Let's 'retrack' Lightning Bolt!

lastexitlondon

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Allways forget that Future Days exist. Just Breathe, The End and Future Days should have been released on its own EP. "Pearl Jam: The cheese sessions". Sleeping by myself is a great song, on Eddies solo record. Adding those weird drums on it and stuff, naw, don't understand why it was included.
+1. 

lastexitlondon

This guy nailed it

cp3iverson

Nope. Just Breathe is beautiful IMO.  I don’t buy bootlegs and I don’t go to shows so I don’t have to deal with encores being too soft or whatever. Lyrics are stunning. 

The End is a dark acoustic song. Depressing but well written. 

i like Future Days better than most of their generic “garage rockers”   Not a bad tune. Love song.  

Those three tunes reflect where Ed is at. Sirens too.  Fears of death. Love for Family.  Wife and kids Etc. i like those songs. 

Sleeping By Myself i can’t defend tho.

Stickman24

Gstewart said:

Denver 2014 "Of the Earth"..incredible

This. 

But id like a studio verision too.  

Cant keep getaway and Go are my favorite openers.  

bootlegger10

I agree with Pitchfork's review of Lightning Bolt.  PJ needs to shake things up (just don't make a dance record like everyone else is doing).

No Coder

I like the album as a whole, with the massive exception of SBM. It is an absolute mystery to me that someone thought the band re-doing this song would be a good idea.

There are only 2 "normal" PJ songs that I can't stand, SMB and Speed Of Sound (liked the demo version).

thispureamericanriot

Spent some more time with the album. Still not sure if I like it any better, but the song order is not the problem for me. 

rw160510

I think I have said this before but I would lose Sirens and future days. Future days is my least favourite thing ever recorded by the band (and I include evil little goat and sweet lew in that consideration) . I'd move swallowed whole to Sirens' spot on the album and probably start with pendulum, getaway can start side 2. I'd also move sbm and make it a hidden track a minute or so after yellow moon, I think it would benefit from that as it would be a quirky surprise rather than a serious part of the album. A bit like horse from live's throwing copper. Apart from that I think the songs are for the most part solid and more fun live than on the lp.

thispureamericanriot

Sirens is not a bad song but in a weird way it’s “too commercial”, if PJ ever did anything that could be labeled as such. Yellow Moon is probably my favorite track and I enjoy the song Lightning Bolt more live than on the record. Sadly, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt are still the albums I listen to the least from the PJ catalog.

HesCalledDyer

Revisiting this thread and the album, I think the one thing that really could use some shaking up is how rock-like and up tempo the first half is, followed by second half being more mellow.
Thinking in terms of playing a vinyl record, I kinda like the idea of letting Pendlum open the album and Getaway opening side B. That one move would mix it up a good bit, I think. Maybe have SBM and Future Days close out side A. Oh yeah, and still get fucking rid of Sirens.

Pendulum
Mind Your Manners
My Father’s Son
Lightning Bolt
Sleeping By Myself 
Future Days
(Side A length 21:08)

Getaway
Infallible
Swallowed Whole
Let The Records Play
Yellow Moon
(Side B length 20:18)

Time to make a playlist and see if it works. It could flow well as both a 2-sided record and a continuous CD. I think future Days in that spot could give it more of a Thumbing My Way vibe and not seem as weak a song compared to the closing spot on the album. Yellow Moon seems like it could be a closer. A mellow tune but still strong. 

thispureamericanriot

Let the Records Play is one of my favorite songs. I know some people hate it but honestly I think it’s one of the best things Stone ever wrote.

BrainofBGA

thispureamericanriot said:

Let the Records Play is one of my favorite songs. I know some people hate it but honestly I think it’s one of the best things Stone ever wrote.

Yeah I like it, maybe it’s the lyrics that put people off, not sure!? 

thispureamericanriot

BrainofBGA said:

thispureamericanriot said:

Let the Records Play is one of my favorite songs. I know some people hate it but honestly I think it’s one of the best things Stone ever wrote.

Yeah I like it, maybe it’s the lyrics that put people off, not sure!? 

I’ve always thought the lyrics were meant to be slightly tongue-in-cheek. Reminds me of a song that would’ve sat nicely at home on the flip side of Vs. or Vitalogy. In the style of Rats or Satan’s Bed. Can’t understand why fans hate on Records Play so much? Then again I also love Ole and Big Wave.

wnh1977

Joostone said:

Let's 'retrack' Lightning Bolt. It's my least favorite album, and I know I'm not alone So, what would you do with it? You can delete songs from the tracklist or add some outtakes like: 'Olé' or 'Off the Earth'. 1. Pendulum 2. Infallible 3. My Father's Son 4. Mind Your Manners 5. Getaway 6. Lightning Bolt 7. Sirens 8. Swallowed Whole 9. Off the Earth 10. Yellow Moon Wow. I think this record is soo much better now Record store single 7'' release: A- Sleeping by Myself B- Future Days and another one: A- Let the records play B- Olé Or just save those tracks for Lost Dogs II. I don't care.

I agree with you... almost 100%     While I would do things slightly different, our main conclusion is the same -  Less would have been more with this album!  "Sleeping By Myself" and "Let the Records Play" have to be left off that fucking album.  I actually really like the sound of Brendan O'Brien's production on Backspacer and Lightning Bolt.  I think they sound clean, polished. However, sounds like he really pushed the band to include "Sleeping By Myself", so you have to question the decision-making.  And "boo" to PJ for allowing it to happen.  And yes, make "Let the Records Play" a b-side... let it sit beside "Dirty Frank", "Leatherman" and the like.

