Red Mosquito

tragabigzanda wrote:I reject the premise that Matt is somehow a bad fit. Binaural and Riot Act are both stellar largely because of him, and he shines on a number of tracks since then.

The band sounds strongest when they bend to fit his style rather than other way around.

I think they did that a little more on those records than since, but it's not (and evidently wasn't) sustainable.

He's never sat comfortably in the pocket with the older material, it's just coming from a totally different place musically.

It's not a dig at Matt at all, I love the guy's playing and songwriting.

Pj benefited from changing drummers, as it kept everything fresh having to adapt to different time signatures and tempos every few years. When a new musician joins an already established band, the first album/sessions would always be musically interesting. because both sides would want to impress and show versatility etc


like with binaural and no code.

and some others i can think of:
RHCP - One Hot minute
Incubus - Crow left of the murder


PJ should have ditched mike in 06 and then let MC go back to soundgarden full time instead of making backspacer.. (edit: then fired ed after into the wild and let stone sing)

That’s certainly an idea

Strat wrote:

RockPusher wrote:This is why I'm discouraged hearing about Ed's producer being (it seems) in line to produce the next PJ record. I don't want Ed to have more power. Less would be ideal, as much as I love what he brings to the band.

Watt seems to be a huge fan of PJ and i can bet that includes stone and mike. Shit, he was playing what i believe is a mccready strat on wishlist last night. respecting the OG. I think he GETS pearl jam being a big fan of the band.

So, who knows, maybe he'll tell stone to bring out those funky riffs again.

Yeah, I think Im ok with Watt producing the next PJ. Even if Earthling sounds too glossy or poppy we can still count on Jeff to not let that happen. They can even bring Josh Evans in for engineering and/or mixing. Like they did with BO'B on Binaural and RA. Three interesting reasons why Watt could be interesting:

1) He's a fanboy and guitarist. So he wants Mike and Stone to shine. And perhaps he wants Stone to bring those funky riffs back indeed...
2) Klinghoffer. He seems to be good friends with Klinghoffer who is already in PJ's circles now. He could bring him in as a sessionplayer on keys etc..
3) He's young and ambitious. And since this is his fav band he will work 200% on this. He probably enjoys what he did for Bieber, Miley or Dua Lipa but this would be his dreamjob.

Birds in Hell wrote:He's never sat comfortably in the pocket with the older material, it's just coming from a totally different place musically.

Case in point:

Birds in Hell wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:I reject the premise that Matt is somehow a bad fit. Binaural and Riot Act are both stellar largely because of him, and he shines on a number of tracks since then.

The band sounds strongest when they bend to fit his style rather than other way around.

I think they did that a little more on those records than since, but it's not (and evidently wasn't) sustainable.

He's never sat comfortably in the pocket with the older material, it's just coming from a totally different place musically.

It's not a dig at Matt at all, I love the guy's playing and songwriting.

Agree

I as well

Sorry for the continued derail, but as an example of where Matt's playing really works is skronky, riff-based heavy prog-rock:



I can't imagine any of the other Pearl Jam drummers sounding good on this kind of stuff.

Birds in Hell wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:He's never sat comfortably in the pocket with the older material, it's just coming from a totally different place musically.

Case in point:

Chad shines here

Ms Harmless wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:He's never sat comfortably in the pocket with the older material, it's just coming from a totally different place musically.

Case in point:

Chad shines here

To be fair, it's totally unsurprising that the Chili Peppers' drummer is going to sound good on Pearl Jam's song that basically directly imitates the Chili Peppers' style.

Brett wrote: To be fair, it's totally unsurprising that the Chili Peppers' drummer is going to sound good on Pearl Jam's song that basically directly imitates the Chili Peppers' style.

He could just play "give it away"

Brett wrote:

Ms Harmless wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:He's never sat comfortably in the pocket with the older material, it's just coming from a totally different place musically.

Case in point:

Chad shines here

To be fair, it's totally unsurprising that the Chili Peppers' drummer is going to sound good on Pearl Jam's song that basically directly imitates the Chili Peppers' style.

exactly what I meant, but also that Chad is a noticeably more funk groove-orientated drummer than Matt

The Chili Peppers thing is immaterial, it's just an illustration of how different a song can sound sound when a different drummer is driving the band.

Matt's not doing anything 'wrong' - his natural feel is just much stiffer, and I think it has hurt the band's performances of their older material since he joined.

agree

Birds in Hell wrote:The Chili Peppers thing is immaterial, it's just an illustration of how different a song can sound sound when a different drummer is driving the band.

Matt's not doing anything 'wrong' - his natural feel is just much stiffer, and I think it has hurt the band's performances of their older material since he joined.

It’s true but really it’s only a handful of songs right?

It’s not like everything he plays from ten to yield is awful

Awful - once, animal, glorified g, rats, leash, not for you, satans bed, jack centric songs on no code….

I’m sure there are personal desires but those are the glaring ones

Strat wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:The Chili Peppers thing is immaterial, it's just an illustration of how different a song can sound sound when a different drummer is driving the band.

Matt's not doing anything 'wrong' - his natural feel is just much stiffer, and I think it has hurt the band's performances of their older material since he joined.

It’s true but really it’s only a handful of songs right?

It’s not like everything he plays from ten to yield is awful

Awful - once, animal, glorified g, rats, leash, not for you, satans bed, jack centric songs on no code….

I’m sure there are personal desires but those are the glaring ones

I think it's everything, but I don't need to convince anyone otherwise.

Strat wrote:Its probably my favorite since Riot Act as well but i will also agree that it might be a tad Ed heavy and wonder what it might have been if a couple of his tracks were left off in favor of a jeff or stone track.

I actually really love all of eds songs on here but certainly can appreciate whoever said, super blood, and never destination all come from the same cloth and could maybe do without 2 of them.

This sums up exactly how I feel about the album. I like all of Ed’s songs on the album but would like less of Ed’s sound on it. I’d definitely keep WES out of the three.

RockPusher wrote:Boy do I want more Stone and Jeff flavor! Mike seems best as a flavor enhancer, and I'm hit or miss on Matt songs (one an album I'm good with). I get that Ed has always been their primary songrwriter, but Stone and Jeff have such worthy musical attitudes that I want to hear expressed more.

Like an athlete’s post game interview response, I agree with this 110%.

This album is really good.