Stip - thank you. You did the album its fair justice...loved reading this piece. Ten/Vitalogy have always been my favorite pearl jam works for very different reasons and this was a good read.

It's sort of interesting really...I got into the band very heavily just after Vitalogy came out...after getting invited to a friend's house after a basketball game in junior hs and he kept "spinning the black circle"....we watched Unplugged...and since I saw Porch that day..my life has never been the same. Didn't sleep that night...as I had Ten->Vitalogy in the cd player...I was being intimate. ha.

These are the three albums I tend to gravitate to still. I don't get tired of hearing them. There's so much emotion and passion in the songs and the way they are sung, it's hard to deny. The sheer cathartic nature of the music is exhilarating. There are glimpses of the same stuff on some of the later albums, but those are few and far between. The last album was stronger than some of the others in my view, but overall, you just get a sense that the crossroads that was Vitalogy, was just that. Ed's crossed that path, he's more comfortable in his own skin. The music isn't as angry, not as urgent. There's been an evolution for sure, in the way the band sounds, and how Ed sings. This carries into the Into The Wild work...more singer/songwriter...easy listening lol. It's poignant, emotive, but different.

you are welcome

if you like this sort of stuff there are links to similar pieces in the index thread that is stickied at the top of the page for Ten, No Code, and S/T as well

Someone needs to do Yield.

Yield - the album everyone loved to be different from everyone who legitimately loved Ten,vs,vitalogy.

I think you and I are going to be friends

Oooor, it could just be a question of taste?

I won't do Yield

You hate that record.

I'd like to propose a toss-up, death match style:

I'll tackle Vitalogy beginning next week, as long ago promised. After I finish, let's put a poll up and whoever the victor is with the better tour of the album get's the spoils of Yield.

You game Stip??

No. This isn't a competition. And you're welcome to write up Yield.

And I leave for my belated honeymoon on saturday so it looks like I'll miss it as it is going up, but I look forward to reading it when I return

I read this months and months ago, but having just finished listening to Vitalogy I wanted to comment upon it without re-reading it. I wish I had your gift of interpretation. Right or wrong, it doesn't matter. You got something compelling and thought provoking out of this and I am grateful for you sharing your thoughts. Gun to my head, Vitalogy is my favorite Pearl Jam album. Or maybe it's Yield? Ah, just pull the trigger. Anyway, having the experience of reading this in the back of my head makes listening to Vitalogy a more enriching experience for me. So thanks.

my pleasure We have links in the archive thread at the top of the page for similar threads on S/T and Ten (myself), No Code (frank) and another for Vitalogy (ike, but sadly never finished)

oh, and welcome to the board

Being a poster who spend most of my time in GD, it's weird seeing new posters pop up here and everyone isn't asking who's second account it is.

The new poster cyclus:
When a new poster enters a Pearl Jam board, he usually wants to discuss Pearl Jam. So there's nothing too strange on a new poster in PJ Chat.

When a new poster enters a Pearl Jam board and goes straight to GD posting like he's been on for years, it's pretty normal to wonder who's second account it is.

I missed this. Could not agree more, brilliant

A bit of both I believe.

I just re-read my Stupid Mop tale. On what drugs was I?