The Grudge (WARNING: 26 years to #6?)

[_peterpwn]

When I saw pictures of Adam on the 10kdays Tour, mostly 2007-2010 periods, he was so sad and old, it was like he aged 20 years.
And that pretty much affect the whole team. I'm sure they all felt some kind of tiredness, and dead air, since Adam was burnt out as fuck.

And yes Danny can drum like no one else in the fucking world, Justin is THE partner for Adam, and no one else can replace Maynard, not even close...

But all four of them are capable of doing the magic we know as Tool because Tool is greater then them, Tool is a project, a concept, and most of all, its a Vision.
And its this Vision that brings out stuff from them, even they didnt think they had in them. Thats the excitement,awe, joy and satisfaction that drives people like these 4.
And this vision has to be seen by one chosen member, who is The Seer, who can ignite the rest of them, and can make decisions when decisions has to be made.

Remember it was him to quit his job, and it was his idea and his dream to create the band Tool. He had the urge, he had the calling, and he is the visionary mastermind in terms of Sound and in terms of Image and album packages and so on.
I just look at pictures made on the set of Parabola and Schism and so on, and as he is painting the actors bodies, working with lights, camera angles etc, I mean come on, that guy knows what he is doing, he has such a strong clear vision its unbelievable.

Danny, Justin and Maynard are on the same level of greatness, all 4 of them are beasts with their weapon, but every team needs a quarterback, and that qb would be nothing without the rest of the guys, but he is the leader.
I feel like Adam is what Syd Barrett, then Waters-Gilmour, then Waters, then Gilmour was for the Floyd. Every band needs That Guy, who goes after something, who saw something.

I was just mentioning this whole Adam situation because I'm really really curious where he stands now. They won the legal battle, he has a child, he made himself a comfortable life, he's painting oil in the UK and whatever.
I believe it was a frustrating and tedious few years, experiencing so many emotional shit (even tiredness,deadness, burning out, pain etc) and then a baby and a won battle and stuff like that.
I'm kind of curious if he is willing to dig that deep into his and the collective consciousness, now that he has a family. I'm curious if he still has it. If they still have it.

[_peterpwn]

I have to admit though, 10kdays had really showed me stuff recently that i have completely looked over and missed for the first time
I mean, Intension/Right in two, Lipan conjouring/Lostkeys/Rosetta Stoned are two monsters I have to listen almost every day its really fucking cool if you dont look at the lyrics
Wings/10kdays also a masterpiece. So this album is also important and has spark and vision and so on, its just the overall vibe that I felt sometimes was dull and dead here and there.
Sorry for the long comments

[Pimple]

I think this is a very interesting synopsis... Cheers for putting this forward...

[xZ1mM3r]

I have to admit though, 10kdays had really showed me stuff recently that i have completely looked over and missed for the first time
I mean, Intension/Right in two, Lipan conjouring/Lostkeys/Rosetta Stoned are two monsters I have to listen almost every day its really fucking cool if you dont look at the lyrics
Wings/10kdays also a masterpiece. So this album is also important and has spark and vision and so on, its just the overall vibe that I felt sometimes was dull and dead here and there.
Sorry for the long comments

Cool if you don't look at the lyrics?? Does this contradict your previous statement about all 4 of them being beasts with their weapons? You're saying Maynard is a beast with his weapon as long as you don't know what he's saying.

[hellboy]

I don't think the lyrics on 10k Days are anywhere near as bad as some make them out to be.

[xZ1mM3r]

I don't think the lyrics on 10k Days are anywhere near as bad as some make them out to be.

i actually really enjoy 10k days as an album. Right in Two is a great great song. the wings series is awesome. even vicarious, jambi and the pot have good lyrics. Every tool album has been different than the last but still 'tool-esque'.. and 10000 days was no different

[Ravenpig]

I don't think the lyrics on 10k Days are anywhere near as bad as some make them out to be.

They're not. 10K Days biggest flaw is that it followed Aenema and Lateralus.

[lo7us]

I don't think the lyrics on 10k Days are anywhere near as bad as some make them out to be.

They're not. 10K Days biggest flaw is that it followed Aenema and Lateralus.

QFT

[basejumper]

I don't think the lyrics on 10k Days are anywhere near as bad as some make them out to be.

They're not. 10K Days biggest flaw is that it followed Aenema and Lateralus.

QFT

Hmmm, Quantum Field Theory (QFT).... that could be a good explanation of why Tool seem to be from another world.

[_peterpwn]

You're saying Maynard is a beast with his weapon as long as you don't know what he's saying.

