That particular part in Daughter flummoxes me because it’s such an easy line to craft a replacement melody for. I bet anybody here could conjure up a perfectly fine replacement delivery for “rise above” in their heads…one that stays close to his current comfort zone and sounds good in that moment. No need to reach that hard for it.

I don't think it's that hard for him to hit that note when warmed up. Moving away from the mic when he hits an intense note is something he has been doing for a while. You could see him doing it during some of the screams in LROM at the VH1 performance. I guessed it was probably to avoid sounding too loud and overpowering everything else, but it could also be a tactic to avoid highlighting a missed note when not feeling warmed up/confident enough.

100% the latter. If he wanted to not overpower stuff, he has the mic control for that.

And it's all fine. But it's a good argument for the songwriting choices he makes going forward.

moving away from the mic during high notes is mic control

Now that I’ve listen a bit, I think this is the album they tried to make with backspacer but weren’t in the right headspace at the time. FoN, Unthought, and Amoungst all fit right in on DM.

Yes but it's control to not let anyone hear that he can't hit the notes. Even basic mic technique -- like the kind he probably had in 1992 -- would allow for him to pull back enough not to overpower the music, but still let the audience hear him hit the notes. In other words, he's pulling so far back on purpose so we can't hear him.

Good post.

He hardly ever hits that note anymore

Agree it’s the latter and he does it on GTF and other songs now.

Hey, yes I was referring to the falsetto high note(which was never a problem in the past but has become an problem since 2022)after the Rise above part(he struggles nowadays with the rise above part). Believe me not knocking him, just pointing out.

The mic thing doesn't bother me in live shows because of the crowd. It's weird in a studio setting. Just sing a different melody as others have mentioned.

I'll do you one better and say that I'm simply stymied as to why he wants to keep hitting notes in the studio that he can't hit on stage.

I totally get why he's still swinging for the fences on beloved classics, because that's how his audience knows the songs. But going forward, why wouldn't he just write things from the position of "Can I sing this multiple nights a week?"

More incentive to play some Riot Act songs.

I have wondered about this too. See the end of lightning bolt(song) and the end of infallible. He was struggling with those parts in 2013.

I have personally landed on that in his mind the studio recording will live longer than any live show they put out, so make it as good as he is capable of making it. And that hitting the note once or twice in the studio is not a problem, especially when the song is fresh.

But here we are talking bout Ed voice again……

ahh that Ledbetter was gorgeous. Mike sounds so fucking good, but actually the whole band does.

I loved that pedals stuff at the end and yes, i agree they seem so fucking happy

I have no interest in them writing songs that they can nail live. If they can do it in the studio, that's great. Live shows are great, but probably .0001% of the total music I listen to.

I'll hold my judgement until I hear it in a live venue, in terms of whether or not he can hit the note. He pulled back (an attribute we can all chalk up to muscle memory) in a room wired for satellite radio broadcast, and you know that mic isn't wired to pick up everything otherwise the bleed would be tremendous. It's disingenuous of you to have a qualified, educated opinion all over this board about a record's mix or production choices and ignore the obvious deficit live musicians (and the audio professionals on hand) have to battle when it comes to live broadcast.

There are other issues here, Trag, like your inability to get even remotely excited about a band you purportedly love in their last few miles having the planet-sized cajones to play a largely untested new track for a massive audience with all the limitations live broadcast presents, while also delivering so masterfully on quality of sound and performance.

All of that is to say, my tolerance for your monopoly on the position of "guy who gets the nuances of professional audio" ends when I see your criticism breaching the tip of the horseshoe, just kissing the other end of that critical spectrum which also sadly permeates this thread: HE HAS A HAT DURRRR.

Same - I don't know that he'll be able to nail every moment of the final minute and a half of got to give, but the version I'll be listening to for the rest of my life, he does. And the handful of times I hear it live in person, there will be 10,000 other people singing it. The actual bootlegs are a very small part of my pearl jam listening diet.

I fully recognize that's not everyone, though

Also i liked what Boom does on Ledbetter.

Really nice to have both Daughter and Ledbetter on a studio live broadcast thing too.

From my memory there are notes on WFS and a section of GTG that will be challenging for Ed live. Otherwise though I think he will do well and I think if he is “on” it could make for some pretty memorable performances.