No Code: Official Album Thread

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jorge]

This song is brimming with harmonic color, you're nuts.

[Jorge]

Also your point about my stance on texture is probably taken from this post, and you'll note I never say I don't care about feel or texture; rather, those are not at the forefront of what I listen to when I listen to a song-based artist. Regardless, there are a hundred reasons why a song can move me and other songs that exhibit similar features won't. A lot of it isn't easily quantifiable or boiled down to consistent "rules" across the board. I'm a human person not an algorithm!

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jorge]

While searching for a previous post I'd made about "In My Tree" I came across this one by the ever brilliant KD who expresses it all very well; not just the strengths of "In My Tree" but the way there may be inconsistencies in the way songs "stack up" against each other based on previously stated preferences

Well, I think "In My Tree" is fantastic musically (though the progression in "Hail Hail" is definitely great) -- the way the bassline implies the harmony during the verse melody, the "round"-style singing arrangement during the bridge section, those soaring guitar harmonies at the end, and most importantly the way they all interlock (I'm trying to refrain from saying "butt up against each other" but perhaps that's the better term). "Hail Hail" jumps around the scale more, and in less conventional ways, but I think "In My Tree" is equally rich musically, and in any case I'd be able to switch my vote to "Hail Hail" here without losing much sleep, where to me "Animal" and "Go" are a good few tiers apart. "Animal" also shows a side of the band that I just flat-out don't relate to anymore, where "In My Tree" -- while kinda touchy-feely in its way -- speaks to a more complex range of emotions that still come back into relevance every now and again.

That said, I think every song kind of plays by its own rules in regards to what jumps out to the listener and what doesn't -- where "Animal"'s lack of compelling composition in my eyes may cause me to lose interest in it, there may very well be another song that's equally simplistic and thrills me. I'm sure it's hard to believe but most of the time I listen to music pretty uncritically, letting what I like about the song rise to the surface and letting the rest fall where it may. It's primarily in these more analytical forums -- and especially when I'm engaged in an exercise where the sole purpose is to pull apart a song's strengths and weaknesses to determine which one is better -- where these kinds of particulars end up driving the conversation. And I'm sure it's not 100% consistent from song to song, because despite how many similarities we can always find between any two of 'em, every song really is different.

[Jorge]

I was struck by how germane this post from a separate thread three years ago felt to this current conversation, and then I noticed it was because KD was responding to a Tragabigzanda "but wait, how come you like THIS song and not THAT song?? Didn't you say you like ___???" line of interrogation.

Forever trying to put people in boxes!

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[RockPusher]

This song is brimming with harmonic color, you're nuts.

Again, I think those bridge guitars definitely are. Everything else is very monochromatic to me. Which isn't to say there isn't color; just that it's all one color, and it'd a dark and it's muted indigo. There's nothing that pops out. It's all just so...flat. It has many of the same characteristics I don't like about Pendulum in the way it just sort of plods on, trying to imbue some tension but never really hitting it.

You take that back! Pendulum is a saint!

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Ms Harmless]

there's this really tiny thing that I love about "In My Tree", and I've always found joy in mimicking it when I sing to the song

when Ed sings "up here in my tree, yeah"

the "yeah" is very slightly out of tune, just a semi-tone below the note of "tree" (and other line-ending "yeah"s and "oh"s follow suit)... and when I was young I just thought that was so fucking cool, and little subtle details like that were why Ed was my favourite rock vocalist

[RockPusher]

While searching for a previous post I'd made about "In My Tree" I came across this one by the ever brilliant KD who expresses it all very well; not just the strengths of "In My Tree" but the way there may be inconsistencies in the way songs "stack up" against each other based on previously stated preferences

Well, I think "In My Tree" is fantastic musically (though the progression in "Hail Hail" is definitely great) -- the way the bassline implies the harmony during the verse melody

What the fuck does this even mean? It's a simple root note bass line.

I immediately understood that. It's the high bass that moves more to the forefront. Kevin described it perfectly.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jorge]

Implied harmony is a thing dude

[stip]

I an making my way through No Code now. I think it is unequivocally the pearl jam album I like the least. Three things jump out:

1. this is the eddie vocal performance I like the least. By far the most nasaly of any album performance, and too much vibrato (a problem for me in places on Yield as well but he sounds better there). And the more intense moments veer too much into scratchy hoarse shouting without the feeling of control he usually musters. Definitely not my thing

2. I do not care for Jack Iron’s drumming at all. It sticks out to me, often like he is playing along to a different song

3. I think it is one of Eddie’s weaker records, lyrically. Really Hail Hail, Sometimes, and Red Mosquito are the major exceptions


It’s too bad, because Mike, Stone, and Jeff all seem really locked into each other (and Eddie where he is playing). off he goes is a good example. The music is lush and poignant and I wish Eddie wasnt singing over it. And that is a sentence I hardly ever write

[VinylGuy]

I an making my way through No Code now. I think it is unequivocally the pearl jam album I like the least. Three things jump out:

1. this is the eddie vocal performance I like the least. By far the most nasaly of any album performance, and too much vibrato (a problem for me in places on Yield as well but he sounds better there). And the more intense moments veer too much into scratchy hoarse shouting without the feeling of control he usually musters. Definitely not my thing

2. I do not care for Jack Iron’s drumming at all. It sticks out to me, often like he is playing along to a different song

3. I think it is one of Eddie’s weaker records, lyrically. Really Hail Hail, Sometimes, and Red Mosquito are the major exceptions


It’s too bad, because Mike, Stone, and Jeff all seem really locked into each other (and Eddie where he is playing)

I disagree with everything here. No Code is one of my favs, i love how Ed is mixed in the album, the band is more prominent, i love Jack's garage drums and i adore most of this lyrics.

[Jorge]

The only part I could agree with is Ed's lyrics; there are a couple of big clunkers here. But I wouldn't say it's his overall worst album lyrically.

[stip]

i have no issue with how he is mixed.

Habit hits so hard, but Eddie is distracting

[stip]

This is Eddie at his most Neil Young sounding, who I also don’t like very much. So this may just not be for me

[Ms Harmless]

I *love* nasally Ed

weirdly, recent albums managed to mix all the bass out of Ed's voice, and it still doesn't have that lovely No Code timbre; but that's because it's not just about mixing; I hear that nasal quality again in "Leatherman" and "Long Road"