#and 2) the missteps here on a thematic level are clear to me

[boysnberriespie]

Managed to stave off tears all through class but got home and immediately started crying

[totalrockfiend]

Pearl Jam Gets Inducted Into Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame... Which Offers the Perfect Excuse to Rank Their Top 5 Albums

If you have even a casual eye cast toward the current Rock scene, you’re well aware that Pearl Jam was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Jammers were a shoo-in as first ballot inductees, not only for ushering in the “return to rock roots” Grunge era, which killed off the late ‘80s wave of Hair Metal-induced Rock excess, but also for contributing to the alternative rock explosion that dominated the ‘90s mainstream music scene.

But the band has looooooooooooooooooooooong inspired as much derision as celebration. This dates back to Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain’s harsh indictment of the band, casting them as trend hopping commercial opportunists merely capitalizing on the crazed Grunge fervor of the early ‘90s. The irony of Cobain’s perspective was PJ front man (and eventually band leader), Eddie Vedder, shared a markedly similar ethos. 

All of that angst was washed away, however, in the wake of Cobain’s death and Pearl Jam’s string of multi-platinum albums. PJ crescendoed into the mainstream, and they seemingly became who we thought they were. Or so we thought...

The band consciously turned away from the media eye, likely at the behest of Vedder, who’d wrestled control away from founder and initial de facto leader, guitarist Stone Gossard. PJ refused to release singles or  videos, submit for interviews with major media outlets, and eschewed most traditional promotional gambits; took on Ticketmaster’s virtual monopoly on venue ticket sales, refusing to play any Ticketmaster controlled venues (essentially dooming them to play nowhere); and released a DECIDEDLY noncommercial album in the form of the world music-influenced, No Code.

Since then, Pearl Jam has basically reconciled with Ticketmaster (or risen the white flag, you decide...). And reconstituted themselves as working band that releases well-written, expertly-craft albums (which lean more toward classic ‘60s + ‘70s rock than their Grunge era, noise-rock alternative roots) and mounts massive world wide tours in support of said albums. The band’s earns their daily bread off sold out tours consistently attended by a sizable, if relatively static, fan base PJ cultivated in the early aughts, when the band became largely a touring act.

But though the PJ’s live prowess has grown legendary, Vedder and Co wouldn’t have reached Rock Hall status if it weren’t for the fantastic songs and albums that populate their considerable musical portfolio. As such, I feel duty bound to celebrated the band’s output with my own personal Top 5.

While many fans celebrate PJ’s Grunge era albums as the pinnacle of their musical production, I appreciate their entire catalog (perhaps because I’m a sucker for ‘60s +’70s era classic rock, and hone in on bands that wear those influences proudly). But as my following Top 5 will reveal, i still clearly have a soft spot for PJ‘s early, noise influenced roots myself.

1. Versus

For more casual PJ fans, slotting any album above the debut release, Ten, is akin to musical sacrilege. Meanwhile, if you speak with dedicated, long-time fans, Verses, or its follow up, Vitalogy, are most likely their choice of fave PJ album. 

While Ten is packed with a several of the bands best singles, PJ has yet to coalesce as a band. Vedder came into the fray when the majority of the music was already complete. The album’s drummer proved merely a fill-in skinsman. And Ten’s recording was helmed by a “good enough for now” producer in Rick Parashar (no offense to Ten producer, Rick, but the band never sought his services again).

Versus, however, saw the introduction of Dave Abbruzzese, the best drummer among the five to ascend PJ’s drum throne (no offense to the immensely talented Matt Cameron, but Dave Abbruzzese’s sound and style provided the ideal fit for Pearl Jam’s particular sonic palette). Abbruzzese, fresh off a massive two year PJ world tour, was not only locked-in, but laid down a tight, focused, slightly groovy (leaning toward the Chili Pepper’s vein of funk rock drumming) drum sound that kicked the band’s rhythm section and overall sound to a new, and frankly far better level. 

Versus was also the first collaboration with producer Brendan O’Brien, who would become a sixth member of sorts and go on to produce nearly all of the PJ’s subsequent albums. And O’Brien’s tightly compressed, highly dynamic, radio-ready sound was instrumental in vaulting Versus to a Billboard #1 debut, selling nearly 2 million units in the album’s first week of release.

