Red Mosquito

RockPusher wrote:

stip wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week?

I think they're all still alive?

Did you just make a Pearl Jam reference without meaning to make a Pearl Jam reference?

it was unintentional, but I am pleased.

Monkey_Driven wrote:Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week? Do they know if you're ok?

Sometimes I imagine Stip having tied his family to various chairs pointing furiously at charts like that Always Sunny meme while Pearl Jam plays.

ABNorman wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week? Do they know if you're ok?

Sometimes I imagine Stip having tied his family to various chairs pointing furiously at charts like that Always Sunny meme while Pearl Jam plays.

I think my family (certainly my wife) is grateful for RM so this doesn't happen. They know almost nothing about Pearl Jam beyond it being that band daddy/my husband is obsessed with

stip wrote:

ABNorman wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week? Do they know if you're ok?

Sometimes I imagine Stip having tied his family to various chairs pointing furiously at charts like that Always Sunny meme while Pearl Jam plays.

I think my family (certainly my wife) is grateful for RM so this doesn't happen. They know almost nothing about Pearl Jam beyond it being that band daddy/my husband is obsessed with

I said to my girl, as a joke, that DM had united the board like nothing else did. She smiled at me with a very confused look.

mattyv1908 wrote:

stip wrote:Waiting for Stevie, from the second it begins, it basically liquid catharsis. It's like they said 'what if the bridge of breath' but the whole song. 'what if the final two minutes of Alive, but the whole song.' 'What if the bridge of Corduory, but the whole song?'

And they fucking pull it off. And while it is still early days, I have listened to this song a LOT, and at least one in three times I start tearing up again. There are times I start full on crying, as it finds something else to pull out of me. I just can't get over how huge this song is, how encompassing, how much it invites you to just let everything go, how much it reaches in and just pulls shit out of you, in an act of joy. This song just finds that liminal moment between where things are not okay and then they are, plants a flag, and will not be moved.

And it is every second of the song. There is actually no build to this song. There's barely a bridge. There is no real distinction between chorus and verse. It is just THAT moment, for five glorious minutes.

I’m glad you’re enjoying this song. The first time I heard it I wanted to get out of it what you are, but this the most skippable song on the album for me because it seems like they/someone is trying to bring back a sound that doesn’t exist anymore in the band as they’ve matured beyond their infancy that was Ten. This is the epitome of trying to make another Alive or Breath for the sake of it. It feels forced.

Now Setting Sun in contrast reaches that same cathartic release in a completely natural way for a band that been around as long as they have. This is the Alive or Breath through 30+ years of life and maturity taking place.

It seems there’s a fair amount of people who are connecting to Waiting for Stevie because it’s taking them back to a point in their lives when the aforementioned songs evoked the same reactions. I personally don’t want to be taken back in a nostalgic way, I want to be met in the present with that same feeling. Where Waiting for Stevie feels like a facsimile, Setting Sun feels authentic.

WFS doesn't feel like any of those Ten songs to me at all; to me it's anthemic but has more of a Verve / Britpop / The Cure feel than an "Alive" feel; if they want to do anthemic I think this is the way, and maybe we wouldn't be thinking of Ten at all associated with this song if the media hadn't led us to expect it

I'm on my third listen in two days. It's quite enjoyable, isn't it? But, boy oh boy, Dark Matter and Running are easily the two big bummers on this album. Whose idea was it to make those the first two singles? Yikes

Kevin Davis wrote:though “Won’t Tell” is a bit confounding to me in ways that don’t feel entirely satisfying yet (there’s something there — just haven’t unpacked it).

The star of the show for Won't Tell is the lyrics. I could definitley see how someone could be offput by the U2ish/poppy vibes, especially that startling intro coming out of DM...? My original notes likened it to Force of Nature... which is a song I can't stand (PJ does Bon Jovi? Maybe a little too harsh?)

However, I was a little taken aback by the instant love it was receiving on RM and by the third listen I was singing that chorus like an unabashed schoolgirl. Once my sensibilities return, the song could cool off for me, we'll see

mattyv1908 wrote:

stip wrote:Waiting for Stevie, from the second it begins, it basically liquid catharsis. It's like they said 'what if the bridge of breath' but the whole song. 'what if the final two minutes of Alive, but the whole song.' 'What if the bridge of Corduory, but the whole song?'

