Stone is my favorite Pearl Jammer but come on
Salmon and turtles aside - when is the last time Stone Gossard wrote a memorable guitar riff? As my memory serves, his last really good riffage appeared on Yield; actually it starred on Yield. Since 1998, we've listened to Stone's disappointing riffage on Binaural (Breakerfall, Rival were decent and by far the best IMHO), nothing to speak of on Riot Act (though I will say the malfunctioning modem at the beginning of Get Right was fascinating) and an improvement with Avocado (but still nothing memorable other than arguably Life Wasted, Army Reserve??). So, while Stone showed signs of a creative rebirth on Guacamole, it was in no way a full circle rebirth.
Please understand that I'm not a complete redneck, mouth breather who demands sucky radio music, though I am maybe a little bit of a redneck. Nope, I don’t like JUST fan-friendly riffage, although those kinds of riffs can sometimes be fun. Mostly, I love Stone’s weirdness – his odder numbers, his mid-tempo rockers with riffs which, as Stone says, “butt up against one another”. That’s Stone at his best.
Remember, I love Yield and it was far from a radio record. No, I only hope for good riffs - riffs which perhaps music critics would appreciate more, as it seems I typically have similar taste to those booty-headed freaks.
Let me make it clear that I do believe Stone Gossard is an excellent musician who is pretty talented with the guitar. He may not be as talented as Mike McCready, but I believe Stone's creative ability makes up for any deficit of raw guitar talent. Actually, it's Stone’s creative ability that has always been the backbone of Pearl Jam; it's the reason Pearl Jam burst onto the music scene in the early 1990s, and that creative spirit is exactly what must be rekindled if we as fans will ever see a Pearl Jam record as good as Yield or prior ever again.
After he gets the turtles and salmon all squared away, Stone must put the writer's block out of his mind, bear down and polish up what’s already likely to be on the record, and hopefully write a couple kick-arse last minute ditties. I just hope he stays away from the extreme ballads (see Parachutes) and extreme fast rockers (Comatose, STBC). Bring on the (tongue in cheek) heroin
if that’s what it takes; just don’t get addicted.
The other four members are in their primes musically. Mike is better than ever and even writes more these days, Ed’s songwriting has improved drastically and out of nowhere during the last 5 years, Matt Cameron may be one of the best drummers in the history of Rock and Jeff Ament is a very talented bassist who cares about Pearl Jam more than probably anybody else in the band.
So, to summarize, it’s Stone’s fault. Oh, shut up Eddie :x and go Yield to nature! I love Stone it's not his fault, he just loves turtles and salmon fish. :roll:
Please understand that I'm not a complete redneck, mouth breather who demands sucky radio music, though I am maybe a little bit of a redneck. Nope, I don’t like JUST fan-friendly riffage, although those kinds of riffs can sometimes be fun. Mostly, I love Stone’s weirdness – his odder numbers, his mid-tempo rockers with riffs which, as Stone says, “butt up against one another”. That’s Stone at his best.
Remember, I love Yield and it was far from a radio record. No, I only hope for good riffs - riffs which perhaps music critics would appreciate more, as it seems I typically have similar taste to those booty-headed freaks.
Let me make it clear that I do believe Stone Gossard is an excellent musician who is pretty talented with the guitar. He may not be as talented as Mike McCready, but I believe Stone's creative ability makes up for any deficit of raw guitar talent. Actually, it's Stone’s creative ability that has always been the backbone of Pearl Jam; it's the reason Pearl Jam burst onto the music scene in the early 1990s, and that creative spirit is exactly what must be rekindled if we as fans will ever see a Pearl Jam record as good as Yield or prior ever again.
After he gets the turtles and salmon all squared away, Stone must put the writer's block out of his mind, bear down and polish up what’s already likely to be on the record, and hopefully write a couple kick-arse last minute ditties. I just hope he stays away from the extreme ballads (see Parachutes) and extreme fast rockers (Comatose, STBC). Bring on the (tongue in cheek) heroin
if that’s what it takes; just don’t get addicted.The other four members are in their primes musically. Mike is better than ever and even writes more these days, Ed’s songwriting has improved drastically and out of nowhere during the last 5 years, Matt Cameron may be one of the best drummers in the history of Rock and Jeff Ament is a very talented bassist who cares about Pearl Jam more than probably anybody else in the band.
So, to summarize, it’s Stone’s fault. Oh, shut up Eddie :x and go Yield to nature! I love Stone it's not his fault, he just loves turtles and salmon fish. :roll:
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Rival
Of The Girl
All or None
Parachutes
Those are all some pretty great riffs. Maybe they're a little mellow for you, but I think they are amazing.
http://www.reverbnation.com/brianzilm
cmon now.........hahahaha.....be serious. the man, just like anyone, is allowed to have his own outside interests. i APPLAUD stone, and the members of pj, for all they do for the world at large. life isn't JUST about great guitar riffs. besides, yes...i think he does just fine. even if the man didn't nothing more to contribute to musci - and i am sure he will - but even if he didn't, he ALREADY has given soooo much. give me a break...and yay for turtles.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
8/7/08, 6/9/09
Couldn't agree with someone any more, even if i tried...
