Pearl Jam Part II

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djerdap said:
The Binaural-Avocado period (counting Lost Dogs) is one of my favourite eras by any band, despite the fact that it isn't my favourite Pearl Jam era (that's what happens with favorite bands). Woefully underrated and full of fantastic songs. It reminds me, in terms how the band decided to get out of their comfort zone (not counting Avocado here), of Zooropa-Millon Dollar Hotel era that gets neglected or people are being dismissive about it way too often.

For me, problems started with Backspacer. I don't mind Vedder's folky influence, but it became obvious on Backspacer that the band found it increasingly difficult to adapt to his songwriting. McCready and Gossard used to shine on Vedder-written classics such as Corduroy, Rearviewmirror or I Am Mine. They're both invisible on tracks like Just Breathe and The End, both being basically Eddie solo songs that wouldn't have been misplaced on Into the Wild. But the main problem was there was sort of a happy-go-lucky cheesiness introduced - not unlike U2's output in the 2000s. I have no problem with uplifting music - Pearl Jam has plenty of classics that makes one feel much better - but I have a problem when the same guy who wrote the lyrics to Release starts yapping about how he's gonna put a bit of fixin' on it.

This was only exacerbated by this new one. Future Days is hands down the worst piece of music these guys have ever made. It sounds like something out a 80s family sitcom - this might be Brendan O'Brien's fault since it is mainly his piano that makes it that way. And the vocal melodies - oh fuck the vocal melodies. The intro to Lightning Bolt is impossibly cringe-worthy. Sirens is derived from any subtlety and again, suspiciously derivative of some of the 80s power ballads that they used to make fun of in the 90s. Sleeping By Myself is just laughable in its pointlessness.

I don't think it's a complete failure - Pendulum is an extraordinary track. They haven't sounded this adventurous and interesting since Riot Act. I can say that I like about a third of the album. But I indeed feel it is their first crappy one. Concert performances and crazy setlists are as good as ever. They're in a good place. Maybe too good. As stereotypical as angst in rock music has become, it is obvious that this band - particularly the lead singer - needs it to make great music for these ears.

Since some of you are more positive about the record, I felt it was best not to share my "negativity". But hell, this morning I felt a rant coming.
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Never feel the need to hold your opinions just because they contradict with others here. I agree with some of your assessments of the album (and wholeheartdely agree with your points about Just Breathe and The End, always thought of them as basically Ed solo songs that made their way onto PJ albums, rest of the band seems to have very little impact on them).

I think the new album is decent, by no means a classic. For me Pendulum, Mind Your Manners, Getaway are the stand outs, enjoy the album pretty well through Swallowed Whole, am still on the fence with Let The Records Play, and it drops off a cliff for me with the last 3 tracks. (Prefer the ukelele version of Sleeping by Myself to the full band version by a wide margin frankly).

Now the 3 live shows I saw last month were fantastic. Some of the new stuff translates well live (the title track actually improves greatly live), I doubt the angst ridden EdVed of the 90's is likely to ever resurface, but the happy EdVed is leading some great concerts these days and McCready is as good as ever, so overall this album cycle is fine in my eyes just for the fact that it has the band out doing what they do better than any other band around nowadays.
 
djerdap said:
The Binaural-Avocado period (counting Lost Dogs) is one of my favourite eras by any band, despite the fact that it isn't my favourite Pearl Jam era (that's what happens with favorite bands). Woefully underrated and full of fantastic songs. It reminds me, in terms how the band decided to get out of their comfort zone (not counting Avocado here), of Zooropa-Millon Dollar Hotel era that gets neglected or people are being dismissive about it way too often.

For me, problems started with Backspacer. I don't mind Vedder's folky influence, but it became obvious on Backspacer that the band found it increasingly difficult to adapt to his songwriting. McCready and Gossard used to shine on Vedder-written classics such as Corduroy, Rearviewmirror or I Am Mine. They're both invisible on tracks like Just Breathe and The End, both being basically Eddie solo songs that wouldn't have been misplaced on Into the Wild. But the main problem was there was sort of a happy-go-lucky cheesiness introduced - not unlike U2's output in the 2000s. I have no problem with uplifting music - Pearl Jam has plenty of classics that makes one feel much better - but I have a problem when the same guy who wrote the lyrics to Release starts yapping about how he's gonna put a bit of fixin' on it.

