Speaking of, vote for Pendulum - a song I quite like but, as LV points out, is really undercut by the album's production.
Lightning Bolt, despite a weak opening section (see also Life Wasted and Force of Nature, two other songs I adore) and the most criminal fade in the entire catalog, has solid lyrics throughout, a committed performance from Ed, and is a fantastic example of how to sustain a constant sense of rising intensity - the song conveys the sense of just building and building even though it largely stays in the same place. And Mike's mini solo after the first verse is wonderful.
Mind Your Manners is just amazing from top to bottom. One of Ed's better lyrics, a great growly performance, that super cool second chorus (the self-realized...part), fantastic intro and outro, and that great solo. The only complaint I have with the song is the generic main riff, but it's a genre piece and those kind of punk songs just have those generic riffs. This is the most criminally underrated (and arguably misunderstood) song pearl jam has, methinks
Lightning Bolt huffs and puffs and just comes across as the most overworked piece of crap this band have ever produced. Barring Mike's first solo there's not one second that sounds like a band effortlessly playing. If there was a PJBot pumping out material here on out, this would be the soulless product.
Somehow MYM survives for the opening 7 seconds alone.
I think this top 3 is a fair amount stronger than Backspacer, which underlines to me that there is stronger songwriting on this record overall. I get the critiques of Pendulum; the lyrics are fairly threadbare, it could have used a few more polishes and re-examinations in the songwriting process. But I do like it nonetheless. LB I like as well, and it's fun when it gets going at the end, but it may be a notch below. MYM, to my surprise, ended up being my favorite song on this record.
digster wrote:I think this top 3 is a fair amount stronger than Backspacer, which underlines to me that there is stronger songwriting on this record overall. I get the critiques of Pendulum; the lyrics are fairly threadbare, it could have used a few more polishes and re-examinations in the songwriting process. But I do like it nonetheless. LB I like as well, and it's fun when it gets going at the end, but it may be a notch below. MYM, to my surprise, ended up being my favorite song on this record.
Although I like Backspacer more overall, I agree that this is a stronger top 3.
