Song of the Moment: Lightning Bolt

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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Rate Lightning Bolt

5 Stars
34
24%
4 Stars
59
42%
3 Stars
22
16%
2 Stars
8
6%
1 Star
12
9%
Betterman (live)
4
3%
 
Total votes: 139

Reflection
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Reflection »

The only thing I don't like about this song is how the dueling guitar parts from 1:13-1:33 are cut short so that BoB can get in on the keys and add his mandatory cheese. Let the band fucking play.
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ABNorman
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by ABNorman »

Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?
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stip
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by stip »

You are the first
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harmless
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?
As in pretty bloody awful? :lol:

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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EJ
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by EJ »

He moves on to sounding like Roger Daltry, then finally Paul McCartney in the outtro.
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harmless
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

:haha:
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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EJ
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by EJ »

harmless wrote::haha:
I'm not kidding either. 8-)
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Mike
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by Mike »

harmless wrote:
ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?
As in pretty bloody awful? :lol:

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.
It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for the "butchudunknow". Well, he still would sound like a creep hiding in a bush.
Last edited by Mike on Fri October 11, 2013 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ABNorman
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by ABNorman »

All 3 are singers that I love at their best.
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harmless
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

Mike wrote:
harmless wrote:
ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?
As in pretty bloody awful? :lol:

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.
It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for the "butchudunknow". Well, he still would sound like a creep hiding in a bush.
:lol:

I also hate "...like ouah... burning meteor" and "uh-looking for a place to land..."
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
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ABNorman
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by ABNorman »

harmless wrote:
Mike wrote:
harmless wrote:
ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?
As in pretty bloody awful? :lol:

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.
It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for the "butchudunknow". Well, he still would sound like a creep hiding in a bush.
:lol:

I also hate "...like ouah... burning meteor" and "uh-looking for a place to land..."
I've always found the ouah's and butchoo's the kind of thing that endears me to Ed's vocal work. Obviously there's a point it can go too far, but he's always had some silly pronunciation.
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ABNorman
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by ABNorman »

Caveat: This is only my second listen through.
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EJ
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by EJ »

ABNorman wrote:All 3 are singers that I love at their best.
Well, there's like 3 different songs in here, so yep. But, I do like this tune. There's an energy to it.
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stip
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by stip »

it is a pretty ambitious song in a stealthy way. It keeps attempting to crest higher and higher without really coming back down after each one--so the build gets higher and more intense with less and less runup to it. And it happens very quickly
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EJ
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by EJ »

stip wrote:it is a pretty ambitious song in a stealthy way. It keeps attempting to crest higher and higher without really coming back down after each one--so the build gets higher and more intense with less and less runup to it. And it happens very quickly
You're very right. :thumbsup:
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stip
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by stip »

that's what UK wanted to do I think, but that song, which started well, couldn't pull it off. It just ended up treading water despite wanting to desperately to swim
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harmless
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by harmless »

EJ wrote:
ABNorman wrote:All 3 are singers that I love at their best.
Well, there's like 3 different songs in here, so yep. But, I do like this tune. There's an energy to it.
I think that's what keeps me going back to it; there's that Frankensong aspect to it, same as some of my favourite songs on Binaural (for example). The chances are that this would be a duller song if it kept to any one of its single ideas, but because it moves from one to the other, it's interesting.
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mray10
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by mray10 »

stip wrote:that's what UK wanted to do I think, but that song, which started well, couldn't pull it off. It just ended up treading water despite wanting to desperately to swim
When I LAL'ed Backspacer earlier today, that one really suffered, probably more than any other. It was never a top drawer song for me, just a nice one that didn't get all the way to where it wanted to go. But now it just really feels like a sad LB demo.
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stip
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by stip »

my favorite backspacer songs are GSMF, Fixer, and Force of Nature. How did they do?
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mray10
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Re: New Song: Lightning Bolt

Post by mray10 »

stip wrote:my favorite backspacer songs are GSMF, Fixer, and Force of Nature. How did they do?
I like Fixer and FON reasonably well. GSMF has never been a favorite, but it does OK. It doesn't compare to Getaway for me, but it seems to have more personality than a lot of what follows. FoN is what it is--I still like it, anyone who didn't before isn't more likely to now--but I don't see a very obvious comparison for it on LB, and so it doesn't particularly suffer.

Fixer does suffer, I think. It and Got Some are two songs I liked pretty well that I heard this morning with the context of "what Pearl Jam sounds like on Lightning Bolt" and, while the songs don't suddenly seem especially lacking in the way UK did, both just feel kind of pale. I think The Fixer on LB would be a much more interesting and full-sounding track.

Put another way. Backspacer has always sounded glossy. Now it's even more so.
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