The purpose of these threads is to take the time and go back and listen to the Pearl Jam albums you remember but haven't sat down with in a long time. What did you think? Is it what you remembered? Give the album a spin and talk about it.



Part I: Ten
Part II: Vs.
Part III: Vitalogy
Part IV: No Code
Binaural

Here we go...

Man I've never understood why I don't like breakerfall more. In theory the build up at the start is doing everything right and I like the controlled chaos of the music. Maybe it's the weird distortion in Eddie's voice. I like breakerfall, but I should love it and I don't. Mike's outro solo should be louder.

God's Dice tries so hard, but it just strikes me as featureless. There's a lot of interesting things happening musically (I like the churning guitar in the second verse) but they're too hard to hear. Ed's voice is a little too slick here for me. Too much teflon, not enough scratches. the vocal melody here doesn't really do anything for me.

I usually listen to binaural with headphones but they're in the car. I wonder if I should do this twice.

Actually really paying attention to what's happening musically in Breakerfall and God's Dice suddenly evacuation seems less interesting. The verses are actually kind of annoying me a little bit. I think I'm enjoying evacuation less than I have in the past. That's weird. I know the bridges gets a lot of love but I'm not sure why. The vocal melody is pretty weak and nothing that memorable musically seems to be happening

That chorus is still annoying. I'm prepared to say its worse than habit.\


Wow, the beginning of Binaural really isn't that good.

Okay Light Years--lets see what you have for me. The music is challenging, and I guess that makes sense if coming to grips with death is supposed to be confusing, but this is also a song celebrating friendship, and it doesn't fit for that.

This is another really weak vocal melody. Meditative songs aren't supposed to churn along like this.

Not a fan of how Eddie sounds on this one either. it's like he's pinching off his vocals. This one sounds better live because he lets himself go.

Good bridge and outro. These are the best parts of the song, but I'm not sure the fit here. They don't stick out quite as much as the Amongst the Waves Bridge, but they probably don't belong here. They belong on the original, far superior version of this song.

Nice lyrics, nice sentiment. Wrong song for them. This song is trying to cram a round peg into a square hole.


Lyrically I have some issues with NAIS (some really nice lines from Jeff but too much 'LOOK AT ME, I'M FULL OF DEEP AND IMPRESSIVE IMAGERY but musically it's really good. Mike just owns this song. His playing feels really earned, and has extra power coming out of the murk that makes up the rest of this one. The bass fills between the lyrics is really cool. I love the tone Stone has on his guitar here. The bridge is great--the meat of it, the way it starts, the way it transitions into the final chorus. the whole thing really. If the rest of this record has been worse than I remembered, this one is probably a little better.

Stip, I'm with you regarding Breakerfall. It's actually my least favorite song on my favorite Pearl Jam album. I'm not sure what my exact problem is with the song. Structurally it reminds me of Gonna See My Friend, which I also do not care for.

I think the biggest thing Breakerfall had going against it was that my first listen to Binaural was in my car at midnight after picking it up on release. The sound of that album was such a departure for them and my car speakers did that song no justice. I literally couldnt understand or hear the song the way I was used to hearing a Pearl Jam rock song. It was a strange way to start out the album.

The rest of the album feels like it was written just for me. I find it rather flawless and wish Pearl Jam stayed with this type of sound/song structure for a longer period. Everything here felt so dark and dense.

Binaural has also aged nicely for me. Even though, after 10+ years, the emotional effect of some of the songs have worn off the beauty and complexity of the songs still reveal themselves more after every listen.

yes

I like how Thin Air gradually starts. Thin Air really is a very pretty song musically--a warm song on a cold record. I usually don't like how Eddie sounds on Binaural, but it fits here pretty well. I like how the song winks at itself with the little interlude going into the second verse. I just think these lyrics are terrible. The fact that Eddie's vocal performance feels somewhat manufactured means he can't give the lines the earnestness they need to redeem moments like 'how to be happy and true is the quest we're taking on together.'

One of the things that's been pretty interesting about listening to these last few records is how many of my issues with these albums stem from Eddie.


I've grown apart from Insignificance over the years, in the same way I've grown apart from RVM, but this is a tremendous song. It's just a shame that it takes 7 songs into the record to get to one. I wonder if this how they wanted Evacuation to sound. Dangerous, urgent, chaotic. I wish it wasn't Binaural Eddie singing this one (this song needs more howling, and Eddie doesn't really howl on this album). that would take this into the 5 star range. Nice fractured lyrics here, and it gives the direct lines more impact because of how they stand out among the more mysterious imagery. "I was alone and far away when I heard the band start playing" is one of my favorite lines in their catalog. the buildup out of the bridge into the final verse is excellent. I love the wall of sound at the end.

