that 25 Years of Alive video and was actually digging it quite a bit until the chorus of Infallible hit. Such a buzzkill.

[Rangi Guy]

I put it on right after watching that 25 Years of Alive video and was actually digging it quite a bit until the chorus of Infallible hit. Such a buzzkill.

You just reminded me to actually watch that

[Birds in Hell]

I put it on right after watching that 25 Years of Alive video and was actually digging it quite a bit until the chorus of Infallible hit. Such a buzzkill.

You just reminded me to actually watch that

It's much more enjoyable than Lightning Bolt.