Lightning Bolt

Firstly, I will state. There are only two bands currently I will pre-order albums from, knowing that neither has ever disappointed. The Black Crowes (or Chris Robinson Solo) and Pearl Jam. Both have been going for over 20 years and started around the same time and both continue to get better with age and give incredible live performances. The first few times I listened to this album, I just wasn't feeling it. I was thinking, finally- maybe Pearl Jam will put out a bad album. After some more listens and especially after seeing them live again, I have changed my tune on this one and definitely like it. I felt the same way when Binaural, Riot Act and other PJ albums were first released. There aren't many immediately catchy tunes (like Worldwide suicide, Life wasted, Just Breathe), but they do grow on you after awhile. Chalk some of that up to Eddies unorthodox lyrical writing. His Lyrics have never been standard. Getaway might be the first tune that I got into...and slowly I started liking the rest. It took some listing as background music while driving for the short time I've had it. Now having seen them live last night (34 song set!), I've really become fond of Yellow Moon, Pendulum, Sirens, Infallible, Lightning bolt, Mind your manners, my Fathers son. The raw emotion, tension and tempo changes are there that I've come to love...even in the slow songs you can feel every ounce of emotion Eddie gives in his singing and echoed by the guitars. The rest of the songs I'm starting to enjoy too, but haven't had enough time to just sit and listen/read the lyrics as every Pearl Jam song deserves. I already know there is definitely enough here to love though and am already plotting to see them live again. Every concert I've seen has been a highly memorable and special experience. They play every show like it's their last. I've always been a Pearl Jam fan. Many "fans" ditched the band after Vitalogy as "grunge" faded. I never bought into the grunge thing so much as a category. It was always rock n roll to me. Grunge was more of a marketing term and Pearl Jam is more than a grunge band, just as Led Zeppelin is more than a "heavy metal" band. I remember after Binaural, people were saying "Pearl Jam is still around?" when I brought them up. Yeah, and they still are going strong today. As a band I don't think they ever take their lives or success for granted. I'm not sure where I'd rank this in the PJ catalog. Every album is so different (and that's a good thing). I'm surprised at some of the reviews on here that disliked Backspacer, Avocado and Riot Act. I like all of them. As an entire album goes, it's hard for me to rank...but Yield, No Code, Ten, Vitalogy and Avocado rank higher than this one probably. I'd have a hard time ranking any as a least favorite. Every album has something to remember. It's not something I ever felt compelled to do. If you are a real Pearl Jam fan, what are you waiting for? Just get it. If you think Ten is their only good album, well I feel sorry for you. It has to be mentioned that PJ always gives you a quality CD package with lyrics, images and artwork. Not just some cheapass jewel case. That never goes unappreciated.

Great shipping, item etc. Still have this today in original wrapping (given as a gift).

Pearl Jam is an essential band if you enjoy Rock Music

Pearl Jam is an interesting band as they have managed to continually have top 10 albums for 22 years, yet only have 4 top 40 singles to their name. They continue to sell albums, too. However, a quick look at Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden and Nirvana shows that their contemporaries are still equally just as popular (even Foo Fighters). But, Pearl Jam, it could be argued, has 'outwit, outplayed and outlasted' everyone else. Along the way, you could argue that they have never 'sold out'. They are like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or The Grateful Dead--all bands with few hits and monster followings and respectable places in rock and roll history. My opinion about their albums is that they started off strong with "Ten", "Vs" and "Vitalogy" and then dipped somewhat with "No Code", "Yield", "Binaural" and "Riot Act" and then came roaring back with "Pearl Jam", "Backspacer" and now "Lightning Bolt". Yes, "Lightning Bolt" is pretty solid from beginning to end with a few exceptions like "Swallowed Whole", "Let The Records Play" and "Yellow Moon", but these are small quibbles. You get a trio of rockers to open the album with "Getaway", "Mind Your Manners" and "My Father's Son" punctuated by the balled "Sirens" which is excellent. Things get rocking again with "Lightning Bolt" and "Infallible" and then turn pensive with "Pendulum" which is excellent. Skip to "Sleeping By Myself" which is nice and then, in my not so humble opinion, the best song on the album, the closing track, "Future Days". Eddie Vedder and company have a hidden strength with spare songs like "Sirens", "Pendulum", "Sleeping By Myself" and especially "Future Days". It's these moments that I find the band has grown up, has set aside it's youthful angst, and has come up with songs that are timeless and full of depth, not just hard chargers that bowl you over and trample you down. So, the bottom line is "Lightning Bolt" is four stars. Not quite as good as "Backspacer" or "Pearl Jam", but not by much. Keep up the great work guys. I'm not a tremendous Pearl Jam fan. In fact, I hated 'grunge' at the time it was popular, but it was Pearl Jam that first drew my attention to the movement with "Vitalogy" and I've bought all of their albums since that time including their first two. My relationship with the band's music has been a very slow growing, evolving appreciation for their music over the past 22 years. Now I can't imagine my musical world without them, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and to a much lesser extent, Soundgarden. Here's how "Lightning Bolt" compares with Pearl Jam's previous works: 1991 Ten: Four Stars 1993 Vs.: Three and a Half Stars 1994 Vitalogy: Four Stars 1996 No Code: Three and a Half Stars 1998 Yield: Three and a Half Stars 2000 Binaural: Three and a Half Stars 2002 Riot Act: Three and a Half Stars 2006 Pearl Jam: Four Stars 2009 Backspacer: Five Stars 2013 Lightning Bolt: Four Stars

