The Petty nod from Ed in Never Destination is ridiculously blunt but flows into the final lines so we’ll.

This. Jeff, if I have to pick a band member. Also, kudos to Mike on the tones and some of his most inventive shredding in a while.

I third this.

Yeah, that jumped out at me too, and I absolutely loved it! Lol. It totally works, and coming at the end of the song, it begs for extended jamming live. Guaranteed.

Early on, this is a tough call.

These guys brought their A-game:
Jeff
Ed
Matt
Josh

I can't knock Mike, but he didn't stand out to me yet.

And, we have no idea what Stone brought to this sessions that got tossed aside. It is entirely possible he had a lot more to offer, but his ideas just didn't fit into scope of this album which sounds quite cohesive.

I was expecting to love the music throughout only to be brought down a notch or two by Ed. More than pleasantly surprised that he almost always stayed in the pocket. Love his "aggressive acoustic" on Comes Then Goes.

I guess I'd give the co-MVP honors to Jeff and Josh. Jeff really put his stamp on this album. Josh gave much needed air to these recordings. He is going to be a very busy man.

Stone helped out big time on DOTC, and like most of the band, as credit on Seven O'Clock, so he's there in other parts too helping.

Stone, by far.

Stone is always the MVP

The entire band sounds fantastic. Ed’s lyrics and vocals are better than they’ve been since Binaural. And the production on Gigaton is absolutely gorgeous. It’s phenomenal.

If Ed truly pieced this all together, then he deserves it along with Josh Evans. Jeff is definitely on the podium though.

I've only listened to the album once, but I'd vote for MATT

Gotta be Josh Evans. It's not the greatest collection of PJ songs ever (hello Yield) but it sounds the best. Like you can crank it up in your headphones to hear the details and not blow out your eardrums kind of good.

Thanks to Josh and JA, I think we have a soundtrack for the apocalypse.

listening to the good copy of this all the way through really shows how mr. ed completely delivers throughout this record. he varies his style and embodies each song in a different way, always staying within the song's demands. it's a mature, professional approach that suits a 55 year old dude.

he is excellent top to bottom

Other than the first two or three minutes of Retrograde, yes.

you might not like the song but i do think his singing suits what it gives him.

I agree, which is all the more surprising given I've usually felt Ed's vocals and lyrics to be a weak point on the band's recent work, and never more so than on Can't Deny Me, recorded presumably only shortly before most of the Gigaton material. It's quite a dramatic contrast.

Breaking their routine and recording in a more contemporary, less restrictive way really seems to have opened up the band's creativity. I can only guess that Brendan's worst influence in the last few years was pushing the band away from their more loosely-defined ideas. I remember that Ed played Unthought Known a few times at his solo shows before it was brought to the band for Backspacer and (from memory) it seemed a little less anthemic, a bit more wayward. It makes me wonder how that song, and others like it, might've turned out with a less regimented, commercially-focused mindset at the helm.

yeah, i think it's very difficult to make records and when you have a top-of-the-industry facilitator like BOB working with you, it's all too easy to go in the direction he sends you. a band like pearl jam (older guys with families and responsibilities) are happy to have BOB be a kind of sixth member that gets them to the finish line of a new record. but, as they found, there are diminishing returns to that style or recording.