This was only exacerbated by this new one. Future Days is hands down the worst piece of music these guys have ever made. It sounds like something out a 80s family sitcom - this might be Brendan O'Brien's fault since it is mainly his piano that makes it that way. And the vocal melodies - oh fuck the vocal melodies. The intro to Lightning Bolt is impossibly cringe-worthy. Sirens is derived from any subtlety and again, suspiciously derivative of some of the 80s power ballads that they used to make fun of in the 90s. Sleeping By Myself is just laughable in its pointlessness.

I don't think it's a complete failure - Pendulum is an extraordinary track. They haven't sounded this adventurous and interesting since Riot Act. I can say that I like about a third of the album. But I indeed feel it is their first crappy one. Concert performances and crazy setlists are as good as ever. They're in a good place. Maybe too good. As stereotypical as angst in rock music has become, it is obvious that this band - particularly the lead singer - needs it to make great music for these ears.

Since some of you are more positive about the record, I felt it was best not to share my "negativity". But hell, this morning I felt a rant coming.
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It's not like you drove by, tossed a "fuck this album, it sucks" in the thread and left. You have an actual opinion, who cares if it doesn't jive with whoever that guy was insinuating that 2013 has been so bad for music this is clearly top 5 material.

I wish I could figure out how to like binaural, but I can't. I think it just comes down to a fundamental difference in the types of songs by a particular band that resonate with you vs the ones by that same band that I prefer, and binaural has none of those songs. This is the second solid time I've thought that about a band (I think I was having a difficult time describing what exactly I mean in the other thread, and now I don't even remember what band it was) you've listed favorites of. It's like me and phanan with Springsteen songs, if you take a lot of our opinions on a particular album, he'll say "I like [album title] because this," then I'll come along and go "yes, and [song] is one of my all time favorite songs by anyone." Phanan will come back and say, "we'll, actually, that song is the only song on that album that I truly hate."

And like Hewson said, I can totally respect not being hugely fond of stuff like Just Breathe being considered pearl jam songs. I'm pretty sure that was my opinion on that song the first time I heard it on the radio (I'm pretty sure my opinion was somewhere along the lines of, "if I wanted this stuff I'd go listen to the fucking ukulele garbage or the soundtrack I didn't like for the movie I liked even less," actually), although I have somewhat changed my mind to the point where I really like the song enough that I'm willing to look past the bleedover from the other Vedder into PJ.

Backspacer really does feature some godawful lyrics. I like the second half of it quite a bit, though. Whereas with lightning bolt, I feel like I've listened to it a bunch but stopped after swallowed whole most of those times. Given the mediocrity of backspacer, and how much I didn't like avocado, I waited til after I saw them live to check out the album. And I'm sure I like the title track more because of that. Greatest album since [put your last favorite from long ago] declarations are 99% of the time pretty lame with any band, especially when you take them further and further back. Whoever said greatest since no code is going to catch heat from people who loved yield, where greatest since yield discounts the binaural-avocado period you're a big fan of.
 
Hewson said:
Never feel the need to hold your opinions just because they contradict with others here.
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To be frank, I did have a couple of snipes at the album already, but I didn't have the energy to thoroughly explain why I dislike it. However, after a month it seems my thoughts won't change on it. What I do find most interesting is that the biggest grower was Sirens - I thought it was horrible in the beginning, but the studio version did make it more tolerable. It might be those cool "siren" guitar effects in the background that somehow make the song somewhat less corny.

Hewson said:
McCready is as good as ever
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Eh, this is another major problem nowadays with the band for me. His guitar work seems less and less inspiring with each album (Riot Act was his late peak - terrific riffs and solos), and more and more inspired by some of his idols and bands he liked in the 80s whose music I find dubious at best. The solo for Sirens wouldn't be out of place on a shitty hair metal song. His live solos tend to get more and more wanky with each tour - Even Flow being a clear example. Until the Avocado tour, he really had a perfect combination of soulful playing and guitar extravagances, but I feel like his playing is losing more and more of what made it special in the first place. I have always favoured Gossard in a way, and he has now definitely become a more interesting guitar player. Pendulum is a good example of how he can achieve a lot by playing only a couple of notes. McCready should start taking notes (I swear that this was unintentional).
 
Hey, I reconsidered when I realized the incredibly anomaly that is my opinion of "off he goes" with the opinion that acoustic-y, could have been solo < rock n roll songs.
 
