Red Mosquito

harmless wrote:

iceagecoming wrote:

harmless wrote:Prediction: how BO'B plays the piano will depend entirely on (how he views) the song. When the song is wrong (SoS), his part will be wrong.

Doesn't Mike play the piano part on SOS?

Never heard that, but possibly. But I'm referring more to BO'B's everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink approach to extra instrumentation. It's clearly worked before, it's not worked recently. Hopefully that's due to his perception of the purpose of the songs.

Honestly, I think this is an exaggeration. To me, Just Breathe has just the right amount of restraint - the percussion and extra guitars never distract, although admittedly the strings are up for debate. The strings and french horn are a great touch on The End. Elsewhere, nothing on Backspacer sounds overworked, except SOS, but that's more to do with the arrangement than the instrumentation.

I also think BO'B's best quality as a producer (on PJ records) is his layering of instruments. At times on Yield you can count 4 or 5 different guitar sounds contributing beautifully to the songs. There's a depth and colouring in a lot of those songs that has to be attributed to him.

so I had my second ever RM dream last night. I was somewhere with harmless and he got shot and was dying. While he was dying someone gave me a copy of sirens. It sounded like november rain. I don't remember if I thought it was good or not but as Harmless lay dying he wanted to know what I thought of sirens, and I couldn't decide if he would rather die knowing the song sucked and he didn't miss much or telling him it was awesome and then him being sad that he missed it.

iceagecoming wrote:

harmless wrote:

iceagecoming wrote:

harmless wrote:Prediction: how BO'B plays the piano will depend entirely on (how he views) the song. When the song is wrong (SoS), his part will be wrong.

Doesn't Mike play the piano part on SOS?

Never heard that, but possibly. But I'm referring more to BO'B's everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink approach to extra instrumentation. It's clearly worked before, it's not worked recently. Hopefully that's due to his perception of the purpose of the songs.

Honestly, I think this is an exaggeration. To me, Just Breathe has just the right amount of restraint - the percussion and extra guitars never distract, although admittedly the strings are up for debate. The strings and french horn are a great touch on The End. Elsewhere, nothing on Backspacer sounds overworked, except SOS, but that's more to do with the arrangement than the instrumentation.

I also think BO'B's best quality as a producer (on PJ records) is his layering of instruments. At times on Yield you can count 4 or 5 different guitar sounds contributing beautifully to the songs. There's a depth and colouring in a lot of those songs that has to be attributed to him.

i heard just breathe last night on headphones and that song is beautifully layered during the verses, especially the second half of the song.

I disagree that nothing sounds overworked. I have no problem with The End, that's tasteful stuff, even if a bit cinematic. But the piano on Unthought Known and everything swamping Speed of Sound, it ruined these songs. I've read a lot about how much BO'B loves rearranging the band's songs and adding keys. And then I watched him ruin a song at Wrigley with a Casio. So I don't think my fears are exaggerated.

To reiterate, I still like Speed of Sound and Just Breathe. I don't find the extra stuff horrific as much as totally unnecessary, and I think that BO'B whiffs of a self-congratulatory failed-musician pride. So while he has to be around (and I acknowledge that PJ wanted him around, especially to help achieve what they wanted from Backspacer), I want his input tempered. Having said all this, if the vision for Backspacer is left to Backspacer, and BO'B treats this album a little differently, all may be forgiven and I might be able to enjoy Backspacer a lot more for what it is.

stip wrote:so I had my second ever RM dream last night. I was somewhere with harmless and he got shot and was dying. While he was dying someone gave me a copy of sirens. It sounded like november rain. I don't remember if I thought it was good or not but as Harmless lay dying he wanted to know what I thought of sirens, and I couldn't decide if he would rather die knowing the song sucked and he didn't miss much or telling him it was awesome and then him being sad that he missed it.

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:so I had my second ever RM dream last night. I was somewhere with harmless and he got shot and was dying. While he was dying someone gave me a copy of sirens. It sounded like november rain. I don't remember if I thought it was good or not but as Harmless lay dying he wanted to know what I thought of sirens, and I couldn't decide if he would rather die knowing the song sucked and he didn't miss much or telling him it was awesome and then him being sad that he missed it.

There is nothing anyone can do ever to stop my loins tingling during that guitar solo.

