Red Mosquito

Leatherman vs. Just Breath vs. Hard to Imagine

I'm not a Leatherman fan, though I know many around here are. No judgement from me.

I am a big Just Breathe fan however, and I know how much shit it cops around here. Again, no issue by me, each to their own, yadda yadda.

But HtI is probably a top 5 PJ tune for me and I hope to see the day that it gets some goddam respect around here.

I don't like Leatherman


Just Breathe gets a little too overblown in the chorus but I do love the verses, and "I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the one I love" is a gorgeous lyric


Hard to Imagine is pretty excellent, and is an easy vote. Maybe the best of the slow show openers, excepting Release

Gimme some skin

Hard to Imagine. Although I’ve loved Leatherman since the GTF single.

Leatherman and it’s not even close. Is this their very best B-side?

I loved Hard to Imagine when it was a warbly bootleg, but once it got an official release I realized it’s a pretty boring song.

tragabigzanda wrote:Leatherman and it’s not even close. Is this their very best B-side?

no

tragabigzanda wrote:I loved Hard to Imagine when it was a warbly bootleg, but once it got an official release I realized it’s a pretty boring song.

It definitely is better live

tragabigzanda wrote:Leatherman and it’s not even close. Is this their very best B-side?

yes

Farmer John wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Leatherman and it’s not even close. Is this their very best B-side?

yes

I’d entertain arguments for Wash or Fatal, but that’s it

Leatherman is their most REM sounding song. It gets my vote here.

tragabigzanda wrote:

Farmer John wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Leatherman and it’s not even close. Is this their very best B-side?

yes

I’d entertain arguments for Wash or Fatal, but that’s it

I'd entertain Yellow Ledbetter, but only very briefly.

Norris wrote:Leatherman is their most REM sounding song. It gets my vote here.

i was about to say it happened today. fortunately i stopped myself just in time

tragabigzanda wrote:I loved Hard to Imagine when it was a warbly bootleg, but once it got an official release I realized it’s a pretty boring song.

You're boring. And warbly.

I liked Leatherman for a while, but part of that was just that it felt special to have a new non-album track back in late 1997. All these years later, after Lost Dogs, other demos and leaks and such, it's not a novelty in any way and it's not a great song.

I liked Just Breathe quite a bit way back when, but I think that's partly because I never really got into the Into the Wild soundtrack, so it got by for a while by being distinctive rather than actually very special.

It's fair to point out that you might need to focus on Hard to Imagine (Live) for it to rise head and shoulders above these other two, but I do, and it does.

I probably say this every year but I feel like "Hard to Imagine" works best as a live opener -- not because it's necessarily performed better, but because it's bristling with all the nervous energy of what's going to happen when it ends. The song itself has a sketch-like quality that is endearing, but also serves as a kind of self-imposed ceiling. I like it, but out of context it's no great shakes.

I have such wonderful memories of listening on repeat to the "GTF" single when it dropped in January 1998. "Leatherman" is etched on my soul as a result of that beautiful month. Easy vote.

Never really felt love for Leatherman. I can see why HTI was never released on an album, it aims high and drifts a bit (similar to how Let It Ride drifts then lifts off at the end).

HTI although I'm not really invested and have spent way too long on this already.

HTI gets my vote

tragabigzanda wrote:

Farmer John wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Leatherman and it’s not even close. Is this their very best B-side?

yes

I’d entertain arguments for Wash or Fatal, but that’s it

*places pedantic hat on

Fatal was never a b-side. Alone is better but the answer is unequivocally yellow ledbetter

*removes aforementioned hat

tragabigzanda wrote:

Farmer John wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Leatherman and it’s not even close. Is this their very best B-side?

yes

I’d entertain arguments for Wash or Fatal, but that’s it

*places pedantic hat on

Fatal was never a b-side. Alone is better but the answer is unequivocally yellow ledbetter

*removes aforementioned hat

B-side tournament