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Lightning Bolt reviews in one place/thread?
En La Clandestinidad
Telford, PA by way of Kansas City, MO and Milwaukee, WI, Phoenix, AZ and East Greenbush, NY Posts: 3,692
Hey all, is there someone who's here all the time, dimitris?? who could go ahead and set up a thread where we can get all of the reviews from around the internets in one place? Maybe even get it stickied? Looking at you Kat 
Maybe links with cool vids and articles, etc.
I'd love to have a one stop shop, but I am not here that often and also miss a heck of a lot of info.
Thanks!
P.S. I am really digging the album so far!
Maybe links with cool vids and articles, etc.
I'd love to have a one stop shop, but I am not here that often and also miss a heck of a lot of info.
Thanks!
P.S. I am really digging the album so far!
Formerly Brew Crew Tix
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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i find it funny that demi is already listed in the comments.
http://www.clashmusic.com/features/albu ... tning-bolt
FLASHING OLD FORM Pearl Jam strikes again with vintage 'Lightning'
JIM FARBER MUSIC CRITIC
8 October 2013
New York Daily News
NYDN
SPORTS FINAL REPLATE
37
Pearl Jam "Lightning Bolt"
(Mechanic/Republic Records) 4 Stars
Pearl Jam reverts to type on its latest CD. While the band's previous work, 2009's "Backspacer," peeled out the leanest, fastest and most positive-minded music of the group's long career, "Lightning Bolt" works like a boomerang. Much of it has the thick-- bottomed rhythms, hard-nosed guitars and darkened tone of classic Pearl Jam. The echo comes at an apt time. Think about it: Pearl Jam titled its first CD, "Ten." Now they're releasing their 10th studio work. Rest assured, the new disc offers key sounds and sensibilities the band never would have found in its early-'90s breakthrough days. But mainly it pays homage to Pearl Jam's core style, proving it to be remarkably durable and fresh. In the concussively rocking "My Father's Son," righteous growler Eddie Vedder reinhabits the angry young man of his youth, railing at a psychopathic dad whose genes infect him. In "Pendulum," he grouses: "Easy come/easy go/easy left me a long time ago," while the bass line broods through an essential grunge groove. "Swallowed Whole" repeats Vedder's avowed Pete Townshend fetish, down to nicking Roger Daltrey's stutter. Songs like the opener "Getaway" or the title track fire off riffs that stand with the band's most involving. While Pearl Jam's last CD kept every cut terse and broke fresh ground in new wave, here the songs snake on longer and only a few offer something new. "Let the Records Play" coils around a blues-rock riff that could have been created by Peter Green in 1968, while "Sleeping by Myself" has a lonesome country gait unlike anything the band has ever cut. To boot, many songs spin in a more positive direction than a younger Vedder would have allowed, especially the finale, the rather sappy "Future Days."
If all this makes for an unsurprising CD, the conformity makes sense. After all, Pearl Jam stands as the only top grunge band that never came up for air, as well as one of the few rock groups of the last 20 years still blessed with an undiminished audience. It seems that, all these years later, it's enough that the band's new music matches its high and pleasing standard. Pearl Jam headlines Barclays Center Oct. 18 and 19.
Caption: Pearl Jam harks back to its original style for their 10th studio release.Pearl Jam's latest CD, "Lightning Bolt"
SPINNING AROUND
andrea beattie
Paul McBride, Andrea Beattie, Charley Rico, Nick Mason, Tyson Wray
1174 words
10 October 2013
MX (Australia)
EMMEXX
1 - Melbourne
17
English
© 2013 News Limited. All rights reserved.
