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It’s so easy for the band in comparison. Two recording sessions and they are just waiting while poor Ed is tinkering away trying to make sure the landing sticks.
You can really gather Watt's mix technique with the immersive sonic opening -- every instrument tweaked to the max. Eddie's vocal lead in at 4:25 kick into a great Matt push on the drums, swapping the double time to the straight time so well, make for a killer track.
Joined: Thu December 13, 2012 6:31 pm Posts: 40073
Birds in Hell wrote:
strizz wrote:
It’s hard to make lyrical interpretations when the music was, by all accounts, made in such an off-the-cuff and in the moment fashion ...
Just to isolate this thought for a moment, has Ed confirmed he actually wrote the lyrics during those sessions, in which case he would've had to work very quickly?
Unless he did, I'm tempted to think the band got the musical ideas down, and Ed probably came up with some rough melodies, but that he worked on the actual final lyrics during the year-long break from final session until the album was actually released.
In addition to the recordings done in LA, the liner notes confirm further recordings occurred at "GT Studios" and "Jump Site Studios" in Seattle. Two points to make about that are that there are no commercial studios I can find with those names in Seattle, so I think they're probably references to the band's own studio (in the warehouse) and Ed's home studio, and that the same locations are referenced in the Gigaton liner notes.
Just a hunch, but I suspect Ed's final vocals were recorded in these Seattle sessions and that he probably laboured over the final lyrics for much of last year.
There is an unusual amount of information (by Pearl Jam standards) out there about the actual recording process for this one. I believe Eddie was writing and singing while the band was recording, so at least some of this is on the spot. But that's good detective work on your part, so I'm sure there was additional writing happening in places, especially since there was a year between sessions
It’s hard to make lyrical interpretations when the music was, by all accounts, made in such an off-the-cuff and in the moment fashion ...
Just to isolate this thought for a moment, has Ed confirmed he actually wrote the lyrics during those sessions, in which case he would've had to work very quickly?
Unless he did, I'm tempted to think the band got the musical ideas down, and Ed probably came up with some rough melodies, but that he worked on the actual final lyrics during the year-long break from final session until the album was actually released.
In addition to the recordings done in LA, the liner notes confirm further recordings occurred at "GT Studios" and "Jump Site Studios" in Seattle. Two points to make about that are that there are no commercial studios I can find with those names in Seattle, so I think they're probably references to the band's own studio (in the warehouse) and Ed's home studio, and that the same locations are referenced in the Gigaton liner notes.
Just a hunch, but I suspect Ed's final vocals were recorded in these Seattle sessions and that he probably laboured over the final lyrics for much of last year.
This is definitely possible, and you may be right. Though certain interview quotes from Ed and Watt make me think that Ed wrote a good amount of lyrics on-site during the band’s recording sessions. I can’t remember which of the recent interviews with Ed, but I believe he said he had a room or trailer set up at Shangri-La with a typewriter where he would go to write lyrics. And see below quote from Watt’s Spin interview. But it also wouldn’t surprise me at all if Ed went back to Seattle afterwards and further wrote/recorded. All very interesting!
“I mean, he’s incredible. He’s at the center of it all. Because of how intensely we were working, he was just flowing. There wasn’t time for me to stop and be like, hey man, what’s this about? His voice means so much to me. It was the voice I’d listen to in headphones as a kid, whether it was ‘Leash’ or ‘Nothingman,’ wallowing in tears and feeling that emotion. I’ve always felt so connected to the words coming out of him and applying whatever he’s feeling in that moment to my own life. There were some moments when songs were being written, and I would close my eyes and instantly go back to my childhood bedroom. I’d open my eyes, and he’s right there, now. All I can say is that the lyrical content is extremely intense and extremely soul-gripping and really, really affected me as we were making this music.”
It’s hard to make lyrical interpretations when the music was, by all accounts, made in such an off-the-cuff and in the moment fashion ...
Just to isolate this thought for a moment, has Ed confirmed he actually wrote the lyrics during those sessions, in which case he would've had to work very quickly?
Unless he did, I'm tempted to think the band got the musical ideas down, and Ed probably came up with some rough melodies, but that he worked on the actual final lyrics during the year-long break from final session until the album was actually released.
In addition to the recordings done in LA, the liner notes confirm further recordings occurred at "GT Studios" and "Jump Site Studios" in Seattle. Two points to make about that are that there are no commercial studios I can find with those names in Seattle, so I think they're probably references to the band's own studio (in the warehouse) and Ed's home studio, and that the same locations are referenced in the Gigaton liner notes.
Just a hunch, but I suspect Ed's final vocals were recorded in these Seattle sessions and that he probably laboured over the final lyrics for much of last year.
