Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:47 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
we have all these threads indexed at the top of the forum, too
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 1:04 am
Banned from the Pit
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:02 am Posts: 13
No Code has remained my favorite PJ record since first listen. There are so many gems on that album. So many. I can listen to Sometimes over and over. Red Mosquito is such an amazing song, it gets better with each listen. The chorus of Smile hits hard every time. Habit kicks you in the face without fail. Present Tense may be the most perfect thing the band has done in the Studio.
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:33 am
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 6:37 am Posts: 3819
Had this on today while doing some work around the house. I wasn't zeroing in on it in true LAL fashion, but I was caught completely off-guard by how beautifully elegiac the ensemble section of "I'm Open" sounded, particularly having grown accustomed to the version Ed's been playing live since the "S/T" tour. I like the kind of "sketchbook" quality to the live version--it seems to highlight what, reading through this thread, we all seem to understand well enough anyway, that being that the song was meant as an interlude piece, a palate cleanser. But what a beauty this is by comparison. The spoken word part at the beginning isn't without its bad Jim Morrison tendencies, but it has more heart, and--more importantly--puts you in the head space to experience the remainder of the piece, an effect lost in the live version, which sounds more fatigued than "open." You get the sense, listening to the studio take, that the swirling psychedelia of that "come in..." section might be the moment at which whatever "presence" the narrator hopes for in the beginning begins taking shape--it surrounds you in a way that's placid but also kind of takes your breath away. I think Brendan O'Brien's piano might be the unsung hero of this album; when I think about the sound of this record in my head, about what sets it apart, I always hear those chameleonic piano flourishes to "Around the Bend," to "Off He Goes," and now to this. Such a tremendously well-produced record. Just imagine what a powerhouse "Just Breathe" could have been if Brendan had given it the warmth of "Around the Bend"...
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:46 am
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:00 am Posts: 16093 Location: dublin Gender: Male
On songs like Hail Hail and In my Tree they captured a sound with their guitars that they haven't attempted since. Which is a shame cos they're my two favorite sounding songs. Whatever gear and setup they were using was perfect, married to that production, it doesn't get any better.
_________________ At the end of the day, it's night.
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:56 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:23 am Posts: 4187
dimejinky99 wrote:
On songs like Hail Hail and In my Tree they captured a sound with their guitars that they haven't attempted since. Which is a shame cos they're my two favorite sounding songs. Whatever gear and setup they were using was perfect, married to that production, it doesn't get any better.
yeah, the guitars sound absolutely amazing here...sometimes-Hail hail is just astonishing.
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:14 pm
Unthought Known
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 7:02 pm Posts: 6405 Location: DC Gender: Male
Why does everyone hate Jim Morrison?
Other than that little jab, I agree with KD. I'm never going to go out of my way to listen to "I'm Open", but now and then the mood strikes and the song is pretty cool.
No Code is a great sounding album, and it sounds even better considering how good the actual songs are. This is Pearl Jam at their best.
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:30 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:23 am Posts: 4187
darth_vedder wrote:
Why does everyone hate Jim Morrison?
Other than that little jab, I agree with KD. I'm never going to go out of my way to listen to "I'm Open", but now and then the mood strikes and the song is pretty cool.
No Code is a great sounding album, and it sounds even better considering how good the actual songs are. This is Pearl Jam at their best.
its interesting that the recording process was a difficult one...specially for jeff. He´s work here is amazing, and the guy didnt even know he was recording.
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:48 pm
Supersonic
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:04 am Posts: 12383 Gender: Male
I love No Code. I recently rediscovered "Habit." I was in one of those moods where I just felt like blasting a hard rocking PJ song, and "Habit" was first to come to mind.
Let me tell ya fellas...it did not disappoint.
Also, Hail, Hail....if you have never seen the Letterman version they did, please visit YouTube now and watch. It's still my favorite version...the way Ed ends it is much better than the way he concludes the tune now with the too big "your one" scream.
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:50 pm
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:37 pm Posts: 15767 Location: Vail, CO Gender: Male
Coach wrote:
I love No Code. I recently rediscovered "Habit." I was in one of those moods where I just felt like blasting a hard rocking PJ song, and "Habit" was first to come to mind.