Lightning Bolt
Pearl Jam
* * * *
OH, Pearl Jam, how I love you. You were the band that informed my youth in the '90s and now in your third decade together, your latest album Lightning Bolt is hitting all the right notes. Like a fine wine, lead singer Eddie Vedder just keeps getting better with age. Now that the band are well into middle-age, ultimately, they're going to start writing about their mortality, but set it to the right tune and it's not all morbid. A particular favourite is Infallible, which sits at the centre of the 12-track album -- it is very much Pearl Jam circa 1990 but without all that moody angst. Vedder sings: ``Somehow it is the biggest things/That keep on slipping right through our hands/By thinking we're infallible''; the brother gets deep and lets loose with his signature screaming vocals. They get a bit folky on Sleeping By Myself, a song about a cheating spouse, unrequited love and loneliness. But again, Pearl Jam pull it off, adding in a twangy ukulele just for a twist. The best thing about Lightning Bolt is not just the music; it's the fact that despite Pearl Jam's astounding success, this is a band that are still pushing their limits, re-inventing while staying true. In the process they have produced an album that still vibes quintessential Pearl Jam, but is altogether different territory. (Universal)
Cameron Adams
CAMERON ADAMS Music Writer
353 words
10 October 2013
Daily Telegraph
DAITEL
Telegraph
English
Copyright 2013 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Yes, it’s another Pearl Jam album. But it’s a really good one. Ten albums in, they’re very comfortable being Pearl Jam.
Take Getaway . You can trace the DNA to umpteen Pearl Jam songs, but there’s still an energy that’s far from autopilot.
Mind Your Manners continues their mission to find the sweet spot where the Dead Kennedys meet The Who.
Sirens is the song commercial radio blokes will high five each other over — it’s your classic Pearl Jam FM rock ballad. Precisely the kind of one they spent a good few years deliberately avoiding.
That’s the beauty of reaching this point in their career, Pearl Jam don’t seem to care what anyone else thinks — in the best possible way. Sirens has a beautiful, swooping chorus and 10 albums in they don’t try to sabotage it, but rather celebrate it. Well, it is almost six minutes long, so maybe that’s their own little protest against radio.
Swallowed Whole is more classic ’90s grunge, microwaved for today where enough time has passed for it to be retro.
Infallible has a bouncy, carnival feel no one saw coming. They carry it off well. And as carnivals go, it’s still suitably glum sounding.
Let the Records Play takes a swampy diversion while frontman Eddie Vedder is right at home on the moody Pendulum — there’s a Cure vibe to some of this record.
There’s some nice Hawaiian diversions in the otherwise turbulent My Father’s Son , as Vedder complains about his unhealed wounds and his DNA.
Sleeping By Myself first appeared on Vedder’s Ukulele Songs solo album, but he quite rightly realised it had something special the band could add to it.
The stripped-back Future Days closes proceedings on a sweet, if haunting, note — the once troubled frontman, now 48 years old, even gives a shout out to his now-absent demons.
Bless.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK LIGHTNING BOLT PEARL JAM [UNIVERSAL] * * * 1/2sounds like: the rock equivalent of comfort food in a word: solid
Andrew Fenton
717 words
10 October 2013
Daily Telegraph
DAITEL
Telegraph
English
Copyright 2013 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved
While Pearl Jam have rocked the ages, recent releases show them at their peak, writes Andrew Fenton
During the encores at Pearl Jam’s recent concert in front of 40,000 fans at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, frontman Eddie Vedder turned to the band to thank them for “taking a chance on a young kid” and inviting him join the group more than 20 years ago.
The emotional words of gratitude, to guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready and bassist Jeff Ament in Vedder’s hometown, were heartfelt.
“Yeah, how about that,” says Gossard, sounding chuffed. “We were pretty smart! He’s being too humble there — I think we’re lucky we got a chance to take a chance on him, I’ll tell you that.” It was just one highlight in a truly memorable night. Seven songs into their set, thousands of fans had to be evacuated into the stands because of an electrical storm and a torrential downpour, a suitably ironic way to debut songs from new album Lightning Bolt . After a two-hour delay, the band finally retook the stage around midnight — an hour after the noise curfew — and played the remainder of a blistering 32-song set that culminated in a 2am rendition of encore staple, Rockin’ In the Free World .
“There were probably some parents with kids asleep in that neighbourhood who were not psyched about it,” Gossard says. “But it ended up being a great show and … for Ed, it’s his hometown and a place he has a lot of feelings for.” Reports back from the event suggest Pearl Jam are match fit for their Australian tour as Big Day Out headliners.
“I don’t know if we were ready (to headline a festival) 10 years ago, but right now the band is playing better than ever before and we’re excited to come down and tear it up,” Gossard says.
Lightning Bolt , the band’s 10th album, is the follow up to 2009’s well received Backspacer, their first US chart topper since 1996.
