many of you come off like 15 years old kids trying to mimmick the cool dudes by using a popular thing to dislike and acting as if it was the worst record known to mankind. you're full of the fecal superlatives you're using to describe S/T. go get a clue. there's a reason why people usually don't diss Riot Act the same way you diss S/T and it's not because one is worst than the other...outside of the PJ elitist circles that think that Binaural is the best record ever or that You Are is a masterpiece, it's a commonly accepted allegation that S/T is a return to form for this band. not their best album nor their worst but a consistent piece of work with many great songs. so grow up a bit and build arguments to express your distaste.
thank you.

I disagree. Im a hater.

- i don't think Binaural is the best record ever, nor do i think it's PJ's best. however, it's my easily my favorite of theirs
- i used to hate You Are, but have come to love it the last few years or so. not to big on the lyrics, but love the groove of the music.
- i've never cared for S/T that much. liked it okay on first listen, but the more listens the more songs fell off the wagon of good songs (in my book) however i really like Parachutes and Army Reserve and sometimes Inside Job.
- i do love you, mastaflatch

I'm not a huge fan of the latest disc....far from it, I find it boring....but it seems like a lot of people who dislike it either totally dismiss the writing (which boggles me, because it's basically a poppier version of every post-93 song on rearviewmirror, without loss of complexity in writing or playing), or hunt for some unusual explanation why they don't like it (it's mastered too heavy through equipment which can handle far heavier compression with less than 10% audible distortion).

Reality: most good bands, and every great band, has suffered from the fact that people simply will never accept your later work as comparable to the early stuff. Personally, I place no value or respect on such statements. Tom Waits once said that he refuses to look back because the past can never appear as ugly as the present, so it can never be a good....I think that most artists look back out of pride or fear, and it affects the way their fans respond. Tom can do an entire concert of Real Gone and Mule Variations songs with no audience complaints, where even bands like Belle and Sebastian can't afford to ignore their comparatively recent past for fear of isolating fans.

1. People can have whatever opinions they want. With all the people on this message board it is likely that are going to be people who will dislike an album.
2. The fact that the album is made up of songs which are basically poppier versions of prior songs isn't a good thing.
3. Most 15 year olds either don't know who Pearl Jam is or don't spend enough time thinking about them to have an actual opinion on them.
4. People do bash Riot Act.
5. It may be a commonly accepted idea that the album is a return to form, it is also a commonly accepted idea that Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus is the new shit right now.
6. The last album was overhyped like fuck.
7. ?????
8. People have different opinions. Some people see something in this. Others see that it sucks and is rehashed material from the last 15 years, stereotypical, and attempts to confuse the emo/scene kids with a song title like worldwide suicide.

Agreed. S/T is not the bands best album, nor their worst. I feel it was what was right for the band at the time. If the next record sounds like it (which it won't), I'll be devestated though.

How do people get into Pearl Jam's music, most of the time? They listen to Ten, maybe Vs., and get sucked into the rest. If there was never Ten (which is one of the least favourited albums by most die-hard fans), the majority of you would not be posting here. Would you have given No Code the time of day if it was their debut? Some will say yes, but the chances are, you'd have never heard it if it was.

That's what S/T was, and why it was needed. An easy, pick up and play album. Something you can play to anyone, and they can appreciate immediately. And then you can say, "By the way, check out Riot Act, Vitalogy and No Code too."

Despite the band seemingly intentionally alienating fans in the past, is too bad to think that just maybe they wanted to win some new fans, some younger fans who never got the oppurtunity to get on the wagon in 1992?

Be honest, what's going to intrigue you to investigate Pearl Jam's back catalogue more on a first listen... S/T or Riot Act?

I don't say I'd ever be happy being called a s/t "hater"; I think it's a disappointing effort overall but only when compared to the rest of Pearl Jam's stellar catalogue. Pearl Jam are still one of the best bands in the world and I'd take Life Wasted over most other crap out there today in a heartbeat.

But...

It's still easily my least favourite Pearl Jam record by a country mile. I don't want to try and convince you of why as I think it's a futile excercise; I don't want you to like it any less, that would be horrible; if it pleases you and you get enjoyment out of listening to it, then more power to you!

We're all so different and have such differing tastes in music, it's illogical to think we could come to some kind of consensus about if a record is "good" or not. My "good Pearl Jam" includes Evacuation, Can't Keep, Ghost & Help Help; I'm well aware that's not an opinion shared by the majority of this board, if not Pearl Jam fans in general.

But so damn what? I don't ask for people to justify their dislike for Riot Act; I just figure it doesn't strike a chord with their particular taste in music. I don't know why I should have to do the same for the s/t record; I just don't like it quite as much as anything else the band has ever put out. That's just MY taste in music, I guess.

It's hardly as if I rue the day it was committed to tape; I really love Unemployable, Army Reserve, Parachutes & Big Wave. I'm also quite fond of Gone and Severed Hand, they've grown on me a lot. The rest doesn't do much for me at all.

I think it's so fucking great that different people find entirely different things to love about the Pearl Jam catalogue; if we just loved everything equally, wouldn't that be really dull?...

(For the record, I'm not very keen on Binaural either - as a "record", anyway. I think it might actually be their strongest collection of individual songs but the production and tracklisting weigh it down really, really badly.

