Lightning Bolt: The Official Album Thread

[ABNorman]

Yeah, that Pitchfork review had some very valid points.

[stupidmop]

while the album’s centerpiece ballads tread on odious Lite-FM territory and forcefully tip the scales from poignant to maudlin, whether it’s the Goo Goo Dolls sheen of “Sirens” or the Hornsby-esque piano rolls of the closing “Future Days” (

Someone else hears the googoo dolls on sirens! Yay, or maybe

Pearl Jam on record have essentially been reduced to the rock ‘n’ roll version of wearing sweatpants: they’ve given up trying to impress anyone, so they may as well be comfortable. 

They're right though

[stip]

I Am Mine, Light Years, Love Boat Captain, Cropduster, Insignificance, & Grievance all have good to great choruses. Choruses I would take over anything on S/T or Backspacer (and time will tell if Lightning Bolt can be added to that). Choruses that provide emotional climaxes and releases that I look forward to with every listen. Choruses that stick with me without being cloying or overwrought, ones that stay impactful on repeated listens over years & years.

Sonic torture...

Light years is one of my textbook cases of how to suck the emotional weight out of a song. Probably because of the chorus. Cropduster is a good chorus in a song I have no emotional attachment to.

Those other 3 are great, even though I agree with release_me that those two records are unnecessarily ponderous

[stip]

The best part is his handle is from a song whose strengths are derived less from the chorus than possibly any other song in the entire Pearl Jam catalog.

The chorus in release is probably the best part of that song, but all the parts are great so why argue?

[dimejinky99]

Wowsers.
So the competition I'm a finalist in to see Pj in Seattle has had something added to it.
You get a tour of PjHQ on the day of the show.

Man I'd love to see just the practice space. It's all come from in there.

[stip]

Obligatory negative pitchfork review
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/186 ... ning-bolt/

*mixed

It was a perfectly fine review. They didn't like it much, but it wasn't a hatchet piece

[track11]

I don't think that Pitchfork PJ reviews are "wrong", but you know they are going to be negative. They have their favorites...can I write a negative review about the last National? Sure, I think it is boring, doesn't move the chains from High Violet, etc. It gets an 8.4 "BEST NEW MUSIC" from Pitchfork. Even if I agree with their points on this review, I still think that THE MUSIC IS GOOD. They always spend their time with PJ albums not necessarily evaluating the music but instead critiquing the lack of a move to completely new territory. It is a valid critique, but one they for some reason obsess over with PJ, and I would argue that there is a lot of new territory on LB (for Pearl Jam). Is it groundbreaking? No, but was Riot Act groundbreaking? Binaural? Yield certainly was not. Vitalogy? I don't get why we expect that from this band. They aren't Radiohead and never will be.

[stip]

Wowsers.
So the competition I'm a finalist in to see Pj in Seattle has had something added to it.
You get a tour of PjHQ on the day of the show.

Man I'd love to see just the practice space. It's all come from in there.

Good luck, dime!

[McParadigm]

Hahaha. Pitchfork, of all places, nails Pearl Jam better than 5,000 pages of PJ Chat, and the actual digital content is almost as funny as all of our bullshit ideas.

What was I thinking, going to sleep????

[fishbob]

Yeah Pitchfork reviews are just so fucking self-righteous

[Birds in Hell]

I don't think that Pitchfork PJ reviews are "wrong", but you know they are going to be negative. They have their favorites...can I write a negative review about the last National? Sure, I think it is boring, doesn't move the chains from High Violet, etc. It gets an 8.4 "BEST NEW MUSIC" from Pitchfork. Even if I agree with their points on this review, I still think that THE MUSIC IS GOOD. They always spend their time with PJ albums not necessarily evaluating the music but instead critiquing the lack of a move to completely new territory. It is a valid critique, but one they for some reason obsess over with PJ, and I would argue that there is a lot of new territory on LB (for Pearl Jam). Is it groundbreaking? No, but was Riot Act groundbreaking? Binaural? Yield certainly was not. Vitalogy? I don't get why we expect that from this band. They aren't Radiohead and never will be.

