Red Mosquito

stip wrote:

harmless wrote:Fair do's. I'm in a similar position regarding LTRP and FD. Conceptually I can make any argument under the sun as to why they belong on the album, and in the arrangement that we have them. But I'm still just struggling to enjoy them. FD would be a lovely song if it weren't for those bookends; even though I do think they "make sense", it doesn't mean I want to sit through them all the time. Maybe FD has something in common with Foxymop in that way.

just program your itunes to cut out those 8 seconds of music!

I'm waiting to figure out whether the album's overall concept can allow for the songs as they are, and that'll take more time. Having said that, I didn't realise you could make iTunes do that.

you can have them start and stop at certain points

Nice!

I LOVE this album so much. I need to find time to sit down and do my write up on it. I've only been promising it for like four years now.

Can't Keep is an excellent opener, Cropduster and Ghost are catalogue highlights, I am Mine is a nice single, a great, coloured 45, Arc is incredible, I like GD, Get Right esp. the guitar solo and All or None is pure genius.

Help Help/1/2 Full < All of Tone

Thumbing my Way is not a favourite.

Save You is alright.

You Are is turgid.

Riot Act....

1/2 full is my ringtone. replacing baby britain, which was just way too quiet for a ringtone

wow--this was 8 pages already. It must have replaced the regular RA thread.

All or None is the last great non-Lost Dogs track PJ released.

DeLima wrote:All or None is the last great non-Lost Dogs track PJ released.

although i appreciate life wasted more as the years go by

Lets do this

Can't Keep: I am generally underwhelmed by both sometimes and of the girl, but the atmospheric prayer in Can't Keep really works. The vaguely martial drum beat is a nice contrast to the swirling churn in the rest of the music. The weary plaintive cast to Eddie's voice is well suited to the song. I really like how he drags out the final words in the chorus. For such a chill song there's a lot of movement here, which is appropriate for the song (the restlessness of it). Also really like how Eddie sings the wonder part of 'it's been wonderful' tonight. Excellent guitar interplay. Nice subdued solo from someone (Mike?) during the outro

Easily one of the best songs on the album

Save You: Great transition, cool riff with a nice crackle to it, Booms keys are really well used here to flatten out the sharper edges. Jeff is really good on this one.

I remember being pretty disappointed with this one the first time I heard it, mostly cuz of Eddie. Yet now it's one of my favorite songs on this album. Once I was able to hear this song for what it is rather than what I wanted it to be it was much easier to see its quality.

Still, it's odd to see Eddie not going for broke in a song like this, and it was really offputting for a long time. I think here, maybe more than anywhere, is where the 'eddie is tired' vibe on Riot Act comes from.

Nice sloppy breakdown in the center.

I love eddie's scream 'help yourseeeelllffff' at the end of the final verse. It's probably a lot more powerful in the context of the album since it's basically the only one on the album. That's a useful fact to file away if you want to understand why S/T is the album that it is. Because that was REALLY disappointing when Riot Act came out.

Another great song. I think Riot Act has (at this point) the best 1-2 starting punch since vitalogy. And it edges out L-bolt and Backspacer as well (S/T's is better)

Love Boat Captain: The organ intro is somewhat intriguing and makes the fairly boring noodling that Eddie is playing a bit more interesting. The song is supposed to start a build around the minute mark, but it sounds kinda flat. The music is okay (Stone and Mike are coloring in a somewhat bland base in interesting ways), but Eddie is really holding this song back--both with the ridiculous love stuff (which is a lovely sentiment, inartfully done) and the fact that he does kinda sound like he really doesn't care, especially given how personal the lyrics in the second verse are. This is the same problem Amongst the Waves runs into with its chorus, but at least ATW has the strong verses to offset it. All of this is kinda boring. Not terrible. Pearl Jam doesn't really have many terrible songs. But this song still feels a bit like a deflated balloon. You can imagine how great it might have been if it was blown up, but it isn't...

