Page 3 of 13
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 1:22 am
by stip
digster wrote:I feel like Vitalogy may end in the bleakest spot of any of their records. I wouldn't deny there's a fighting spirit at the beginning, but by the time Stupid Mop sputters out, it seems like there's nothing left of it. It was kind of shocking when I listened to the album straight through most recently; in isolation the songs sound more hopeful then tracing it from start to end.
I'm not sure I agree. Betterman and satan's because have some fight in them, and immortality doesn't end with the desolate sound it starts with. I may be unfairly excluding stupid mop. On the other hand, maybe it is significant that it is the only song not in eddies voice
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 2:36 am
by McParadigm
stip wrote:Thanks McP. That was a great read. I've sometimes felt the most important lyric on the record is the mention of syssiphus in the not for you liner notes. There is no guiding light, no way out, but there is also a refusal to surrender, and stubborn defiance in the face of dark certainty is a victory, and an important part of the record
I had a bit about that, actually...but it needed more explanation for clarity's sake and I already had half a novel.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 8:59 am
by hlniv
Last Exit:
Guitars front and center. Kick ass
Dave A kills
Spin the Black Circle:
Vocals are perfectly placed here, right behind the guitars
Best PJ punk without a doubt
Not For You:
People forget how different this song was at the time as a single
Ed shines
The anti guitar solo exit. Mesmerizing
Tremor Christ:
Refocus
Simple
Raw and ragged, filled with stunted emotion
Nothingman:
This isn't your normal rock album
Whipping:
There's Dave A again. Crazy Texan owns this
Pry, To:
Perfect interlude, although not sure it was necessary.
Corduroy:
Hard to top this album. This is the peak of masterpiece mountain
Fade into accordion
Bugs:
Why they've never tried a band version of this, full on with dual guitar, bass-infused rhythm, I'll never understand
The birth of Ed's solo career, no matter the level of flaw
Satan's Bed:
Weakest track on the album (save the obvious), yet it has stood its ground
If this was on Backspacer, people would say it fit right in with the suck
Better Man:
Great transitional piece at the beginning. Could have been its own track
Their most catchy tune yet sandwiched between Bugs, Aye Davanita, and Satan's Bed
Extra catchiness abounds
The band's peak in the opinion of many
Aye Davanita:
Too long, but otherwise a nice piece of music
Immortality:
That guitar just grabs you, they have not reproduced this core sound in the 19 years since
This was the first song that came on my stereo after I heard my grandfather died. I will always remember that
Dave A and Ed again. Somehow the tension surrounding it's recording made this album
Stupid Mop:
I bet I've listened through this less than ten times out of the hundreds of times I've had the opportunity
Nice little groove once you get there. But, shit, this album ends with Immortality
A repeat loop back to Last Exit and the Free Jazz open just makes me want to sit through it again. Need to go to bed
Eddie Vedder wrote Immortality, Corduroy, Better Man, Whipping and Not For You. All on one album. That is fucking incredible.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 9:10 am
by Birds in Hell
hlniv wrote:But, shit, this album ends with Immortality
Guys, you can say this til you're blue in the face, but...
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 10:24 am
by Lament
Birds in Hell wrote:hlniv wrote:But, shit, this album ends with Immortality
Guys, you can say this til you're blue in the face, but...
Seconded.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 10:26 am
by harmless
When I compare the fact that Lightning Bolt ends on Future Days, I can't fathom why anyone would complain about Stupid Mop.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 11:23 am
by Heathen
harmless wrote:When I compare the fact that Lightning Bolt ends on Future Days, I can't fathom why anyone would complain about Stupid Mop.
It's not a real song!
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:11 pm
by stip
McParadigm wrote:stip wrote:Thanks McP. That was a great read. I've sometimes felt the most important lyric on the record is the mention of syssiphus in the not for you liner notes. There is no guiding light, no way out, but there is also a refusal to surrender, and stubborn defiance in the face of dark certainty is a victory, and an important part of the record
I had a bit about that, actually...but it needed more explanation for clarity's sake and I already had half a novel.
There is a very camusian quality to these first three records, but it culminates here.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:16 pm
by McParadigm
Whether it's your type of "thing" or not, how anybody can fail to recognize mophandlemama's function and purpose within the album is beyond me.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:18 pm
by Norah
McParadigm wrote:Whether it's your type of "thing" or not, how anybody can fail to recognize mophandlemama's function and purpose within the album is beyond me.
so much this
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:20 pm
by McParadigm
cutuphalfdead wrote:McParadigm wrote:Whether it's your type of "thing" or not, how anybody can fail to recognize mophandlemama's function and purpose within the album is beyond me.
so much this
stip wrote:There is a very camusian quality to these first three records, but it culminates here.
I can see it. There is scarcely any passion without struggle.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:20 pm
by stip
I think it is an important part of the album concept, but not essential daily listening, and I think immortality can also conceptually close the record.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:25 pm
by stip
Stupid mop belongs on the directors cut
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:28 pm
by harmless
How many PJ songs are actually 'essential daily listening' though, really?
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:37 pm
by stip
harmless wrote:How many PJ songs are actually 'essential daily listening' though, really?
No music is essential daily listening, obviously. I just meant if you feel like throwing on vitalogy, you can stop with immortality and still really get the overall album experience
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:38 pm
by McParadigm
stip wrote:I think it is an important part of the album concept, but not essential daily listening
Yeah, I've got no cares whatsoever on what someone wants to listen to or not listen to. But there's a difference between "I don't listen to it" and "it's not a song; it shouldn't be there," and stupidmop might actually be the one place on the record where all the things I talked about show up together.
I also think Immortality is a terrible closer, and just gets perceived as a good one because A) People don't want to listen to mophandlemama (understandable) so they get very used to the record ending there, and B) it's a relatively non-rocking, moody piece by a band that rarely has the creativity to end their records on anything besides a non-rocking, moody piece. So that type of ending feels familiar to us.
Part of the problem is, it ends with a line that feels almost like a sudden realization or a question, and the fade out music is really noncommital and hovering. If that's how you end the record, it sounds kind of corny, and maybe a little heavy-handed. Instead, stupidmop comes on and plays out a little like the internal dialog that results from that realization. That discussion is so fantastic for that...the awareness speaking to the unthinking emotion, the confused now trying to analyze the reactionary next, the torture speaking to the reward.
I almost always listen to the two pieces together, to the point where when I do hear Immortality without it the ending kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Minus stupidmop, it sort of sounds like the first half to something that the band couldn't be bothered to finish.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 12:47 pm
by McParadigm
Also, if you gut stupidmop then Vitalogy sounds like an album about collapse where the closest the band came to actual collapse was an accordian joke and some cool guitar sounds tagged on to the end of Not for You. It kind of makes the whole record feel like it's all posture, or maybe just playing pretend.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 1:46 pm
by harmless
stip wrote:harmless wrote:How many PJ songs are actually 'essential daily listening' though, really?
No music is essential daily listening, obviously. I just meant if you feel like throwing on vitalogy, you can stop with immortality and still really get the overall album experience
I never do that... If I'm going to listen to the whole thing, I listen to the whole thing.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 2:21 pm
by spike
harmless wrote:My favourite PJ album, possibly my favourite album.
Re: Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vitalogy
Posted: Fri December 27, 2013 2:29 pm
by E.H. Ruddock
I also recommend the book.