I'd like to hear radiohead cover this.
Pearl Jam has never come remotely close to doing this one justice live.


Of the girl is a cool song musically (i never noticed how it starts the same gradual way as thin air), Really nice atmosphere here. In fact, once you get past the first 4 songs (and maybe thin air) Binaural has a lot of really interesting mood pieces. Except for Grievance, but Grievance doesn't need it.

This song is really smokey.

Eddie's vocals are too prominent in this one, especially given how empty the lyrics are. they should be coming out of the haze. instead they're in front of it.

Eddie is pretty featureless on a lot of these songs. I like when his vocals have nooks and crannies to them (or the volcanic power of the first two records). If this was the first Pearl jam record I heard I probably would not have become a big fan.

When Binaural first came out I thought "Light Years" sounded like a band who didn't know how to properly put chords together--I always thought the change that occurs on the lines, "I have played games with pieces..." and, "now you're gone, I haven't figured out why..." was completely awkward and inappropriate. I'm generally a fan of theoretical surprises in song form, but this one doesn't feel natural. But I love the chorus and the bridge, and have eventually grown to love the song too--my favorite version remains the one I saw in Chicago in 2003.

"NAIS" is the kind of song that makes me feel like Mike has no ear for style--I always thought the song called for a more tasteful, restrained approach than it gets, even though he does frequently play very well on it. I wish he played it like he did "All or None"--fewer notes, greater emphasis on melody, saving the shredding for the end. But "NAIS" is favorite--for a fairly monotonous melody, the part at the end where Ed sings "a little bittersweet" completely leaps out of the murk like the sun breaking through the clouds on the grayest of gloomy days.

I know people respect the production on this album, but I never really warmed to it. With the possible exception of "Rival," I pretty significantly prefer all these songs live.

Oh I don't know about that. Don't trust the bootlegs but i've seen it live a few times and it's powerful stuff. grievance live can't make the same boast weirdly enough and you'd expect that to trump Insignificance live, but it doesn't.

Grievance is the best song on this record bar none (it's better than Sad too, for people keeping score at home). Finally Eddie's voice has some character to it. This is the type of singing he does the best. This song is well placed on the record. It feels much more direct than it is after following 4 mood pieces in a row, and so the complexity in this one slowly unveils itself. I like how this sorta sounds like it has a traditional verse/chorus/verse structure but doesn't really draw a distinction between verse and chorus. Corduroy is like that too.

I enjoyed Grievance more than I usually do. it's placement on the record enhances what is already a really good song.

Hello Rival dog. aren't you fierce.

this is the Pearl Jam song I think I would most like to see Tom Waits cover (maybe just breathe or come back but that's a different side of him). This song is also really really good. The music is so sinister. Lyrically this isn't that great, but Eddie delivers these lines with a conviction that isn't there on Thin Air. Plus the double tracked vocals and the sinister piano make the mood so persuasive that what he's singing doesn't matter. You know what he's saying without having to hear him say it, which is good.

I like the little woot he has going into the bridge.

When I was complaining earlier about Eddie's vocals having no character to them this is what i'm talking about (Grievance too). Eddie inhabits this song fully in a way he doesn't for way too much of Binaural.

I like how isntead of ending with the hard musical breakdown it goes back into the evil carnival lullaby for the fade out.

Only last year when listening to the Boston '10 boot did I find out what Ed said during the bridge to "Rival": "Every grain of sand equals/Every star around the world." It amazes me how long I've been a fan of this band without ever having bothered to learn so many of their lyrics, especially offbeat bridge parts--the middle sections of "Not For You" and "In My Tree," the outro to "Glorified G," etc.

Pretty rad. I never picked up on that line either for some reason. You just made my morning!

Rival transitions into Sleight of Hand really well.

The mood on this one is great. It sounds like a cracked dream, which of course, is what this song is--another atmospheric triumph. The echo effect on Eddie's voice is well done.

I don't usually enjoy listening to Sleight of Hand as a stand alone song (I respect it as a work of art, but don't want to listen to it), but I'm enjoying it a lot more when it comes up on the record. What is an occasionally arduous listen feels more natural when heard in its proper context.