Recording began early last year but the band wasn’t entirely happy with the results from those sessions. The album was finished at LA’s Henson Recording Studios earlier this year. In the interim: “Ed did a solo record and tour, I made a Brad record, there were some kids born, there was some time off,” he says. “It was like: ‘We’ve made nine records, we can take a little bit more time’.” While Gossard was the main songwriter in the early days, now all of the members show up with a handful of tracks for long-time producer Brendan O’Brien to either work his magic on or diplomatically set aside.
McCready “who hasn’t necessarily written a lot of songs for the band” stepped up his game, penning the first two singles, Mind Your Manners , which bristles with raw punkish energy, and the emotive and melancholy Sirens — “two of the best Pearl Jam songs I think we’ve ever written”.
Stylistically, those two cuts cover more ground than some bands manage in entire careers.
During their ’90s peak, Pearl Jam arguably had more in common with classic rock, than with the cliches of grunge.
“Grunge was just a concept somebody came up with after the music was already done, so, yeah, I think we were always a band that was influenced by hard rock, heavy-metal, punk and folk, and those things are always popping up in our music,” he says.
“We’re more comfortable and confident than we were 15 years ago about who it is we are, and what we are doing … some of it is just as a 40-something person you look back on your life and go, ‘Wow, I’m lucky to even be alive, I should just enjoy myself.’ ” And although “all that’s sacred comes from youth” Gossard can see the band playing into their 70s”.
“I don’t think that could ever become tiring,” he says. “I could see it evolve. I could see as 70-year-olds we probably wouldn’t be running around as much.”HEAR Lightning Bolt is out tomorrow. SEE PEARL JAM (WITH BLUR, ARCADE FIRE), BIG DAY OUT, SYDNEY Showgrounds, JAN 26. bigDAYout.coM
SPINNING AROUND
andrea beattie
Paul McBride, Andrea Beattie, Nick Mason, Charley Rico, Tyson Wray
1260 words
10 October 2013
Sydney MX
NLSYMX
1 - SYD
17
English
Lightning Bolt
Pearl Jam
* * *
OH, Pearl Jam, how I love you. You were the band that informed my youth in the '90s and now in your third decade together, your latest album Lightning Bolt is hitting all the right notes. Like a fine wine, lead singer Eddie Vedder just keeps getting better with age. Now that the band are well into middle-age, ultimately, they're going to start writing about their mortality, but set it to the right tune and it's not all morbid. A particular favourite is Infallible, which sits at the centre of the 12-track album -- it is very much Pearl Jam circa 1990 but without all that moody angst. Vedder sings: ``Somehow it is the biggest things/That keep on slipping right through our hands/By thinking we're infallible''; the brother gets deep and lets loose with his signature screaming vocals. They get a bit folky on Sleeping By Myself, a song about a cheating spouse, unrequited love and loneliness. But again, Pearl Jam pull it off, adding in a twangy ukulele just for a twist. The best thing about Lightning Bolt is not just the music; it's the fact that despite Pearl Jam's astounding success, this is a band that are still pushing their limits, re-inventing while staying true. In the process they have produced an album that still vibes quintessential Pearl Jam, but is altogether different territory. (Universal)
Charley Rico
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20742772,00.html
Music Review
Lightning Bolt - Pearl Jam
Reviewed by Nick Catucci on Oct 07
1.21 JIGAWATTS! Pearl Jam's latest offering proves that the band still rocks even in mid-life
It can be painfully obvious that Pearl Jam's got a surfer dad as head guru in charge. Three-quarters through their muscular and tender 10th album, Eddie Vedder, now 48, jumps on the itchy, pretty ''Swallowed Whole'' like a man fresh from a vision quest: ''Whisper songs inside the wind/Breathing in forgiveness/Like vibrations with no end/Feel the planet humming.'' Why shouldn't the earth move for a guy who, since the release of PJ's last album, married the mother of his two kids and saw his crew celebrated with the Cameron Crowe doc Pearl Jam Twenty?