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
1. Ed wrote Breakerall.
2. You're right, Stone is the man. He's the one that brings that great groove to PJ, which has sadly been killed lately thanks to shitty fast-paced rockers like the ones you mentioned.
3. Are you sure Jeff is in his prime? I haven't been able to hear him play in years. As best I can tell based on albums, bootlegs, and live shows, there is no bass in PJ.
4. Matt C is the one I blame for Stone's struggles. Matt's a great heavy metal drummer, he's like a human metronome. But he doesn't have that earthy, organic groove that Dave A and Jack had to complement Stone's funky riffs. So I think Stone has had to ditch that stuff and the result is albums and songs that sound stilted.
This is a bit of a ramble, sorry...
I think this point is fairly valid and I can only speculate, but I'd guess Ed's responsible for this. For some reason he keeps favoring these fairly generic short power punk songs and reworking songs with too many moving parts. As they've said in many interviews Ed has a kind of de facto veto power of what songs make the album. Who knows what Stone riffs were left on the cutting room floor in favor of these same old punk rockers?
I thought Stone did some amazing work in the Binaural sessions with Matt as a drummer. I'd argue there's a more earthy feel to songs like Of The Girl and Rival. So, I'm not totally convinced its Matt's influence.
I really think Ed's support of Stone's riffs is the better answer to this question. If he can't get behind some of Stone's funky grooves, is he really going to take time to write lyrics for them?
Sadly, even on the non power punk rockers, I think Ed's gotten way manic with chopping up songs and creating these Frankensongs. See WWS and Severed Hand as examples - so many segments that don't quite fulfill, if that makes any sense.
What happened to Puzzles and Games? A great little groove reworked into Light Years. Mind you, I dig LY, but the flow is a bit off in it.
And I guess while you are at it, it be proper to check out "Bushleaguer" from "Riot Act" and "Life Wasted" off that Avacodo record as well. Great fucking stuff right there.
Stone is the master of offbeat weird riffs. He hasn't lost a thing. Granted, his songwriting has evolved over the years, but the man has still got the goods.
"All or None" and "Parachutes" are really interesting little Stone riffs as well; maybe not "barn burners" but cool none the less.
I expect the new record to bring us a few more Stone riffs to scratch our heads over and smile at.
Mike's better than ever and Ed's songwriting has improved drastically? Huh?
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
2. You're right, Stone is the man. He's the one that brings that great groove to PJ, which has sadly been killed lately thanks to shitty fast-paced rockers like the ones you mentioned.
3. Are you sure Jeff is in his prime? I haven't been able to hear him play in years. As best I can tell based on albums, bootlegs, and live shows, there is no bass in PJ.
4. Matt C is the one I blame for Stone's struggles. Matt's a great heavy metal drummer, he's like a human metronome. But he doesn't have that earthy, organic groove that Dave A and Jack had to complement Stone's funky riffs. So I think Stone has had to ditch that stuff and the result is albums and songs that sound stilted.[/quote]
well said, and have to agree, nice thread :(
Word!!!
First PJ Show: March 20, 1994 | Ann Arbor | Crisler Arena
I know I'll get flak by some for saying this but I think Ed is in part to blame for this. I think his influence as a "guitarist" has come through of late and Stone in many ways has been the odd man out, or perhaps put on the back burner.
Now, I can't prove any of that but it's just a hunch I've had for a little while now.
Hell, even live you can hear Ed's guitar more than you can hear Stone's a lot of times...and that is not right!
You might be right there. Those are two of my fav Binaural songs there, and that album did sound good. Plus, Matt sounded pretty good with the band in 98 and thereabouts. I do think Ed might be the problem. Like you said, there are a lot of generic punk rockers these days. And those are exactly the songs I thought of when the band was saying in a recent interviews that they're trying to approach this album from the perspective of "will we still want to play this in 10 years?" Because lately, there are a lot of songs where that answer is no.
I agree 100% with that... it's why I was so disappointed to hear Stone had shelved his solo album. Maybe we'll get a Brad album sometime soon?
I blame it on Binaural.
Save You
Green Disease
I'm partial to Riot Act, but these work for me.
So why be satisfied?
ALL OR NONE
Im with Steveo :ugeek:
Ed wrote Green Disease, and I don't like either of those songs. All or None on the other hand...
LIFE WASTED
-my dad after hearing Not for You for the first time on SNL .