Red Mosquito

You are light.

Coach wrote:

B wrote:No Earthling at Innings Fest.

Yep only Long Way

and he didn't even play that. literally nothing from earthling on that show last night.

which is fine, because earthling still sucks. i'm glad many of you have found enjoyment in it. i've tried, but for me there's little to be had.

Try listening to Invincible, The Dark and Fallout Today.

Wouldn’t be surprised if the Earthling release and your was just a one-off thing.

bodysnatcher wrote:Wouldn’t be surprised if the Earthling release and your was just a one-off thing.

My greatest fear, too.

Coach wrote:Try listening to Invincible, The Dark and Fallout Today.

ok, i listened to the whole album, it'd been awhile.

1. the thought of andrew watt producing a pearl jam record after this is not comforting. i know it's weird to say, but ed sounds like a guest on a lot of his own record. i get this was collaborative and is less an ed solo record than his previous efforts, so good for ed for feeling inspired and letting other people (and his own influences, especially in the 80s- petty, talking heads, peter gabriel, bruce, u2, ...) have a significant part of his sound here, but it all comes at the cost of feeling like i'm listening to an eddie vedder record. and the album is so compressed that even chad fucking smith is all but neutered. ridiculous. i realize this has nothing to do with the song quality, but it is absolutely a big part of my dislike of the record as a whole. i do wonder how much i'd feel differently if there were any dynamics whatsoever.
2. i just can't with invincible. the spoken word parts are cringe inducing. and i feel it never reaches the peak and release that the song feels like it's building toward. it's a song that is not anywhere near as epic as it thinks it is. best thing i can say about it is probably that it was the right call to have it open the record.
3. fallout today and the dark- eh, they're fine i guess. fallout today could have fit well on into the wild at least.
4. i cannot (but totally can) believe eddie vedder penned the haves. ed vedder lost his man-of-the-people cred a long time ago and a song like this from him today just seems so tone deaf. plus it's awful generic ballad music regardless of what's sung over it.
5. for me the album highlight is the 1-2 punch of good & evil - rose of jericho. i don't see these mentioned too often as songs people gravitate toward on this. but i recognize they are also the most in-line with output he is more known for.
6. on my way is a fine closer and i also admit to playing it on repeat a few times.

AndySlash wrote:

Coach wrote:Try listening to Invincible, The Dark and Fallout Today.

ok, i listened to the whole album, it'd been awhile.

1. the thought of andrew watt producing a pearl jam record after this is not comforting. i know it's weird to say, but ed sounds like a guest on a lot of his own record. i get this was collaborative and is less an ed solo record than his previous efforts, so good for ed for feeling inspired and letting other people (and his own influences, especially in the 80s- petty, talking heads, peter gabriel, bruce, u2, ...) have a significant part of his sound here, but it all comes at the cost of feeling like i'm listening to an eddie vedder record. and the album is so compressed that even chad fucking smith is all but neutered. ridiculous. i realize this has nothing to do with the song quality, but it is absolutely a big part of my dislike of the record as a whole. i do wonder how much i'd feel differently if there were any dynamics whatsoever.
2. i just can't with invincible. the spoken word parts are cringe inducing. and i feel it never reaches the peak and release that the song feels like it's building toward. it's a song that is not anywhere near as epic as it thinks it is. best thing i can say about it is probably that it was the right call to have it open the record.
3. fallout today and the dark- eh, they're fine i guess. fallout today could have fit well on into the wild at least.
4. i cannot (but totally can) believe eddie vedder penned the haves. ed vedder lost his man-of-the-people cred a long time ago and a song like this from him today just seems so tone deaf. plus it's awful generic ballad music regardless of what's sung over it.
5. for me the album highlight is the 1-2 punch of good & evil - rose of jericho. i don't see these mentioned too often as songs people gravitate toward on this. but i recognize they are also the most in-line with output he is more known for.
6. on my way is a fine closer and i also admit to playing it on repeat a few times.

I love on my way, too.

can't break up,
addicted to the shindig

How much does the Earthlings record weigh? I could only find this:

Most records weigh between 80 and 200 grams. As weight increases, a record is more likely to spin consistently without shifting or lifting off the turntable. Audiophiles consider 180 grams to be the ideal weight for a 12-inch record, while the best weight for 45s is around 50 grams

Coach wrote:You are light.

YOU ARE LIGHT.

AndySlash wrote:

Coach wrote:Try listening to Invincible, The Dark and Fallout Today.

ok, i listened to the whole album, it'd been awhile.

1. the thought of andrew watt producing a pearl jam record after this is not comforting. i know it's weird to say, but ed sounds like a guest on a lot of his own record. i get this was collaborative and is less an ed solo record than his previous efforts, so good for ed for feeling inspired and letting other people (and his own influences, especially in the 80s- petty, talking heads, peter gabriel, bruce, u2, ...) have a significant part of his sound here, but it all comes at the cost of feeling like i'm listening to an eddie vedder record. and the album is so compressed that even chad fucking smith is all but neutered. ridiculous. i realize this has nothing to do with the song quality, but it is absolutely a big part of my dislike of the record as a whole. i do wonder how much i'd feel differently if there were any dynamics whatsoever.