The review was obviously written by a fan in this case.

I Googled, the same writer penned a very complimentary review of the band's Toronto 2009 show.

[Thejambi]

There are so many different things so enjoy in music aside from the vocal melodies. Even songs completely lacking a vocal melody can be enjoyable! Fascinating, I know. For a Pearl Jam example: See the verses of Push Me, Pull Me or the three Binaural instrumentals.

I hope I'm not being misinterpreted. My beef isn't with dark Pearl Jam. Ten, Vs and Vitalogy are my favourite albums and they have their fair share of darkness. Dark songs can be melodic as many of those are. Bright songs can also be melodic. There is no mutually exclusive rule there. My beef is with the middle period albums which have all the darkness (maybe more) of early PJ but none of the melody (to my ears). I would love Sleight of Hand if atmosphere alone was enough for me. It's just not. Vocals and melody are what make or break songs for me. You can be different in that you'll listen to something repeatedly for it's other musical aspects. I probably won't.

I have a pretty big problem with this statement right here.

Yeah me too. I don't see how SoH has no melody.

In fairness it is a pretty weak melody.

[Mike]

Obligatory negative pitchfork review
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/186 ... ning-bolt/

*mixed

It was a perfectly fine review. They didn't like it much, but it wasn't a hatchet piece

Yeah, the review itself is fair. I was just joking about them giving a Pearl Jam album something around 5 points for the fourth time in a row.

[dimejinky99]

Wowsers.
So the competition I'm a finalist in to see Pj in Seattle has had something added to it.
You get a tour of PjHQ on the day of the show.

Man I'd love to see just the practice space. It's all come from in there.

Good luck, dime!

Thanks man!! I'm told the competition just got serious.
Up to now its been these 'I like ten' people. Apparently a guy got through yesterday and he's a Pj knowledge ninja. Im shitting now. No idea what the elimination process will entail.
Gonna learn track lists studio engineers sales figures etc. just in case.

[ABNorman]

Wowsers.
So the competition I'm a finalist in to see Pj in Seattle has had something added to it.
You get a tour of PjHQ on the day of the show.

Man I'd love to see just the practice space. It's all come from in there.

Good luck, dime!

Thanks man!! I'm told the competition just got serious.
Up to now its been these 'I like ten' people. Apparently a guy got through yesterday and he's a Pj knowledge ninja. Im shitting now. No idea what the elimination process will entail.
Gonna learn track lists studio engineers sales figures etc. just in case.

*fade in Eye of the Tiger Montage

[dimejinky99]

Actually laughed:)

Something like that yeah. Better get studying.

[stupidmop]

There are so many different things so enjoy in music aside from the vocal melodies. Even songs completely lacking a vocal melody can be enjoyable! Fascinating, I know. For a Pearl Jam example: See the verses of Push Me, Pull Me or the three Binaural instrumentals.

I hope I'm not being misinterpreted. My beef isn't with dark Pearl Jam. Ten, Vs and Vitalogy are my favourite albums and they have their fair share of darkness. Dark songs can be melodic as many of those are. Bright songs can also be melodic. There is no mutually exclusive rule there. My beef is with the middle period albums which have all the darkness (maybe more) of early PJ but none of the melody (to my ears). I would love Sleight of Hand if atmosphere alone was enough for me. It's just not. Vocals and melody are what make or break songs for me. You can be different in that you'll listen to something repeatedly for it's other musical aspects. I probably won't.

I have a pretty big problem with this statement right here.

Yeah me too. I don't see how SoH has no melody.

In fairness it is a pretty weak melody.

While I was drrrriiiiiiiffftttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

so when the countdown ended, was that video of the Vinyl the only new thing we got?

[stupidmop]

I vote in all further discussion current-day pearl jam is referred to as 'The sweatpants Years, as produced by Brenden O'Brien'.

TSYAPBBOB for short.

Or maybe just pants, for short.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

I vote in all further discussion current-day pearl jam is referred to as 'The sweatpants Years, as produced by Brenden O'Brien'.

TSYAPBBOB for short.

Or maybe just pants, for short.

that was my favorite pare of the article