I like the outro solo, though. The outro is cheesy and uninspired, which is a terrible combination

It's too bad, because the next few tracks are pretty strong, and LBC derails what was otherwise a pretty strong A-side

Cropduster: This is a good song. I like the lyrics and the vocal melody, and Eddie's matter of fact delivery is off set by the fact that this song doesn't demand much of him, nice backing vocals (that are usually coming in at the points where Eddie might have belted something out himself on a record with passion), and the winning lyrics/melody. There's a very comfortable/familiar classic rock vibe to much of this song, but turned on its head, to make it all feel new and vaguely unsettling.

There is a fractured springtime feel to this song. I can't precisely define what I mean by that, but I think the song captures it nevertheless.

Nice outro.

This is a song I've come to appreciate more over the years.

Ghost: This was always one of my favorite RA songs, but I probably would appreciate it just a little less on a better album. Eddie is once again sounding tired and weary, but he constructed the song around that feeling, so it's not a problem.

I've never liked the 'away/away' backing vocals, although I like the way this part of the song does feel like it's going in reverse

Mike is soooo good on this song. He really carries it, since the main riff isn't super interesting (Save You's is better). Great fuzzy solo between the first two verses, and a pretty good one after the second chorus. Nice slightly sinister transition into the final chorus--like something of dark significance is happening , even if it is just playing out in the mind of the singer.

Nice passionate outro playing contrasts nicely with Eddie's anemic dying...

On good days I'd give ghost and cropduster 4 stars. On less good days they're strong 3.5 star songs. I don't listen to this album that much so they always feel fresh

I Am Mine: The first song I heard from Riot Act, and still my favorite. I love the sea shanty vibe to it. I love how crowded it is. I love how Boom's bright notes punctuate the song. I love how brave and hopeful the whole thing is. some really nice lyrical moments in here. I especially like the slight variations on the chorus. I love how the guitars are carousing with each other.

Another song that Eddie doesn't take off for, but again, unlike LBC, this song is written for that feeling, and the way the music swells during the final chorus does the work for Eddie--and here the weary vocals have an indefatigable quality to them that fits well with the song.

Plus this is quite possibly my second or third favorite Mike solo in the whole catalog. So hopeful and defiant without being flamboyant.

this is a 5 star song. Best thing on this album.

It's a bit downhill from I Am Mine--this is another A-side album.


Thumbing my Way: I know DcT and others disagree, but I think this is one of the most depressing songs (up there with all or none and sleight of hand) in the entire album catalog. It's about putting on a brave face in the face of hopelessness, but the 'no matter how cold the winter there's a springtime ahead' is revealed to just be an empty platitude.

I don't like how this song sounds on the record. I like the coldness, but there's an unpleasant tone to the guitars (a harshness) that doesn't seem appropriate, and Matt is overdrumming. Eddie's 'I've given up' vocals are appropriate for the song, but he's maybe a bit too far gone here. It makes it harder to sympathize with him. KD recommended the chop suey version on PJ 20 and he's right. It's better. There's a bit more humanity to it.

We like to rave about the production on Riot Act, and for the most part rightfully so, but I just don't care for how this one sounds.

Maybe the best lyrics on the album.

Matt is no way over-drumming TMW compared to every single ballad that came after Riot Act.

I won't have that kind of talk in my house

You Are: This is a song I like the idea of more than I like the song. The guitars sound great at the start--it's something we've never heard from them before. And this has one of my favorite set of opening lyrics by anyone. But most of the rest of the lyrics are trite and uninteresting, and this is, alongside LBC, the song where Eddie really undersells the song. He just doesn't sound like someone that is in love, or even particularly believes in love. And while the music is cool throughout, it does start to drone, and not in a good way, which I think is more a consequence of Eddie mailing this one in.

Boring chorus, too, even though I like the keyboard sounding thing in it.

I like when Jeff's bass comes in during the 'love is a tower' intro to the last verse.

This is probably in the upper half of Riot Act for me (or close to it), because it's so interesting and it sounds good, but it's not interesting enough to make up for the fact that, at the end of the day, this is just not that good a song.