Let me preface this by saying this is not a thread created for me to go off on how I don't like the album. The album isn't even out yet. I enjoy the leak and it has me very interested.

Looking around the boards I am noticing an immense amount of praise for the new album. I have hardly read any really bad fan reviews. I have only been following PJ heavily since about 2001. So, the only albums I was waiting in anticipation for were Riot Act and this new one. Seeing all of the positive response makes me think back to when Riot Act came out. The responses were very similar..."it is my new favorite PJ album"..."it's their best album in years"..."it's one of their best"...you know what I'm talking about. Not that there is anything wrong with people loving the album, but do you think the reviews might be overly ecstatic because everyone is just on such a high being that there are 13 brand new Pearl jam songs out there?

Based on what I have read here and the March Madness results among other things...I feel that if we took a poll of most of the users on this forum and the visitors of TSIS and asked what their least favorite PJ album is, the response would be "Riot Act." Now...don't bother responding and posting "I love Riot Act! It definitely isn't their worst!" I'm not saying you don't like it or that RA is a bad album, I'm just saying that a survey of the community would probably indicate that it is their least popular among fans.

The new album isn't even out yet and people are already saying it is better than a majority of their other works. If you can remember, the same thigns were said about Riot Act. So my question is...is everyone too excited for this new album? Three years from now are the fans going to be listening and saying "you know what? There are like 4 or 5 bad songs on here that I can't even lsiten to anymore," the way they now do with RA? Or is this really the album that many of us have been waiting for?

Riot Act is my least fave album. I like it alot.....but thats it.

When I got my first listen.......I absoloutly hated it. Both my wife and I did. "Save you" was the only song I thought was decent. It took me 2 months to really like it.

Binaural I like more, but still didn't get right into it for awhile.

No Code I liked better than those by alot, but still took a little time to absorb what they intended.

This album makes me feel BETTER than I did about "Yield", and I LOVE yield. I'm feeling very much like I did when I heard VS and Vitalogy the first time. These albums differ so much, but the quality of material is equally superb........and this is a rough recording.

Alot of people will get it better when the final copy comes out. It's hard for some people to get past the "hiss" and crap quality. I play these songs on my headphones and leave "Unemployable" for last, and get blown away at how much higher quality it is. This record will soar high and I think it will shock alot of us at how well it will really do.

I know what you are saying and I think over time alot of peoples opinions may change for the worse or even for the better. I wasn't posting here or anywhere for that matter when RA came out I just know I listened to it 3 or 4 times to try and like it but just couldn't get into it at all except for a few songs. I liked some songs alot better live than on the album but those same songs I still can't listen too on the album. This new album is totally different. It took me a few listens to really get into all of them but I am basically having the same reaction to this one that I did with Yield and No Code and I love both of those albums. No doubt about it, IMO this is their best album since Yield. I still don't know in the long run where it will rank but right now it's at least light years ahead of RA and Binaural.

I'm sure things will calm down in another couple weeks or so. I agree a lot of the responses might have a little "new album obssession" mixed in.

This album is very accessible though, much more so than the last couple and No Code, while imo, staying true to what they do. It'll prolly end up in most people's top half of album rankings.

I don't think i've yet to hail this album as one of their best. But i will say that I think it's leaps and bounds better than Riot Act. I never cared much for RA when it came out, eventually it grew on me but not to the point where i would say that i love it. This sounds like the mature record i've been wanting them to make, and that they should have made last time around.

I liked RIOT ACT when I first heard the leak, and I like it about the same now. My opinion didn't change. With this new disc, I'm feeling a much more emotional connection and satisfaction that I haven't gotten with a PJ album since NO CODE (and even with that album, it took me about a year to realize that I loved it). On initial listen, I haven't been this wowed with new PJ since VITALOGY.

I'd like to think my "PJ intuition" is more accurate than ever. I'm able to have a good grasp and feel for any new PJ material that comes my way without being overzealous and trapped in fanboy bluster.

I definitely see the first poster's point, but I don't recall the reaction to Riot Act being nearly this good. As I recall people liked it, but the general consensus was that only certain songs were good, whereas others were...meh.

Truthfully, I wasn't a member of RM when Riot Act first came out. But I feel that the response on Synergy was veyr similar to what is going on at RM right now.

yeah, the first poster is spot on imo.

while this album will def fare way better than Riot Act, and likely even Binaural, i think time will show that not nearly as many people will hail it as being better than any of their first 4-5 records as a lot of the people here who are now think...

it definitely does have a bit more to offer right out of the gates than Riot Act, that's for certain, but i think it's a combination of "new pearl jam" excitement + the fact that their last 2 records were a step down from the first 5, that people want them to "return to form" so much that they may tend to overstate things a bit.

not saying you can't love the album, but i'll also say that i have a good feeling that when all the dust settles that the general consensus will be, loads better than Riot Act by almost everyone, better than Binaural by a lot of people, and better than any of the first 4-5 by a select few...

just my .02

it is a really great record, don't get me wrong, but it's by no means one of the best (ie: top 10) records i've heard this year. i am really looking forward to hearing it in cd quality and hearing a few songs live tho!

So far, so good. Nothing more. Nothing less. It's OK.

i have'nt heard it yet so i cant comment

the riot act praise on this board (if I remember correctly) was cautious. People trying to force themsleves to love it--which was the position I was in. It certianly wasn't as over the top as this praise is. This is a different beast altogether

There definitely is new album excitement adding to this, and I'm sure as people settle into the record that will change, but on the other hand, the vast majority of us have only heard a few unmastered songs and a sub part quality leak. Some of the new album excitement needs to be countered by the fact that we haven't actually heard good versions of the songs yet. So it might stay around where it is.

Very few people are saying it is their best, but most people are saying it is around the 3rd best album, which seems realisitic. This is certainly about the best they can do at this stage in their career.

This somehwat emphasizes my point. Sometimes it seems like people are just like...hold up, there is new Pearl Jam?....I love it!!! It's almost like they feel inclined to go nuts over it.

But anyway...you said you thought the response was cautious, so maybe this album is just considered to be a lot better.

Since when has subjectivity and being a Pearl Jam fan come hand in hand?

I like to have low expectations for things, so if they do suck it's no big deal, but if their awesome I am blown away. So right now I'm going into this new album thinking it's going to be on the same level as Riot Act.

not to me it isn't... lol

but i agree w/ you, this is def as good as they can do at this point, and for that i appluad them.

well I did say most people. You, humanbass, and a few others are fairly critical


But MOWBS (where does that name come from?), the best judge is this. People got defensive about Riot Act because most of us were trying to convine ourselves that it was better than it was. There is very little of that this time. People are secure in how good this record is

Yes.

I hear ya. I think I might be cautious of getting immediately attached ot the record, rather than being cautious of disliking it, so I suppsoe that is a good thing.

Mowbs is the name that pretty much everyone who knows me refers to me as.

i won't deny that, but by the same token, you've stated you weren't a big fan of Yield or No Code, 2 albums that MOST PJ fans i know all love now