Exactly, but I mean it for 10kdays only.

One thing is that after I get used to the lyrics, and gave many time to the album, my attention and appreciation gradually moved towards musical storytelling and arrangements, and then the vocal part plays a different role in the experience, the rythm and the melodies become more important then the actual words.
And before that, the lyrics on this particular album always distracted me, and as the music was trying to suck me in, the vocal parts were working somehow against it.
I felt sometimes that these words are not as deep, not as poetic, not at the same level as the music itself is.
And as Maynard said it himself, Wings for marie was a huge mistake, because its beautiful, yes, and probably its a nice tool for people who has close relatives passed away, but its not universal, I mean, Schism can apply to any kind of fraction you experience, and it can mean many things to many people, but wings for marie is a personal issue, about Judith Marie, who was not close to me, and its not a theme I would write a Tool song about, and its not something I would like to hear over and over again everytime I listen to the song.
Intension/Right in two has a nice theme about human race and the fractured percepction we have about reality, but those lyrics are something you read once, okay you get it, but its nothing special. Theme is cool, execution is mediocre.
Too straightforward, too easy, and it probably was the initial idea, to get it through as many people as possible, but it doesnt do it for me. But when I realised what the other members doing through the whole song, and i focus on that, the whole stuff opened up to me and its so beautiful its one of the best music they have ever written.

Lyrics on previous albums always had a multilayered, you-can-interpret-it as you want flavour to them (Schism,Stinkfist etc), sometimes it was pure poetry only to trigger your imagination on a subsonscious level (Disposition), and it was rarely straight forward (Aenima, Reflection, etc). But in those straightforward songs there were also some kind odd, otherworldy, magical aura.
And the most important thing is, tracks on previous albums had lyrics wich are nice to read, digest, contemplate over and over again.

The only track I like lyrically is Jambi, (its just that talkbox thing that completely ruins it for me, its a nice effect yes but its really not my taste.)
And if its the grudge topic anyway, Vicarious and The Pot for me are the only two Tool songs I completely dislike in every way, lyrically, musically, everything sucks about them for my taste and tired and bored of listening to them.

So summa summarum MJK is a master at his weapon, he had relly nice ideas on 10kdays, (like the hilarious rap-like ramblings in rosetta stoned wich is pretty hard to do i guess, and its innovative), but the words dont live up to the musical quality and feeling and vibe (for me, for my personal taste), so I can enjoy those tracks only if I focus on the music, so the vocal parts are playing like instruments also, not as words.

So the answer to your question in short, is yes.

[lo7us]

Hmmm, Quantum Field Theory (QFT).... that could be a good explanation of why Tool seem to be from another world.

E.T. like Tool

E.T. phone LAMC and wasn't pleased.

[N.Y.H.C.]

You're saying Maynard is a beast with his weapon as long as you don't know what he's saying.

Exactly, but I mean it for 10kdays only.

One thing is that after I get used to the lyrics, and gave many time to the album, my attention and appreciation gradually moved towards musical storytelling and arrangements, and then the vocal part plays a different role in the experience, the rythm and the melodies become more important then the actual words.
And before that, the lyrics on this particular album always distracted me, and as the music was trying to suck me in, the vocal parts were working somehow against it.
I felt sometimes that these words are not as deep, not as poetic, not at the same level as the music itself is.
And as Maynard said it himself, Wings for marie was a huge mistake, because its beautiful, yes, and probably its a nice tool for people who has close relatives passed away, but its not universal, I mean, Schism can apply to any kind of fraction you experience, and it can mean many things to many people, but wings for marie is a personal issue, about Judith Marie, who was not close to me, and its not a theme I would write a Tool song about, and its not something I would like to hear over and over again everytime I listen to the song.
Intension/Right in two has a nice theme about human race and the fractured percepction we have about reality, but those lyrics are something you read once, okay you get it, but its nothing special. Theme is cool, execution is mediocre.
Too straightforward, too easy, and it probably was the initial idea, to get it through as many people as possible, but it doesnt do it for me. But when I realised what the other members doing through the whole song, and i focus on that, the whole stuff opened up to me and its so beautiful its one of the best music they have ever written.

Lyrics on previous albums always had a multilayered, you-can-interpret-it as you want flavour to them (Schism,Stinkfist etc), sometimes it was pure poetry only to trigger your imagination on a subsonscious level (Disposition), and it was rarely straight forward (Aenima, Reflection, etc). But in those straightforward songs there were also some kind odd, otherworldy, magical aura.
And the most important thing is, tracks on previous albums had lyrics wich are nice to read, digest, contemplate over and over again.

