Review of Lightning Bolt in Q Magazine

boyo79

dottles wrote:

boyo79 wrote:

whispering hands wrote:

I love it skull and monkey wrenches!! Now THAT's tatt material!!

Thinking the same!!!

A few people have said that

The new stickman!

PJSEMPRE

fortyshades wrote:

dottles wrote:

fortyshades wrote:

Ahhh, ok. It sounded like they were made these songs available as downloads on their website or something. I don't have the picture in front of me, which were the highlights according to them? I remember Getaway and ....

Getaway, My Father's Son, Lightning Bolt, Pendulum and Yellow Moon.

Thanks... The songs I am mostly curious about and Infallible. I think Pendulum will be the experimental highlight for me however. (I am a sucker for experimental song. I am one of those sad dudes that spend a whole night listening to Stupidmop on repeat, to decipher the meaning for myself. Quite a depressing experience.)

I'm curious too. This review increased my curiosity even more.
Thanks for posting it, dottles! :thumbup:

Veddernarian

I ran the picture through a converter/ocr software for those having trouble viewing:

Pearl Jam's first decade as a band was tumultuous in both success and failure, but their second has been remarkably plain sailing. Overwhelmed by the huge sales of the grunge rockers' first two albums ('91's Ten and '93's Vs.), and then by the suicide of his sometime rival, sometime ally Kurt Cobain, frontman Eddie Vedder purposely set the band on the long-way¬round route around the time of 1994's Vitalogy.
If that meant embarking on a disastrous US tour because they refused to use Ticketmaster or their fanbase being at best accepting and at worst indifferent of their late-'90s output, then so be it. Vedder wanted to show that being in a big rock band didn't have to be Bono's way or no way. By the time they released their ninth studio album Backspacer in 2009, Vedder had long been proved right. It was a record that struck the perfect balance between the lighter-waving elegance of blokes in their 40s rocking out and ferocious FM-punk blasts. The following year, they played their biggest ever UK show at London's Hyde Park.
They've long since stuck to the same course and there's a pleasing lack of drama about Lightning Bolt. That means that on the first few listens, there's little in the way of surprises. With that in mind, perhaps, it's frontloaded with the heavier songs. There's malevolent stomps and spiky riffs all over the first three tracks, Getaway, Mind Your Manners and My Father's Son.
Those who are put off by Vedder's voice won't find redemption here, but the singer is a mightily fine rock'n'roll orchestrator, leading even the scowliest of verses into anthemic, hook-laden choruses. After the frantic beginning, they lessen the pace but not the scope. The title track throws every stadium-rock trick they've perfected over the past two decades into its four-minute and 20 second running time, starting off as a delicate ballad before erupting into a Who-style screeching chorus. It's excellent, and its perfectly executed pendulum swing between intricate and epic sums up the rest of the album.
The way they shift from the blues-y swagger of Let The Records Play to the percussive march of Pendulum and the R.E.M.-evoking country twang of Yellow Moon is a sure sign that they belong in the lineage of great American rock bands. This is what they do and if that makes it sound like they don't stir up enough drama, then that's because they don't need to. Listen closely and it's there. Pearl Jam have lived it: these songs are what happens when you make it through to the other side. ****

Faithful_1

dottles wrote:

I'm sure it is the first of many magazine reviews but I thought some people might be interested in this.
It is in November's edition of Q Magazine, due to hit shops in the UK on Tuesday (I get early copies).
(I hope you can zoom in on the pics)

Album review


Lightning Bolt song comment (top ten songs of the month)


Full page advert

Great review.....starting to get really excited now!

dottles

Thanks for doing the transcript Veddernarian

This is still one of my favourite band photos too

pdalowsky

SVRDhand13 wrote:

I hate when a review focuses on the band's past before getting to the current music. Its a review of the album, not the band.

Yeah but this is Q. Considering they gave advocado 1 star and dismissed it as tired and boring ..... And gave it two paragraphs of how they are just rehashing old grunge ...

And then when they reviewed the Leeds show - described it as dad rock with cringe worthy self indulgent guitar solos ...

Yeah Q sucks. Unless you like an 'in' band who they can't up their arse enough

So a 4 star review here is definitely unusual .... Or just another sign they are inconsistent and continually write utter bollocks