First, let me say "Lightning Bolt" is a Top-3 Pearl Jam album for me (with "Ten" and "Vs."). My interest has fluctuated with Pearl Jam over the past decade, and even before then, but this album has me (once again) in a Pearl Jam "kick." Here's a brief history, in case you think/feel like I do: I bought "Ten" during its release year, and I have a cassette tape of the band's second album called "Five Against One" (which later became "Vs."). I somewhat dropped interest with "Vitology" and did not buy (or even listen to) "No Code" until 2001, or so. That's also when I listened to "Yield" and "Binaural" for the first time each. That was the first time I experienced a resurgence of Pearl Jam enthusiasm, and the last time since this past month. To me, "Riot Act" is a horrible album; even listening to it now, there is not a single song I would put on a compilation/best-of Pearl Jam album. The combination of poor musical decisions (to me) and political/pseudo-intellectual undertones spoiled my appetite for the band's (then) "new" sound. That album turned me off to Pearl Jam once again, even though I bought the "Avocado" album years later, just to see which direction the band would take. It was...a'ight. When "Backspacer" came out, I didn't even listen to it, and I thought I was done with the band for the foreseeable future. Thank goodness Amazon offered this in a lightning deal sale (no pun intended), and that I just happened to be shopping, or else I may not have heard this album---or, at least, not anytime soon. With "Lightning Bolt," I feel like, finally, Pearl Jam is back. (It even sparked me to finally listen to "Backspacer," which isn't bad, but not as good.) While there truly is no song that merits skipping every time, my favorite tracks are: Yellow Moon, Infallible, Sleeping by Myself, and the eponymous track (Lightning Bolt). In fact, Lightning Bolt (the song) is my favorite song on the album, and one of my 5-10 favorite PJ songs of all time. To see if your tastes are like mine, here are my favorite songs from their other albums: Ten - Alive, Jeremy, Porch Vs. - Animal, Elderly... Vitology - Whipping, Not for You No Code - Hail Hail, In My Tree, Off He Goes Yield - Faithful, No Way, In Hiding Binaural - Light Years, Thin Air, Parting Ways Riot Act - N/A (This album isn't good.) Pearl Jam - Life Wasted, World Wide Suicide, Marker in the Sand Backspacer - Amongst the Waves, Unthought Known, Supersonic So there you have it. If you want a PJ album that feels like "Ten" and "Vs." did when you were younger (when they first were released, in the early 1990s), download "Lightning Bolt" and enjoy being 10-20 years old all over again.

I was disappointed with Backspacer, PJ's last record. I felt like there were good songs on the record but it was incredibly uneven. Also sounded like Eddie basically took over the song writing and was punk rock song, punk rock song, acoustic ballad. The great multi layered PJ songs from No Code, Yield, Riot Act, and even Avocado were missing. So I had tempered expectations when I first listened to Lightning Bolt and I must say, my hesitation was unwarranted. This is a great Pearl Jam record for Pearl Jam fans. If you are expecting Ten 2.0 look elsewhere but if you were a fan of Pearl Jam in the No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act era, you are going to love it. Sirens is an absolute classic rock song. Mike McCready wrote the music and it is multilayered with plenty of guitars. Great lyrics and vocals from Eddie as well. Yellow Moon, which is a Jeff Ament song is another highlight of the record, just classic PJ. Overall the only song that hasn't really grabbed me yet, is Future Days, which is the last song on the album. I'm just really happy that Pearl Jam has put out another classic because I was starting to wonder if they had this record in them after the disappointment of Backspacer. One note, as a hardcore PJ fan I was upset that Of the Earth, which has been played live a few times, wasn't included on this record. Hopefully we will get a Lost Dogs part 2 album one of these days. But man, does it feel good to have another classic Pearl Jam record out again.

While Lightning Bolt has a lot of Pearl Jam's classic sound, it is also so very different from anything they've done before and I absolutely love it. Eddie's singing style has really evolved over the years and he still has such a way of putting so much raw emotion into certain songs that you can `feel his pain'. Sirens is one of those songs and I can't listen to it enough. I haven't had a song get to me that much since Black. One review called the lyrics to Siren "sappy"... they were wrong Eddie! I think Mike McCready did an awesome job with the music, and few songs are as honest and heartfelt as this one. I was instantly impressed by Getaway, Infallible and Swallowed Whole also, but I was worried that Eddie was singing a bit out of his vocal range & that he wouldn't be able to do the songs justice when singing them live in concert - boy was I wrong! This cd is great, but seeing Pearl Jam live is even greater. Thanks Amazon, for making the tracks of Lightning Bolt available as digital downloads for those who pre-ordered the cd. That was great for me, since I was heading to Worcester, MA on the day of the CD release to see Pearl Jam live in concert, so I got a chance to hear the new songs during my 2 ½ hour drive to the show.

I love this record. If you are a PJ loyalist, then you already own it. And you know that it is one of their best efforts, and continues the evolution of a maturing rock band. It includes at least two new Pearl Jam classics - SIRENS and LIGHTNING BOLT. I personally feel their are a lot of bands that could deliver the birthed-from-grunge, hard rock that Pearl Jam is known for. Bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. HOWEVER, I always thought what set Pearl Jam apart was that they not only could dial it up, but could dial it down better than anyone. Led my Eddies unique voice and poetic lyrics, they could deliver low-tempo, emotionally dense, musically rich classics. SIRENS is in that fold. This is a record that gets better with each listen. And it is also a group of songs that they absolutely KILL during the live show. They are still the MUST SEE rock show.