This is my "in depth" look and official rankings of the eight studio albums released by PEARL JAM. I am not including "Lost Dogs", "Beneroya Hall", or "Live on Two Legs" in this discussion. Only the eight Studio albums.

1. Vs.~ Often overlooked (even by me), Vs. Rocks perfectly from start to finish. "Go" starts of the album in a flurry. Thrashing guitars and pent up energy flow directly into another equally intense song in "Animal". "Daughter" comes in with a dark, melodic purity that grips the listener. "Glorified G" is a pure pop rock track. Great energy and an excellent vocal. "Dissident" is a moster ballad, and a true classic rock jam. "W.M.A." is a highly underrated song. An amazing bass and drum groove drive "W.M.A." to a musical place PJ had not gone before. "Blood" is the only song on this reacord that I will never get. It thrashes hard but seems out of control and almost forced. It's a bit too much for my taste. "Rearviewmirror" is another classic track. Fantastic lyrically, and an undieing energy push "RVM" to it's limits and leave fans gasping for air. "Rats" is another bass and drum driven song. Musically outstanding, but lyrically it leaves a little to be desired. "Elderly Woman..." showcases Vedder's vocals perfectly. A brilliently simple song that draws up emotion with every baratone wale from Eddie's soul. This is simply a magical song. "Leash" is a ball of spit fire energy. A fan favorite and a favorite of mine as well. And then there is "Indifference". "Indifference folls "Release" in the long tradition of majestic album closers. Lyrically dynamic, "Indifference" closes out PJ's best album with a sparkle. GRADE: A

2. Pearl Jam~ Yes, the new record at #2. It's early, but this album could go down as PJ's most complete record from start to finish. "Big Wave" is the only real let down on the album. "World Wide Suicide" isn't really my personal cup of tea, but as a "poor song" on this record, things could definately be worse. One of my favorite aspects of Pearl Jam is the way the entire album sounds like a live performance. Veder's vocals are molodic when they should be, and gravely as a snarling dog when they should be. The band is in top form and things are looking better every day for PJ fans. GRADE: A-

3.Ten~ Pearl Jam's earth shattering debut album could be higher on the list but the over production drops TEN a spot or two. "Release" is my all time favorite PJ song and with classic after classic packed into an 11 song album, only the excess of the production of the early '90s can keep TEN down. All of these songs sound much better striped down and played live. That is my only problem with TEN. GRADE: A-

4. Vitalogy~ Vitalogy has it all. This is an album filled with Classics. Fast songs. Slow songs. Rocking songs, and mellow songs. "Corduroy", " Not For You", "Better Man", "Nothingman" & "Immortality" are complete strokes of genious. Even the "lesser" songs on Vitalogy are fantastic. "Last Exit" "Tremor Christ" & "Spin the Black Circle" could be considered top notch on many albums. So what is the promlem with Vitalogy? I guess it really comes down to a matter of taste. There are at minimum of four songs that can be considered "fillers" on Vitalogy. "Pry, To", "Bugs", "Aye Davanita" & "Stupid Mop". The other arguement is that these songs help the album become a whole as a work of art. I fall somewhere in between. I understand the value of making a coheisive album and I think "Pry, To", and "Aye Davanita" have their place. However, "Bugs" and "Stupid Mop" are just as their titles would emply. Bothersome and dumb (respectivly). Vitalogy is a true work of art and could have been a masterpiece. So close. GRADE: B+

5. No Code~ No Code may be the hardest PJ album to figure out. Loaded with genious, yet surrounded with mediocrity. No Code offers the listener with some of PJ's all time best work. "In My Tree", "Smile", "Red Mosquito", & "Present Tense" are incredibly songs. Compelling, emotional, hard rock. But sadly, there are some major duds in the midst of genious. "Habit", "I'm Open" & "Mankind" are bottom feeders. "Mankind" features Stone Gossard on vocals. I am a fan of Stone, but when you have Eddie Vedder in your band, he should be the singer. No Code could have easily been my #1 album if PJ had stoped after 10 songs and replaced "Habit" with "Around the Bend". ("Around the Bend" should stayed the album closer.) GRADE: B

6. Yield~ Yield is a fan favorite, and why shouldn't it be? With a classic like "Given to Fly" and favorites like "Do the Evolution", "In Hiding" & "Faithful", Yield is a strong album. A strong album, yes. A classic album, no. "Brain of J" lacks creativity. "Pilate" lacks any real emotion. "The Colour Red" is a complete filler that should have been left of the album entirely in favor of "Untitled" (the opener to "MFC" in concert). Then we come to "Wishlist". I will never understand the poularity of this song. To me, "Wishlist" is easily one of my least favorite PJ songs of all time. Granted, when "Whishlist" is played live it is a decent song, however, on the studio recording there is no life or energy at all. In my opinion it is a total let down song. All that being said, "All Those Yesterdays" is another in the history of great PJ album closers, and "No Way" and "Low Light" do their best to make up for the previously mentioned songs. GRADE: B

