Red Mosquito

Birds in Hell wrote:Just imagine the album we would've got with Retrograde and Can't Deny Me, as produced by Brendan O'Brien.

Birds in Hell wrote:Just imagine the album we would've got with Retrograde and Can't Deny Me, as produced by Brendan O'Brien.

I guess if the sacrifice is dealing with one of these songs rather than an entire album of them, I'll take it.

dimejinky99 wrote:It’s. Right. There.

Thanks, everyone! Listening now.

the all important wife review:

"This is way better than the last few. I gotta go to bed now.”

bodysnatcher wrote:the all important wife review:

"This is way better than the last few. I gotta go to bed now.”

So she’s deaf AND blind.

Lucky guy.

I like Can't Deny Me more than quite a few of the songs on Gigaton. I'm serious. CDM is actually catchy.

Quick Escape fucking shreds

Vindicator wrote:I like Can't Deny Me more than quite a few of the songs on Gigaton. I'm serious. CDM is actually catchy.

Hi Brendan.

Finally at work, where I have both have time to listen, and where my regular headphones were stored for the night. Ready to go in for a second time very soon.

Birds in Hell wrote:Just imagine the album we would've got with Retrograde and Can't Deny Me, as produced by Brendan O'Brien.

Would like to hear it some day, but I am sure it's a lot worse than Gigaton.

Vindicator wrote:I like Can't Deny Me more than quite a few of the songs on Gigaton. I'm serious. CDM is actually catchy.

We all know you’re gods own asshole But dont give them bullets for fucks sake. At least put up a bit of a chase

Ledbetterdays wrote:

Waverider wrote:Ok, so I've read so many thing being said while I was at work. I have not heard anything, as I have not asked for a link. That's a first for me. With my other account I had, and then this latest one, I always came here at new album time, and got an early listen. I told myself that wasn't going to do that again, and I won't. I really am enjoying reading everything people are saying, it's great, and I feel all your enthusiasm etc.

I would like to ask a few questions.....

Although very, very early, If you would give "Yield" a 10 let's say, where would this record place out of ....you know.....10 for you, and where did you rank the last 3 albums as well? I'm not interested in pre Yield, because that's just in a different galaxy then we are now.

Also, I know the leak quality apparantly isn't the best, but vocally, how does Ed sound opposed to the last 3 records in your opinion?

Thank you for any feedback, seriously.

For context, I think Yield was their last great album. Nothing since has provided the high-level quality of songs. I know most people on here disagree--a lot of people on here who love Riot Act or Binaural. I do not, but there is a feeling that comes from this album that was similar to Binaural or No Code. What are they doing? How do I feel about this? What I find myself coming back to is that this album has a lot of great moments--parts of songs, but maybe not necessarily a lot of great songs. There are just these great little moments in almost all of these songs that are cool or unpredictable or more importantly improve on similar ideas of the last few albums. There are not really big choruses or arena rock pomp and circumstance. It is more introspective REM, and more 80s guitar tones, more uncomfortable in mostly a good way. Frat guys from the 90's will totally reject this version of Pearl Jam and for many, that will be a relief. There is still too much of Ed's smaltz on this album and it is still a little too formulaic to the point where the first 2 songs really make little sense in the context of the album. It does not mean that those are bad songs, but this album needed to break the mold with a slow opener. More Long Road, Of the Girl, and not this Go, Animal setup that doesn't work the same way as it did on Vs. As far as Ed goes, his delivery is probably about as good as could be expected. He tries a lot of new styles--Springsteen, Byrne, but still manages to fall just below what I want, which is a range of emotion in his voice. As someone else said, it is to soon to rank this as a whole, but I will say I was more surprised, more challenged, and more interested to listen again then any of the last three albums. On the other hand, I don't know if I have found a song yet that I want to play on repeat over and over in the car. Perhaps we have enough of those songs already, and perhaps this album was made with the fans in mind who put on headphones and absorb all of the intricate details, because that will be a trip!

