Re: Riot Act: Official Album Thread
Posted: Tue October 12, 2021 9:12 pm
I don't find TMW hopeless and depressing, I find it desperate and searching
Leatherhead wrote:How many people in the world do you think really love this album? 100? 1,000? 10,000?
No idea...but i have a few friends who are more casual Pearl Jam fans and they consider the Binaural/Riot Act era to be the bands lowpoint (well at least up to LB) and that Avocade was the album that drew them back in to the point of wanting to see them live again.Leatherhead wrote:How many people in the world do you think really love this album? 100? 1,000? 10,000?
I cannot compute having this and Gigaton below Backspacer or Lightning Bolt.Tj wrote:Not a fan of this album as it was presented but a fan of the era. This album and Gigaton are bottom of the barrel for me. If it was something like this it could have been a favorite.
Cropduster
Down
I am mine
You Are
Help Help
Thumbing My Way
Get Right
Undone
Ghost
Half Full
Can't Keep
Save YouVinylGuy wrote:so you dont like the album because of how it was sequenced?
In fairness Dotc is the best Pearl Jam song of the last 20 yearsMonkey_Driven wrote:I cannot compute having this and Gigaton below Backspacer or Lightning Bolt.Tj wrote:Not a fan of this album as it was presented but a fan of the era. This album and Gigaton are bottom of the barrel for me. If it was something like this it could have been a favorite.
Cropduster
Down
I am mine
You Are
Help Help
Thumbing My Way
Get Right
Undone
Ghost
Half Full
Can't Keep
on that, we agreeTj wrote:In fairness Dotc is the best Pearl Jam song of the last 20 yearsMonkey_Driven wrote:I cannot compute having this and Gigaton below Backspacer or Lightning Bolt.Tj wrote:Not a fan of this album as it was presented but a fan of the era. This album and Gigaton are bottom of the barrel for me. If it was something like this it could have been a favorite.
Cropduster
Down
I am mine
You Are
Help Help
Thumbing My Way
Get Right
Undone
Ghost
Half Full
Can't Keep
almost all of them tbhepilogue wrote:I think a strong argument could be made that there's a few songs on Gigaton that are the best in the last 20 years.
I still put Infallible pretty high on the best of the last 20 years list. But yeah.Ms Harmless wrote:almost all of them tbhepilogue wrote:I think a strong argument could be made that there's a few songs on Gigaton that are the best in the last 20 years.
Excluding Binaural? Best as in top 25 percent. Yeah, probably several.epilogue wrote:I think a strong argument could be made that there's a few songs on Gigaton that are the best in the last 20 years.
Jaeti wrote:Gave this a full listen today. Sounds so good. I'm not even an amateur audiophile, but for me I think this album, No Code, and Gigaton are my Tier 1 "production" records.
This, maybe more than any other album, leaves me conflicted about songs that I adore musically but leave me underwhelmed lyrically. I like almost every song, but many of them either don't hit emotionally the way I wish they did, and/or don't hit intellectually and politically the way they aimed to.
By today's accounting, there are no definite 5-star songs for me on Riot Act. At times I've given Can't Keep and Cropduster the full five, but they're not no-brainers.
Can't Keep – Great song. 4 stars on its worst day, usually 4.5/5
Save You – Very good song. 4 stars.
Love Boat Captain – Exhibit A for "underwhelms lyrically." I always want it to be great, but it's only very good. 4 stars.
Cropduster – Great song. 4.5 stars. Satisfyingly cryptic/abstract lyrically. Tremendous musically.
Ghost – Took a long time to come around on this one, but it's great musically and fine lyrically. 3.5 stars.
I Am Mine – Exhibit B for "underwhelms lyrically." Another one that hints at greatness but doesn't get there. 3.5/4 stars.
Thumbing My Way – I tend to think this is a solid, lovely song. Today, it struck me as a notch better than that. 4 stars.
You Are – Very worthwhile, unique musical moment. Hit or miss lyrics, but a fantastic closing couplet. 3.5/4 stars.
Get Right – I continue to listen with an open mind, but it always falls flat. 2 stars.
Green Disease – Exhibit C for "underwhelms lyrically." I enjoy it musically, though not quite as much as I once did. 3 stars.
Help, Help – Love it musically, but its cryptic lyrics are also a bit thin. Still, it all sounds great in the end. 4 stars.
Bushleaguer – Tremendous musically, and we'll leave it at that. 3 stars.
1/2 Full – Love the musical journey here, but lyrically I tend to have one foot out the door. Tremendous outro. 3.5 stars
Arc – It is what it is. 2.5 stars.
All or None – Another that has the musical makings of a classic, but lyrically falls short. 3.5 stars
Yeah, I was going from S/T on, really. Riot Act falls within the "last 20 years" but Binaural is outside that range, right? I have no idea anymore. What is time?????Monkey_Driven wrote:Excluding Binaural? Best as in top 25 percent. Yeah, probably several.epilogue wrote:I think a strong argument could be made that there's a few songs on Gigaton that are the best in the last 20 years.