Red Mosquito

One thing about this record I like is how Eddie worked very hard at making his "weaknesses" work in context of the song, which as voices age and warp, is really important to figure out how to do. Something like Never Destination has a lot of the tics that can sometimes hiccup a great vocal performance from Eddie, but the melody and way he's singing bends those weaknesses to work as benefits to the song. I feel like that happens throughout the album.

digster wrote:One thing about this record I like is how Eddie worked very hard at making his "weaknesses" work in context of the song, which as voices age and warp, is really important to figure out how to do. Something like Never Destination has a lot of the tics that can sometimes hiccup a great vocal performance from Eddie, but the melody and way he's singing bends those weaknesses to work as benefits to the song. I feel like that happens throughout the album.

yep almost every song he figures it out.

evenslow wrote:

digster wrote:One thing about this record I like is how Eddie worked very hard at making his "weaknesses" work in context of the song, which as voices age and warp, is really important to figure out how to do. Something like Never Destination has a lot of the tics that can sometimes hiccup a great vocal performance from Eddie, but the melody and way he's singing bends those weaknesses to work as benefits to the song. I feel like that happens throughout the album.

yep almost every song he figures it out.

Which is why the first two minutes of Retrograde sticks out like a sore thumb.

Monkey_Driven wrote:

evenslow wrote:

digster wrote:One thing about this record I like is how Eddie worked very hard at making his "weaknesses" work in context of the song, which as voices age and warp, is really important to figure out how to do. Something like Never Destination has a lot of the tics that can sometimes hiccup a great vocal performance from Eddie, but the melody and way he's singing bends those weaknesses to work as benefits to the song. I feel like that happens throughout the album.

yep almost every song he figures it out.

Which is why the first two minutes of Retrograde sticks out like a sore thumb.

i blame miguel on that one. he's working with some treacly material there.

Monkey_Driven wrote:

evenslow wrote:

digster wrote:One thing about this record I like is how Eddie worked very hard at making his "weaknesses" work in context of the song, which as voices age and warp, is really important to figure out how to do. Something like Never Destination has a lot of the tics that can sometimes hiccup a great vocal performance from Eddie, but the melody and way he's singing bends those weaknesses to work as benefits to the song. I feel like that happens throughout the album.

yep almost every song he figures it out.

Which is why the first two minutes of Retrograde sticks out like a sore thumb.

But that's the best part of the song.

I'm less keen on the last half where Ed bellows "FEEL THE SOUND!" over swooshing wind sound effects.

It's "hear the sound" and that part is one of the high points on the album for me.

Tomato, tomato.

Don't get me wrong, I like the song a lot, perhaps even more than most on the board.

I just think the outro is kind of a letdown after the first half of the song.

It's this nice, chiming, vaguely REM-ish song and then kind of flatlines into this bombastic nothingness.

Birds in Hell wrote:Tomato, tomato.

Don't get me wrong, I like the song a lot, perhaps even more than most on the board.

I just think the outro is kind of a letdown after the first half of the song.

It's this nice, chiming, vaguely REM-ish song and then kind of flatlines into this bombastic nothingness.

I kind of agree with this; I don't mind the first half of the song at all.

digster wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:Tomato, tomato.

Don't get me wrong, I like the song a lot, perhaps even more than most on the board.

I just think the outro is kind of a letdown after the first half of the song.

It's this nice, chiming, vaguely REM-ish song and then kind of flatlines into this bombastic nothingness.

I kind of agree with this; I don't mind the first half of the song at all.

I like the first half a lot, but as i said in the retrograde thread, the ending really hit me today, im really enjoying it now too

I don't know why I didn't pick up on the R.E.M. feel that spenno brought up; that arpeggiated 12-string is a clear descendent.

I feel like the big jam on the second half hits well because it's separated from the first half by that pause and "could be thunder or a crowd", which is a pretty clear signpost that some almighty sounds are gonna happen (and it'd be a let down if they didn't); without that pause to separate those two distinct parts, it might feel like the song just descends into discordant mush (which works for "River Cross", but wouldn't here I don't think)

digster wrote:I don't know why I didn't pick up on the R.E.M. feel that spenno brought up; that arpeggiated 12-string is a clear descendent.

wow yeah I hear it now you mention the twelve string; I hear it in "Losing My Religion" and "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", but is there a good slower song comparison?

Almost two weeks since I last did this, here's my approximate current ranking:

Dance of the Clairvoyants
Take the Long Way
Never Destination
Alright
---
Retrograde
Who Ever Said
Superblood Wolfmoon
Buckle Up
River Cross
---
Seven O'Clock
Comes Then Goes
Quick Escape

Ed singing clean, powerful upper 4th octave notes would be the high point of many Pearl Jam songs and it's the same for me on Retrograde. He's the main reason I even got into this band so it baffles me that anyone could ever prefer the rest of Retrograde to the outro. I guess different strokes for different folks. I would bet that most people even on RM would prefer the outro of this song to the rest of it. The rest is pretty but not memorable. The ending makes the song memorable. It is the release that the song needed.

Birds in Hell wrote:I just think the outro is kind of a letdown after the first half of the song.

I wish I could hear it like you hear it, at least once, just to see.

5.0:
Quick Escape
Dance of the Clairvoyants
Alright
Buckle Up

4.5:
Seven O'Clock
Who Ever said
Retrograde
River Cross
Comes Then Goes

4.0:
Never Destination
Superblood Wolfmoon

3.5:
Take The Long Way

---

Man is this a hard album to rank! That second tier could basically be in any order, and I love them all.

Release_Me wrote:I would bet that most people even on RM would prefer the outro of this song to the rest of it.

Let's have a poll!

please no