Excellent

Waverider wrote:

Ledbetterdays wrote:

Waverider wrote:Ok, so I've read so many thing being said while I was at work. I have not heard anything, as I have not asked for a link. That's a first for me. With my other account I had, and then this latest one, I always came here at new album time, and got an early listen. I told myself that wasn't going to do that again, and I won't. I really am enjoying reading everything people are saying, it's great, and I feel all your enthusiasm etc.

I would like to ask a few questions.....

Although very, very early, If you would give "Yield" a 10 let's say, where would this record place out of ....you know.....10 for you, and where did you rank the last 3 albums as well? I'm not interested in pre Yield, because that's just in a different galaxy then we are now.

Also, I know the leak quality apparantly isn't the best, but vocally, how does Ed sound opposed to the last 3 records in your opinion?

Thank you for any feedback, seriously.

For context, I think Yield was their last great album. Nothing since has provided the high-level quality of songs. I know most people on here disagree--a lot of people on here who love Riot Act or Binaural. I do not, but there is a feeling that comes from this album that was similar to Binaural or No Code. What are they doing? How do I feel about this? What I find myself coming back to is that this album has a lot of great moments--parts of songs, but maybe not necessarily a lot of great songs. There are just these great little moments in almost all of these songs that are cool or unpredictable or more importantly improve on similar ideas of the last few albums. There are not really big choruses or arena rock pomp and circumstance. It is more introspective REM, and more 80s guitar tones, more uncomfortable in mostly a good way. Frat guys from the 90's will totally reject this version of Pearl Jam and for many, that will be a relief. There is still too much of Ed's smaltz on this album and it is still a little too formulaic to the point where the first 2 songs really make little sense in the context of the album. It does not mean that those are bad songs, but this album needed to break the mold with a slow opener. More Long Road, Of the Girl, and not this Go, Animal setup that doesn't work the same way as it did on Vs. As far as Ed goes, his delivery is probably about as good as could be expected. He tries a lot of new styles--Springsteen, Byrne, but still manages to fall just below what I want, which is a range of emotion in his voice. As someone else said, it is to soon to rank this as a whole, but I will say I was more surprised, more challenged, and more interested to listen again then any of the last three albums. On the other hand, I don't know if I have found a song yet that I want to play on repeat over and over in the car. Perhaps we have enough of those songs already, and perhaps this album was made with the fans in mind who put on headphones and absorb all of the intricate details, because that will be a trip!

Excellent

I totally agree, that was an excellent post, though I do have at least 3-4 songs that I find myself really wanting to listen to repeatedly.

This isn't a perfect record, but the imperfections (in many places anyway) leave you curious rather than indifferent or displeased. And honestly a lot of the Pearl Jam records I now think are perfect or close to it started out that way.

Birds in Hell wrote:

Vindicator wrote:I like Can't Deny Me more than quite a few of the songs on Gigaton. I'm serious. CDM is actually catchy.

Hi Brendan.

The cat is outta the bag.

Kevin Davis wrote:

Waverider wrote:

Ledbetterdays wrote:

Waverider wrote:Ok, so I've read so many thing being said while I was at work. I have not heard anything, as I have not asked for a link. That's a first for me. With my other account I had, and then this latest one, I always came here at new album time, and got an early listen. I told myself that wasn't going to do that again, and I won't. I really am enjoying reading everything people are saying, it's great, and I feel all your enthusiasm etc.

I would like to ask a few questions.....

Although very, very early, If you would give "Yield" a 10 let's say, where would this record place out of ....you know.....10 for you, and where did you rank the last 3 albums as well? I'm not interested in pre Yield, because that's just in a different galaxy then we are now.

Also, I know the leak quality apparantly isn't the best, but vocally, how does Ed sound opposed to the last 3 records in your opinion?

Thank you for any feedback, seriously.

