***DISCLAIMER***
This thread is not for people who are totally obsessed with these new songs. This thread is for people who genuinely believe that what has leaked so far is terrible. Please dont go off the wire and condemn me for having an opinion, you'll only be making an ass of yourself. If you like the new songs, great, I'm not here to berate you or call you stupid, but please talk about how much you love them in another thread, because this thread is NOT FOR YOU...This thread is for those who feel like PJ is going down the drain with this record.
***THANKS!!!***

OK

So, I am of the personal opinion that the new material that I've heard (5 songs) is embarassingly bad. I am not talking about the production so dont give me the "its demo versions" or "the quality is low". I'm talking about the songs in general. They sound pedestrian, weak, haphazard, boring and very, very confused. Ed's voice is honestly painful to listen to. I'm not a straight up rock vocalist but I've done my fair share of singing and Ed is really sounding weak here. As if he can barely keep his breath or something. Just doesnt sound right.
Another problem for me is Mike. Mike cant seem to let go of the guitar-center-shredding-homage-to-whoever solos. They come off sounding incredibly cheesey and more or less obnoxious.

My main question, for those that feel the same way, is: how did PJ get to this point? These songs sound like they've thrown in the towel on writing some moving, emotional pieces of music to me.

Its hard to explain. Understand I'm a huge fan, and I've seen them countless times, bought all the bootlegs, etc. AND THIS IS MY PERSONAL SUBJECTIVE OPINION HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE DONT FORGET THAT I AM NOT TRYING TO STAND ON A PEDASTAL AND TELL EVERYONE WHO LIKES THIS MUSIC THAT THEY ARE WRONG. I REALLY AM NOT. TO BE HONEST, I WISH I LIKED IT. BUT I JUST DONT. THIS STUFF SUCKS.

Im basically posting this thread to see if anybody else feels the same way so I dont feel totally alone with this. If yer feeling me, share your thoughts. If this thread gets 0 responses, then thats fine too!

Have a great day

welcome to the board. We have a bitching thread I'm going to merge this into in a second.

I completely disagree with your assesment though. I think this is easily the most interesting/best group of songs they've put out in at leat 7 years, possibly 12

Actually nevermind. This probably deserves its own thread. We'll see how it goes.

Please don't spam it.

Thanks for welcoming me to the board, I'm a big Pearl Jam fan!

With all due respect, how can my personal opinion be interpreted as bitching?

"This is how I feel..."

Sorry you feel that way

But don't worry you'll see dragons after 3 or 4 more listens.

hmmm I think its great and I hated binuaral and disliked riot act. If you don't like these you wont be happy with the rest. Maybe the next album will suit your fancy more. thats how it goes for some people with pearl jam albums.

Have a nice day.

Atlas Ladder--which albums are your favorites? What did you think of the past few records?

While I disagree with the main poster on his point about the songs being bad, I don't think you guys should just merge every negative thread about a song into the "bitching thread." Believe it or not, there are alternate opinions to loving the songs that aren't necessarily bitching. Just a thought.

Just to give people an idea of how my PJ album list would go, I'd put it like this:

#1: NO CODE
#2: VITALOGY
#3: BINAURAL
#4: VS
#5: YIELD
#6: TEN
#7: RIOT ACT

me personally, i think that the writing aspect of the new material is AWESOME....i think that the music aspect of the new material is AWESOME...as for eddies vocals....you can def hear it in some of the HARDER tracks, that he doesnt have that rage in his voice as he did during VS and VITALOGY years....to me it does seem that he is really trying though,.....

Other than that....i think that this album will be an EPIC one
I for one LOVE the new material, but i would have to agree with you on eddies vocals....they will never be what they once were, but that is completely understandable....it has been 10 years plus........

LONG LIVE PEARL JAM!!!
GREATEST ROCK BAND IN THE WORLD!!!!

Wow. Am I drunk?

We all have opinions, but come on. There's no way your a fan, let alone a huge one. Sorry. To say you might not be that into them at this point would be one thing ( even that would be hard to believe ), but unbelievably horrible/terrible? You were listening to PJ's new one's and not someone else's right?

Atlas, I am truly sorry. Here's how I am looking at it. Would this album have excited me when I was 15, like Yield did? The answer for me is yes. Do the songs excite me now? Yeah, they do (With the exception of WWS, which does sound pedestrian in the first choruses).

Ed is sounding pretty strong to me, for his age and smoking considered. The emotion is certainly there. The production is the only thing that worries me at this point, and I know that can't be pinpointed yet. Eddie's vox are very dry, and a little reverb might have made them sound better. I can't say, though, I'm only an amateur.

I've only heard WWS on the radio numerous times, and Unemployable like 2X, but only parts. I absolutely love WWS. Unemployable - I just don't know yet. It's decent as a minimum.

But I think you really should wait for the album to come out, hear it in it's entirety numerous times cranked in the car, at home, at the gym, whatever - before you can come up with such a strong opinion. Maybe you'll love it, or hate it even more.

Did you even read the disclaimer I posted? I was hoping to avoid this kind of thing with this thread. You have no idea about my appreciation for this band and the many ways in which they have personally affected me for as long as they have. I could come out and say that anyone who likes this new stuff just isnt a "real pearl jam fan" and I could even be persuasive as to why, but I am not even close to reaching that level of elitism. I dont know anything about anyones appreciation for the band except my own, which I am confident in. I wish others thought the same.

agreed. That's why I didn't.

AtlasLadder it would be an honor for us all if you told us whats you "second" favorite band and what do you listen to nowadays...

This suprises me a bit. The new songs remind me the most of No Code and Vitalogy. Although maybe that's what you don't like--that they feel like pale reflections of your favorite songs.

you don't have many posts so I don't know if this is the start of a long career here or if you're just popping by but if you don't stick around please come back and post in this thread after the record comes out and you've given it a few listens. I wonder if your opinion will change.

Comatose is as good as DTE and Blood. That one song alone makes this album a success. They still have "it". As far as emotional songs and ballads, Parachutes is also up there with Around the Bend and Oceans. I dunno, just a thought.

Yeah bit of an ass post saying someone's not a fan...if you've tracked down the new stuff you must be fairly keen at least. I would just say to listen to these songs a bit more if you haven't done so already - The first time I listened to Severed Hand I thought - OMFG what was everyone talking about this is shit...now I think it is the shit.

You are wrong. Sorry to be so blunt, but it is true. This stuff is sooooo much better than anything they have done post-No Code. That being said, I have never been a fan of Yield, but I do love Binaural. The only thing that comes close to these is Fatal and Sad. The energy is back and while Ed's voice may not be what it use to be, at least you can hear the passion again. He doesn't sound like he just woke up, which is a nice break from the last 2 albums.