The album rages right out of the gate with drums-forward and air-tight riffing sound of Go, followed the equally ferocious Animal. From there, Verses steps into the gorgeous folky ballad, Daughter, which along with the later track, Elderly Women Behind the Counter in a Small Town, rank among PJ’s strongest, most evocative ballads to date. The album goes on to address a variety of social issues in Glorified G (gun control), W.M.A. (the police’s questionable treatment of minorities), and Rats (a rumination of society’s increasingly numb disaffection). The social angle is particularly notable here because no one in mainstream rock was calling out these growing societal ills at the time. Meanwhile all have become causes de jure.

In the sum total, the band’s performances, the production and the songwriting quality add up to the best album in PJ’s formidable catalog.

2. Vitalogy

As I mentioned above, among the Pearl Jam devote, the vote over the band’s best album is largely split between Versus + Vitalogy.

In many ways, Vitalogy is Versus Part II. The album applies the Versus template: Roaring rockers (Last Exit, Spin the Black Circle, Whipping, Satan’s Bed), emotive ballads (Nothingman and Better Man), and mid-tempo, classic rock influenced tunes (Corduroy and Immortality).

Vitalogy, however, adds a few new wrinkles, good and bad, to the PJ mix. Additions that perhaps foreshadow the direction of their abysmal follow up album, No Code. Aye Davanita has a loping, unfocused, world music feel that kind of misses the mark. Pry, To is a minute long noise freak-out that features Vedder continuously repeating an unintelligible phrase over wailing guitars and cacophonous drums. Bugs, a Tom Waites influenced “ballad” of sorts, has Vedder ruminating on planet Earth’s inevitable takeover by our considerable insect population, set to a discordant accordion backing track. Hey Foxmohandlemama, That’s Me is a sound collage a la the Beatle’s Revolution #9 that’s no more coherent and no less pretentious than the famed Liverpudlians’ inexplicable White Album add-on.

The new “wrinkles” certainly don’t tarnish the album or hurt it’s overall quality. In fact, the tunes add sparkle and spice to the whole affair. But in comparison to Versus’ tightly-focused 12 song attack, Vitalogy clocks in as a clear second place finisher. 

One side note, though. Vitalogy plays host to my personal fave PJ tune, Corduroy. With a quiet, tension-building intro; thundering, overwhelming choruses; and bouncy verse, Corduroy is study in dynamics. And thematically, the tune is classic Vedder. “I would rather starve than eat your bread...” is just one of many lines championing the under-class. Dynamics aside, Corduroy is emblematic of the classic rock-influenced sound the band would eventually shift toward.

3. Yield

Following the sonic and commercial misstep, No Code, Yield was heralded as Pearl Jam’s “return to form.” And what a form Yield encompasses! Despite the title’s sentiment, Yield comes roaring right out of the gate with the ferocious Brain of J, rollicking Faithful, and the plodding yet noisy No Way. The album turns it up here, in a fashion, with a pair of perfectly polished radio singles, Given to Fly and Wishlist (PJ’s first singles since Ten). 

The album’s middle and late noisy rockers, and the niffy closing ballad, All Those Yesterdays, combine with the opening salvo makes Yield an impressive outing. No quite up to the (considerably high) bar set by Versus + Vitalogy. But a strong album none-the-less, and stunning turnaround in the wake of PJ’s No Code doldrums.

4. Ten

Ten, “the album that started it all.” And what an album it is! My introduction, to both Pearl Jam and Ten, can in the form the Alive video, which debut on MTV’s Headbangers Ball in early September, 1991. A slower tempo, thoughtful tune, Alive was not typical Headbangers Ball fare. PJ’s jeans and flannel attire, already a rock uniform for many a disenfranchised youth, and the band’s Seattle origins, a city that had already begat burgeoning metal acts, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, most likely helped land Alive on the then popular Friday late night show.

