Red Mosquito

In this thread we talk about the best moments in Vitalogy. Ready....GO!


Ten
Vs

Okay, putting on Vitalogy...

Last Exit: Either the first 10 seconds or so of the song after the tune up--the drums by themselves and the moment where the guitars kick in. Or 'LET MY SPIRIT PASS!' That's one of his best screams. But really every moment of this song is aces.

SBTC: Not sure I can single out a moment.

NFY: the slow burn coming out of the bridge and the 'all that's sacred' verse

Tremor Christ: the final set of lyrics. I love how quiet and still they are against the rest of the song

Nothingman: the moment where the full band kicks in right at the start of the nothingman is really beautiful. The into the sun part is also great, but that may just be because of the live performances. But this is really a song that sustains a pretty consistent mood without highs or lows

Whipping: Don't mean to push! I also love the transition into the first chorus, and the rolling start to the song

Corduory: the intro, the outro, or the bridge.

if corduroy came out today how we would rant about the fade.

Bugs: nothing stands out. the whole thing is what it is

Satan's bed: the model/roll model verse

Betterman: the moment where the whole band comes in (the Atlanta 94 transition).

Aye Davanita: Don't really have one

Immortality: the solo, the moment where the whole band kicks in, the first verse. Like Corduroy or Last Exit, it's one of those songs where basically every moment is outstanding

Stupid Mop: who cares?

way to mail it in, stip

Favorite moments of each song:

1) Last Exit: Agreed with stip.. that first drum after the noodling at the beginning. Love the imagery of this song too.

2) STBC: The idea that some print mag reviewer thought this song was about Ed's heroin use

3) Not For You: The building after the quiet part, with the climatic "FUCK YOU". Pretty much encapsulates the sentiment of the entire album

4) Tremor Christ: Probably my favorite lyrics of any PJ song

5) Nothingman: This song always reminds me of Crazy Mary (Ed's singing style), and now Lightning Bolt (the bolt of lightning lyric). The imagery of letting go of a bolt of lightning has always struck a chord with me, for whatever reason. there's nothing really all that special about this song for me

6) Whipping: The momentum of this song has always been great. Like you've pushed your car to the red line and reached the highest gear, and you just keep it there flying down the highway

7) Pry, To: the guitar (Stone? I don't know) that moves from straight funk to that strange higher level once Ed starts spelling out "privacy" at the end

8) Corduroy: the underlying sentiment of this entire song; the Ed whispering at the end and outro jam

9) Bugs: the fact that the biggest band in the world at the time put this on an album

10) Satan's Bed: the humor behind this song when it was the universal thought that this was a humorless band. it was their "Dirty Frank" of 1994.

11) Better Man: overplayed the fuck out of this song so it's easy to forget that this is just a damn great pop-rock song. I also love it that so many people have misconstrued this song to mean something entirely positive and loving

12) Aye Davanita: the groove of this song might be one of the best they've ever gotten down on tape. This is honestly a top 10-15 song for me.

13) Immortality: They captured a truly desolate feeling with this song. Every guitar note is on point.

14) Stupid Mop: the experimentation. the chaos of this song is representative of the band at this moment in time, and their method of recording (jamming in-studio vs coming in with tight, near-finished songs). I love Jeff's driving bass during the last quarter of the song

Moment of the entire album:
The dividing part of the album for me has always been the last verse of Corduroy. Everything before builds uphill to that moment, and everything after (including the outro jam) until the end of the album feels like you're coming down the mountain

Corduroy bridge, hands down

numbers wrote:Corduroy bridge, hands down

Yeah, for real. This is the only answer.

Jeff's intro to Tremor Christ.

mike's funky acoustic solo in immortality

The crown jewel of Vitalogy is as you go on the journey of listening to the whole record, in conjunction with reading the liner notes, when you get to Immortality. Its jangling, haunting beauty is the pinnacle of the record. One could argue (as many have) the record should've ended there, but I kinda dug Stupid Mop for what it is. But Immortality is the crescendo.

FUCK YOU THIS IS NOT FOR YOU

BurtReynolds wrote:FUCK YOU THIS IS NOT FOR YOU

That tape machine sound at the start of Nothingman.

cutuphalfdead wrote:That tape machine sound at the start of Nothingman.

So many wonderful artifacts and moments on this record.

I sure do love an album that sounds like it was all they could do to capture it, it happened so fast.

Although this record probably peaks the moment that Eddie Vedder, having constructed the most tender and empathetic character portrayal of his career, figuratively throws pen and paper over his shoulder and farts out the almost-punchline "she feeds him. That's why she'll be back again,"...a line so ridiculous, I wish he danced a wide-stance jig whenever he sang it.

shooved

McParadigm wrote:Although this record probably peaks the moment that Eddie Vedder, having constructed the most tender and empathetic character portrayal of his career, figuratively throws pen and paper over his shoulder and farts out the almost-punchline "she feeds him. That's why she'll be back again,"...a line so ridiculous, I wish he danced a wide-stance jig whenever he sang it.

that's a terrible line. It's in nothingman too. Clearly he was going for something. Probably a domestic co-dependency thing, but it's not exactly artfully done.

It's brilliant, if you ask me. All that glorious emotional build-up. Not terribly rushed, not terribly syrupped. Just imperfect enough to feel genuine.

Heartfelt.

At last, the moment of catharsis incoming. It grows, sillhouetted by the sun. You lift up in anticipation.

Closer.

Closer, now.

Splat.

Is great joke. Make much laughter.