And they fucking pull it off. And while it is still early days, I have listened to this song a LOT, and at least one in three times I start tearing up again. There are times I start full on crying, as it finds something else to pull out of me. I just can't get over how huge this song is, how encompassing, how much it invites you to just let everything go, how much it reaches in and just pulls shit out of you, in an act of joy. This song just finds that liminal moment between where things are not okay and then they are, plants a flag, and will not be moved.

And it is every second of the song. There is actually no build to this song. There's barely a bridge. There is no real distinction between chorus and verse. It is just THAT moment, for five glorious minutes.

I’m glad you’re enjoying this song. The first time I heard it I wanted to get out of it what you are, but this the most skippable song on the album for me because it seems like they/someone is trying to bring back a sound that doesn’t exist anymore in the band as they’ve matured beyond their infancy that was Ten. This is the epitome of trying to make another Alive or Breath for the sake of it. It feels forced.

Now Setting Sun in contrast reaches that same cathartic release in a completely natural way for a band that been around as long as they have. This is the Alive or Breath through 30+ years of life and maturity taking place.

It seems there’s a fair amount of people who are connecting to Waiting for Stevie because it’s taking them back to a point in their lives when the aforementioned songs evoked the same reactions. I personally don’t want to be taken back in a nostalgic way, I want to be met in the present with that same feeling. Where Waiting for Stevie feels like a facsimile, Setting Sun feels authentic.

Setting Sun is also truly great, so I'll cosign all those things you just said there.

Obviously I disagree with WFS, but I don't think it is or even trying to sound like a Ten retread. It feels of its moment while capturing what it was about that era (and that type of song) that I (and perhaps fans of that era, but it's not reducible to them/that) really look for.

Setting Sun also does really cool work tying together the different threads that tend to pop up in album closers - so it's another song like WFS that (for me) feels like the essence of something without feeling like a retread, and it evokes so much feeling partially because it is a great song but partially because it is priming things within us that are already there and waiting to be deployed in service of the emotional experience.

It's not fan service. It is a band deploying its history to great effect. That's always risky, because every time you do it wrong you get the experience you had with WFS. this feels like a facsimile. Someone taking the thing you like and shoving it on screen to say you liked this one. Here it is again. That's fan service. As opposed to something that takes the essence of what you loved about something, and recaptures it in a new way that feels familiar but not repetitive, that reminds you of how it felt when you first encountered the thing you love and lets you reexperience it with something new.

For me both WFS and Setting Sun fall distinctly in the later camp. And both are evoking different elements of Pearl Jam's essence. But for me WFS is my favorite 'type' of pearl jam. Not better or best. But it pushes my biggest buttons.

Are you a fan of that kind of early era 'swing for the fences' bombast in their catalog generally?

WFS takes me back to my teen experience as a listener but doesn’t sound like those songs. It just sounds like essence of Pearl Jam. Closest comparison I’ve seen is I Got Shit filtered through Yield which is, yes, essence of Pearl Jam.

RockPusher wrote:WFS takes me back to my teen experience as a listener but doesn’t sound like those songs. It just sounds like essence of Pearl Jam. Closest comparison I’ve seen is I Got Shit filtered through Yield which is, yes, essence of Pearl Jam.

definitely got some I Got Shit in there, yes to a bit of Yield, but maybe slightly less than I was expecting from the metal door

stip wrote:

ABNorman wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week? Do they know if you're ok?

Sometimes I imagine Stip having tied his family to various chairs pointing furiously at charts like that Always Sunny meme while Pearl Jam plays.

I think my family (certainly my wife) is grateful for RM so this doesn't happen. They know almost nothing about Pearl Jam beyond it being that band daddy/my husband is obsessed with

Someday maybe we could get a guest post from your wife... what's it like living with the world's biggest Pearl Jam fan? But perhaps that would be 2 worlds colliding that should never meet.

Just the thought of my wife reading my RM posts would be akin to her finding my teenage journal hidden deep underneath my underwear drawer.

bluestate wrote:

stip wrote:

ABNorman wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week? Do they know if you're ok?

Sometimes I imagine Stip having tied his family to various chairs pointing furiously at charts like that Always Sunny meme while Pearl Jam plays.

I think my family (certainly my wife) is grateful for RM so this doesn't happen. They know almost nothing about Pearl Jam beyond it being that band daddy/my husband is obsessed with

Someday maybe we could get a guest post from your wife... what's it like living with the world's biggest Pearl Jam fan? But perhaps that would be 2 worlds colliding that should never meet.