In fact, the band has thrived this long by heeding an oceanlike motion, shifting with crack assurance from choppy and punky to swelling and gorgeous, as if an enigmatic wind stirs it all up. Lightning Bolt hurls down a new, if unsurprising, preoccupation: mortality. Vedder wonders whether the bell tolls for him on the otherwise easygoing ''Sirens,'' a piano-plunking ballad to rank with their classics, and human life itself seems to be ''tempting fate'' on the album's knotty, lovely centerpiece, ''Infallible.'' That song is what every heal-the-world rock anthem should want to be when it grows up: profound enough not to pretend there's a solution — or that life doesn't go on. B+
Best Tracks:
''Infallible''
''Sirens''
Pearl Jam
Patrick Emery
PATRICK EMERY
145 words
11 October 2013
The Age
AGEE
First
11
English
© 2013 Copyright John Fairfax Holdings Limited. www.theage.com.au
cd reviews
Pearl Jam
LIGHTNING BOLT
(Universal Music)
RATING: 3.5/5
In 1993, American pop culture polemicist Tom Frank excoriated Pearl Jam as "digestible and predictable versions of formulaic heavy guitar rock". Twenty years later, and Pearl Jam's new album, Lightning Bolt, is testament to the band's resilience. Getaway, Mind Your Manners and My Father's Son pack the classic rock punch of Pearl Jam's glory days. There are the heavy ballads (Sirens, Infallible and Yellow Moon) while Sleeping By Myself offers a folksy glimpse into singer Eddie Vedder's sensitive side. The title track offers subtle homage to the Rolling Stones' Bitch; Let the Records Play celebrates rock'n'roll behind a blues veneer. The flannelette and slacker ethos may be memories, but Pearl Jam is still on the money.
Thanks!
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
2012 - Manchester i & ii, Berlin i & ii, Stockholm. 2014 - Amsterdam i & ii, Trieste, Vienna, Berlin, Leeds, Milton Keynes.
2016 - Boston Fenway i & ii, 2018 - Amsterdam i & ii, Pinkpop, London i & ii, Padova, Krakow, Barcelona, Seattle i & ii.
2012 - Manchester i & ii, Berlin i & ii, Stockholm. 2014 - Amsterdam i & ii, Trieste, Vienna, Berlin, Leeds, Milton Keynes.
2016 - Boston Fenway i & ii, 2018 - Amsterdam i & ii, Pinkpop, London i & ii, Padova, Krakow, Barcelona, Seattle i & ii.
3 out of 5
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/o ... olt-review
78/100
http://www.metacritic.com/music/lightni ... /pearl-jam
At this point, it's getting worse reviews than Backspacer
http://www.metacritic.com/music/backspacer/pearl-jam
6.5/10
http://thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/alb ... olt-138791
there's only like 6 reviews up
either way, "at this point," it's getting better reviews than binaural, riot act, and avocado:
http://www.metacritic.com/person/pearl-jam
PEARL JAM
Andy Gill
REVIEWS BY ANDY GILL
84 words
11 October 2013
i
IIND
1ST
38
English
© 2013 Independent Print Ltd. All rights reserved
News | New releases
LIGHTNING BOLT (Monkeywrench/ Virgin EMI)
***
Not quite as impressive as 2009's Backspacer, this followup offers a similarly broad range of styles, exemplified by its two singles: the urgent thrash of "Mind Your Manners"and the ballad "Sirens". In between, things lean towards the former, through the declamatory riffing of "Getaway", the anthemic pessimism of "Infallible", and the sinuous groove of "My Father's Son".
DOWNLOAD THIS: Mind Your Manners; Sirens; Lightning Bolt; Infallible
PEARL JAM Lightning Bolt Monkeywrench HHH
Kevin Courtney
Kevin Courtney
164 words
11 October 2013
The Irish Times
IRTI
15
English
(c) 2013, The Irish Times.
Pearl Jam wisely moved away from grunge before it was watered down by the likes of Creed and Nickelback. It's taken more than 20 years for the Seattle band to finally settle
into what they are: a good, old-fashioned classic rock combo crafting riff-heavy songs with poppy hooks, a punk edge and a solid guitar solo in the middle. Getaway, Mind Your Manners and My Father's Son
are tightly wound bursts of controlled anger, tempered by the maturity of veteran contrarians. There's always been a sense that Pearl Jam are America's band, and don't really speak to the rest of us, but power ballad Sirens proves that singer and lyricist Eddie Vedder can cast
his emotional net beyond the homelands. And due tribute to Zep and REM are paid via the bluesy Let the Records Play and the jangly Swallowed Whole.
Download tracks: Getaway, Sirens, Lightning Bolt
Pearl Jam Lightning Bolt MONKEYWRENCH 24/40
202 words
11 October 2013
The Guardian
GRDN
27
English
© Copyright 2013. The Guardian. All rights reserved.
