Looking at people on both sides of the fence, as well as some who may have lost footing and ended up directly on the fence, I was wondering what changes, ideas, feel for songs etc you would have rather seen to make this album to your liking, better or to put it over the top as far as "personal prime Pearl jam listening"? This question goes out to everyone, whether you love it or hate it or think it's just ok.

Please let's keep it civil and sane. I have been known to not respect other's opinion's in the past as well............but I'm willing to try, so let's all give it a go, I think this could be interesting and possibly insightful into what everyone is looking for.

i dont like the album i think pj is more punk band now like the ramones etc.

Where in the early days they were more neil young, the who a little bruce springsteen influenced.Ilike that style of music more.

I just think its to punkish for my liking.

well I love the record so not much. I have a few small critiques (eddie should have cleaned up the inside job lyrics, the fade at life wasted, come back is a little too long) but otherwise it's excellent


Eddie needs to stop smoking.

yeah life wasted, severed hand, marker in the sand, parachutes, unemployable, gone, come back, army reserve, & inside job are pretty punk
i'll give you WWS, comatose, and big wave as far as "punk" influence goes, but earlier albums like VS and vitalogy had a much heavier punk vibe than this.

i dont think so alive & evenflow, go , rvm, not for you, arnt punk in my books

I like it but it is not my favorite album, would be hard pushed to make top 5 at the moment, but time and more listens will tell.

I actually like the punk vive. However there is some good rock (SH, LW, Unem) and a few slow ones (gone, Inside Job, Come back)

I think this album shows a lot of different things (as the rest of the albums and that is why I love the band) but the first 5 songs kind of define the entire record as a "rocker" or a "punk-ish" album. I think they were clear sending that message.

I wouldn't even give you Big Wave and WWS as examples of punk.... Comatose certainly is, but Big Wave strikes me as Soundgardenesque, and I've always seen them as being directly influenced by bands like Zeppelin (and not just because of the vocal resemblances). To me, WWS feels much more like solid rock with a good dose of pop, and I can see how many critics have described it as being influenced by the Who.

If anything, I see more of Springsteen in this album than I have in previous albums. Unemployable and Gone have lyrics that made me think of the Boss first (despite Pete Townshend's influence on the final lineso f Gone), and the chorus and coda to Marker really struck me as Bruce-like. I maybe see less direct Neil Young influence than I do with earlier stuff (like Smile, for instance), but I feel like his spirit is all over this record. The influence of bands like Pink Floyd on Inside Job, REM on Unemployable, and (insert 50s band here) on Come Back jumped right out at me when I first put this cd into my stereo. Rather than thinking about this album as punk-influenced, I feel like it's their tribute to a lot of their main influences in rock. Yeah, this includes the Ramones in Comatose, but it also includes the Boss, Pink Floyd, the Ramones, the Who, and others that I'm surely forgetting..

i agree with this 96%

I really like it, but it is no Vitalogy. There are 5 or 6 REALLY good songs and the rest will either improve or deteriorate after another 10 to 15 in my opinion.

I would have to rate it higher than Binaural, Riot Act and Vs. As far as being better than Ten, Vitalogy, Yield or No Code, I guess I take the "wait and see" type of attitude.

I really like Life Wasted, WWS, Severed Hand, Marker in the Sand, Gone, Come Back. Wasted Reprise is a nice listen, too. The rest I need to hear more of to either give a thumbs up or down.

This Album is a collection of thirteen songs written around 12 little catches or riffs .

i dont get the springsteen influence, not even the lyrics.Their no neil influence their for me.

Punk probably wasnt the right word, i dont know their music feels to fast.
i dont know they just sound lots different.

I dont know what it is i just cant get into it it.

isn't that every album by just about every band?

Thanks Stip. You seemed to be the only one who understood the thread.

For my 2 cents........I agree with you on Life Wasted, the fade bites a bit, but just a bit. My only other suggestion would have been to mix up the songs a bit to to keep the front and back of this record at an equal rockin' pace. Having said that though, the first 5 songs come at ya better than most of their albums, quite possibly at the top.

As for the smoking...........I agree, but being an ex smoker, probably the hardest thing to quit other than Heroin ( so I've read )

better lyrics i feel are greatly needed on a number of tracks - severed hand in particular. 'pearl jam' also needs better song titles. they all sound rather embarrasing. the riffs on all the loud tunes are incredibly boring - they all sound like the same riff rycled, although the guitar break after the chorus in comatose is cool. more experimentation needed, and i dont mean in the vein of im open, i just mean the riffs - total monkey idiot riffs on this lp. not a single riff as good as brain of jfk anywhere. nothing to grab you. nothing about them is interesting or even sounds very good. inside job could have been amazing but here sounds totally half backed. needed alot more work and then could have been wicked. generally i just think the loud songs are the most boring pieces of shit ive ever heard from the band. at least however there is nothing as bad as help, help or ghost. actually there are lots of tunes on it as bad as ghost now that i think about it. oh well. two major fuck ups in a row.

But the difference is that on this album you are in the minority. Most people didn't like Riot Act, but it seems to me that most people are really impressed with Pearl Jam.

Not the bands that hold my attention for more than five listens.

the album is think is "OK"

there are some cool tunes like life Wasted and Comatose and WWS.
Comeback is OK.

The rest just doesn't do it for me.
It seems like Ed is struggling to find a melody on alot of tunes (Army Reserve especially).

Disappointed but not on a Riot Act.

well then pritchard 'most' people are dicks. i just think that people better stop living in denial and realise the truth - it aint any fucking good! all the reasoning i get is that it supposdly has more energy - well to me that energy sounds fucking falsed. 'it rocks!' apparently - i can name a bunch of 95-00 era tracks that still kick the shit out of any loud 'pj' song. it doesnt even rock that good! you need exciting riffs to do that. not sub par rehashes. i think its as bad as riot act. soon people will realise.

Consider this a warning holmes. If you don't want to like the songs fine, but don't start attacking other posters who do. Otherwise you'll be on vacation

The rest of your post was fine--but what've you wrote above is not okay.