brendan O'brien remixes Pearl Jam

jessejamietig · Post by **jessejamietig** » Tue May 19, 2009 10:05 pm

McCready may be a hack as everyone says, but end result is the songs work
and are very tasty.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu May 21, 2009 11:28 am

yeah, i am mostly talking shit for fun, he's fine. i enjoy what the rhythm section is doing behind his solos a lot more than the solos themselves, but his playing fits the songs, and he does a pretty good job selling some awfully stock licks.

i'm too lazy to change cds so i've had the original ten in the player for the last couple days and i gotta say it's a pretty damn ambitious debut record.

jessejamietig · Post by **jessejamietig** » Thu May 21, 2009 7:06 pm

That's for sure. The rhythm section has always been pretty bad ass. The drummers they choose are always monsters who hit hard, and Jeff Ament has a real smooth touch. Plus I've always loved the fact that he uses fret less and 8 and 12 string basses.
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jkay · Post by **jkay** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:48 am

Long thread, but back to the original focus and my 2cents:

The album sounded fine at the time for everyone - I have many albums in my collection that sound much worse than Ten, technically speaking. If the band wants to remix it for artistic reasons, that's their prerogative. However, at the end of the day (especially many years from now), some folks are going to like the updated O'Brien version, and some are still going to like the original better. In some ways you can't help but think the idea was designed to sell albums and make money off of folks who already had (and loved) the record.

jessejamietig · Post by **jessejamietig** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:01 pm

I'm just throwing this out there and, everyone will probably give me shit for it, but
why is Mike McCready considered a hack for using the same blues scales for solos,
yet guys like BB King can get away with it for 50 years and is a genius? For that matter, you can lump in Eric Clapton as well.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:18 pm

jessejamietig wrote:I'm just throwing this out there and, everyone will probably give me shit for it, but
why is Mike McCready considered a hack for using the same blues scales for solos,
yet guys like BB King can get away with it for 50 years and is a genius? For that matter, you can lump in Eric Clapton as well.

A valid question. I always read it as "the expectation for this new form of music ('alternative') is that we're moving away from the trappings of classic rock, blues, pop metal...and so therefore the lead guitarists in the brave new world of the 1990s must not sound like Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, BB King, Eric Clapton or Carlos Santana..." and so forth. Keep in mind this was also a period where lots of bands were saying "I think guitar solos are played out, a thing of the past..." although to be fair it was generally the lead singer saying that and not the guitarist...

jessejamietig · Post by **jessejamietig** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:20 pm

That's valid, but I never lumped Pearl Jam into the 'Alternative' or 'Grunge' category.
I've always considered them a modern classic rock band(if that isn't too much of an
contradiction) like Bad Company or The Who. There were bands from that period which were all based on bands like Mudhoney, The Minutemen or The Pixies(who Nirvana ripped off liberally from). Unfortunately, Pearl Jam had the misfortune of being from Seattle in the early 90's and lumped into the 'Grunge' category.

The other side of that argument is that they might not have had the success that they did if they hadn't come out at that time and been from Seattle.

I'm still not saying that Mike McCready is the best guitarist ever, but he gets the job done and serves the songs well.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:58 pm

jessejamietig wrote:That's valid, but I never lumped Pearl Jam into the 'Alternative' or 'Grunge' category.

Many many many other people did, however.

jessejamietig wrote: I've always considered them a modern classic rock band(if that isn't too much of an
contradiction) like Bad Company or The Who. There were bands from that period which were all based on bands like Mudhoney, The Minutemen or The Pixies(who Nirvana ripped off liberally from). Unfortunately, Pearl Jam had the misfortune of being from Seattle in the early 90's and lumped into the 'Grunge' category.

The other side of that argument is that they might not have had the success that they did if they hadn't come out at that time and been from Seattle.

I'd certainly agree with that other side. You may consider them "modern classic rock" but keep in mind how completely out of fashion "classic rock" was in 1992...

jessejamietig wrote: I'm still not saying that Mike McCready is the best guitarist ever, but he gets the job done and serves the songs well.

Eh, he's fine. He's certainly no Eric Clapton or B.B. King. But he's about on par with or better than some of the other lead guitarists of the period, in bands like Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Dada or Soul Asylum...

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:56 pm

jessejamietig wrote:I'm just throwing this out there and, everyone will probably give me shit for it, but
why is Mike McCready considered a hack for using the same blues scales for solos,
yet guys like BB King can get away with it for 50 years and is a genius? For that matter, you can lump in Eric Clapton as well.

it doesn't have anything to do with using the same old scales, it's what you do with them. and to me, mccready falls back on super-stock licks of the

-12
----15-12
-----------14

variety way too often. whereas bb king doesn't even need to bother with licks, he can just hit that one note with that vibrato, collect his check and go home.

fwiw i'd rather listen to mccready than clapton any day. hell, throw santana in there as well. could never stand either of those guys.

chickenbop · Post by **chickenbop** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 8:20 pm

I have to say that clapton is the most boring over-rated guitarist of all time.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:07 pm

nasty wrote:I have to say that clapton is the most boring over-rated guitarist of all time.

I read that so often on here it's like...well, it's like you're talking about Steely Dan. I just kinda tune it out anymore.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:18 am

yeah but c'mon dwlby, the simple, inescapable fact of the matter is that clapton suxxx. you can play guitar miles better than him. hell, i'd even rather listen to walter becker's insufferable non-commital jazz meanderings than hear another note of clapton.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:46 pm

Flattery will get you everywhere, Scott.

jessejamietig · Post by **jessejamietig** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:07 am

I'm not a fan of Eric Clapton as well, but I do have to tell one story.

I was working at a studio 12 years ago and I saw on the schedule that we were doing overdubs for the latest John Lee Hooker record. I didn't think much of it because we had been tracking and mixing most of the record. Then at 8:45 am, the door rang so I opened it as usual. Then I saw Eric Clapton standing there saying "Good morning".

I never gave too shits about him before or since, but I was so shocked to see the man from Cream and The Yardbirds in front of me. I then loaded in his amp and then went for his black strat, and was stopped by his tech.

I do have to say he is a solid player. His amp was set up, he hit one cord, and then proceeded to lay down the track in one take. Twenty-five minutes later he was gone. It was one of the coolest sessions I was eve involved with. Yet funnily enough, I've never bought or will buy a Clapton record.

Sorry for the ramble.

P.S. B.B. King can kiss my ass. I'm tired of hearing that same two note vibrato solo he always does. Plus does he really need to shill for diabetes test meters?

Also, No Code is the best Pearl Jam record ever.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:46 am

jessejamietig wrote: P.S. B.B. King can kiss my ass. I'm tired of hearing that same two note vibrato solo he always does. Plus does he really need to shill for diabetes test meters?

re: shilling. Whatevs. Not gonna get into that this morning. Anyway, I think B.B. is as sick of the 2-note vibrato solo as you are--I heard more than ten years ago that he has a guy ghost for him on his own records.

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