Let me tell ya fellas...it did not disappoint.
Also, Hail, Hail....if you have never seen the Letterman version they did, please visit YouTube now and watch. It's still my favorite version...the way Ed ends it is much better than the way he concludes the tune now with the too big "your one" scream.
yea but stone royally fucks up coming out of the bridge. its hilarious.
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:15 pm
Got Some
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:29 am Posts: 1053 Location: Durham, NC Gender: Male
No Code hit me again last week in a major way. I cannot get over the song writing (how did they pull In My Tree out of themselves?) production, the tone of the guitars, the layers and layers of vocals, how all of it melds together so well and the color the entire album puts in my head.
I was recently reading through the PJ20 book and it talked about Binaural sounding like you are sitting in the room with the band. For me listening to that album, it has always felt like their is a barrier between me and the band. Mike so distant and Ed's vocals separate and on top of the music. No Code is completely the opposite.
No Code is the album that fits alongside bands like Radiohead, Neil Young, Zeppelin....It is bigger than just a good Pearl Jam record.
Coach, you are spot on about Habit. I was so dissapointed when I heard it 1996 and now it seems to me one of the best rock songs they've put together.
Kevin Davis, give me a full No Code write up please?
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 2:59 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Hatfield wrote:
No Code hit me again last week in a major way. I cannot get over the song writing (how did they pull In My Tree out of themselves?) production, the tone of the guitars, the layers and layers of vocals, how all of it melds together so well and the color the entire album puts in my head.
I was recently reading through the PJ20 book and it talked about Binaural sounding like you are sitting in the room with the band. For me listening to that album, it has always felt like their is a barrier between me and the band. Mike so distant and Ed's vocals separate and on top of the music. No Code is completely the opposite.
No Code is the album that fits alongside bands like Radiohead, Neil Young, Zeppelin....It is bigger than just a good Pearl Jam record.
Coach, you are spot on about Habit. I was so dissapointed when I heard it 1996 and now it seems to me one of the best rock songs they've put together.
Kevin Davis, give me a full No Code write up please?
please do. I keep trying to sit down to write one and can't really get inspired to do it.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: Let's Actually Listen to the Albums: No Code
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:59 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 6:37 am Posts: 3819
darth_vedder wrote:
Why does everyone hate Jim Morrison?
Hey, I just said "bad Jim Morrison tendencies" -- I'd argue that there are good Jim Morrison tendencies too, though admittedly I'm not enough of a Doors fan to recall many instances of Morrison himself channeling them. My personal feelings on Morrison are basically that he was a specific type of performer of which someone like Eddie Vedder is the better-rounded fulfillment, in which the self-seriousness of the pretensions is undercut by the lowbrow rock elements of the intervening decades--Vedder, for example, especially on the early records, sounds serious and brooding, but he also sounds big and dumb. Either one on its own can sound contemptible, but I think the amalgam of the two is almost assuredly why Pearl Jam felt like such a novel concept in 1991, even though there's nothing technical in their makeup that particularly lends itself to that perception. I always felt like I could enjoy the Doors so much more if Morrison just dialed it back one or two degrees--like, there are moments in the Doors' catalog that are probably supposed to be funny which just never quite get there for me, because Morrison's tone is such that I can't wrap my mind around the idea of him wanting to sully his art with something so trite as a sense of humor; likewise, there are moments of such intense seriousness that I just can't bear without that levity to offset them. I've often read that the key to appreciating Morrison is to stop trying to appreciate him as a poet and begin trying to appreciate him as an ass-clown, and I just don't hear either one--or rather, I hear an attempt to come across as the former that only inadvertently results in him coming across as the latter. Whether or not this is an accurate portrayal of Morrison as a person I couldn't say; my only point of reference is the Oliver Stone movie, so maybe he was a delightfully witty guy who always had a really healthy perspective on his art. But he doesn't sound like it to me, and that's what matters. In the end, his work just sounds so consumed with the idea of "artsy bullshit as a way of life" that I just can't identify with it in mind or heart. A few exceptions I can identify with as decent pop songs.
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