There is an unusual amount of information (by Pearl Jam standards) out there about the actual recording process for this one. I believe Eddie was writing and singing while the band was recording, so at least some of this is on the spot. But that's good detective work on your part, so I'm sure there was additional writing happening in places, especially since there was a year between sessions
I’m sure he got a few preliminary ideas down when they were working as a band but I find it difficult to believe he did the bulk of the lyric writing (and vocal recording) for the whole record during those intensive sessions. I haven’t seen anything that suggested that.
In terms of recording, I would expect all of Ed’s final vocals were done at or around the same time and location, mainly for consistency in sound. I suspect that was a longer process which gave Ed space to refine the ideas he’d begun working on during the band sessions.
Awesome intro and then gets killed by total change up in tempo and turns into nothing as it seems 2, which isnt necesarily a compliment. Not great thus far.
Awesome intro and then gets killed by total change up in tempo and turns into nothing as it seems 2, which isnt necesarily a compliment. Not great thus far.
I went from lukewarm to fuck ya in the matter of less than 10 listens.
Seriously the 1st time was like….wtf. It was a serious grower for me.
Awesome intro and then gets killed by total change up in tempo and turns into nothing as it seems 2, which isnt necesarily a compliment. Not great thus far.
Hang in, Frumpy. Don't dismiss it.
_________________ We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
likes rhythmic things that butt up against each other
Joined: Wed February 26, 2020 8:43 am Posts: 771
strizz wrote:
It’s hard to make lyrical interpretations when the music was, by all accounts, made in such an off-the-cuff and in the moment fashion. But it feels like to me that Upper Hand is the thematic and lyrical keystone to the album.
Harkening back to Stip’s guided tour of Vitalogy, the narrator writing a suicide note, but with a “shaky hand” - not yet having decided whether to take his life or not. If that narrator had chosen to live on, what kind of note would he write now, 30 years hence, and to whom would he write it? The answer is revealed in the last lines of Upper Hand. He would write to his fans, but more specifically, to his two biggest fans: his two daughters (“just the two of you”). This song is ultimately a letter to them, and the album overall is an ode and missive to them.
I think clues that this album is written to and for his daughters is littered throughout the record. Obviously in Something Special, but also poignantly in Waiting for Stevie, describing the girl losing and finding herself in a concert crowd. Upper Hand is a message from someone approaching the end (whether of their career or their life), to their loved ones, and reflecting on the question “what did it all mean?” Yes, he played on the biggest stages and traveled the world (“all the lights and sights we saw”), and he even made his own impact on music and culture (“we filled them up… and painted some”). But ultimately, he was always just a music fan who wanted connection, and had the fortune of affecting others with his art. He was never a rock god or someone to be idolized. He was never better than any of his adorers, never had the “upper hand.” He was just a fan himself, who could just as easily have seen himself on the other side of the stage barricade, and who wanted to share that joy of music with those who listened (“And I hope the people are smiling. Oh, how I always wanted to be like one of them.”) Most importantly, at the end of the day, he wanted to share it with the two most important people to him. They are all that he really needs, what he was looking for all along, the ones who are his home.
I think that Ed has always been reluctant to look backwards in his writing. There has always been a forward-looking posture or a sense of the now/present. Even in the songs that dwell on mortality, the focus has been on living gracefully in light of that (Sirens), or relishing the time one still has left (Future Days). But I think this song, and this album in general, find him much more comfortable looking back and reflecting. He does so inspired by, and for, his daughters. Some have commented that the ghost of Chris Cornell hangs over much of the record, and I certainly hear that, too, in both the lyrics and music. But I think that that this is still refracted through the prism of fatherhood. The greatest remorse is that Cornell will never get to see his own kids grow up in the way that Ed has and will (“If you could see what I see now, you'd find a way to stay somehow”).
If you made it this far, thank you all from a longtime reader and enjoyer of this forum. I'm loving the album, and everyone’s great reactions to it.
I’ve listened to both Upper Hand and Setting Sun while centering Chris Cornell and the entire grunge scene they came from, and it makes a lot of sense. This might be more a dirge for the whole grunge family. And Eddie knows the end for them is inevitably coming up soon to, so it’s fitting that this album harkens back to their roots. It’s both looking back at all the great times they’ve had and a lament at them inevitably ending. Not just the band, but the whole sound and ‘scene’ they came from. They are the last ones standing. If they are to go out let them go out in a bang, let them not fade.
Finally joined the rest of the world by getting to listen to this album. I'm spinning it a few more times to settle into it, but this really jumped out as a huge highlight for me. A strange song that somehow just absolutely landed for me on the first listen.
