Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2004 5:55 pm Posts: 11320 Location: Brooklyn Gender: Male
I think he cancels out how wrong he is about Binaural with how spot on he is about Ten (Binaural is still my least favorite PJ album, but not for any of the reasons he sites).
Problem is, he's all mixed up about Yield. It almost doesn't even make sense (other than the lyrics to Wishlist, maybe). And maybe I'll stand alone forever regarding Riot Act's "darkness" but I think most of us can agree that he's way to hard on Can't Keep.
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2004 5:55 pm Posts: 11320 Location: Brooklyn Gender: Male
Yeah, I think a damn good percentage of people who frequent this board would claim the same. Or nearly, at least. It's a top 3 album around here, mostly.
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 11:00 pm Posts: 13226 Location: Adelaide, AUS
Angus wrote:
I don't understand how you can say Ten is not a good one. You can prefer the others, and I know you do. I do as well. But saying it's a bad album... come on now.
Well, it's just not interesting to me at all. I never feel compelled to listen to it, I didn't even care for it when I first heard it (not long after hearing Vs for the first time).
Pearl Jam started as a pretty boring arena rock band, somehow stumbled into making some really interesting and satisfying music and then started to slowly slide back towards boring arena rock. I still love those records in the middle, that's why I'm here.
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:14 pm Posts: 802 Location: Australia Gender: Male
spenno wrote:
Angus wrote:
I don't understand how you can say Ten is not a good one. You can prefer the others, and I know you do. I do as well. But saying it's a bad album... come on now.
Well, it's just not interesting to me at all. I never feel compelled to listen to it, I didn't even care for it when I first heard it (not long after hearing Vs for the first time).
Pearl Jam started as a pretty boring arena rock band, somehow stumbled into making some really interesting and satisfying music and then started to slowly slide back towards boring arena rock. I still love those records in the middle, that's why I'm here.
I'm a bit with Angus on this and a bit with Spenno. I didn't like Ten at the time of release (outside a few of the singles) and I don't listen to it now but it's such a huge album I don't think I could ever really call it bad. That said I also think the record sales benefited greatly from the old 'right time, right place' and the group being a great live band out of the blocks. I also found it interesting and I agree with that Stereogum article in that I think perceptions of PJ are often tainted by their spawn. But give me Riot Act or No Code anyday.
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 7:02 pm Posts: 6405 Location: DC Gender: Male
PHATJ wrote:
I like S/T more over time, and Backspacer less and less everyday.
I liked Backspacer more initially, but after 3 years, I think Avocado is the better album. I don't even remember now the last time I listend to Backspacer. When songs from it come on random, I skip them, and I think the last listen was last fall when we did a "LAL" with it. Maybe that was even longer ago? I don't remember, everything is a blur.
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 7:02 pm Posts: 6405 Location: DC Gender: Male
That review is a weird one...I've mentioned before, but most people who seem to like No Code and Vitalogy, also tend to like Yield and Binaural. Like if NC is your favorite, then it seems your top 5 also includes those other 3 albums. Someone here ranked the albums a few months back in a similar way and I remember thinking it was odd to see Yield so low, but No Code so high. Personally, those 4 albums are almost interchangeable for my top 4.
That review is a weird one...I've mentioned before, but most people who seem to like No Code and Vitalogy, also tend to like Yield and Binaural. Like if NC is your favorite, then it seems your top 5 also includes those other 3 albums. Someone here ranked the albums a few months back in a similar way and I remember thinking it was odd to see Yield so low, but No Code so high. Personally, those 4 albums are almost interchangeable for my top 4.
Really? I tend to lump Vitalogy in with Ten and Vs more than No Code-Binaural. If Riot Act was executed better I'd lump it in with the No Code group. I think they were winding down with fighting the good fight with RA, S/T they were accepting their complacency and with Backspacer they nurtured it(complacency) and allowed it to really bloom.
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
i think everyone likes Vitalogy. I think (correct me if I'm wrong, D_V) his point was that there is often a split between people who privilege the first 3 records vs. The vitalogy through binaural (and sometimes riot act) run.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
1. Vitalogy Stands up over time. Guitars are urgent and raw. There is a lot of dynamic tension and contradiction at play: the closest the band came to creating a concept album while also fractured and unsettling. It boasts some of their best and catchiest material and their least catchy, oddest art school throw aways. Easily the first album I would hand over to someone who has a musical ear who I was trying to convince of Pearl Jam's genius. The closest these guys have come to a masterpiece.
