Kevin Davis wrote:tragabigzanda wrote:Despise the mix. Matt’s drums sound like a bad Napster rip of a radio rock song filtered through Winamp. Just garbage.
Andrew Wotman is simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to modern day PJ.
There's a lot of truth to this for me. The production value of this is extremely unpleasant to my ears -- everything just pushed to the maximum, processed to the point of overload, which is exactly how both
Earthling and
Hackney Diamonds (and presumably Watt's other projects) sound as well. Honestly I think knowing what I was getting into allowed me to mentally correct for it going in and just enjoy the song, and I really did enjoy it (I listened again this morning and felt the same way, though I'm not finding myself craving the 20-30 listens in a row that some people are reporting). I don't expect PJ to learn many new tricks 34 years into their career, but I appreciate clever pastiches of stuff from the grab bag, and I hear a lot of familiar elements put together here in a pleasing way -- the simple riffing between verses feels very Stone-y and Ten outtake-y to me; the pulsing effect in the passage after the chorus is reminiscent of the one used in "You Are," still one of their most unique-sounding songs (though less so now!); Mike's solo is textbook, straight out of Watt's I'm-a-superfan-and-there's-no-way-I'm-letting-you-make-a-record-without-including-at-least-a-few-of-these playbook; and there are many hallmarks of modern PRAMG-era PJ throughout, which feels inevitable and earned at this point. But despite the heavy-handed mastering, the elements don't crowd each other out; the performance feels pretty uncluttered, and much as it did on
Riot Act, Eddie's singing has a first-or-second-take feel to it that undercuts some of its physical imperfections.
Watt does seem to have an enthusiasm that artists find contagious, and I can appreciate the idea of someone who really knows and loves the band being the idea-bouncer, even if I don't like what he (or his team) does with those ideas in the mixing booth. Looking forward to the rest of the album.
I relate to this post.
This album could still very much undo what I’m about to write, but I think as a baseline…old Pearl Jam is my favorite iteration of the band in a long, long time.
I like the yelping, damaged voice much more than I did the swagger and confidence of some of the S/T era, as an example. I find the fight against inevitability that is inherent to any old rock singer’s situation to be sonically provocative, and underexplored as a musical tool in this world where bands are rewarded for trying to sound like they’re still 30, so their audience can use them as a way to feel young again.
I think the same elements that make an injured voice sound broken or sometimes awkward also have the ability to let it be much more emotionally impactful than a lot of rock singing…it just needs to be paired to the right message and context. I’d say the same for any playing. Gigaton pairs it all up well, and this song does too.
I like that the band is prepared to try things now that they previously felt they should be too cool for, and to listen to impulses they would have once dismissed as embarrassing or inorganic to their reductive expectations of themselves.
I like that there is less of a sense of trying to assert themselves as one of the rock and roll greats (a trite and meaningless thing), and more of a feeling that something urgently needs to be said. I like that it doesn’t feel so thought out or calculated.
Now, Lightning Bolt is one of the worst albums that a band I like has ever made, so it’s certainly possible that this one drops that ball as well. But if it fails, it fails in spite of their age…not because of it.