In short, I think the album is leaps and bounds better if you just subtract those two songs and subtract the O'Brien piano intro/outro on "Future Days"... that would've made a 10-song, 40-minute album which I'm really cool with.  (I like an album confined by the old standard 1 LP).  I agree with you, would be nice to have a studio version of "Of the Earth", but then that gets this album back to 47 minutes and probably 2LPs... I hate vinyl with 2 or 3 tracks on each side     I'm shocked, quite frankly, that I'm not brought in for these final decisions.

Side 1:
Getaway
Mind Your Manners
My Father's Son
Sirens
Lightning Bolt

Side 2:
Pendulum
Infallible
Swallowed Whole 
Yellow Man
Future Days (minus the damn piano intro/outro)

Tim Simmons

I like FD, but I agree its way better w/o the piano.

MYM,MFS and LTRP are the only songs I can't get into. MYM rocks musically, but the chorus is awful.

TJ25487

wnh1977 said:

Joostone said:

Let's 'retrack' Lightning Bolt. It's my least favorite album, and I know I'm not alone So, what would you do with it? You can delete songs from the tracklist or add some outtakes like: 'Olé' or 'Off the Earth'. 1. Pendulum 2. Infallible 3. My Father's Son 4. Mind Your Manners 5. Getaway 6. Lightning Bolt 7. Sirens 8. Swallowed Whole 9. Off the Earth 10. Yellow Moon Wow. I think this record is soo much better now Record store single 7'' release: A- Sleeping by Myself B- Future Days and another one: A- Let the records play B- Olé Or just save those tracks for Lost Dogs II. I don't care.

I agree with you... almost 100%     While I would do things slightly different, our main conclusion is the same -  Less would have been more with this album!  "Sleeping By Myself" and "Let the Records Play" have to be left off that fucking album.  I actually really like the sound of Brendan O'Brien's production on Backspacer and Lightning Bolt.  I think they sound clean, polished. However, sounds like he really pushed the band to include "Sleeping By Myself", so you have to question the decision-making.  And "boo" to PJ for allowing it to happen.  And yes, make "Let the Records Play" a b-side... let it sit beside "Dirty Frank", "Leatherman" and the like.

In short, I think the album is leaps and bounds better if you just subtract those two songs and subtract the O'Brien piano intro/outro on "Future Days"... that would've made a 10-song, 40-minute album which I'm really cool with.  (I like an album confined by the old standard 1 LP).  I agree with you, would be nice to have a studio version of "Of the Earth", but then that gets this album back to 47 minutes and probably 2LPs... I hate vinyl with 2 or 3 tracks on each side     I'm shocked, quite frankly, that I'm not brought in for these final decisions.

Side 1:
Getaway
Mind Your Manners
My Father's Son
Sirens
Lightning Bolt

Side 2:
Pendulum
Infallible
Swallowed Whole 
Yellow Man
Future Days (minus the damn piano intro/outro)

This! 

BrainofBGA

The odds are that there will be a couple of gems..ala Sad and Fatal on Binaural that didn’t make the cut that in a few years we’ll be thinking ‘how could they not have made it’, yet SBM did!? We’ll probably hear them buried in Lost Dogs Two. 

HesCalledDyer

BrainofBGA said:

The odds are that there will be a couple of gems..ala Sad and Fatal on Binaural that didn’t make the cut that in a few years we’ll be thinking ‘how could they not have made it’, yet SBM did!? We’ll probably hear them buried in Lost Dogs Two. 

I only hope there is someday a Lost Dogs 2!

thispureamericanriot

HesCalledDyer said:

BrainofBGA said:

The odds are that there will be a couple of gems..ala Sad and Fatal on Binaural that didn’t make the cut that in a few years we’ll be thinking ‘how could they not have made it’, yet SBM did!? We’ll probably hear them buried in Lost Dogs Two. 

I only hope there is someday a Lost Dogs 2!

Exactly, I’d love to hear it too! Unfortunately, seems as many bands age they don’t write “extra” tunes. Usually they’re stretching to simply fill an albums worth of songs. Maybe there are b-sides from Avacado, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt but sadly I doubt it. But here’s to hoping those songs do exist!

lolobugg

I would replace "Sirens" with a cover of "Fly to the Angels" by Slaughter.

and add a distorted Uke overdub to Sleeping By Myself.  then this album would fucking rock!!!

thispureamericanriot

lolobugg said:

I would replace "Sirens" with a cover of "Fly to the Angels" by Slaughter.

and add a distorted Uke overdub to Sleeping By Myself.  then this album would fucking rock!!!

  LOL. Would love to hear PJ cover Power of Love by Huey Lewis someday!

tbergs

lolobugg said:

I would replace "Sirens" with a cover of "Fly to the Angels" by Slaughter.

and add a distorted Uke overdub to Sleeping By Myself.  then this album would fucking rock!!!

Alright, guilty pleasure confession, I loved Fly to the Angels. Had it recorded from the radio on to a mix tape.

lolobugg

thispureamericanriot said:

lolobugg said:

I would replace "Sirens" with a cover of "Fly to the Angels" by Slaughter.

and add a distorted Uke overdub to Sleeping By Myself.  then this album would fucking rock!!!

  LOL. Would love to hear PJ cover Power of Love by Huey Lewis someday!

tbergs said:

lolobugg said:

I would replace "Sirens" with a cover of "Fly to the Angels" by Slaughter.

and add a distorted Uke overdub to Sleeping By Myself.  then this album would fucking rock!!!

Alright, guilty pleasure confession, I loved Fly to the Angels. Had it recorded from the radio on to a mix tape.

Now we are talking!!!