Distortion and speed.

RiotAct10 · February 2008

One thing that has bothered me a little about Pearl Jam shows over the last decade, is how they take a song in the studio which is very clean and pretty, and when they play it live jack up the distortion and change it. Two examples would be, Present Tense, and Yellow Ledbetter. Listen to the studio versions, and then the live versions. Studio they both have a very clean tone, where as live, the complete oposite.

Another thing that sort of bothers me is the speed of songs. Here I would look at Given to Fly as a song that gets played faster live than the studio version.

Do the members of PJ ever go back and listen to old albums before a tour to remind themselves how the song sounds, or do you thik they have played them all so many times that they do not review them? Any other thoughts on what I said?

Im not really complaining, and just observing, and I wondered if anyone else felt the same.

PJamGrunge10 · February 2008

I always wonder if they listen to their studio stuff as well...

And the speed thing bothers me as well. Everything is faster... it's especially annoying with Daughter.

And another thing... it sounds like they need to turn the tone nob up on their guitars, it sounds so muffled compared to older recordings.

RiotAct10 · February 2008

PJamGrunge10 wrote:

And the speed thing bothers me as well. Everything is faster... it's especially annoying with Daughter.

Daughter is a good example. Sometimes Stone just seems to play that intro as fast as he can and its like "whoa buddy, take it easy."
If you like that song slow, check out the version from 5-28-03 in Missoula, if you dont own it, its on pearljamlive.com. I love that version.

boxwine_in_hell · February 2008

Daughter is the only song that I really notice the speed changes dramatically. I kind of like it faster. Kind of like Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of Voodoo Child(Slight Return). It's faster than Hendrix, it took me years to figure out why it sounded more powerful and then I realized it was the faster tempo.

BlackCorduroy · February 2008

Yellow Ledbetter with distortion doesn't bother me so much, although it might be cool to hear clean. But I defintiely agree with you on the speed thing. WWS and Even Flow should be slowed down a little, in my opinion.

DiRtyFranK38 · February 2008

i think the band's live performance was better than ever 06/07 but i do agree with you!

present tense, why!?!? however, i believe it's the cincy 06 or something like that where the crowd sings aton and it's just perfect. but yea that should not be faster or have distortion. daughter - too fast. even flow - too fast. given to fly - studio version blows it away live...way too fast..probobly a few others. but overall, i think their live performance is better than ever!

JP2026766 · February 2008

I agree that some of the songs are played way too fast.

But, you are 100% WRONG about Present Tense. That song is 921249082334908234 times better live than studio. Its almost perfect live to be honest, and its certainly a crowd favorite. Hearing it open Borgata 2 was absolutely amazing.

whoyouare72 · February 2008

I feel like this happens with all bands that feed off the crowd energy and don't get up there night after night to play the same set in the same way each night.

Think how many bands are out there just to make money- they play the same set every night, don't feed off the crowd energy and basically just go through the motions of a show every night they play live. I am glad PJ is not one of those bands!

Me personally, I don't go to a live show to hear the exact album version of the song.

The band members are artists and I go to live shows to appreciate their art.
I think the energy of playing in front of people leads to them playing more energetic versions of their art. I also think the mood of the crowd and each band member's mood of the exact moment they are on stage influence the version you might hear during any specific show.

These musical artists we love are not robots programmed to play the same exact version of each song every time they play it.

They are artists doing what they do, and I can appreciate the way they change their songs just like the Grateful Dead used to change the type of music they play over the years. The GD lost a lot of fans during their different periods of changing the music they made just like the tons and tons of people out there that say TEN was the only good album PJ ever put out. We have all come across and disagreed with these people that say TEN was the only good PJ album, right?

They are artists up there on stage expressing their creativity and they are not doing it to satisfy your musical taste or make money, they are up there to unleash and satisfy the creativity inside of them, some people may like it and some may not but they are up there for themselves and "not for you".

PJamGrunge10 · February 2008

whoyouare72 wrote:

I feel like this happens with all bands that feed off the crowd energy and don't get up there night after night to play the same set in the same way each night.

Think how many bands are out there just to make money- they play the same set every night, don't feed off the crowd energy and basically just go through the motions of a show every night they play live. I am glad PJ is not one of those bands!

Me personally, I don't go to a live show to hear the exact album version of the song.

The band members are artists and I go to live shows to appreciate their art.
I think the energy of playing in front of people leads to them playing more energetic versions of their art. I also think the mood of the crowd and each band member's mood of the exact moment they are on stage influence the version you might hear during any specific show.

These musical artists we love are not robots programmed to play the same exact version of each song every time they play it.

They are artists doing what they do, and I can appreciate the way they change their songs just like the Grateful Dead used to change the type of music they play over the years. The GD lost a lot of fans during their different periods of changing the music they made just like the tons and tons of people out there that say TEN was the only good album PJ ever put out. We have all come across and disagreed with these people that say TEN was the only good PJ album, right?