This is still my biggest problem. I really love the songs, the urgency and confidence in each, but I can't get down with the compression.

Good & Evil>Rose of Jericho is a huge highlight. Really, take out The Haves and Earthlings is a 5 star album.

the drums sounds are worse than the compression

You’ll be shocked to learn that it was actually an A.I. created album.

Hatfield wrote:

AndySlash wrote:

Coach wrote:Try listening to Invincible, The Dark and Fallout Today.

ok, i listened to the whole album, it'd been awhile.

1. the thought of andrew watt producing a pearl jam record after this is not comforting. i know it's weird to say, but ed sounds like a guest on a lot of his own record. i get this was collaborative and is less an ed solo record than his previous efforts, so good for ed for feeling inspired and letting other people (and his own influences, especially in the 80s- petty, talking heads, peter gabriel, bruce, u2, ...) have a significant part of his sound here, but it all comes at the cost of feeling like i'm listening to an eddie vedder record. and the album is so compressed that even chad fucking smith is all but neutered. ridiculous. i realize this has nothing to do with the song quality, but it is absolutely a big part of my dislike of the record as a whole. i do wonder how much i'd feel differently if there were any dynamics whatsoever.

This is still my biggest problem. I really love the songs, the urgency and confidence in each, but I can't get down with the compression.

Good & Evil>Rose of Jericho is a huge highlight. Really, take out The Haves and Earthlings is a 5 star album.

Seeing them live and even watching some of the YouTube videos is great. That might help things out for ya. I'll be campaigning for them to release a bootleg (and reveal their BMIs, too).

This album was soo heavily compressed at both the mixing and mastering stage that it's even hard to say how the drum sounds were recorded. I don't really like this mix at all, but you can't really blame Watt for that. Their choice of mixing engineer was Serban Ghenea.

Throughout his career, Ghenea has worked with top artists in pop music, including Ariana Grande, Adele, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake. He has mixed over 188 #1 recordings. With Riley, Ghenea worked on projects that included Michael Jackson and Blackstreet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serban_Ghenea

Such a weird choice... I just can't understand they went with Ghenea.

Andrew Watt also produced Iggy Pop and Ozzy Osbourne in the last months. There they went for Alan Moulder! If Pearl Jam would follow suit it could be something great!

joostone wrote:This album was soo heavily compressed at both the mixing and mastering stage that it's even hard to say how the drum sounds were recorded. I don't really like this mix at all, but you can't really blame Watt for that. Their choice of mixing engineer was Serban Ghenea.

Throughout his career, Ghenea has worked with top artists in pop music, including Ariana Grande, Adele, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake. He has mixed over 188 #1 recordings. With Riley, Ghenea worked on projects that included Michael Jackson and Blackstreet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serban_Ghenea

Such a weird choice... I just can't understand they went with Ghenea.

Andrew Watt also produced Iggy Pop and Ozzy Osbourne in the last months. There they went for Alan Moulder! If Pearl Jam would follow suit it could be something great!

Thanks Joostone. That gives me hope. Watt clearly sparked Ed's song writing in an amazing way, just don't love the mix.

Randy Merrill mastered the album, btw.

The worst production offense IMO is the apparent use of drum replacement samples, and total lack of room sound on most tracks; those live shows were really revealing. I’d have to squint to see a workflow where Andrew Watt doesn’t own those choices.

This album sounds like unrolling a sheet of aluminum foil

This is all way above my pay grade. I mean look, when an album sounds straight bad, like that weird tinniness (?) that a lot of 80s albums had where the levels seem completely off, I notice it. But I still evaluate my thoughts on music nearly the same way I did when I was 15 - do I connect with this piece of music? Maybe as an adult I think more about why, but I am still drawn in almost instinctively rather than really getting into the minutiae of mastering and such. Probably it does have a subconscious impact on how I feel about a piece of music, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to speak comfortably on that. So both kudos to you for having that level of knowledge but then also don’t forget to feel the piece in addition to hearing it.

liebzz wrote:This is all way above my pay grade. I mean look, when an album sounds straight bad, like that weird tinniness (?) that a lot of 80s albums had where the levels seem completely off, I notice it. But I still evaluate my thoughts on music nearly the same way I did when I was 15 - do I connect with this piece of music? Maybe as an adult I think more about why, but I am still drawn in almost instinctively rather than really getting into the minutiae of mastering and such. Probably it does have a subconscious impact on how I feel about a piece of music, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to speak comfortably on that. So both kudos to you for having that level of knowledge but then also don’t forget to feel the piece in addition to hearing it.

My actual problem with this album is that it literally hurts to listen to for extended periods, even at moderate levels (like around 55-65db). Ed's going deaf and we're all paying for it.