Red Mosquito

Thing is they've got lots of songs like of the earth, and better than it. They don't really have any like Hard to imagine except maybe Release. These are two of my favourites so I guess I just like that element of PJ more than others. Not saying OTE is a bad song, it's a good song, but they're apples and oranges too I guess.

Hmm, I don't know what I like better between HTI and OTE. I lean towards OTE because I've never really been a huge fan of HTI. Then again, I don't think I've given it proper attention. What are 2 or 3 of the best versions? The one from the Cab movie? Does that one have Jack on drums? What about live?

I'm reluctant to really rate OTE until I hear a proper studio version of it.

granted I am not in love with the song (although I really like it live), but no one version of HTI ever really stood out to me as definitive in the way that I could say that the RVM alive remix is the best of the 4/5 studio versions we have.

stip wrote:granted I am not in love with the song (although I really like it live), but no one version of HTI ever really stood out to me as definitive in the way that I could say that the RVM alive remix is the best of the 4/5 studio versions we have.

I guess that's my problem with it. I have the Lost Dogs version, and a few live versions, but none have ever really grabbed me. Corduroy, Insignificance, Brain Of J, In My Tree, RVM, SOLAT, they all grabbed me and made me a big fan of the band. HTI never really did anything for me.

dimejinky99 wrote: Not saying OTE is a bad song, it's a good song, but they're apples and oranges too I guess.

Yup. This thread went in a strange direction. The chances of there being HTI 2 on the 10th album are slim and even if there was, at shows they would play it so fast that it would lose the emotion behind it. I am still holding a sliver of hope that we get something more Mad Season sounding than the last few albums.

darth_vedder wrote:Hmm, I don't know what I like better between HTI and OTE. I lean towards OTE because I've never really been a huge fan of HTI. Then again, I don't think I've given it proper attention. What are 2 or 3 of the best versions? The one from the Cab movie? Does that one have Jack on drums? What about live?

This is my favorite "HTI"--I tend to be partial to the later versions that are a bit lighter on the "throaty pomp" (not that there are a wealth of early ones), where Ed sinks into the performance more than he bursts out of it...

Kevin Davis wrote:

darth_vedder wrote:Hmm, I don't know what I like better between HTI and OTE. I lean towards OTE because I've never really been a huge fan of HTI. Then again, I don't think I've given it proper attention. What are 2 or 3 of the best versions? The one from the Cab movie? Does that one have Jack on drums? What about live?

This is my favorite "HTI"--I tend to be partial to the later versions that are a bit lighter on the "throaty pomp" (not that there are a wealth of early ones), where Ed sinks into the performance more than he bursts out of it...

I was at this show. The acoustic set with the sun going down behind them was really amazing. Too bad the box set sounds so terrible.

iceagecoming wrote:I like the second half of the Of the Earth solo and the outro jam, but I'm not altogether sold on how everything works together in the whole song.

My main problem is that it sounds like they just lifted the Porch solo/jam and glued it onto a sub par rewrite of Nick Cave's 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!'

Bingo, the middle portion of OTE doesn't seem to fit. The solo/jam is just awkward.

I much prefer Hard to Imagine, but think it's a bit overrated in this thread.

A great version of HTI is from those AOL Sessions.....

broken iris wrote:The chances of there being HTI 2 on the 10th album are slim and even if there was, at shows they would play it so fast that it would lose the emotion behind it. I am still holding a sliver of hope that we get something more Mad Season sounding than the last few albums.

I'd say the chances are zero. For all his abilities, drumming to a mellow song is outside of Matt's comfort zone.

My favorite thing about HTI is Jeff's bass.

turned2black wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:

darth_vedder wrote:Hmm, I don't know what I like better between HTI and OTE. I lean towards OTE because I've never really been a huge fan of HTI. Then again, I don't think I've given it proper attention. What are 2 or 3 of the best versions? The one from the Cab movie? Does that one have Jack on drums? What about live?

This is my favorite "HTI"--I tend to be partial to the later versions that are a bit lighter on the "throaty pomp" (not that there are a wealth of early ones), where Ed sinks into the performance more than he bursts out of it...

I was at this show. The acoustic set with the sun going down behind them was really amazing. Too bad the box set sounds so terrible.

I never had any issues with it. That set got me back into PJ in a big way after being fairly detached from them for a while.

The Chicago Cab songtrack is still my favorite version of HTI

Before Of The Earth can be anything great, ed will have to pick up an SG or slap a fuzz on his tone. This jangly tele/fender shit is brutal for that song.

I don't know how we can compare a song that has just been played live and probably not even finished to a song like Hard to Imagine which has been a staple for the band. That being said, i still believe OTE is the best thing i've heard from them in 10 years. Yeah, it has a lot of the same elements of other Pearl Jam songs, namely the guitar soloing parts and the opening riff, but the structure of the song is dramatically different than anything they've done. It plays like a symphony with different chapters. Some may think it doesn't flow, but its not supposed to be a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus mundane type of song they've done 100 times. It's more of a story with different moods, sequences, plots. As much as a lot of us want the band to sound like this and that, this is something where i think everybody can be happy with. The band isn't playing dramatically different, if you're a fan you can tell its Pearl Jam, but its in a different form, a different light, a different angle. Me like.

A better April Fools joke would have The Sky I Scrape posting a studio version of "Of the Earth," from the forthcoming album.

Surely, we have some folks capable of turning a live version into one that sounds like a studio version.

I can't believe you guys are comparing the musical merits of Hard to Imagine and Of the Earth. Both are non album rarities (at least for now) but the similarities end there.
Everyone has it right with Hard to Imagine, it's a pretty simple song but when they play it live it can be magic. Of the Earth needs work but like I said earlier I really think there is a very good song in there!

Hard to Imagine is a Top 5 PJ song for me. I love that song. It slays me.

It als somehow gets played at the exact right tempo live. Any time I've seen it anyways.

dimejinky99 wrote:It als somehow gets played at the exact right tempo live. Any time I've seen it anyways.

its not exactly a riff thats asking to be played faster....

warehouse wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:It als somehow gets played at the exact right tempo live. Any time I've seen it anyways.

its not exactly a riff thats asking to be played faster....

Are any of them? Doesn't prevent it from happening.