Awesome intro and then gets killed by total change up in tempo and turns into nothing as it seems 2, which isnt necesarily a compliment. Not great thus far.
Hang in, Frumpy. Don't dismiss it.
It will click, Frumpy.
I've seen too many jam band shows (Panic, Phish, etc.) and I don't think any of those bands have captured in the studio what Pearl Jam captured at the end of Upper Hand.
That's a quality post from Strizz, there. It usually takes me a while to suss out lyrics and then longer to extrapolate meaning, but I picked up on a bit of that thread concerning those who were lost missing out on the things that Pearl Jam has gotten to experience in their age. I agree that might be an important thread for the entire thematic thread of the album.
Joined: Fri January 04, 2013 1:46 am Posts: 2843 Location: Connecticut
Fattie_Vedder wrote:
strizz wrote:
It’s hard to make lyrical interpretations when the music was, by all accounts, made in such an off-the-cuff and in the moment fashion. But it feels like to me that Upper Hand is the thematic and lyrical keystone to the album.
Harkening back to Stip’s guided tour of Vitalogy, the narrator writing a suicide note, but with a “shaky hand” - not yet having decided whether to take his life or not. If that narrator had chosen to live on, what kind of note would he write now, 30 years hence, and to whom would he write it? The answer is revealed in the last lines of Upper Hand. He would write to his fans, but more specifically, to his two biggest fans: his two daughters (“just the two of you”). This song is ultimately a letter to them, and the album overall is an ode and missive to them.
I think clues that this album is written to and for his daughters is littered throughout the record. Obviously in Something Special, but also poignantly in Waiting for Stevie, describing the girl losing and finding herself in a concert crowd. Upper Hand is a message from someone approaching the end (whether of their career or their life), to their loved ones, and reflecting on the question “what did it all mean?” Yes, he played on the biggest stages and traveled the world (“all the lights and sights we saw”), and he even made his own impact on music and culture (“we filled them up… and painted some”). But ultimately, he was always just a music fan who wanted connection, and had the fortune of affecting others with his art. He was never a rock god or someone to be idolized. He was never better than any of his adorers, never had the “upper hand.” He was just a fan himself, who could just as easily have seen himself on the other side of the stage barricade, and who wanted to share that joy of music with those who listened (“And I hope the people are smiling. Oh, how I always wanted to be like one of them.”) Most importantly, at the end of the day, he wanted to share it with the two most important people to him. They are all that he really needs, what he was looking for all along, the ones who are his home.
I think that Ed has always been reluctant to look backwards in his writing. There has always been a forward-looking posture or a sense of the now/present. Even in the songs that dwell on mortality, the focus has been on living gracefully in light of that (Sirens), or relishing the time one still has left (Future Days). But I think this song, and this album in general, find him much more comfortable looking back and reflecting. He does so inspired by, and for, his daughters. Some have commented that the ghost of Chris Cornell hangs over much of the record, and I certainly hear that, too, in both the lyrics and music. But I think that that this is still refracted through the prism of fatherhood. The greatest remorse is that Cornell will never get to see his own kids grow up in the way that Ed has and will (“If you could see what I see now, you'd find a way to stay somehow”).
If you made it this far, thank you all from a longtime reader and enjoyer of this forum. I'm loving the album, and everyone’s great reactions to it.
I’ve listened to both Upper Hand and Setting Sun while centering Chris Cornell and the entire grunge scene they came from, and it makes a lot of sense. This might be more a dirge for the whole grunge family. And Eddie knows the end for them is inevitably coming up soon to, so it’s fitting that this album harkens back to their roots. It’s both looking back at all the great times they’ve had and a lament at them inevitably ending. Not just the band, but the whole sound and ‘scene’ they came from. They are the last ones standing. If they are to go out let them go out in a bang, let them not fade.
This is pretty much how I see it, too. His peers are mostly gone, Cornell hit him really hard, he’s getting older, kids growing up…hitting the last stride in life. The loss of his peers (or loss itself) are front and center, though. The album makes sense this way.
After several more listens this one keeps getting stronger and stronger. Any early favorite turning into a real potential mainstay.
This was the one I wanted to talk about the most with my wife when we left the movie theater listening party and it's the one I look forward to the most with each new spin.
Agreed, this is the one that's continued to bounce around my head. The intro, Ed's phrasing on the chorus ("I'm sorry..."), the outro that starts out sounding like a mistake, until you can hear the sound of the band gaining confidence as they go. It really struck me.
Agreed, this is the one that's continued to bounce around my head. The intro, Ed's phrasing on the chorus ("I'm sorry..."), the outro that starts out sounding like a mistake, until you can hear the sound of the band gaining confidence as they go. It really struck me.
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