In all the carry on surrounding Danny’s 50th, we forgot to celebrate another significant milestone – 10 years of Lateralus (thanks to hodge for the reminder). For many of us this is our favorite Tool album (it is for me) and to celebrate I ask you all to post your thoughts on this excellent album in the comments below.
For me I remember the first time I heard Schism when was released and thought this was a cool track, but a little less heavy than I wanted. In the coming weeks before the actual album release, there was a stream somewhere on the net of The Grudge, which pretty much blew me away, and after hearing it I knew Lateralus was going to be a great album.
In those days, we used to actually buy CD’s, and I had pre-ordered my copy from the now closed Big Star Records here in Adelaide. I remember being called a couple of days before being told I could pick up the album on Sunday, so that morning, after dropping my girlfriend off to her soccer match, I headed into town and picked up the CD, stuck it in the CD player in the car, gave it my first listen.
I remember being overwhelmed by the album, particularly the last half in a manner I was by Aenima. I was unsure how much I really liked it, though much like their previous album, on repeated listens it became clearer and clearer that this was an amazing piece of work.
There isn’t really a track I don’t like on the album – The Grudge and Lateralus are stand out tracks for me, a Parabola probably my least favorite. Which tracks do you prefer? Below is a poll which should allow you to select your favorite 3 tracks from Lateralus:
Update: Poll has been fixed and reset – please vote again!
[poll id=”3″]
although i knew imm. that Lateralus was a masterful song, the rest of the album required a few listens, like you Hellboy. it is so complex. shcism is probably my least favorite, but is still a great song. actually, i cannot think of one tool song i dont care for. that is what makes this band different for me. lateralus is not my fav. but will always be at my finger tips and at the ready!
A mate of mine worked at Big W at the time, they got the CD in the week before release so he stole a copy for me, legend. I refused to listen to any tidbits on the net etc until I had the full album. Closed the curtains, lay on my bed and was completely amazed by what I heard, I couldn’t believe they’d topped Aenima.
This album came out on my high school graduation day. A friend of mine drove to another city in order to get it for me as my graduation present. Little did I know how much of an impact that would have on my life. now im at a turning point in my life exactly ten years later. The synchronicities between my life and tool are pretty unbelievable.
I find it really difficult to pick favorites. I tend to listen to Tool an album at a time rather than single tracks. Don’t know if I’d pick it as a favorite but I love the gentle “Disposition” but part of its beauty is its context.
I wasn’t into Tool at the time it was released actually. I had heard of them though. I remember walking past a CD shop and seeing the album and just thinking “I should get this”. It was honestly one of those moments where I didn’t even make a decision, it was just something that had to happen, strange…. Hard to believe that was 10 years ago. It is strange to say but I have to admit that this album had such a profound impact on the course of my life. It was in large part a function of the situation… Read more »
aarrh yes my first listen of Lateralus, has it been 10 years already?. I remember it well. My best mate worked at the local CD store, so ordering it wasnt a problem. Picked it up from him, scurried home and listened to the magic unfold. I remember thinking how epic it was and it how the songs just flowed. I also remember having two weeks to memorise it before i saw them live at Brixton Academy, London. (which still remains in my top 3 all-time concerts) i have to admit its not my favourite album, but it is easliy the… Read more »
First a suggestion on the poll. This was incredibly hard for me to vote on because in polls such as these (and like the stuff currently underway at TDN) I really wish that D/R/T would be included as one track. When I have the time I always listen through it as one track… for the most part on tour, atleast at almost all the shows after triad started getting played they were played together as well…. I believe I remember reading that they were originally one track before Tools label made them split it up. Anyways as a result I… Read more »
Wow, 10 years already? I remember it like it was yesterday. The day the album dropped, I had gone home to Augusta to see my Mom for mother’s day. I was driving the 2 1/2 hours back b/c the show was later that night. I ran to the nearest record store to buy it on my way out of town. I had just enough time to listen to it twice before standing in line for 4 1/2 hours to see the band at the Tabernacle, Atl, GA that night. Getting tix to that amazing show is a whole other story… Read more »
Very powerful album, on any given day I go back and forth between Ænima and Lateralus as my favorite TººL disc.
Not easy picking a top 3 on this. I agree that D/R/T should be counted as one track, and that might change my vote.
That first Lateralus show for me in Berkeley, with Crimson opening… I will never forget that. It would be one of the experiences I would choose to relive if given the opportunity…
totaly agree with you Kat. i will never get sick of hearing laterlaus or any TOOL for that matter. the patientence is deffinatly what it sums up to be a TOOL fan, but it ALWAYS pays off to wait for them to make perfection in there craft. 😉
[quote comment=””] This was incredibly hard for me to vote on because in polls such as these (and like the stuff currently underway at TDN) I really wish that D/R/T would be included as one track. When I have the time I always listen through it as one track… for the most part on tour, atleast at almost all the shows after triad started getting played they were played together as well…. I believe I remember reading that they were originally one track before Tools label made them split it up. [/quote] Be that as it may, it’s 3 separate… Read more »
[quote comment=””] This was incredibly hard for me to vote on because in polls such as these (and like the stuff currently underway at TDN) I really wish that D/R/T would be included as one track. When I have the time I always listen through it as one track… for the most part on tour, atleast at almost all the shows after triad started getting played they were played together as well…. I believe I remember reading that they were originally one track before Tools label made them split it up. [/quote] Be that as it may, it’s 3 separate… Read more »
I remember loving Schism when I first heard it. The album as a whole was tough to digest, but I’ve since grown to love it as my favorite Tool album, listening to it everyday for 5 years.
