I'm a weirdo that prefers Yield and Binaural to Pearl Jam's earlier works (though Vs. and Vitology go pretty hard at times).
In general, I think they've always had trouble coming up with a full album's worth of interesting songs, but the good songs always go so hard, it's easy to ignore the filler.
Thanks for this review, last time I listened to Pearl Jam, they seemed like they were drifting towards adult contemporary. Sounds like that's not the case at all!
Maybe you’ll like this one! It’s definitely got some scruffiness, in spirit and performance but not in production, and the ballads are actually the best part of the album. For some reason, I think Vedder’s voice works BETTER on the more melodic stuff.
The Pink Floyd pastiche, though, is just not good.
I have to get around to listening to this (and their last album, where I liked the single but didn't get much further) at some point because I used to be a massive Pearl Jam fan in high school. I do think they were a little more distinctive in their prime than you give them credit for, they had better hooks and melodies than most of their imitators. I found several of their later albums pretty blah and had stopped paying attention by the time I got out of college, but have been listening to their 2003 album Riot Act quite a bit recently. In fact one of my recent posts was named for a song on that album.
They probably are more distinctive than I give them credit for, but as someone who was never a huge fan, they’ve always been about Eddie Vedder because his voice is so unique.
This album lacks a lot of the dynamics and rawness, the “live band all playing in a room” feel that defines the stuff of theirs I like the most. It’s good and well done, just mid, in my opinion.
I'm a weirdo that prefers Yield and Binaural to Pearl Jam's earlier works (though Vs. and Vitology go pretty hard at times).
In general, I think they've always had trouble coming up with a full album's worth of interesting songs, but the good songs always go so hard, it's easy to ignore the filler.
Thanks for this review, last time I listened to Pearl Jam, they seemed like they were drifting towards adult contemporary. Sounds like that's not the case at all!
Maybe you’ll like this one! It’s definitely got some scruffiness, in spirit and performance but not in production, and the ballads are actually the best part of the album. For some reason, I think Vedder’s voice works BETTER on the more melodic stuff.
The Pink Floyd pastiche, though, is just not good.
Just reading that Pearl Jam went that Pink Floyd direction made me cringe. At least it was only a single song, but still, PJ is better than that.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if it didn’t so blatantly rip off so many of their songs.
I have to get around to listening to this (and their last album, where I liked the single but didn't get much further) at some point because I used to be a massive Pearl Jam fan in high school. I do think they were a little more distinctive in their prime than you give them credit for, they had better hooks and melodies than most of their imitators. I found several of their later albums pretty blah and had stopped paying attention by the time I got out of college, but have been listening to their 2003 album Riot Act quite a bit recently. In fact one of my recent posts was named for a song on that album.
They probably are more distinctive than I give them credit for, but as someone who was never a huge fan, they’ve always been about Eddie Vedder because his voice is so unique.
This album lacks a lot of the dynamics and rawness, the “live band all playing in a room” feel that defines the stuff of theirs I like the most. It’s good and well done, just mid, in my opinion.