Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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Rank Lightning Bolt

5 stars
1
1%
4 stars
4
5%
3 stars
29
37%
2 stars
30
38%
1 star
14
18%
 
Total votes: 78

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Sgt. Crackpot
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Sgt. Crackpot »

Django Butterworth wrote:I honestly can't believe what I am reading.
You must he really new here. It's ok man, you'll get used to it.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

Anyway, enough negativity. I predict that Lightning Bolt will be the best album since Riot Act.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by stupidmop »

harmless wrote:
stupidmop wrote:
stip wrote:
harmless wrote:
evenslow wrote:This, to me, is the takeaway:
BOB said about SBM wrote:Eddie sent me his record before it came out to see if I liked it. I said: “There’s one song on here that we’re gonna steal, because it’s a Pearl Jam song as far as I’m concerned. And there are gonna be the fans who know that record. I don’t know that the rest of the world’s gonna know that song that much.” His record actually ended up doing much better than I thought it would… but I just thought a lyric like that with him singing it is so unusual, and it’s such a sweet, direct, straightforward song that I felt like we needed it very much.
I'm surprised he gave such a direct answer on this. Interesting that Ed would send him the record to get his opinion. I'm also surprised he thought only a smattering of people would listen to Uke Songs and that no one would remember SBM. He knows that almost every PJ fan, at a minimum, was going to get that record. And STILL, he went through with putting it on LB. Flattery will get you everywhere.

Also, artists are often insecure about their art, and in that sense you can see where a guy like Brendan O'Brien, with his confidence in moving forward and creating without wasting time, would be appealing.
I think BO'B had no idea how many people would like, or remember, SBM or Uke Songs because he has no idea how many people like Pearl Jam anymore. He has no idea about the relatively gigantic fanbase and what their feelings and opinions are about anything. It's not his job to care. All he 'knows' is that their move away from his expertise was career suicide, and now they're back.

the tone of that comment aside, what was pretty interesting about that interview was this section:

I think the first cons of making four albums together was that they got tired of being told what to do, which happens to all good artists. Some time after we did Yield, I just think they wanted to do it themselves for a while.

which seems to strongly imply, counter to much of what we've speculated on in this thread, that BoB isn't taking on a new role in the studio with them, and that the same process that produced Vs. through Yield was what also produced Lightning Bolt and Backspacer.
He's also said multiple times that the band listen to him more now though, so even if he hasn't changed the way he works the band has, so the balance is tilted more to his favour than before.Not all the way, but more.

That quote/ interview just sounds vaguely bitchy and arrogant to me, "the band got sick of me telling them how to make shit awesome so they fucked off and did their own piddly thing. I haven't even listened to that shit but now they're ready to make more significant music they've come back, Aw yeah"

Maybe they just wanted to try something different BoB jeez.
Yeah, he's a full-on bonafide dickhead. I'm just trying to get my head back into a space where I can look forward to this BO'B album because I know PJ is on it somewhere. It may as well have "Brendan O'Brien Presents..." on the front cover.
Brenden o'brien presents Eddie and the Pearl Jams? :lol:

I'm still looking forward to the album. My fathers son, infallible, pendulum and yellow moon sound like they could be really cool. Getaway apprently has some bizarre lyrics so that could be pretty interesting, and the snatches of lyrics from let the records play also sound interesting or at the very least non supersonic like. So half of it I'm excited for and the other half I'm hoping pleasantly surprise me :D

Bob will only get the blame if the songs are good but slathered in bizarre unnecessary production choices, if the songs just aren't that good to begin with then ain't no use blaming Bob. Unless we find out he Frankensteined all the songs or something.
Last edited by stupidmop on Wed September 11, 2013 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by dimejinky99 »

Did we see this interview? From classic rock?

Brendan O’Brien has produced six Pearl Jam albums, starting with their second, Vs., in 1993 and continuing with their upcoming tenth, Lightning Bolt. Ahead of Lightning Bolt’s release on October 14, O’Brien was in London recently to talk about his relationship with the band.

Brendan, you’ve worked with Pearl Jam over a period of 20 years now. What are the pros and cons of having such a well-established relationship with a band?
I think the first cons of making four albums together was that they got tired of being told what to do, which happens to all good artists. Some time after we did Yield, I just think they wanted to do it themselves for a while. The pros are, when they’re ready to do something a little more outgoing, significant – whatever you want to call it, that’s what I call it, I can’t help myself! – they call me again.

And when they arrive in the studio, do they know what the songs are going to sound like, or is there a lot of sitting around thinking?
There’s very little sitting around thinking, I can promise you that. Because you can’t pre-determine what you’re doing. Except that if you do a record with Pearl Jam, you’d better have Eddie [Vedder] good and loud! And a groove going. If I do anything I’ve got to get that right. Most songs we still start by recording live, in the room, with everybody playing at once, even though we don’t keep as much of that stuff as we used to.

You’ve said that some Pearl Jam records are more difficult to make than others. How would you place this one on that spectrum?
The difficulty for me was trying to get them back into the studio. I think that’s probably my value to them, I’m going: “Let’s keep going on, let’s stop fucking around, let’s go.” Thinking of some of their earlier records, Vs. was hard for me to make because I didn’t know any of the guys really. Especially Eddie, and Eddie was very stand-offish in those days. He was just very protective. He would tell me: “You’re Stone and Jeff’s friend” [laughs], when we would get into discussion. That was his defence mechanism. “Alright, man, whatever…”



Sleeping By Myself was used first on Eddie’s Ukulele Songs solo album, and I understand using it again on Lightning Bolt was your idea?
Eddie sent me his record before it came out to see if I liked it. I said: “There’s one song on here that we’re gonna steal, because it’s a Pearl Jam song as far as I’m concerned. And there are gonna be the fans who know that record. I don’t know that the rest of the world’s gonna know that song that much.” His record actually ended up doing much better than I thought it would… but I just thought a lyric like that with him singing it is so unusual, and it’s such a sweet, direct, straightforward song that I felt like we needed it very much.