7. Riot Act~ Riot Act is an album that seems to have trouble finding its identity. There are a number of good songs on this album, and if nearly any other current rock band had released Riot Act, it may have been considered some of their best work. However, this is not another band. This is PJ. And PJ is held to a higher standerd. That being said, I think "You Are" and "Love Boat Captain" are incredible songs. Easily some of PJ's best work. "I Am Mine", "Cropduster", and "Thumbing My Way" are fairly strong, and "Can't Keep" and "Save You" are above average, but not up to the high standerds this band has set for itself. The remaining songs are discombobulated in feel, emotion and sound, and worst of all are simply not very good. GRADE: C+

8. Binaural~ "Sleight of Hand" a true masterpiece. A dark and haunting track that exudes the best of PJ. It is unlike anything PJ had released before it. And only "You Are" has a similar sound since. This is easily a top five PJ song in my opinion. The problem with Binaural is that "Sleight of Hand" is the only song of its caliber on this album. "Breakerfall" is a decent opener. "Gods' Dice" and "Evacuation" are simply pretty poor. "Light Years" is above average but not special. "Nothing as it Seems" showcases Mike McCready's amazing talents on guitar, but again there is something missing. "Thin Air" is an okay song, but it is fairly boring. "Insignificance" is a plus tune, not a PJ classic but still very good. "Of the Girl" is probobly my second favorite song on Binaural. And although "Of the Girl" is an exceptional song, that really is an inditement on the utter averageness of this album. On no other PJ album would "Of the Girl" even rank in my top five songs. "Grievance" is sleightly above average. "Rival" has energy live, but lacks it in the studio. "Soon Forget" is a cute song, and "Parting Ways" ranks near the bottom of PJ closers. Sadly many excellent songs from the Binaural recording sessions were inexplicably left off of the album. Songs like "Sad", "Down", "Hitchhiker", "In the Moonlight", "Education" and "Fatal", are all great songs that could have made Binaural infinately better. When all of this comes together Binaural comes up short. In comparison to a lot of popular music on the air waves today, this album may seem pretty good, but when compared to the extensive catalogue of amazing PJ albums, Binaural brings up the rear. GRADE: C-

Funny that Binaural and Yield are by far my favourites.

To me Yield is the holy grail of the band, watching SVT you can see reached some kind of enlightment, peace of mind at least for that short period. I really feel that they were really comfortable and their musicality flowing perfectly.

Binaural....

C-?


Blasphemy.

Binauralsphemy.

Man, Phat J hadn't ranked anything in a while. Musta drove him crazy.

we all have our own opinions. nice write ups

I agree... I think

so are you rating these albums against each other? Is Binaural a C- record by any standard, or C- by PJ standards.

I think Ten deserves an A if the only problem you have with the record is that it sounds even better live

Nice post

Nice post!
Good reviews of each album.....

I would have to disagree....Binaural at the bottom?

Come on man....Get yourself a nice record player....go on ebay and try to find binaural on vinyl, buy yourself a nice bottle of red wine, sit back and spin binaural....then you will truly understand it.........

Binaural is a fuckin GEM!
The binaural sessions were the BEST writing/creative sessions the boys have EVER had!

other than that....GREAT POST!

I've come to the conclusion that Binaural is easily their most over-rated album on this board.

I only am rating PJ against PJ. Binaural is a C- against PJ standerds.

totally agree with you... and riot act ranked higher... salt in the wound...

agreed I fixed the ranking everyone can relax and have a nice day now

Vitalogy A+
Ten A
Vs. A-
Yield B+
Pearl Jam B
No Code B-
Binural C+.....B is you add the b sides
Riot Act C

vs : first pj album i listened to cover to cover...used to always skip over half the songs on ten...

*vs
**ten

Agreed.

Have it on vinyl. It is still only an OK album. I agree that the sessions were great. The only bad thing is some of the best songs were left off of Binaural. Seriously, "Sad", "Hitchhiker", "Fatal", "In The Monnlight", and"Education" should all have been on Binaural. That would have catapulted it towards the top of the list.

The board says that Yield, No Code and Vitalogy are all better than those two and that Binaural is better than Vs (according to that thread with a poll). According to album sales, Ten and Vs are their most poular records, so the board hardly over-rates them.

Very funny Rondell...

A grade of B is insulting to the gem that is called Yield.

Awwwwwwwww yeah, son. PHATJ is back in the motherfuckin' house!