10K Days is my second favorite, as it is another very dense piece of work that requires a certain set of ears to fully hear it.
Didn’t like it when I first heard it. Bought it the first week it came out – just out of curiousity. Wasn’t a Tool fan at the time but was hoping a new Tool album could convert me. It didn’t. In fact I gave the album to a friend a week later. It was just too….rock. At the time I was into alot of hoighty toighty experimental ‘art’ bands and a lot of glitchy electronica (Autechre, Farmers Manual, Aphex Twin, Christian Fennesz). At the time, Tool just didn’t cut the mustard. They just weren’t weird enough. Wasn’t til 2005 until… Read more »
Lateralus is my all time favourite album. Lateralus totally burst open the dam for me in terms of broadening my musical vocabulary. I listened to mainly punk & thrash prior to hearing this album in 2002. I liked Aenima when i heard it but i wasn’t really a Tool fan. I didn’t know if i liked Lateralus at first but i felt compelled to listen to it again, and again, and again until it finally clicked. If i had to pick one i would have to say that The Grudge is my favourite Tool song.
I wasn’t a tool fan when it came out but I remember my brother waving the artwork in my face because he had bought it sometime shortly after it was released because it was all the rage in the “metal” scene. I remember being in awe over the artwork. I was just 11 years old. That was the first time I had ever heard of tool.
And the poll isn’t working for me. But if I had to pick one favorite.
Reflection.
Go the blog to vote. That’s what I had to do.
I remember hearing Schism on the radio and loving it, then some friends who were away at college called and said that they had heard a leak of Parbol and Parabola and were trying to describe it to me. I was so anxious to get the album. The day the cd came out I came into work late and was the first person in line at the record store, strawberries. They gave me a free single of A perfect circle, live in Philly for being one of the first ones to get the album. I forget if I liked the… Read more »
I was on a college trip to Italy when Lateralus came out. I was in Florence when the CD came out and bought the album at a small music shop near the Florence cathedral. my friend Odie allowed me to borrow his portable CD player and we walked around the city as i listened. One of my favorite memories in life will always be coming around the corner of the square and looking up seeing the Duomo just as Maynard launched into the big scream. it was sensory overload and that moment and many moments after I found myself trembling and getting chills while listening to… Read more »
[quote comment=””]Go the blog to vote. That’s what I had to do.[/quote]
That is the correct thing to do, the forum and the blog aren’t always compatible!
Lateralus, Triad + The Grudge 🙂
The grudge, has to be the best song off the album, and the first tool song I ever saw live…oh that scream still rings fresh in my ears. Love the patient too and thought it was pretty fuckn cool how they played it on their last tour! Aenima is still my numero uno, but Lateralus has those little surprises for me every time I listen to it all the way through. Whether it is a change, effect, echo or just the random thoughts I conjure up, no other album can do that. 10 years already, WOW.
meh… it’s an alright album, I guess
Disposition, Reflection, and Triad. Those three songs is what made me fall in love with Lateralus.
Favourtite songs
The Grudge.
Lateralus.
Reflection.
After happily picking up Lateralus in Dublin 10 years ago i walked into a book shop. First thing that looked at me was Alex Greys Mission of Art. Im an artist so i was stoked. Id never heard of Alex and didnt realise he did the Lateralus art until i was on the train home. Cool moment.
Its still my favourtite album to put on while drawing/painting.
I bought Lateralus the Monday before it was released, from a record store in Arizona called Replay that is now closed. I was in the middle of my early years of drumming, and in High School at the time. I owned a pretty sweet car stereo at the time and being a drummer, Ticks and Leeches stood out to me immediately. The rest of the album took a couple months actually, there were a few weeks at a time I didn’t listen to it at all, and then finally The Patient really hit me. Danny’s one note fill on the… Read more »
Reflection & The Patient are my favorites. So mellow yet intense. Lots of great melodies and little moments on those two songs.
I remember going the local record store at 11pm on a Monday night to stand in line to buy Lateralus when it went on sale at midnight, and when I got finally got up to next in line at the counter, the guy in front of me asked for the “New Weezer Record.” Everyone kind of laughed thinking he was joking, but not the case. The owner had to dig around a bit to find it, but the “Green Album”, as it came to be known, was also released that day and he had it too.
I didn’t appreciate it when it first came out. I liked the older albums better until I gave it several more listens. This album cemented Tool as my favorite artists. Favorite songs would be Lateralus, Triad and Grudge(or T&L depending on the mood)
Oh…and I didn’t think I could love it any more until I heard of the ‘Holy Gift track order’. Without the pauses between songs, I think the album flows better this way…6,7,5,8,4,9,13,1,12,2,11,3,10.