I don't like Soon Forget at all. It combines all the sing song superficiality of the ukulele with what are some of the most juvenile lyrics in the entire catalog. A worthwhile sentiment is lost in the absurd self-righteousness of the song. I don't hear the humor. I just hear the off putting smugness. Ed's usual whispered ukulele vocals aren't really right for this song either. Benjamins and horny are two words that should never appear in another PJ song. Give me bugs any day of the week.


The one thing I'll give soon forget is that the opening notes of Long Road Parting Ways sound a lot richer than they would have following sleight of hand. I don't think this is a particularly strong vocal performance from Eddie (although it is appropriately understated--still I think he usually sounds better on this one live), but the music is so rich and textured, has such a complicated simplicity to it that the vocals are elevated. The strings are very well used here, and they do a really good job masking how abrasive the music actually is in this one. That's what jumped out at me the most. I never quite noticed that before.

parting ways is a really good song. I don't think it's a great one. But it's really good.



After the first 4 songs Binaural gets an A for atmosphere, but this is not Eddie's best record by a country mile. there just aren't very many memorable performances on here. A preview of riot act, perhaps. The rest of the band does their job admirably.

I'm going to listen to puzzles and games just for the hell of it.

Such a better song than light years. Musically it has a beautiful melody that's slightly off kilter but floats along in a totally natural and organic way. Eddie chokes himself off in the chorus. the music is trying so hard to lift him up but he's still whispering. I wonder if they would have addressed that for a studio version. I'd like to think so, but given what these sessions were like maybe not.

I really like what Matt plays on this one.

This is where the light years bridge belongs. Not in Light Years.

Binaural really falters for me with its lack of truly stellar songs. Such a shame they had to put a little fixin on this one.

In fairness, this probably would not have fit on Binaural. But that's what Lost Dogs was for.

I think Grievance live is as good as the record. But live performances trade atmosphere for energy. it works fine for Grievance. I've seen insiginficance quite a few times lives and have never really enjoyed it all that much. Too much is lost.

Matt owns Puzzles and Games...splashy, fun, playful, jammy...had it made it to the record in this form it would have likely been stripped of those things...oh..wait..

i love light Years too though.

Another band I like are making a greatest hits release (for want of a better term) and they're going into the studio, playing the songs live in one take and releasing it like that as opposed to the takes from the record.

How awesome would it be for Pj to do this? I think from Binaural, Grievance would sound incredible if it got this treatment and Insignificance too.

wishful thinking for Pj to do this but it's a cool idea. can't wait to hear the frames do it.

I like the urgency "Insignificance" gains live but don't like that abrupt STOP! they all do before going into the second chorus. The transition from the verse to that dissonant little riff is so beautifully jarring, and that break totally kills it.

There are songs I've heard hundreds of times from them and I still have issues with lyrics. Sometimes Ed needs to enunciate a bit better I think. The mid to later albums have all kinds of songs like that.

This is an album I've tried hard to like more. I remember going to the release thing at the Vintage Vinyl at midnight to pick it up. Got a nice poster with it that I have since lost.

Insignificance and Grievance are easily the two best songs on this album. NAIS has a great vibe but weak lyrics, Mike does some sweet work on this song as stip stated. Rival is quite a strong tune, the jerky discombobulated nature of it really works well. Of the Girl creates a strong atmosphere as well, a great show opener I think. I don't get my usual PJ feeling with that one, makes me visualize some dudes sitting around in chairs jamming while smoking and drinking whiskey. Love the guitars in the background. Not sure I love the transition to "Now he makes his getaway" part though. But then it goes back into that kind of loose guitar vibe that sounds so sweet.

Evacuation and Slight of Hand are arguably my two least favorite PJ tunes. No flow, nothing to I can grab onto and lose myself in the song with.

Soon Forget is filler to me, but I don't find the uke to be an amazing instrument and the lyrics are bad.

I really dug Thin Air for along time but recently it has fallen quite a bit, and listening to it now didn't do a lot for it.

Parting Ways is a nice song but not amazing. Lyrically its interesting and Ed sounds good.

This is their only album I'd give no songs 5/5 stars and the best tune from those sessions was left off the disc.

Geez stip, that's 2 days in a row where I agree with you!

It's one of my least favorite starts to a PJ record too. I've never been wild about Breakerfall, I really do like God's Dice though (Matt Cameron ), and Evacuation is very interesting musically, but I can't get past the shitty chorus. Then, it goes to Light Years, and that song to me, is just alright (it's an average song when stacking it up against PJ's other songs...I'd imagine it would be somewhere between 40 and 60 for me).

Ed and everyone gushes about Matt C's songwriting but I just don't get it.