Gigaton: Official album thread

[Monkey_Driven]

Magic is definitely up there. Maybe Western Stars too.

[worldwithyourheart]

Stones - Voodoo Lounge

[liebzz]

Stones - Voodoo Lounge

Maybe not original material, but Blue and Lonesome is pretty damn amazing.

[guitar_davey]

Stones - Voodoo Lounge

Funny, I loved this one back in the day. Gave it a spin about six months ago and while the highs were really high, I felt like there was a lot of filler on there. Gigaton feels like much more of a complete artistic statement to my ears.

Maybe not original material, but Blue and Lonesome is pretty damn amazing.

Agreed. This is a really solid record.

[McParadigm]

Stones - Voodoo Lounge

This is the fairest comparison point so far: a group with multiple creative contributors (but not a democratic act), 50+ and primarily regarded as a legacy touring act when they hit the studio.

It’s a little harder to compare this band with people like Bruce or Bowie, who have or had the absolute power to dictate their timelines and projects because they are essentially solo artists with powerful backing bands.

Being able to pick up the phone and say “I’ve decided that I want to make a record right fucking now, while I’ve still got the spark happening, and I want it to sound like 60’s pop with timpani and bells,” and have no real compromises to make on any of that seems….like a situation with fewer prerequisites to success.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Leatherhead]

Jeez it’s like you guys don’t even know that RHCP released the record of the year this week

I kinda can't stand RHCP.

[Ms Harmless]

same

[LetMeSleep]

Jeez it’s like you guys don’t even know that RHCP released the record of the year this week

Um, it's not released yet trag.

[Rob]

Jeez it’s like you guys don’t even know that RHCP released the record of the year this week

Um, it's not released yet trag.

Yea... ?

[emanon]

Jeez it’s like you guys don’t even know that RHCP released the record of the year this week

Tried listening to it a second time yesterday, and I gotta say it doesn't do much for me.

[JuanHamm]

Jeez it’s like you guys don’t even know that RHCP released the record of the year this week

Um, it's not released yet trag.

Yea... ?

Trag is a thief

[RockPusher]

This morning I put on Gigaton and less than a minute into Who Ever Said my 7 year-old daughter says, "I love this song!" Passing Pearl Jam on to my kids feels wonderful. Also, I have decided that if I showed up to a Pearl Jam show and all they played was a rousing rendition of Who Ever Said, I would walk away satisfied. It is, as you all have been discussing, practically impossible for me to wrap my head around the band rocking this emphatically at this stage in their career. The fact that it possibly sets the table for further fun in the near future is just the cherry on top!

[Ms Harmless]

I think I've got over my slight issue of the synthesised guitar part after seeing a live version; for some reason, knowing it's definitely a guitar and not a random keyboard put in for no reason, makes it sound more like a guitar? weird

[Leatherhead]

Some parts of WES remind me of WWC's "Compellor," and that's awesome.

[RockPusher]

Some parts of WES remind me of WWC's "Compellor," and that's awesome.

I can see that. Good to hear a fully-engaged MC in PJ.

[stip]

Happy Birthday Gigaton! What a gift you were

[stip]

Doing some Gigaton listening today, and I continue to struggle with Take the Long Way. The song is fine (not a favorite, but I like it fine), but it really feels like an outlier track to me. It might be a reflection of Matt's writing, which typically feels off center from the rest of the band, but The Fixer holds Backspacer together and songs like Evacuation, whether you like them or not, don't feel out of place on Binaural. It's like Get Right in that regard (a song I kind of love). It's just hard to figure how it fits in with the rest of the album. There's a showiness to it on an album where even the most dramatic moments are understated, and feels deliberate on a record where everything feels more tentative and improvisational. And the lyrics don't really tie into any of the larger themes (unlike Jeff and Stone's contributions). It feels more like a song recorded at the same time as Gigaton rather than a song that is of a piece with it.

Again, not a knock on the song itself. If we ever hear more from these sessions I'll be curious to see if he wrote other songs that might have fit better, or if there are other pieces that slot in more organically that were left out in the name of making sure everyone gets to see themselves included in the final album (which is no small thing).

Does anyone have a defense of why Take the Long Way belongs on the record (beyond just liking the song)?

[Ms Harmless]

I think I have, but let me think about how to articulate it some more

[Strat]

i actually agree with Stip. I love the song but it does feel like an artistical* outlier.

*Is that even a word?