Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[Tuolumne]

Maybe this is Pearl Jam's "ipod shuffle" album, all over the place like a shuffle playlist.

[harmless]

I just posted this in the sirens thread:

okay, after 5 or 6 listens it's a very pretty song so utterly unlike anything I expected to hear from them--almost like everything that I expect from pearl jam is there and turned inside out. I was expecting this to be a huge song, and nothing like this.

It is utterly cheesy in a glorious way because, while it has just about every cheesy affectation you can think of short of strings, I do not doubt for even one second that this is absolutely 100% sincere--like someone chose to adopt every one of these conventions because they love them without thinking of them as conventions. It's just bizzare.

Haven't gotten to the lyrics yet.

Eddie sounds wonderful

The music is very pleasant...

This song will be great or a skipper based entirely on one factor and one factor only: Will I want to belt this song out at the top of my lungs.

I have no idea. If I do it'll be amazing. If I don't it'll be an ipod shuffle listen.

Well, there is no obvious chorus to sing along to. Which is one of the things I like about it. Only PJ would do a full on 80s power ballad without a chorus. This could also be a grower which is not usually the case for for these types of songs.

This. So much this. This is an 80s power ballad without the one thing that made 80s power ballads so cheesy. A singy-songy chorus. The vocal melody here is probably the most complex of all the songs we've heard from LB so far. That is ironic considering the song is packaged most like a pop song. The lack of an easy to sing chorus/bridge makes this song more of a grower than any of those that came before.

Ed sounds absolutely spotless here. Those of you who think that he sounds bad singing any part of this, well, I just want some of what you're smokin'. This is as peerless a vocal performance (considering the requirements of the song) as he has given in the last 20 years. I'm not speaking of difficulty necessarily, but just execution and doing what the song needs. He is fabulous here. Honestly, I couldn't get into the song until I listened to it loud with headphones one. Now, I am hooked.

I agree with this. This song is classic Pearl Jam, perhaps only in the sense that it doesn't push the balladry so far as to have a horrible chorus. It's a little pared back and more humble than that, as PJ always were.

[hlniv]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

[klvitalogy]

Gave Sirens the play loud in the car while driving test. It passed.

[Django Butterworth]

It's weird to go back and watch the teaser vid after hearing the finished version.

[McParadigm]

Gave Sirens the play loud in the car while driving test. It passed.

what a relief

i was afraid it was impervious to volume control

[BurtReynolds]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

eventually you just start dry heaving. that means its a grower.

[Walker Bait]

Gave Sirens the play loud in the car while driving test. It passed.

I have to wait another 4 hours before I can perform the same test.

[Pearlhawk]

I have to go to work in a few. My day is over then. Wish I could hear the Sirems blare here. Help?

[Dugg]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

It took me a good 50 times and 8 years for Evacuation so...

[Lounge Lizard]

i think i just understood what would make Sirens perfect - it should be just Ed and Taste piano. No guitars.

[McParadigm]

I have to go to work in a few. My day is over then. Wish I could hear the Sirems blare here. Help?

See if you can get the guy above to drive by your house a few times with the windows down.

[hlniv]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

eventually you just start dry heaving. that means its a grower.

Will it sound better if I was stoned?
Does it sound better in headphones?
Will driving and listening improve it?

Does the edge only appear when there's stomach bile on the stereo speaker?

I'm looking for anything to help me enjoy this

[Django Butterworth]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

It took me a good 50 times and 8 years for Evacuation so...

SNAP.

[Mirella]

You obviously don't know what you're talking about too. Congrats.

it's 'either', but what an obnoxious self assured thing to say

I'm sorry, but anyone claiming Wishlist's lyrics are top-notch in the PJ catalog needs their head examined. Lyrically, it's the work of 3rd grader writing Santa. There's plenty of great songs (lyrically) to choose from, that's not one of em'.

It depends on what you value. Beatles and Ramones wrote 'simple' songs, yet I would not trade them for any prog rock band with mathematically sourced and microproduced 'works of art' in the world. What I like about the Wishlist lyrics is that they go against the rule of 'not summing up things' to an extend that it almost starts to bug people. And there is a lot of detail in it, or images.

groetjes,
Mirella

[harmless]

Every new song I hear from this album I so far love. The difference between them and the last two albums though is that I feel there is much more variety and a little more depth to the music/melodies/lyrics than we've gotten recently.

One of the big reasons I love this band is the variety of sounds and styles they've explored over the years, there really is so much to choose from depending on your mood and feeling at the time, more so than most other bands I've been into. This album really takes that another step, with the blues-boogies style of LTRP punk/metal of MYM and now 80's power ballad style of Sirens. I'm really excited to hear where they go with Pendulum and Yellow Moon, after hearing how 'odd' they are.

I understand people not getting or not liking Sirens for it not sounding like classic Pearl Jam, but if you see how they have explored different styles, it's not unexpected. We know Mike is a HUGE fan of classic and 80's rock, so I'm surprised we haven't gotten a song like this sooner. We should be happy that they're not afraid to try something out of the norm for them.

Most of us have gone through an 80's phase or maybe still appreciate the cheese-rock from that era, and I for one am happy they've tried, and succeeded with a song in that style.

Same here.

What I don't quite understand is when people acknowledge this is done well, but still can't accept it because it's not in one of their favourite previous Pearl Jam styles. I mean, we have 7 classic albums from this band, which for me is more than enough. The last two albums weren't anything special. I'm happy enough to just see where they go from here but still they're held to impossible standards. We can love the old stuff and still enjoy this in its own right.

But hey, this post has been written a thousand times.

I feel like Jorge is probably bleeding to death over a laptop in some motel after hearing this song.

[evenslow]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

Do the puke thing. Then listen 5 more times. Then Silkwood shower that shit. Listen again. Presto.

[hlniv]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

It took me a good 50 times and 8 years for Evacuation so...

Binaural as a whole took be about 7 years, so maybe there's still hope. I'm just now starting to appreciate Riot Act.

[harmless]

You obviously don't know what you're talking about too. Congrats.

it's 'either', but what an obnoxious self assured thing to say

I'm sorry, but anyone claiming Wishlist's lyrics are top-notch in the PJ catalog needs their head examined. Lyrically, it's the work of 3rd grader writing Santa. There's plenty of great songs (lyrically) to choose from, that's not one of em'.

It depends on what you value. Beatles and Ramones wrote 'simple' songs, yet I would not trade them for any prog rock band with mathematically sourced and microproduced 'works of art' in the world. What I like about the Wishlist lyrics is that they go against the rule of 'not summing up things' to an extend that it almost starts to bug people. And there is a lot of detail in it, or images.

groetjes,
Mirella

Poetry is all about brevity, being able to pack as much meaning as possible into single lines. Wishlist isn't poetry but it achieves that in its imagery.

[harmless]

Remind me again, how many times do I have to listen to this to hear past the initial puke reaction?

It took me a good 50 times and 8 years for Evacuation so...

Binaural as a whole took be about 7 years, so maybe there's still hope. I'm just now starting to appreciate Riot Act.

This happened to me as well.