Following the Headbangers premier, I snapped up a copy of Ten form my local Tower Records, and was immediately seduced by what was clearly a stunning debut album from a band intent upon unending the status quo in the mainstream rock scene of the day. Once, Even Flow, Why Go, and Deep are noisy rock master works, while Porch, a Vedder composition, sport an incredible riff as heavy as it is catchy. In addition to the amazing rockers, Ten is also includes two haunting, dark ballad, the tortured jam, Black, and the bleak Jeremy, replete with bassist Jeff Ament’s chiming 12-string bass. But Ten’s sonic diversity doesn’t end there, as Oceans, Garden and Release all offer, distinctive, exploratory soundscapes unlike anything found in hard rock at the time.

Ten rocketed the Pearl Jam to the top of the dawning ‘90s alt-rock heap, selling over 13 million copies (13x Platinum, a certified Diamond release). But as fantastic an album as Ten, and the singles it bore may be, I still contend it only hints at Pearl Jam’s potential and talent. Potential the was far more fully realize on their next two follow ups, Versus + Vitalogy.

5. Lightening Bolt

Riot Act, Biaural, and PJ’s 2006 eponymous release saw Pearl Jam in a bit of a holding pattern. Those albums, though well-crafted showcases of solid songwriting, strong performances and capable production, leaned a bit too heavily on a classic rock vibe. Don’t get me wrong, the songs and sounds on these albums are by no means bad. The classic rock obsessed Vedder is capable of crafting excellent ‘60s + ‘70 flavored tune like nobody’s business. But that approach leaves out the band’s noise-rock, grunge roots, which are integral elements of the sound that made PJ so distinctive all those years ago. 

2009′s Backspacer was a more definitive attempt to recapture PJ’s grunge roots, and included several successful chart singles (The Fixer, Among the Waves). But by the album’s mid-way point, the songs all began to sound the same, blending into one long, indeterminate rocked-up soundscape.

But rather than trying for a “return to form,” with Lightening Bolt, Pearl Jam has simply settled into doing what they do best... Serving up a mix of noise-inflected rockers (Mind Your Manners, My Father’s Son, Lightening Bolt), mid-tempo classic rock-influenced jams (Getaway, Swallowed Whole, Infallible), and emotive ballads (Sirens, Pendulum, Sleeping By Myself).

The album certainly doesn’t have the fresh-faced immediacy of Ten, or the tightly-focused ferocity of Versus or Vitalogy. But some 25+ after their start, it stands to reason Pearl Jam has changed. The members are no longer hungry for musical success. No longer interested in conquering anything. They’ve already reached the mountain’s peak. Now they’re just doing to for the love of music. And where many a band in this position might turn out self-indulgent crap, Vedder and the boy’s are still committed to producing quality Rock ‘n Roll.

Congrats to the band on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, they’re clearly deserving of the honor. And here’s to another 25+ years in the game. Perhaps they’ll become America’s answer to the Rolling Stones? One can only hope!

[transgamerthoughts]

Final Fantasy XV: Thoughts and Ramblings

I’ve just finished a more detailed playthrough of Final Fantasy XV. There’s plenty to talk about but today is strange and my mind is scattered so I thought it best to keep things loose. It worked for Infinite Warfare. My general takeaway is that I like Final Fantasy XV more than I should. It is a broken, shattered game but one that managed to win me over in spite of itself.

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS POST

1. Let’s start positive here. FFXV has one of my favorite game worlds and settings in a long time. This is impressive given how surprisingly little of it we really explore in detail. There’s essentially two major cities in this game, with a handful of minor locations. Whereas other Final Fantasy games are globe trotting affairs, FFXV remains relatively local until the latter end of the game. 

By this point, you’re no longer dealing with an open world design however. For all intents and purposes, FFXV’s largest gameplay chuck takes place within the nation of Lucis and its various regions. The map isn’t dense with things to do but strong art direction and environment design gives ever location an air of believability that most games do not manage. It isn’t on the same level as The Witcher 3 but FF XV is chasing after the great Western open worlds and does so admirably. The world is fun to be in and feels steeped in a larger history and lore that feels suitably epic and magical.

