Red Mosquito

I'm not a big fan of the production of the record, but I've never really thought it's so bad and obtrusive than it's papering over some songwriting gems. Brendan's antiseptic production choices aside, you get what the songs are and what the choices they made are; that's what I find lacking.

Plasticky is the word for how LB sounds.

digster wrote:I don't know about the notion that Gigaton is just the same old for PJ, especially in contrast to the last two records. With the caveat that they've never had (and likely never would have) a seismic shift in sound from album to album like OK Computer/Kid A, the songwriting here is fairly different in terms of instrumentation and choices than what was on their last record (really, their last two records). There's quite a few songs here, including Dance, Alright, Seven O'Clock, even Comes and Goes, that don't really have easy analogues with previous songs or records.

I mean Comes then Goes is an Eddie solo acoustic number, just with more strumming than finger picking. Seven Oclock has a lot in common with Army Reserve, just with more prominent keyboards. Alright doesn't bring anything to mind, so good call with that one. I mean, maybe Pendulum, in a way.

But I do think, for the most part, you can identify 3-4 songs on almost any pearl jam album that feel a bit different from what came before that helps give the album its sonic character, while staying in the bounds of what pearl jam is. Gigaton may have more than some and maybe less than others. It just all sounds really good.

theplatypus wrote:Plasticky is the word for how LB sounds.

that's a good word choice. especially against Gigaton or some of the earlier records my renewed interest has brought me back to.

digster wrote:I'm not a big fan of the production of the record, but I've never really thought it's so bad and obtrusive than it's papering over some songwriting gems. Brendan's antiseptic production choices aside, you get what the songs are and what the choices they made are; that's what I find lacking.

we will find out when we get the Josh Evans remix!

I think that review which said "Alright" recalled "Strangest Tribe" was somewhat correct

I forgot that comparison but it made sense. There are echoes everywhere, which makes sense. It's been 11 albums and 30 years.

Thurman Murman wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

I think its safe to say Pearl Jam has never released a new album that was so significantly better than the last one...until now.

The quality gap from Riot Act to Avocado is pretty huge

mikejasond wrote:

Thurman Murman wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

I think its safe to say Pearl Jam has never released a new album that was so significantly better than the last one...until now.

The quality gap from Riot Act to Avocado is pretty huge

Not this big though.

mikejasond wrote:

Thurman Murman wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

I think its safe to say Pearl Jam has never released a new album that was so significantly better than the last one...until now.

The quality gap from Riot Act to Avocado is pretty huge

I think most would say Riot Act is better.

I assume that was his point. S/T is definitely my preferred of the two, even though Riot Act sounds so much better.

Riot Act is just so long, and after Get Right there's a 6 run stretch of songs I just don't really care about. Prior to that it is quite solid

Anders wrote:

mikejasond wrote:

Thurman Murman wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

I think its safe to say Pearl Jam has never released a new album that was so significantly better than the last one...until now.

The quality gap from Riot Act to Avocado is pretty huge

I think most would say Riot Act is better.

Only on this board.

stip wrote:I assume that was his point. S/T is definitely my preferred of the two, even though Riot Act sounds so much better.

Riot Act is just so long, and after Get Right there's a 6 run stretch of songs I just don't really care about. Prior to that it is quite solid

Avocado is much better than Riot Act

mikejasond wrote:

stip wrote:I assume that was his point. S/T is definitely my preferred of the two, even though Riot Act sounds so much better.

Riot Act is just so long, and after Get Right there's a 6 run stretch of songs I just don't really care about. Prior to that it is quite solid

Avocado is much better than Riot Act

Nah

mikejasond wrote:

stip wrote:I assume that was his point. S/T is definitely my preferred of the two, even though Riot Act sounds so much better.

Riot Act is just so long, and after Get Right there's a 6 run stretch of songs I just don't really care about. Prior to that it is quite solid

Avocado is much better than Riot Act

There isnt one Pearl Jam album, let alone Avocado, that is better than Riot Act.

numbers wrote:

mikejasond wrote:

stip wrote:I assume that was his point. S/T is definitely my preferred of the two, even though Riot Act sounds so much better.

Riot Act is just so long, and after Get Right there's a 6 run stretch of songs I just don't really care about. Prior to that it is quite solid

Avocado is much better than Riot Act

There isnt one Pearl Jam album, let alone Avocado, that is better than Riot Act.

Ah, it's opposite day

mikejasond wrote:

Anders wrote:

mikejasond wrote:

Thurman Murman wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

I think its safe to say Pearl Jam has never released a new album that was so significantly better than the last one...until now.

The quality gap from Riot Act to Avocado is pretty huge

I think most would say Riot Act is better.

Only on this board.

No

mikejasond wrote:

numbers wrote:

mikejasond wrote:

stip wrote:I assume that was his point. S/T is definitely my preferred of the two, even though Riot Act sounds so much better.

Riot Act is just so long, and after Get Right there's a 6 run stretch of songs I just don't really care about. Prior to that it is quite solid

Avocado is much better than Riot Act

There isnt one Pearl Jam album, let alone Avocado, that is better than Riot Act.

Ah, it's opposite day

I used to have a group of friends that were all about Pearl Jam. I'd say I know at least three people that have never posted here that would put Riot Act above S/T, and one of them might put Riot Act at the very top.

Anders wrote:

mikejasond wrote:

Anders wrote:

mikejasond wrote:

Thurman Murman wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

I think its safe to say Pearl Jam has never released a new album that was so significantly better than the last one...until now.

The quality gap from Riot Act to Avocado is pretty huge

I think most would say Riot Act is better.

Only on this board.

No

I googled "Pearl Jam Albums Ranked" and opened the first eight results.

Out of those 8, only 1 said Riot Act > Avocado.

However most did have them close together.

mikejasond wrote:

Thurman Murman wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Some people have noticed that, over the years, when a new Pearl Jam comes out, opinion on the last one tends to shift towards the positive. So, when LB came out, a bunch of people were like "hey, Backspacer wasn't that bad," and same with Avocado when Backspacer came out.

Interesting that Gigaton seems to be having the opposite effect on Lightning Bolt.

I think its safe to say Pearl Jam has never released a new album that was so significantly better than the last one...until now.

The quality gap from Riot Act to Avocado is pretty huge

You can make that argument for sure (i don't disagree with you), but that kind of statement will still bring on some form of debate. Maybe not a 50/50 split but i can see arguments being made for both sides.

I can't see any kind of argument made for Lightning Bolt being better (or even in the same ballpark) as Gigaton.