For context, I think Yield was their last great album. Nothing since has provided the high-level quality of songs. I know most people on here disagree--a lot of people on here who love Riot Act or Binaural. I do not, but there is a feeling that comes from this album that was similar to Binaural or No Code. What are they doing? How do I feel about this? What I find myself coming back to is that this album has a lot of great moments--parts of songs, but maybe not necessarily a lot of great songs. There are just these great little moments in almost all of these songs that are cool or unpredictable or more importantly improve on similar ideas of the last few albums. There are not really big choruses or arena rock pomp and circumstance. It is more introspective REM, and more 80s guitar tones, more uncomfortable in mostly a good way. Frat guys from the 90's will totally reject this version of Pearl Jam and for many, that will be a relief. There is still too much of Ed's smaltz on this album and it is still a little too formulaic to the point where the first 2 songs really make little sense in the context of the album. It does not mean that those are bad songs, but this album needed to break the mold with a slow opener. More Long Road, Of the Girl, and not this Go, Animal setup that doesn't work the same way as it did on Vs. As far as Ed goes, his delivery is probably about as good as could be expected. He tries a lot of new styles--Springsteen, Byrne, but still manages to fall just below what I want, which is a range of emotion in his voice. As someone else said, it is to soon to rank this as a whole, but I will say I was more surprised, more challenged, and more interested to listen again then any of the last three albums. On the other hand, I don't know if I have found a song yet that I want to play on repeat over and over in the car. Perhaps we have enough of those songs already, and perhaps this album was made with the fans in mind who put on headphones and absorb all of the intricate details, because that will be a trip!

Excellent

I totally agree, that was an excellent post, though I do have at least 3-4 songs that I find myself really wanting to listen to repeatedly.

This isn't a perfect record, but the imperfections (in many places anyway) leave you curious rather than indifferent or displeased. And honestly a lot of the Pearl Jam records I now think are perfect or close to it started out that way.

Exactly what I was hoping for. A grower.

4th spin.
I gotta say, most of these Gigaton lyrics are gonna be a bitch for Ed to remember live.
I can't wait for my vinyl to arrive.

OK, I'm inspired tonight so here's my second-listen review. You're welcome.

Who Ever Said: this is really in the same vein as the song "Lightning Bolt," but it's a more fully formed and thought-out take on it. And off the bat, the production on this album is so far superior to maybe anything I've heard Pearl Jam sound like. I'm listening through some decent monitors, and this is a shitty mp3 leak, but wow. The dynamics on this are just incredible. Did you hear the claps The band is just at their best here. It's a standard PJ rocker, but then at around 2:30 we take a turn. And here again, the production just brings this thing to life. Every instrument is so perfectly positioned in the mix, you can pick out each one and focus on it. The vocals at 3:18 are impeccable. Then we get going again...Vedder's delivery is sharper than anything I've heard in a long time. Little lead hiding in the background for a few sections. There's that production again. Dynamics. Matt's just killing it with EV. Ventricles pumpin' overtime. Hey, did you know Matt Cameron is their drummer? And did you realize the whole time this song was on how fucking badass Jeff Ament is? This one won't go down easy...one more burst and we're done.

Superblood Wolfmoon: Not gonna lie, I fucking love this song. It's only gotten better each time I've listened. Let's be honest, it's The Fixer part 2, but it's at least 2-3 times the song that Fixer is. They took the pop edge off just a tad, and again, gave it a little less-slick production, a little heavier verse, and voila. Oh yeah, reminder that Mike McCready is still in this band. Little less Hendrix, little more EVH. The drop after the solo, and oh yeah, I'm Stone fucking Gossard, not sure if you've heard of me but I'm in this band too, and I know a little bit about a thing called fucking guitar tone.

Dance of the Clairvoyants: Again, a few weeks with this one. I liked it so much I intentionally didn't listen to it too much. This is an example of what I've wanted to hear from these guys for a long time. We know you're good at your instruments. Now play them differently. I have to think that maybe not from a songwriting perspective, but from a sonic and philosophical one, this song was a turning point. If there came a time when they scrapped everything they were doing for a new direction, it was when this song came together. Like "Jeremy," I'd offer this up as one of a handful of songs in Pearl Jam's catalog that is really out of the box for what their bread and butter is. And it just all works here. The mix is just flawless. The last couple minutes, Mike's guitar, all the vocals, the drums...there are going to be a lot of bands seeking this guy out after this.