2. No Code My personal favorite. When I first heard it on a leaked copy (a freaking tape, remember those!) I was overcome with emotion both for the change in musical direction (Sometimes, In My Tree, Present Tense) but also because it convinced me the band was going to last. Vitalogy sounded like the end of the line. There were obvious signs the group was crumbling under the strains of mega-stardom. More importantly, the persona that was parodied as "Eddie Bed Wetter" couldn't go on much longer. Ed had been angry on three straight records and enough was enough. The group proved it could create emotion and depth within a more delicate framework.
3. Ten It hasn't aged well and I haven't picked it up for ages but Ten is undeniable. In its best light—the light I finally gave over to when I was in college in Seattle and it was released—Ten is a wonderful, troubled looping soundscape. From Release into Once and back again there is an organic beauty. "Organic" is the right word for me despite how poorly and commercially Ten was produced. The passion and authenticity shown through. I came to love Pearl Jam despite the ridicule heaped on it locally and how hard it was to admit to myself and others how much I connected with something that sounded so commercial and was so commercially successful.
4. Vs. After No Code this album had the strongest initial influence on me. The production was so improved from Ten it was like a re-birth. And much of the music is strong. But when Vs. goes off the rails—Glorified G and Leash come to mind—it crashes hard. You can either call it a flawed masterpiece or just flawed. I'm somewhere in between.
5. Backspacer This is the album for non-Pearl Jam fans. It is warm, punchy, concise, and overall user-friendly. Pearl Jam fans hate it. I enjoy it very much because like No Code (another album Pearl Jam fans hated at the time, although I guess it jettisoned the bloated masses as opposed to the true fans) it signaled the group was shedding a layer of skin. It is also the anti-No Code in that it is paint-by-numbers catchy and yet comes up a tad short as perfect pop. Most of it is pretty damn good.
6. Riot Act Another uneven record that gets bonus points for bursting with ideas. I love its flawed genius and responded to the "weird" efforts like Help Help and Bushleaguer.
7. Yield I like the tone of the album and there are some top drawer tracks. The return to straight-ahead rock with some odd bits thrown in is ultimately not enough rock and not enough art (where No Code and Vitalogy had succeeded). The high points are really high: Do the Evolution, Given to Fly, Brain of J. There's also some boring toss off material: Pilate, MFC. In Hiding is the first big Pearl Jam anthem that crashed and burned.
8. Self Titled Initially I loved the "return to form" of Avocado. I loved the out the box 5 straight up-tempo numbers. It was like a fix album. And once I'd had my fix I became more critical. Big Wave, Gone and Inside Job are bad. The driving riff of Marker In the Sand became overshadowed by its mediocre vocal melody. Like any PJ album there's a lot to love but maybe more so than any other record it seems like songs that should have been great are simply good (Severed Hand) and songs that should have been good are mediocre or bad (Marker in the Sand and Gone). There's even a track that is flat-out embarrassing although just on the lyric side (Inside Job. Sorry Mike )
9. Binaural Like Riot Act, Binaural is full of valid song ideas but Ed doesn't sing them particularly well (or his voice is at a mid-career low point) and the band isn't playing to its strengths. One of my all time favorite PJ songs is here: Insignifance. One of the group's best rockers is here: Grievance. The rest is pretty forgettable. One song, Light Years, is close to perfection but Ed's vocals weigh it down. Parting Ways is a clunker of a closer with Neil Young crashing guitar propping up a boring melody. Breakerfall is a clunker of an opener, trying too hard for lift-off. Evacuation is PJ doing Fugazi. Bleh. Pearl Jam diehards will try to get you excited by Sleight of Hand and Of the Girl. I'm not buying. Binaural is still pretty damn good.
Last edited by MemoFromTurner on Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:42 am, edited 3 times in total.
That's right... Vitalogy and Binaural are my top two and No Code sits dead last, where it shall remain for all time. Where's the appeal after Hail Hail and Red Mosquito? Sure, In My Tree is aite, Off He Goes is passable, but the rest is mostly self-indulgent Eddie stuff. Reeeeeeeal indulgent.
Users browsing this forum: 10Club Management and 38 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum
)