2. The core cast of characters are enjoyable and memorable as well. The four party members banter and have clearly developing relationships. It adds a lot to the experience. There are weak links in the chain; Gladio tends to be far less personable than we are meant to believe and Ignis’ traits remain fairly static until a major bit of action in the plot physically handicaps him. These are minor complaints considering how well the group dynamics flow. By the end of the game, the four protagonists feel like true brothers.

The secondary cast is pretty fun as well. Iris is a charming and likable character who honestly should have accompanied the party longer than she did. Aranea makes for a memorable rival turned frenemy, and while we don’t get to spend too much time with Cor Leonis, his gravitas served the initial parts of the game very well. 

On top of this, we have one of the most memorable antagonists in the series history. Ardyn is charismatic, intelligent, watchable, and when the times demand it, he can become truly sinister. There are the subtle hints of true depth for this character; he feels complicated and worn. The plot fails to investigate his highly interesting history but he still manages to make an impression. I’ve not had this fun with a Final Fantasy villain in a long time.

3. A lot of these characters draw strength from strong vocal performances and animations. Ray Chase gives a shockingly good turn as Noctis, a character who starts petty and fairly unlikable grows into a commanding presence. Darin De Paul gives an outstanding turn as Ardyn, oozing charm while slipping into more sinister vocal ranges when needed. 

One of the best performances in the game actually comes from Robbie Daymond as Prompto. He brings a wonderful energy to the chipper gunslinger but also imbues him with a raw sense of vulnerability. The voce work merges well with quality animations. In particular, there’s a moment where Luna tells Ardyn that redemption is in his reach if he were to choose it and the facial animation manages to communicate an astounding range of thoughts and emotions within around five seconds. It’s great and shows how important the interplay between multiple disciplines are when creating digital performances.

4. Combat can be frustrating but I found that there’s a nice sense of push and pull to the entire affair. It’s not as technique heavy as Episode Duscae implied. Instead, the challenge is finding times to maintain your offensive actions and your defensive dodging stance. With larger groups of enemies, you will get tossed around from time to time and it can be frustrating. But after a while, you’ll find yourself slipping through guards to deliver big hits, performing strong combination attacks with your bros, and warping around the battlefield to perform deadly, magical acrobatics.

5. The game starts with an amazingly interesting core conceit that I think gets squandered. The road trip angle is given a new weight when Cor makes it clear that for Noctis to succeed against the empire, he needs to reclaim the power of the past kings of Lucis. Awesome. That sounds like a neat quest set up. But the game only has Noctis recover a few of these relics during the plot, sometimes without intending to. This then gives way to communion with the various gods around the world.

It would have been a perfectly acceptable and desirable plot to have Noctis seek out the power of kings and gods with the Empire hounding him along the way only for Ardyn to betray everyone near the latter half. In fact, that structure seems fundamentally etched into the structure of the game as an open world experience. And yet, the game abandons the quest for the king’s power, makes it unclear why Noctis is even seeking the gods (or rather, if they are seeking him), and the game totally abandons the Empire. 

The best example of this is Ravus. He’s the commander of Imperial forces, a skill swordsman, Luna’s brother, someone with a personal (if misplaced) grudge on the kingdom of Lucis, and all around bad dude. He was even in Kingsglaive. In FF XV, you encounter him once before he is blamed for the disastrous events in Altissia, turned into a daemon offscreen by Ardyn, and killed in one of the game’s most lack luster bossfights. This is frankly unacceptable from a series that managed to make me give a shit about villains as minor Scarlet and fuckin’ Heidegger but Ravus is basically Beatrix by way of Char Aznable and he’s completely misused. It’s downright sinful.

Similarly, the Emperor has a single scene. If the game took time to build him up, we might have had a betrayal as memorable as Kefka’s when Ardyn usurps power and tosses the realms into chaos. No such luck here. We also only see Minister Verstael for a single cutscene but this is the dude who runs the empire’s weapons program and manufactures MTs using knowledge gained from Ardyn. He’s also, technically, Prompto’s father. There’s loads of potential here that is also wasted because the game hits ludicrous speed after Altissia and never slows the fuck down. As the result, I feel like I’m missing a significant portion of the game.