Quick Escape: OK, starts off like you're expecting Rival or something. One of those weird, atonal Stone riffs. Then, what? Zanzibar? Oh, wait, this is Pearl Jam's "Kashmir" I guess. Drums for fucking days. More harmonies...OK, he actually said "Kashmir." They know what they're up to, and they're like, fuck it, we're Pearl Jam. Remember 30 years ago when everyone was saying we were "the next Led Zeppelin" when we only had one record out? Well guess what, we've been around longer than Led Zeppelin was so here you go. Oh yeah, and we got this guy Mike McCready and he has a fuckin' Univibe too. Suck it. This song is fucking awesome. Easily top 10 Pearl Jam. If you disagree, you're a fuckin' noob or something, and I don't know what to tell you. Just stop listening to music. To prove it, here's Mike fucking McCready again (or did they get Jimmy Page on this one?), and don't forget that rhythm section behind him. Oh, you like that? Fuck you, song's over.

Alright: Something different. I like it, nice and lush, even the cymbal flourishes. Mix is on point. Mike on the left with the little feedback licks. I never thought I'd say it, but Brendan O'Brien became a liability for this band. Just made everything kind of stale. Maybe this song isn't any more or less interesting than something like "Pendulum" or "Yellow Moon," but goddamn, Josh just makes everything sound better. This is the first lull for the album after a pretty spectacular opening run. But it's nice. Lush.

Seven O'Clock: Starting off kinda serious...you think it's going one way, but then the verse hits and I guess we're going somewhere else. It's got a nice thing going in the verse, but so do lots of songs, so where's this gonna go? A song like this is betting on the chorus and probably a fair amount on the bridge. Good thing Pearl Jam knows how to write songs. But then, the chorus is just OK. Throw some synths in to give it a little something. But wait, this song is over six minutes long? How's that? OK, this little bit between the first chorus and second verse is huge. Josh knows dynamics...something that's sadly been lost in the last 20 years. I guess it's around the halfway point that you realize this is one of those songs that maybe doesn't grab you right away, but you tuck it away because you know it's going to be that one that after a month or two becomes your favorite song. You hear bits of it, because it's a big meal to digest. Here's that bridge I talked about earlier. Harmonies, recorded and mixed beautifully into the outro. Wow. Eddie hasn't sounded this good in so long. At this point, he's definitely the fucking MVP of this record.

Never Destination: From the start, it feels like the first song on the album that could have been inserted on any of the last three. What you might call "PJ by numbers." Nicely mixed solo from Mike. And again we have that drop out that Josh is clearly very good at. Bring up the bass...Jeff's getting down. OK, maybe this song has a little more that those last few albums. Little delay on the vocals...bring up those guitars. All of a sudden, this song's got its thing going on. One thing that stands out to me is I can't think of another time off the top of my head where Matt and Ed are really playing off each other. Nicely done...by the time this one ends, it's gone a lot further than I thought it would when it started.

Take The Long Way: Alright, this has to be a Matt riff. I think he writes guitar riffs that are awesome but have an ulterior motive...to make you hear what a badass fucking drummer he is. Band is on fire. Backup vocals and the mix on them are awesome, as is the guitar work Mike's bringing. The guitars on this record are maybe the best-sounding of any Pearl Jam record. And at this point I'm comfortable saying this is the best-produced Pearl Jam record. By a fucking mile. This fucking solo...the mix. Again, this guy will be producing a lot of rock records in the next 10 years. I fucking guarantee it. If the next RHCP or QOTSA album isn't produced by Josh I'll eat my hat.

Buckle Up: Cool riff. I like what EV is doing here. This one is making me curious about the lyrics, as what I'm picking up sound interesting. I wouldn't go as far as to call this a dud, but it's the first really one-dimensional song on the record. Still sounds fantastic though.