Lateralus is by far the BEST most INSPIRING album ever made!!! Some of the shows on the Lateralus tours changed my life for the better, and have inspired me to do great things in life. I would have to say Hellboy, that the Grudge is my favorite track as well. Ticks and Leeches being a close second, D/R/T is epic and a very very emotional track (or set of tracks) for me.
Hands down best album ever by any band ever!!!!
Oh yeah the last show of the lateralus tour in Long Beach, CA was the best show ever, I loved hearing Wings for Marie at the end. Four years before the song ever made it to the public.
I’d kill for them to play The Grudge in upcoming shows whenever they tour again. I loved hearing it live.
Yay, I guessed right.
Back in my day, we didn’t have Lateralus; we had rocks…and we liked ’em.
IlL
hey cheese check your PM’s
Pretty hard to choose one song! But yes I think Lateralus has all the perfect ingredients of this amazing band. Can’t wait for new material! If anyone wants check our attempt of covering Lateralus with my band from Argentina!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGe5zTIE9vE
I would say that Parabol is probably one of my favorite songs from any band. Maynard’s voice is just heavenly. And I love the lyrics also. Then put it together with Parabola and it’s just amazing. Reflection would round out my top three. I really liked Schism when it first came out. My buddies and I would blast it from our cars as we drove around all night being carefree teenagers. Those were good times. ::sigh:: I also attended that show at Hammerstein in NYC during a mini tour that someone else mentioned. I stood outside for 5 hours because… Read more »
A couple things about Lateralus: In my opinion, the most underrated album of the 00s. And also in my opinion, the BEST album of the last decade. Like Im talking my generations Dark Side of the Moon. Yet I find it so amazing how much it flew under the radar. I realize thats always just been the way it is with Tool, and its probably been a good thing but part of me feels like I should be seeing this album in whatever top 100 rock albums of all time lists that the various magazine and websites have. And I… Read more »
HAHA nice, my top 3 made the top 3. (Lateralus,Reflection,The Grudge) Yeah, Lateralus is definitely there best album and that was the best tour.
btw I dont if Im the only one, but on the song lateralus the part where maynard says “swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human” it sounds like he says OUT instead of OF. I hope someone notices it and gets what Im saying.
I walked into the record store on my school’s campus a week before the official release date and asked the lazy-eyed store owner if he had the new Tool yet. “Yes.” “Can I buy a copy?” “Sure, no problem.’ “I’ve been waiting 5 years for this.” “You’re the 5th person to say that to me today.” It was 10 am and the store hadn’t been open an hour. That store was awesome. He always sold albums early and would give away swag and refused to sell rap. I like a lot of rap, but still… that’s pretty awesome. Like mentioned… Read more »
I hate to say it, but I wish 10K Days had the impact on me that Lateralus had.
Lateralus is by far the stand out track for me. The Grudge & Reflection round it out. Was & Is an amazing album. Aenima still wins for me as my all time favourite album. Eulogy got me into Tool so that gives it an edge. Throw in songs like H., 46 & 2, Pushit, Aenima & 3rd eye. But yeah, I can see why Lateralus wins for most folk. Such an inspiring album. I remember I had to work the day it came out & my work was no where near a cd shop. Planned on bussing it to the… Read more »
Aenima is still their greatest album, by a long shot. The segues were a lot more interesting and varied that made you think. Whereas the songs were a lot more varied and epic with a ballsy touch to it. It felt more human and emotive than its later predecessors ever did. Can’t wait till Aenima will have its 15 year anniversary this October. Lateralus..still good but not as epic.
[quote comment=””]Aenima is still their greatest album, by a long shot. The segues were a lot more interesting and varied that made you think. Whereas the songs were a lot more varied and epic with a ballsy touch to it. It felt more human and emotive than its later predecessors ever did. Can’t wait till Aenima will have its 15 year anniversary this October. Lateralus..still good but not as epic.[/quote]
Oh and the packaging was their best ever too. Lateralus was minimal and plain with shit art – Thank you Alex Grey.
I agree, Lateralus is amazing, but Aenima was truly ground breaking. Tool’s best album
^ yep me three, Aenima is by far the better album…but that’s not what we’re celebrating here, so lets what till later in the year (well spotted Jarrod) for that party! I think ‘the grudge’ could be the best song tool could open with? Anyone else think of a better opening song?
Preferred the one / two punch of Flood, into The Grudge.. Perhaps it was the surprise factor. I remember being completely blown away when I heard the opening bass lines to Flood. Then to rip into The Grudge was pretty damn impressive. 3rd Eye was pretty awesome also, but yeah Flood wins for mine. I imagine, opening with Aenima (which they recently did in N.Z) would’ve been insane & had a similiar surprise factor also. My main choice of an opener would be Eulogy though… Can see that working in my head. Slow builder drawing the audience more & more… Read more »
Undertow is the best album!