6. In keeping with the botched story elements, we have the biggest missed opportunity when Ardyn basically creates and eternal night that lasts ten whole years. The world is plunged into chaos, daemons reign supreme, humanity is hiding in a few final bastions of resistance against the hordes. And yet, when we awake into the World of Ruin, we’re not given a new variation of the game map to explore. Instead, we get an expositional dump by Talcott before easily reuniting with out companions.

Yet, in the intervening ten years, a lot of stuff has happened. Ignis has become a badass blind warrior, Aranea has gone from Imperial mercenary to champion of the people with an entire army at her command, Iris, working alongside Cor, has become so awesome that she’s known as “Iris the Demonslayer,” and Talcott, the young boy we knew from years before, has become a veteran hunter in his own right.

Why do I not see the characters again? Imagine if I woke in the World of Ruin with only Gladio to greet me, ever faithful for years as guardian of the Crystal. Talcott joins us as a temporary guest character as we journey from settlement to settlement, helping restore order while also reuniting with our friends. We could help Cindy in a brief story sequence that reunites us with Prompto, we could encounter Aranea and Ignis as they search ancient ruins for information of how to defeat Ardyn, we could reinforce Cor and Iris at Gladio’s request in a battle against daemons attacking Lestallum.

 The set up is right there in the background but instead, we get an exposition dump, no satisfying reunion scene with the gang, and we’re able to immediately head to Insomnia to fight Ardyn. If the first half of the game is missing the Empire, the latter half of the game is missing basically everything.

8. In spite of these obvious oversights and missteps, the ending made me cry. It’s well done. I even think it could have been more dramatic. As it stands, Noctis gives up his life for the people of the world and the fates of his best bros feel ambiguous. I think they should have doubled down even harder on the heartbreak here and showed their last stand. If this is a game about gradually assuming responsibility, that needs to extend to the other protagonists in order to be thematically complete. 

I also think that while Ardyn should have died, there was no need to have the strange moment with him in the spirit realm. If we had someone gotten to understand Arydn’s past in more detail, perhaps during the time Noctis spends in the crystal, it would have been enough to land the final blow on him and wish him peace in the next life. The ending is good but I can’t help thinking it ought to have been great.

9. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think this game needed a codex. The world is full of amazingly interesting history that I’d gladly read about. Imagine walking into a dungeon and walking away with ancient lore you discovered on old tablets or spending time in Altissia with some type of tour guide and getting a beefier codex for it. As stated, the world is amazingly interesting. Lestallum is a city run by women, Titan is holding up a perpetually falling comet in the middle of Duscae, the Empire and Lucis had major wars, the tombs of old kings litter the land. This is interesting stuff I want to know more about

Say what you will about how FF XIII made the codex necessary to understanding I actually know the religion in that world and the cosmology. In FF XV, I still don’t quite understand what an Oracle is and that’s literally the profession of one of the (ostensibly) most important characters in the game.

10. Speaking of Luna, she suffers from the same issue as her brother; we don’t get to spend time with her. Occasionally, we see flashes to her life and her side journey but this is a powerful character. Instead, she is relegated largely to the sidelines until Altissia, where we reunite with her just long enough for Ardyn to kill her.  

Luna is a  prophet, mage, and priestess who can stare down literal gods and heal magical blight. FF XV could have easily given us moments where we play as here or structured itself such that we actually get worthwhile perspective cuts to what she was doing for much of the story. It would have made her death actually mean something.

11. This game has one of the best soundtracks of the series. It is a powerhouse and Yoko Shimomura nails just about every track. Shimomura has always done very well with strings and piano. Here, that strength aptly bridges the gap between the more realistic aspects of the setting with the fantasy. I don’t have an in depth analysis here. It’s just very good. 

In general, the biggest issue with FFXV is that is is fractured. The open world is great, if lacking in variety. But I forgive that because of how enrapturing it is. The characters are wonderful but the plot misuses them or ignores them constantly. I genuinely like this game but I know that a better scenario designer could have gotten something much more coherent. That’s the biggest problem; this game just falls apart by the end and even if it manages to hit a strong emotional climax, you’re let with the overwhelming feeling that while it was a good time, it could have been genuinely great.