Just the thought of my wife reading my RM posts would be akin to her finding my teenage journal hidden deep underneath my underwear drawer.

lol if Stip's wife would answer that question in two sentences max

mattyv1908 wrote:Setting Sun elevates this album to “the best thing since” category alone.

I can’t get through this album without being emotionally destroyed yet inspired and full of resolve. It’s a weird feeling because before I even knew a single lyric the second half of the song would make me feel the same way. Upon reflecting on the lyrics I feel that sense more strongly.

What a song. If this band ended their career on this high note I couldn’t fault them. It’s that good.

Thank you for mentioning that. The music in the second half of setting sun is so perfectly crafted to elevate those conflicting feelings of sadness, longing, and anxiety on one hand and love, resolve, and hopefulness on the other. I think this might be my favorite closer on any album.

something I'm just realising about Matt's drumming on this album that is absolutely transforming my listening experience: he's smashing cymbals and playing open hi-hats everywhere I want him to, so I'm not having to internally yell at him

The Argonaut wrote:I'm on my third listen in two days. It's quite enjoyable, isn't it? But, boy oh boy, Dark Matter and Running are easily the two big bummers on this album. Whose idea was it to make those the first two singles? Yikes

The consistency of opinion on this is quite startling. RM is usually all over the map with polar opposite takes but this ain't one of them.

Setting Sun - good visualizer. I like that it moved slow, and had that distant light in the center.

This is a great song that feels great now, and I am looking forward to spending more time with when WFS is not my primary emotional destination on the record. Right now I'd rank it as their 4th best album ending.

Performances are great. Love the different dynamics throughout the song. Lots of little things to unpack over time. Something I missed yesterday, the lyric 'had the dream you would stay with me until kingdom come' - the use of THE dream instead of A dream. It's familiar, recurring, a deeper need (or longing, to use Won't Tell's phrase). Gives the line extra weight.

I adored River Cross when it came out, and I had some very powerful moments with it. I think it's underrated. I think some of the verses are stunning. I still really like it, but some of that emotion was bound up in the COVID experience, and as that faded I return to it less, though it's still moving.

But right now I have to give this Setting Sun, and it's not that close. Both are capstone songs, of a different type, but I think this nails the brief just a bit better.



Who Ever Said vs. Scared of Fear - I'll give this a tie. SOF is the better overall listen. But WES has higher highs
Superblood Wolfmoon vs. React/Respond - giving this to Superblood
Dance of the Clarivoyants vs. Wreckage - it's Dance, but Wreckage is a song to watch
Dark Matter vs. Quick Escape - it's Dark Matter, but barely.
Alright vs. Won't Tell - tie
Upper Hand vs. Seven O'Clock - tie. Still too much to process. Honestly, Seven OClock is so dense that part of me still feels like I'm unpacking elements of that one.
Never Destination vs. Waiting for Stevie - It's Waiting for Stevie, and it's the presence of a song like this, that moves beyond the star system (gigaton has 3 5 star songs for me, and a few songs that are within spitting distance) into something categorically other that lifts the rest of the record by virtue of its presence.
Take the Long Way vs. Running -Running. If Take the Long Way had different lyrics, and also Jeff, I might feel differently.
Buckle Up vs. Something Special - Something Special, but barely
Comes Than Goes vs. Nothing - Comes Than Goes, but it's a clean win
Retrograde vs. Got to Give - Tie, but Got to Give has room
River Cross vs. Setting Sun - Setting sun

Ms Harmless wrote:something I'm just realising about Matt's drumming on this album that is absolutely transforming my listening experience: he's smashing cymbals and playing open hi-hats everywhere I want him to, so I'm not having to internally yell at him

I could see how that might help

stip wrote:

Ms Harmless wrote:something I'm just realising about Matt's drumming on this album that is absolutely transforming my listening experience: he's smashing cymbals and playing open hi-hats everywhere I want him to, so I'm not having to internally yell at him

I could see how that might help

Okay, so tallying things up

Gigaton: 3 wins, 5 ties
Dark Matter: 5 wins, 5 ties

Ties feel more likely to break Dark Matter's way over time. So as of now, I'd put Dark Matter ahead of Gigaton.

ladies in gentlemen, my new top five

Vitalogy
Ten
Vs
Dark Matter
Gigaton


I feel good about that, and great about the fact that two albums in my top five are from the last five years!