That's another great example of a band making a fantastic song out of a Vedder composition. McCready's guitar work is beautiful on that track. A very different vibe than many of these newer ones - haunting, atmospheric and not in the least bit cheesy. One of my favourite PJ songs.
 
off he goes is one of my favorite songs by anyone.


not on the same level is thumbing my way back to heaven, but i do like that song a fair amount. i left riot act out of my last wall of text intentionally, because i don't know how to place it. wishlist and last kiss were all over the radio when i first heard of pearl jam, and while i'm sure i'd heard all the previous singles before, i didn't know it/didn't care. i'd just started listening to music that wasn't the beatles or the oldies station, so i probably heard plenty of older singles, really didn't know any music more current than the 1970s. hell, the main reason they were a blip on my radar initially was because i knew the song last kiss. i thought they were a joke, i couldn't figure out why anyone would want to cover that cheesy, melodramatic bunch of nonsense (still not a fan of that song, never will be). i enjoy wishlist now, it's grown on me, but i also wasn't very impressed with it at the time + last kiss, so i wrote the band off as no good. in hiding changed my mind, in that impactful way where even though it was about 14 or so years ago i distinctly remember where i was (unless i've just somehow managed to construct some revisionist version of the point where i decided i liked the band) when i thought shit, this song is great and i need more. binaural just came out, and i actually did like nothing as it seems a lot more then than i do now, but the album as whole never clicked like the rest of them did. by the time riot act was announced, i was really psyched for it, built up these crazy lofty expectations of it, and all that. it's a decent album. it's not terrible. but it wasn't mind-blowingly amazing, and a lot of what i did like about it was seriously negated by the fact that i've always thought down was a better song than anything that actually was on the album.
 
IWasBored said:
i've always thought down was a better song than anything that actually was on the album.
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I have the same thought regarding Sad and Binaural (and a couple of Binaural tracks, Nothing as it Seems and Insignificance are amongst my favorites, but Sad is better than anything on that album IMO)
 
See, I always thought I am Mine was crazy radio friendly, though. Easily the most so off that album, but no less than down. It's just all in the chorus, where down kicks off with the hook. But on a scale of one to pop song, I'd place them both somewhere in the middle. And nowhere near as high as Betterman.


But I have no idea what radio friendly means. The stuff I find the catchiest, most anthemic, listenable music isn't on the radio, and boring, forgettable tripe is.
 
Other news, Matt Cameron announced on Soundgarden website he's not going to be able to play 2014 tour dates with Soundgarden due to promoting Lightning Bolt, so certainly some PJ tour dates to come next year, just a question of where.
 
Saw my 2nd and 3rd ever Pearl Jam shows this weekend. Amazing. Was on the floor both nights. Night 1, I was able to buy a ticket the day of the show in the first row of floor seats behind GA, night 2 I waited in the GA line with my hardcore PJ fan friend and ended up one back from the stage in front of Eddie.

I still can't quite believe I got to hear Garden, Release and Immortality live. The crowds both nights were great and the band is just out of this world. McCreedy is just phenomenal. The behind the back solo on Even Flow is ridiculous. I am now completely spoiled hearing 59 different songs across 2 nights.

Was talking with a fan in the pit and he heard they will be heading to the Midwest this summer, including another Wrigley date.
 
trojanchick99 said:
I still can't quite believe I got to hear Garden, Release and Immortality live. The crowds both nights were great and the band is just out of this world. McCreedy is just phenomenal. The behind the back solo on Even Flow is ridiculous. I am now completely spoiled hearing 59 different songs across 2 nights.
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You're screwed now. You're gonna be thinking "can I swng a trip to Chicago in July? Is Milwaukee to far to go for a concert?"...:D
 
Listened to the new album a couple of times. Once again, it's probably a grower because as of now I still prefer Backspacer by a lot.

Highlights so far:
Getaway
Mind Your Manners (though it's not quite as good as their punchy rockers of the past)
Sirens (good song but I wouldn't call it amazing so I don't get the hype)
Lightning Bolt
Pendulum

The last couple of tracks on the album literally put me to sleep. :crack: Hoping this changes as the album grows on me. :wink:
 
I've listened to the Pittsburgh bootleg and the band sounded amazing. Some of their best first shows of the tour I've listened to. Great mix as well. Even some of the songs from the new one that I really dislike (like the title track) sounded tolerable. Most of the new album improves immensely live.
 
