Are there ever times when a solo actual detracts from a pearl jam song? Which ones, and why?

I actually think that a distinction should be made between solos in a live setting and solos on record. The effects are very different, and the listening experience is a very different one. I favor an imaginative solo in the live setting on many occasions. I do, however, feel that it can detract from a studio recording.

I was mostly thinking of studio songs for this thread---what are some examples of ones you feel detract? I couldn't think of any off the top of my head

How do you define a guitar solo? Is it improvised by the performer, or do you include written guitar parts that showcase a single instrument? Parts written by the composer are already integrated into the complete song and are generally stronger than those that are improvised by the performer. For instance, does INSIGNIFICANCE have a guitar solo? There are certainly various solo guitar parts, but every note has clearly been written by the composer. Would you consider the addition of some true improvisation to this piece an improvement?

Guitar solos are like pornography for me. I can't define what it is but I know it when I hear it

I don't think I've ever heard a guitar solo in any song and thought "that really doesn't belong." The only related comment I have is that the guitar solo at the end of I Am Mine is fucking perfect. Brings the song home in 30 seconds of guitar play.

studio songs: I think the solo in Down is too long and doesn't add anything to a very fine song on its own.

qft

?

quoted for truth

Ah, never heard that one before. You kids and your crazy internet lingo!

A guitar solo is like anything else in a song, when done well it's great. I'm never sure why people pick on guitar solos so much. There's lots of bands where could do without the singing or think the drummer sucks. But I don't propose we do without either. Hell, Metallica made a damn good album pretty much without any bass but I don't want to see Jeff tossed from the band. Little WIng by SRV totally destroys the PJ version but I don't want to see PJ become an all instrumental band.

People should start suggesting PJ songs where they don't like the guitar solo so everyone else can jump on them and argue that they are wrong. That's what i'm waiting for...=)

The solos that stand out to me are:
Low Light and Wishlist - for melodic beauty...
Alive - for just capturing that moment..
Immortality - for not being overplayed...
I Am Mine - for echoing the sentiments of the song, again without it being overplayed. It also ends on the perfect last note...
Rats - for just sounding really cool...
NAIS - for carrying the song along, and adding another layer of ambience to the piece...
All or None - for sounding genuinely felt.

I think all the rest of PJ solos, whilst definitely not unnecessary, just do very little for me. i'm far past the age of thinking 'wow a coool, fast lead guitar, man!'

Edit: In addition to this, i'd also like to say that it's a great thing that PJ know when a solo isn't necessary, i.e. a song like Release which could have been so easy to throw in an 'emotive' wailing guitar, yet it works so perfectly without it. And to repeat what i mentioned in another thread - most of No Code works well without using big guitar solos, and also Given To Fly which benefits from more subtle, decorative leads.

I hate the song wishlist, but damn that solo in the middle fits the song perfectly.

I'm not picking on guitar solos. It's actually not true that it's necessarily an element like any other in a song. It's an element that's often relied upon to carry a weak song. If it's properly integrated into a song, it has much the same force as a good vocal performance, but it's not always the case that it's well-integrated. And this doesn't just go for guitar solos. There are many indulgent examples of solos from all sorts of instruments that cause the tension in a song to sag, and perhaps never recover. Luckily PJ is a band that really has not been overindulgent in this area. And as iceagecoming has pointed out, they know when not to include a solo.



I really like your list, and do actually think that these solos work well in their respective settings with one big exception.

On the I AM MINE solo. Ed's voice anticipates it on the studio versio of I AM MINE, but when he performs it solo, he completes the song vocally, and I don't miss the solo at all. For those who enjoy it, I have no objection to it. It is very pretty, but I don't feel that it adds anything to the song.

On WISHLIST. I do love the studio version. The three guitar arrangement, and the guitar tones used, create something of a musicbox effect, and the solo is very pretty, but it causes the song to meander. Structurally, the power trio version is superior. From the morphing rhythm pattern in the intro to the compressed single lead guitar to the chord structure at the bridge, it delivers a more immediate listening experience. Live, I prefer this version.

On NAIS. This song needs a lot of things, but those fuzz-busting solos of Mikes are not it. I feel like my fillings are falling out from the vibrations.

One solo that I really like is the solo from SEVERED HAND. It's partially written, partially improvised, but it is fully assimilated into the song and has the punch of a really good lead vocal.

I find this thread to be a lot of fun even though I seem to be the only person who does not feel that a guitar (organ, trumpet, kazoo?) solo is appropriate anytime, anywhere.

GO - always a good thing in that song.

yup--I feel that way about animal too

How about the end of Life Wasted? Where's Ensign when you need him?

I love it. Same with Severed Hand and the little 10 second one in comatose

I find that Severed Hand solo in the outro a little dull actually....sure it gives the song a great climax, and it's needed, but as for what is actually played...it just sounds a little tiresome - like Mike's ran out of ideas, which may have been the case. I do like the way that a solo is tracked underneath it as well though (those long, high, bended notes), it's easy to miss, but it layers it up nicely. It's all about the layers.

As for Kazoos, there can never be enough! Ed needs to ditch the harmonica and move onto that. A real man's instrument. They should cover Blind Melon's 'Skinned', they'd pull it off =o)