Comes Then Goes: I once got to go to Vince Gill's house in Nashville, and interview him about his guitar collection he had there (or at least part of it). If you're so inclined, PM me for the link to the video. The first one he picked up was his father's guitar, a beautiful old Gibson, and from there, he played some of the most collectible and sought-after guitars you could ever hear. It's definitely there in the video, but I will never forget standing a couple feet away from him, arguably one of the greatest guitar players alive, and hearing the sound that these instruments made when in the hands of someone so capable. What does this have to do with Pearl Jam? Well, I'm sure that Mike, Stone and Ed own some pretty amazing guitars too. And we've probably heard them before on their albums. But never like this. I think this is a good time to co-nominate Josh Evans as MVP of this album. Whatever expensive Martin Eddie's strumming on this one, it sounds every bit as warm and rich as it would probably sound if you were standing in the room. I know that production and engineering isn't everybody's thing, but it's a huge part of what makes successful records. I would love to know how the guitars were miked on this, and again, Josh Evans' schedule is going to be packed for the next several years, and songs like this are why. By the way, it's an absolutely gorgeous song, and it reminds you of why Eddie Vedder is Eddie Vedder. He is at his absolute best here.

Retrograde: More of that sonic treatment on the 12-string, which I would imagine is Mike. Very nice how this song flows in from the last one. Eddie's on point, and once again the harmonies are mixed perfectly. Beautiful guitar work by Mike and Stone. This song really feels like a band effort...Mike bringing the 12-string guitar, but the verse riff is very Stone, with those Middle-Eastern tinges like Strangest Tribe. It's amazing what some production can do, and I don't know why they haven't done more of this over the years. Adding the echo to the vocals at the end just gives this such a richness. Love it.

River Cross: When the video of Ed's solo performance of this was posted, I didn't make it 20 seconds in. Seriously, no thanks. After less-than-stellar results of solo Ed songs going to the band (I'm looking at you Sleeping By Myself and Speed of Sound), my hopes for this aren't high. But I like what Matt's bringing, and again, the way it's assembled sonically really finds balance between the organ (which can be grating, and probably why the solo version didn't resonate). It brings back some of that 80s feel of DOTC, like a lost Peter Gabriel song from that era. Not my favorite song on the album, but a strong closer and definitely one that I'm going to want to sit with while I read the lyrics.

This album is a high-water mark for this band. My expectations have been completely surpassed. Eddie Vedder is definitely the MVP, followed by Josh Evans behind the board. His sonic contributions are undeniable, and this is, for me, if not the best-sounding Pearl Jam album, then pretty goddamn close. But what also really shines through on this record is the band. Four of the five of them have spent 30 years together making music, and all five have shared 20 of those years. They are loose, they are comfortable, they are in the zone. They are magnificently in step on this album.

I haven't read many of the lyrics yet, but I am a little surprised that the specter of Chris Cornell and his death don't seem to be a big part of this album. Perhaps it was so personal for them that to put it into a Pearl Jam record felt odd, but I think of something like 4/20/02 and am just a little thrown off. Maybe it's in there and I'm just not hearing it yet. Or maybe they felt the best tribute to Chris was to just put their best foot forward in his honor. I can't imagine he wouldn't have enjoyed hearing this.

It's wonderful. Thank you Pearl Jam for keeping the journey interesting after 30 years. Good night RM.

Someone needs to tell Ed to go back to writing more cryptic, constrained lyrics with less syllables again.
Pearl Jam works best with looooong vocal notes dragged across the riff/rythm section.

Lounge Lizard wrote:Someone needs to tell Ed to go back to writing more cryptic, constrained lyrics with less syllables again.
Pearl Jam works best with looooong vocal notes dragged across the riff/rythm section.

Here's the thing: These days, when Ed sings looooong vocal notes, he ends up adding syllables anyway by adding ghost "h" sounds to keep from losing vocal control. In a weird way, using more words is playing to his strengths in a really smart way, adding syllables that are supposed to be there as opposed to syllables that aren't.