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:so I had my second ever RM dream last night. I was somewhere with harmless and he got shot and was dying. While he was dying someone gave me a copy of sirens. It sounded like november rain. I don't remember if I thought it was good or not but as Harmless lay dying he wanted to know what I thought of sirens, and I couldn't decide if he would rather die knowing the song sucked and he didn't miss much or telling him it was awesome and then him being sad that he missed it.

Also, guys, to hear what tracks BO'B played piano on before the 'new era' (Around The Bend? Lowlight?) is a head-scratcher for me, because those are done beautifully. So we'll see. If I've totally worried unnecessarily and exaggerated everything, I'll be the first to admit it.

According to the Polaroids from my well-worn copy of No Code, O'Brien definitely plays piano on the studio versions of Off He Goes, Smile and Around the Bend.

It's Sometimes that features McCready tinkling the ivories, not Speed of Sound. There's no additional credits in the Backspacer liner notes, so I presume it's all O'Brien.

As far as melon scratchers go that's a honey doodle.

It softens the blow a bit, knowing he kept away from the musical credits.

harmless wrote:I disagree that nothing sounds overworked. I have no problem with The End, that's tasteful stuff, even if a bit cinematic. But the piano on Unthought Known and everything swamping Speed of Sound, it ruined these songs. I've read a lot about how much BO'B loves rearranging the band's songs and adding keys. And then I watched him ruin a song at Wrigley with a Casio. So I don't think my fears are exaggerated.

I quite like when the piano comes in on UK

Fuzzcharger wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:so I had my second ever RM dream last night. I was somewhere with harmless and he got shot and was dying. While he was dying someone gave me a copy of sirens. It sounded like november rain. I don't remember if I thought it was good or not but as Harmless lay dying he wanted to know what I thought of sirens, and I couldn't decide if he would rather die knowing the song sucked and he didn't miss much or telling him it was awesome and then him being sad that he missed it.

There is nothing anyone can do ever to stop my loins tingling during that guitar solo.

it's not bad. Estranged is much better. I was never into novemeber rain

stip wrote:

harmless wrote:I disagree that nothing sounds overworked. I have no problem with The End, that's tasteful stuff, even if a bit cinematic. But the piano on Unthought Known and everything swamping Speed of Sound, it ruined these songs. I've read a lot about how much BO'B loves rearranging the band's songs and adding keys. And then I watched him ruin a song at Wrigley with a Casio. So I don't think my fears are exaggerated.

I quite like when the piano comes in on UK

I like everything piano-based until it's going into the "Nothing left" section. Those chords are too much in my opinion. I'd have rather Mike soloed in there (or on top). I'm hoping Lightning Bolt, being a similar type of song with less space for the piano to over take, fixes those issues for me. I really like the intro piano though, so I'm not anti-piano in theory.

I've grown more and more nervous of Sirens. It could be horribly cheesy and terrible. It could be powerful and awesome. It could be all of the above.

Birds in Hell wrote: It's Sometimes that features McCready tinkling the ivories, not Speed of Sound. There's no additional credits in the Backspacer liner notes, so I presume it's all O'Brien.

If Mike doesn't play keys on SOS I'm sure he wrote the parts. It's mentioned in a couple of interviews that Mike did, because I remember being disappointed that the acoustic guitar pattern from the demo was hidden during the interludes between the verses and choruses.

There are times when a hammered dulcimer just seems more appropriate, yanno?

stip wrote:

Fuzzcharger wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:

stip wrote:so I had my second ever RM dream last night. I was somewhere with harmless and he got shot and was dying. While he was dying someone gave me a copy of sirens. It sounded like november rain. I don't remember if I thought it was good or not but as Harmless lay dying he wanted to know what I thought of sirens, and I couldn't decide if he would rather die knowing the song sucked and he didn't miss much or telling him it was awesome and then him being sad that he missed it.

There is nothing anyone can do ever to stop my loins tingling during that guitar solo.

it's not bad. Estranged is much better. I was never into novemeber rain

I don't like Guns N Roses at all but surely that has to be one of the most perfect moments in classic rock. Well after Axel wearing white lyrca shorts and doc martens of course.

#PJRumors New @PearlJam single (Sirens) will be out this week.
#LightningBolt pic.twitter.com/jGW5SwoXLv