Still flying the flag for independence of thought and movement while stoically avoiding getting bogged down in the music-biz bullshit that so plainly jars with their earnest motives, Pearl Jam have always been admirable, even when their music has fallen some way short of exciting. Pleasingly, Lightning Bolt finds the Seattle quintet in a more bullish and spiky mood than usual, as exemplified by the furious, spittle-spraying punk rush of Mind Your Manners. On the similarly urgent My Father's Son, they pull off the neat trick of sounding like Fugazi and UFO at the same time, as Eddie Vedder delivers one of his most intense performances to date. There are still gentle moments here, of course: the plaintive shuffle of Sirens and the wonderfully fragile Pendulum striking the sweetest chords.
Elsewhere, the title track nimbly evokes the surging spirit of Pearl Jam's mid-90s creative zenith, replete with a euphoric frisson of Springsteen-esque bombast, while Let the Records Play lives up to its name with an infectious, blues-flecked groove. A few ponderous moments aside, this is a sturdy return to great form. Dom Lawson
The epic Sirens is the best single Pearl Jam have released since 1998’s Given to...
187 words
11 October 2013
The West Australian
TWAU
First
6
English
(c) 2013, West Australian Newspapers Limited
The epic Sirens is the best single Pearl Jam have released since 1998’s Given to Fly, giving 10th album Lightning Bolt the air of a big one. A rocking one-two punch in Getaway and the punk-infused Mind Your Manners get things off to an energetic if predictable start, while post punk-ish My Father’s Son contains great lyrics from frontman Eddie Vedder, particularly considering he’s usually better at character studies than turning the microscope on himself. Lightning Bolt steps up with Sirens and the title track, the latter trading traditional structure for a steady build and vocal performance from Vedder that proves Pearl Jam can still match it with rock’s best. Infallible and Pendulum add great texture and by the time Swallowed Whole arrives eight tracks in there’s the nagging sense they’ve come up with something great. Unfortunately the goodwill created in the first two-thirds slips as Pearl Jam revert to their worst dad rock tendencies across the last four tracks.
134 words
11 October 2013
Timaru Herald
TIMRUH
9
English
© 2013 Fairfax New Zealand Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Top iTunes song downloads this week:
1) Roar, Katy Perry
2) Heartbreaker, Justin Bieber
3) The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?), Ylvis
4) Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J), Katy Perry
5) Wrecking Ball, Miley Cyrus
6) Royals, Lorde
7) Wake Me Up, Avicii
8) Something I Need, OneRepublic
9) Counting Stars, OneRepublic
10) Team, Lorde
Top iTunes album downloads this week:
1) Pure Heroine, Lorde
2) Lightning Bolt, Pearl Jam
3) The Love Club, Lorde
4) Flume, Flume
5) Word of Mouth (Deluxe Version), The Wanted
6) Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 42, Various Artists
7) AM, Arctic Monkeys
8) We Are Young & Free, Hillsong Young & Free
9) Fleetwood Mac: Greatest Hits, Fleetwood Mac
10) Take Me Home (Yearbook Edition), One Direction
Pearl Jam Lightning Bolt (Virgin/EMI) [...]
183 words
11 October 2013
London Evening Standard
NS
1; National
49
English
(c) 2013 Evening Standard Limited
Pearl Jam Lightning Bolt (Virgin/EMI) YOU know you're getting old when you sit down and listen to Pearl Jam's 10th studio LP and realise that you still remember the first one. Eddie Vedder and his crew haven't changed much in all that time: I still recall their heroic fight to keep concert ticket prices fair for the punters, and the themes of personal integrity run through the new record. Pearl Jam still purvey the same old rock 'n' roll sieved through a filter of grunge: Getaway, Mind Your Manners and Let the Records Play are all straightforward stompers, led by the Vedder growl and Stone Gossard's well-judged guitar interventions. Elsewhere, the other Jam are sensitive souls: the title track has elements of Neil Diamond on afterburners; Infallible is downright pretty; Sleeping By Myself is a touch maudlin (dream on, Eddie); Yellow Moon is as mellow as the title, while Future Days, a piano and violindriven ballad, suggests Pearl Jam may one day be fixtures on the folk scene.
Pete Clark