They are artists up there on stage expressing their creativity and they are not doing it to satisfy your musical taste or make money, they are up there to unleash and satisfy the creativity inside of them, some people may like it and some may not but they are up there for themselves and "not for you".

I can understand what you are saying and I do agree... however, you can play a song differently from the studio version without doing it fast... an example would be Even Flow from '91-'94. I think those were the best years for that song - lots of energy, Eddie was intense, but it was quite noticeably different from the Ten version.

Anon · February 2008

PJamGrunge10 wrote:

I can understand what you are saying and I do agree... however, you can play a song differently from the studio version without doing it fast... an example would be Even Flow from '91-'94. I think those were the best years for that song - lots of energy, Eddie was intense, but it was quite noticeably different from the Ten version.

I hear you. The main difference with the studio version is that it is recorded a little sharp, so that's probably why it sounds off. It was a bitch to learn to play from tab, even though it's not a hard song, because it just never sounded right. I ended up just watching Mike and Stone on the DVD and getting it from there. Great song.

restlesssoul · February 2008

try listening to evenflow studio after a good bootleg binge. it seems like you are listening to it on tape and the batteries are wearing out in your walkmen.

My3rdEye · February 2008

RiotAct10 wrote:

One thing that has bothered me a little about Pearl Jam shows over the last decade, is how they take a song in the studio which is very clean and pretty, and when they play it live jack up the distortion and change it. Two examples would be, Present Tense, and Yellow Ledbetter. Listen to the studio versions, and then the live versions. Studio they both have a very clean tone, where as live, the complete oposite.

Another thing that sort of bothers me is the speed of songs. Here I would look at Given to Fly as a song that gets played faster live than the studio version.

Do the members of PJ ever go back and listen to old albums before a tour to remind themselves how the song sounds, or do you thik they have played them all so many times that they do not review them? Any other thoughts on what I said?

Im not really complaining, and just observing, and I wondered if anyone else felt the same.

Fuck that.. I like the distortion

The speed doesn't bother me either. I need that distortion put back on Porch like they did in 1994. Not a fan of that new beginning either.

dane · February 2008

Live music is always heavier than studio. It can really fuck up some songs, but imo it lifts alot of songs. Makes them more energetic and suited for a live experience.
However speeding up songs at live shows, pisses me off. What is that??!! Some songs are played so fast, that they can barely keep up the pace themselves.
While on tour, the band should sit down every once in a while and listen to their albums.

facepollution · February 2008

Given To Fly certainly needs slowing down, I love the way the album version builds and builds then crashes in, the current live versions sound rushed, like they want to get the song out of the way or something.

Cropduster84 · February 2008

I think Given To Fly would sound better with a cleaner sound live and slowing down a touch.

Other than that I think Even Flow and Do The Evolution sound way better live than studio.

Thierry Henry · February 2008

I think SOLAT could be a tad bit slower like they used to play it.

I was listening to Even Flow from Switzerland 1992 and it was waaaaaaay
better than they play it now. The sound and speed is much better back then, IMO!!!

mini_tb · February 2008

I'm not complaining about the sped up tempos, but Corduroy, RVM, and Of the Girl wouldn't be bad slowed down a bit either.

Pegasus · February 2008

restlesssoul wrote:

try listening to evenflow studio after a good bootleg binge. it seems like you are listening to it on tape and the batteries are wearing out in your walkmen.

every time I get to an album song on the mp3 player..I feel like everything crawled to a halt!
Even older boots feel that way.

Live songs aren't fast, it's studio ones that are slow (because they're not yet confident in playing them)

seriously, I can't think of a single song tht's better in the studio than live..some are about the same, but many are vastly improved live, generally because they're played faster and with more energy.

My3rdEye · February 2008

Pegasus wrote:

every time I get to an album song on the mp3 player..I feel like everything crawled to a halt!
Even older boots feel that way.

Live songs aren't fast, it's studio ones that are slow (because they're not yet confident in playing them)

seriously, I can't think of a single song tht's better in the studio than live..some are about the same, but many are vastly improved live, generally because they're played faster and with more energy.

Totally agree.

Army & Navy · February 2008

I actually think the opposite, the faster and heavier the song live the better it is.

Some songs sound weaker live than on the album and they are the ones I have problems with.

Marker In The Sand, Life Wasted, Last Exit & Hail Hail sound less heavy live recently than in the studio.

wolfamongwolves · February 2008

Thierry Henry wrote:

I think SOLAT could be a tad bit slower like they used to play it.

SOLAT on Immagine in Cornice is ridiculously fast. I actually started laughing the first time I watched it. Like an LP on 45 speed.

But I really thought that on the last 2 tours they sounded like they had gone back and listened to the records. They sounded so much tighter and better rehearsed than they had done in years. And parts of songs that are on the records but had gotten worn away with overuse over the years were back with a vengeance.

Distortion and speed.

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