The only track I like lyrically is Jambi, (its just that talkbox thing that completely ruins it for me, its a nice effect yes but its really not my taste.)
And if its the grudge topic anyway, Vicarious and The Pot for me are the only two Tool songs I completely dislike in every way, lyrically, musically, everything sucks about them for my taste and tired and bored of listening to them.

So summa summarum MJK is a master at his weapon, he had relly nice ideas on 10kdays, (like the hilarious rap-like ramblings in rosetta stoned wich is pretty hard to do i guess, and its innovative), but the words dont live up to the musical quality and feeling and vibe (for me, for my personal taste), so I can enjoy those tracks only if I focus on the music, so the vocal parts are playing like instruments also, not as words.

So the answer to your question in short, is yes.

TLDR

[Calfium Jay]

Lyrically, Vicarious is Maynard at his laziest. He preaches that we have become a society of tv zombies, who connect with the "real world" only through pictures on a screen and like the crowds of the Roman Ampitheatres of old, we bay for more blood to keep us amused. Boring and predictable. Gimme more of the esoteric, pseudo scientific cryptic lyrical imagery and save the preachiness for daytime talk shows.

Actually while we're on the subject of 10,000 Days, can I just state for the record as to how great and what an unfairly maligned epic Intension is? I played this little gem on my radio program the other week - and what an experience it was. Sitting in the darkened studio at 1am, the only person in the entire complex where the station is situated and listening to Intension through headphones - wow! It's absolutely great and should receive more acclaim than it does.

Put me down as an Intension lover.

Also, what's wrong with The Pot???? That song kicks butt. Shame they don't play it live more often as it destroys.

[Jool]

Vicariously I
Writetheselazyasslyrics while fourth eye cries!
Much better them than I!

[blacksabbath]

The ideas in Vicarious seem to be expanded upon through each song that follows. 10,000 days is like a tunnel and Vicarious is the opening.

[petemasterpete]

Intension is probably the best song on the record

Yes

[Ettan]

Also, what's wrong with The Pot???? That song kicks butt. Shame they don't play it live more often as it destroys.

Maynard is the reason they don't play it live anymore, i'd say. Last time they played it Adam and Maynard was completely out of tune, Adam had the original tuning while Maynard sang it like they did back in 2010, drop C or whatever it was. Sounded awful and just weird.

[xZ1mM3r]

Also, what's wrong with The Pot???? That song kicks butt. Shame they don't play it live more often as it destroys.

Maynard is the reason they don't play it live anymore, i'd say. Last time they played it Adam and Maynard was completely out of tune, Adam had the original tuning while Maynard sang it like they did back in 2010, drop C or whatever it was. Sounded awful and just weird.

not to mentions maynard cant hit the high notes that the song has throughout.

[blacksabbath]

Hopefully Maynard will stop recording tracks that are out of his healthy vocal range.

[ToolFanFromWayBack]

Hopefully Maynard will stop recording tracks that are out of his healthy vocal range.

Very interesting comment. It makes me wonder if MJK would sacrifice some of his vision on a song/album for the sake of being able to play it night after night? He clearly knows what his voice can and can't do these days, but I imagine it is very important to him to have a song match what he hears in his head.

[blacksabbath]

I get that, but it's also important to actually play it live too. One recording to hundreds of lame performances seems an unfair trade for everyone. He should just sing within his current range and create from there. Unless he's using samples or auto tune. Anyway...

[budsyralli]

10000 days is great through the headphones......eyes closed..... mushrooms, pot or lsd.....sure....but even sober its quite the experience. no interuptions...do it if you have not.

[Calfium Jay]

Yeah. Of all the Tool albums, 10,000 Days is easily the best "headphone experience"......with Salival running a close second.

[Pimple]

^ agree... I love all the subtleties going on that the headphones give clarity to....

[blacksabbath]

10000 days is great through the headphones......eyes closed..... mushrooms, pot or lsd.....sure....but even sober its quite the experience. no interuptions...do it if you have not.

I have listened to tool discography on drugs more than once. It can be pretty awesome to see the layers of sound through the imagery of the unconscious. I just see tool as a live band as much as a recording artist. Those two things shouldn't be so far apart when it comes to melody. The first time I heard the pot live in 2006 I had no idea what maynard was doing until the band came in. Also, at that time he was almost inaudible being so low in the mix. The shows from 2010 and 2014 were more along the lines of amazing performances. The patient was soaring! He used an effect box for screams of PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE, but it sounded cool. The sample for wings (when it was still part of the set) sounded great.