Oh, and I hate the artwork for s/t. It's unforgivably bad. And yes, I think it matters.)

What bothers me in this kind of discussions is that people tend to state (sloppy) opinions as pure facts. There really isn't ground for discussing on most topics.
There isn't a shared opinion about one single thing between fans. Certainly not in this section of this forum.
Many original fans almost refuse to accept 10 and Vs are not everybody's favorites. Or that PJ gained fans after 1992. They did.
10 and Vs. are teenage (not recent, 5-10 years ago when there was no alternative scene going on and people looked in the past) favourites for reasons we all can understand and i think it's fair to assume teens taste in music is not exactly valuable except for sales.
But PJ gained fans that are not teens so their tastes are oriented towards their post Vs. work. Many people are honestly not impressed by most songs on 10 and Vs. or at least not anymore. Those 2 CDs are pretty straight forward and that wears quickly if you didn't live the time they came out.
S/t is not as single faced as many people here make it. Unless of course people have only the 1st 3 tracks version of the album. I can't see how this album would significally gain them fans. Nothing on radio sounded like the 2 singles 2 years ago.

I'm a 15-year old S/T hater and proud of it.

There has been plenty of 'objective' discussion about S/T in this forum and it is not just about 'opinion'. Here are some reasons why S/T just really isn't that good:

album artwork - I actually like the attempt to do a pop-art cover rather than some moody thing that has been done in the past, however to then take stills from a video for the remainder of the booklet is just damn lazy.

bad production - The production on this album irons out too many creases - the great thing about Pearl Jam is that their songs and production usually sounds like they have got in a room pressed record and released the first take. The arrangements and production is too laboured and it removes the immediacy and potency of the songs.

trying to be like pearl jam vocals - there are some great vocals on the record, except when Ed tries to sound like Eddie. Comatose would have sounded great in 1994 but it fails to excite because the vocals are too thin, same with Life Wasted.

I think there are good songs and some nice melodies. I also like the harmonies but there are a few too many. I don't hate the album but it just doesn't have the feel of other albums.

I take exception to that 'cos i've clearly &constructively expressed what i dislike & find lacking about S/T on a number of occassions, and i've only called is shit one time outright.
It's taste, and you should never argue about taste 'cos there's no right or wrong.

Without having to repeat what was said as i agree with all of it, I wholeheartedly concur with everything Spenno &Leopold have said. I'd personally find the artwork responsble initially.
It goes downhill from there.

Though i partly agree with some of those observations, you negated your initial statement by providing subjective examples.

As for what you said about the vocals and when 'Ed tries to sound like Eddie'...does that also mean that you think Ed sings these songs badly live, and should also rework the ways he sings songs like DTE, Blood and Lukin? I think it's fine for the band to keep putting out the 'rocking' songs along as they're of the same quality of Comatose. I think Ed is singing the song in a way that is comfortable to him and has become idiosyncratic. These aren't impressions, his voice has just changed and developed since the early days.

Yes i agree Leopold's post is paradoxical. Starting with the artwork is a bad idea if you're trying to make a point unless of course you were trying to be funny.

As for Eddie's singing. Eddie wasn't trying to sound like Eddie (He is Eddie so by definition he sounds like Eddie but people tend to bitch if Eddie doesn't sound like they think Eddie should sound etc.). As a matter of fact he never technically "screamed" in the way he does on s/t. It's a different kind of creating that sound which is unlike anything he has done before. It's not singing like it's 1994 and sounding the way it does. It sounds more thin because it's easier on his pipes that eventually found better use on ITW.
His voice changed as every singer's voice changes regardless of the reasons.

Dimejinky so what's the deal with May being big for PJ?

I think the vocals on a song like comatose or life wasted are MUCH stronger than the vocals on similar songs like habit, lukin, brain of J, or save you--on the first three he's just shouting himself hoarse, which was never that compelling, or sounds like he doesn't care in the later. Life Wasted is what save you should have sounded like


If people want to dislike the album art (I like cover but agree that video stills on the inside is lazy) or the production (the weak link in the album) that's fine. But I'm with McP. I've never understood, and probably never will, the critique of this album lyrically--which after the first two lines in life wasted and until inside job, is uniformally strong, and more often than not is excellent

really can't say but i'm sure you can probly guess.
if i was allowed say i really would've by now.

so is either Avocado b-sides, 2007 and/or vault bootlegs and less likely tour.
My guess is bootlegs as i wouldn't call the b-sides a big thing.

Ooooh, if we guess can you reply with a suitable emoticon? This was you're technically not saying...but more so clicking. Plan?

or pm

Also I've seen PJ has an official Facebook now and they asked a weird question there...Where do you want PJ to play this year hmm...

S/T is very strange for me. I like every song on it...which is more than I can say for almost all their other albums, but for some reason its like a greatest hits collection. What I mean is that my mind can't seem to put together a unique identity for this album. All the other albums mean something to me in their own way...I get a very unique and specific feeling while listening to each of them, not this way with S/T. This causes me to rank the album fairly low in PJ's catalog, but if I were to rank every PJ song on a 0-5 scale and average the score for each album...S/T might be at the top.

Is this making any sense?