Red Mosquito

What a great listen.
I think Stone's and Josh's thingies combined make up for the most insight we've got for any album near release time to date.

stip wrote:that opening run is my favorite 3 song sequence in the catalog right now

I've been toying with seriously considering the notion that Gigaton might be the strongest 1-6 in the catalog for me.

There might be four 5-star songs in that bunch. The first half of this album is all I want to listen to these days.

In the end, a few of those songs probably settle in a half star lower than I have them right now and this ultimately proves untrue. But at the moment it feels like a real possibility.

There was all this talk about MAKE PEARL JAM ANGRY AGAIN

Did they achieve this on Gigatron?

Bammer wrote:There was all this talk about MAKE PEARL JAM ANGRY AGAIN

Did they achieve this on Gigatron?

Did anyone really want this?

Jaeti wrote:

stip wrote:that opening run is my favorite 3 song sequence in the catalog right now

I've been toying with seriously considering the notion that Gigaton might be the strongest 1-6 in the catalog for me.

There might be four 5-star songs in that bunch. The first half of this album is all I want to listen to these days.

In the end, a few of those songs probably settle in a half star lower than I have them right now and this ultimately proves untrue. But at the moment it feels like a real possibility.

It’s the first 8 songs for me. But I love the last 4 too.

Buby wrote:Stone's and Josh's thingies combined

Well, now I'm horny.

stip wrote:that opening run is my favorite 3 song sequence in the catalog right now

Better than Go - Animal - Daughter??

Nothing tops Go-Animal-Daughter

Mike wrote:

stip wrote:that opening run is my favorite 3 song sequence in the catalog right now

Better than Go - Animal - Daughter??

I’d rather hear Gigaton today but that’s a stronger run

PHATJ wrote:

Jaeti wrote:

stip wrote:that opening run is my favorite 3 song sequence in the catalog right now

I've been toying with seriously considering the notion that Gigaton might be the strongest 1-6 in the catalog for me.

There might be four 5-star songs in that bunch. The first half of this album is all I want to listen to these days.

In the end, a few of those songs probably settle in a half star lower than I have them right now and this ultimately proves untrue. But at the moment it feels like a real possibility.

It’s the first 8 songs for me. But I love the last 4 too.

This. Though I heard River Cross today and was blown clean away by how relevant that song is, like it straight predicted the mess we’re in right now and the response.

Monkey_Driven wrote:

Bammer wrote:There was all this talk about MAKE PEARL JAM ANGRY AGAIN

Did they achieve this on Gigatron?

Did anyone really want this?

not really, I think there's more "make Pearl Jam weird again" round here

I don't think Pearl Jam are very good at "angry" these days (not sonically anyway, a lot of their great music still comes from an anger of some kind)

my favourite 1-3 run is Brain of J-Faithful-No Way

Ms Harmless wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:

Bammer wrote:There was all this talk about MAKE PEARL JAM ANGRY AGAIN

Did they achieve this on Gigatron?

Did anyone really want this?

not really, I think there's more "make Pearl Jam weird again" round here

I don't think Pearl Jam are very good at "angry" these days (not sonically anyway, a lot of their great music still comes from an anger of some kind)

Agreed. I don't think Pearl Jam has really "sounded angry" since Vitalogy.

Fantastic breakdown. Stone is great.

Interestingly my least favourite tracks are Superblood Wolfmoon and Never Destination. To hear that they were basically added at the last minute - seemingly just to add some "upbeat" Ed songs - is sort of a downer. If I take those 2 songs out completely it makes the record a lot better, to my ears.

Here's a provocative thought: the band never fell off or veered creatively off path. They simply made choices, usually in the final stages of their albums (song selection, mixing, sequencing, etc), that made the differences as to how their work was presented. It landed with some fans and didn't with others. In other words, they made albums like any other stage of their careers, it just so happens that YOU (yeah, you) weren't on the receiving end of what they were trying to land with their respective albums. Or, they did in fact make a few miscues that they wish they could take back. I have more doubts about that last part. They are a remarkably consistent band, IMO. All comes down to their very important choice during Yield to share songwriting duties. Brilliant decision.

stip wrote:it is a subtley complex song

Agreed. Experimenting with song structure doesn't get enough credit. Any reviews I read overlook SBWM as another crunchy rocker, but there's alot going on here. Some people only view experimentation with aesthetics and sonics as real experimentation.

Tuolumne wrote:

stip wrote:it is a subtley complex song

Agreed. Experimenting with song structure doesn't get enough credit. Any reviews I read overlook SBWM as another crunchy rocker, but there's alot going on here. Some people only view experimentation with aesthetics and sonics as real experimentation.

I agree with this. I ran this morning with Gigaton and consistently think about this every time this song comes on.

Tuolumne wrote:Here's a provocative thought: the band never fell off or veered creatively off path. They simply made choices, usually in the final stages of their albums (song selection, mixing, sequencing, etc), that made the differences as to how their work was presented. It landed with some fans and didn't with others. In other words, they made albums like any other stage of their careers, it just so happens that YOU (yeah, you) weren't on the receiving end of what they were trying to land with their respective albums. Or, they did in fact make a few miscues that they wish they could take back. I have more doubts about that last part. They are a remarkably consistent band, IMO. All comes down to their very important choice during Yield to share songwriting duties. Brilliant decision.

Agree with this. My main concern is that they dont put more music out. And i also agree that for me LB hasnt aged well at all.

Tuolumne wrote:Here's a provocative thought: the band never fell off or veered creatively off path. They simply made choices, usually in the final stages of their albums (song selection, mixing, sequencing, etc), that made the differences as to how their work was presented. It landed with some fans and didn't with others. In other words, they made albums like any other stage of their careers, it just so happens that YOU (yeah, you) weren't on the receiving end of what they were trying to land with their respective albums. Or, they did in fact make a few miscues that they wish they could take back. I have more doubts about that last part. They are a remarkably consistent band, IMO. All comes down to their very important choice during Yield to share songwriting duties. Brilliant decision.

LB and BS are garbage.

thinking about this interview more

stone mention's that Ed's 3 rockers came in late

I wonder if that was after they decided to shelve Can't Deny Me

Stone talks about writing Buckle Up during the santiago show

I think that was the first where CDM was played (and sucked) and I recall what I perceived as a look of disgust on Ston'e face afterward (although I could have been projecting)

anyway - it almost sounded in the interview like he paused at one point after mentioning santiago - like he was gonna say 'that was the tour when we played Can't Deny Me' and then he pulled back

i might be imagining all of this but doesn't seem far-fetched to think that they had an initial album lineup mostly in place with CDM up front

then it bombed

then they pulled it and Ed brought in some ringers to spruce things up