Where did you record the album?
Henson Recording in Los Angeles, which is the old A&M Studios – the We Are The World studios. We wanted a We Are The World vibe, man! There’s still something about going into a studio, not into a house, not into someone’s fucking garage, that makes people feel like they’re going to work and going to do something significant. I do like that submarine mentality, and everybody going into the ship together. It’s only worked well once for me, recording in houses. That was Blood Sugar Sex Magik. I engineered that, and had the time of my life.

You’ve known Pearl Jam for a long time. How have they changed as people, and as a band?
They’re all pretty much the same guys. They all have families now, so they’ve moved on a little bit. I mean, shit, we’re all 20 years older than we were. I think Eddie has changed quite a bit – not at the core – but in that he’s accepted his role. When I first met those guys, he couldn’t go anywhere, it was crazy. He still can’t go places sometimes. But I think he’s much more grounded in life in general. It’s easier.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

Yes. It's horrible, again. :(
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by dimejinky99 »

He just inferred all the records they made without him are nsignificant
:shock:
Last edited by dimejinky99 on Wed September 11, 2013 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Noaheb »

dimejinky99 wrote:He just inferred all the records they made without him ate insignificant
:shock:
wheres insignificant? my god its been ate!

sorry :oops:
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

Everything he says just makes him sound worse. I need to stop reading what he's saying or I'm gonna go off the whole idea :lol:

I'd still call myself a PJ fan. But I am definitely not a fan of BO'B.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

It's funny to read that he's 'Stone and Jeff's friend'. So I guess they're cool with all this stuff, perhaps even more cool than Ed.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Mine »

harmless wrote:It's funny to read that he's 'Stone and Jeff's friend'. So I guess they're cool with all this stuff, perhaps even more cool than Ed.
I've made a post about in the previous page. It made me think if Ed was referring to him when he said he took the control of the band when they were recording Vs. because the band started being controlled from the outside or something along this lines. I'm just speculating but those quotes seem to be 2 sides of the same story.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Django Butterworth »

I guess just all of the hate towards BoB.

I never knew that a PRODUCER would catch so much shit for a band's output. He didn't right the songs that you don't like, for Christ's sake. And if the band didn't trust him or want to take his suggestions, they would tell him to kick rocks. I mean it's not like this is early in their career where using an established producer will make or break the record. They can work with anybody that they want. And they chose to work with him. And I guess I am glad that he pushed them to get the record finished. To say that he's some evil puppet master that is manipulating the band based on a couple of interviews is crazy. Over the span of his relationship with the band, they have made some good records. I respect that.

It's not like he's Boom or something...
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Jorge »

Django Butterworth wrote:I guess just all of the hate towards BoB.

I never knew that a PRODUCER would catch so much shit for a band's output. He didn't right the songs that you don't like, for Christ's sake. And if the band didn't trust him or want to take his suggestions, they would tell him to kick rocks. I mean it's not like this is early in their career where using an established producer will make or break the record. They can work with anybody that they want. And they chose to work with him. And I guess I am glad that he pushed them to get the record finished. To say that he's some evil puppet master that is manipulating the band based on a couple of interviews is crazy. Over the span of his relationship with the band, they have made some good records. I respect that.

It's not like he's Boom or something...
It is a little over-the-top.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by joostone »

The B'OB argument gets a bit tired for me...if he is the reason why they 'suck' now he is also the sole reason why they were great from Vs to Yield.....

Sure a producer is always of an influence, but the band always decides. They hire him, they pay him. Don't make him the Yoko Ono of this band ;)
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by LetMeSleep »

I think the Stone and Jeff's friend comment refers to VS/Vitalogy when Ed was wary of everyone, and Stone and Jeff had previous experience in the studio working with producers and engineers. BoB probably could actually discuss the production with S and J.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

Have you actually stopped to ask anyone what their arguments are for their dislike of him, Django? He is a producer, arranger, co-writer and co-instrumentalist of PJ's work at the moment. As all of the above, he deserves more than a producer's fair share of complaint if PJ music fails.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by LetMeSleep »

joostone wrote:The B'OB argument gets a bit tired for me...if he is the reason why they 'suck' now he is also the sole reason why they were great from Vs to Yield.....

Sure a producer is always of an influence, but the band always decides. They hire him, they pay him. Don't make him the Yoko Ono of this band ;)
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

Also, I wish he was Boom. I wish Boom could play keys on records and I wish Boom could learn to produce records so that they could fire BO'B and bring Boom on board.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by keeponjammin89 »

Lol youll learn that everyone just complains to much on this page. Noone can just be happy for what the band is i guess they would rather see them break up or something
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by harmless »

joostone wrote:The B'OB argument gets a bit tired for me...if he is the reason why they 'suck' now he is also the sole reason why they were great from Vs to Yield....
Why? Explain.
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Re: Lightning Bolt - October 15

Post by Django Butterworth »

harmless wrote:Also, I wish he was Boom. I wish Boom could play keys on records and I wish Boom could learn to produce records so that they could fire BO'B and bring Boom on board.

^This thread has officially jumped the shark.
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