Okay, after a few more listens the album has definitely grown on me much more now. But I still prefer Backspacer to it.

Tracks I love: Getaway, Lightning Bolt, Pendulum, Swallowed Whole, Yellow Moon

Tracks I like: Mind Your Manners, My Father's Son, Sirens, Infallible, Sleeping By Myself, Future Days

Tracks I skip: Let The Records Play (it is quite ordinary and doesn't even fit in well with the rest of the album)

The above may very well change as time goes on but as of now this is accurate enough.

I haven't heard the ukelele version of Sleeping By Myself but I like this version well enough. Don't love it though.

Love the percussion timing of Yellow Moon. Very interesting song with a great guitar solo at the end.

Future Days is okay. It sounds like an inferior version of Nightswimming though. And what's with Eddie's obsession with death of late?.. The End, Sirens, Future Days...?
 
The recap of this concert deserves to be posted here (specifically the story in the 1st encore):

Spokane, 11/30/13

01. Pendulum-(from the new album “Lightning Bolt”)
02. Release
03. Sirens-(from the new album “Lightning Bolt”) [no outro sing along]
04. Corduroy
05. Once

(“Well, it is really happening. We are all here in the 509. We will thank everyone involved in putting this together later but the one guy we should thank now, the guy who came up with the idea and worked to make it happen. That’s Jeff Ament. He really put this together.” Ed reaches for a bottle of wine but says, “That’s a Portland bottle of wine. Since this is Washington State and we haven’t played here since ’92 or ’93 we are gonna need something bigger to last the night.” He then pulls out an enormous bottle of wine. “This is what you need. A glass in every sip. I will be sharing this later..I can probably reach to sixth row with it.”)

06. Lightning Bolt-(from the new album “Lightning Bolt”)
(during the song Mike runs laps around the stage and at the outro Ed stands on Matt’s drum riser and plays to the people in the back)
07. Mind Your Manners-(from the new album “Lightning Bolt”)
08. Faithfull
09. Tremor Christ

(Ed picks up his giant wine bottle and says “I would like to raise a little toast to one of the greatest bands to ever come out of the Northwest, Mudhoney! It seems like we should have done this together in ’92 or ’93 but we are making up for it now.)

10. Even Flow (while Mike is soloing Ed goes over to stage left and pours some wine from is gigantic bottle for people and visits with Steve Gleason)
11. Getaway-(from the new album “Lightning Bolt”)

(I don’t know if you’ve seen it or if some of you lived it but we got turned onto a documentary called “SpokAnarchy”. We didn’t know that there was anything like that going on over here then. But we loved that film and if you were in it we want to say hello.)

12. Present Tense
(some in the crowd begin chanting for Stone. Ed says “He is a great friend, a great guitar player and has great solo albums but there is no way he is going to sing a song on this. I know because every night I ask him if he wants to sing and he says no. You wanna sing one right now? Stone smiles and says something off mic to Ed. Ed says Stone says he isn’t ready to slay that dragon but the gauntlet has been thrown. Stone laughs and the crowd chants even louder. “I think he is feeling the pressure,” Ed says, “it might happen tonight. Anytime.”

13. Swallowed Whole-(from the new album “Lightning Bolt”)
14. Daughter
(Ed sees a sign that says Jeremy Spokane class today. A guy has a sign that says he will shave his head if they play that song. Ed asks to see the person to make sure they have hair. The have very long dreadlocks. Ed thinks that he has probably been thinking about cutting them off for awhile and just wanted to do something dramatic.
He then talks about the influence Lou Reed had on he and the band. “It was music that made you feel like you had taken drugs.”)

15. After Hours-(Reed)
16. Let The Records Play-(from the new album “Lightning Bolt”)
(this one is for the serious collector)
17. Push Me, Pull Me
18. Jeremy
19. Do The Evolution
20. Porch (no globes but Ed does reflect a spot light off his pick guard into the audience)

Encore Break
(Ed tells the crowd, who have been holding up cell phones like lighters, that they look like a giant birthday cake. He then picks up an enormous joint someone has thrown up on stage. He notes, “It has writing on it, that’s how big it is...‘rock and fucking roll’, ‘Spokane loves Pearl Jam’. “Well thank you!. Back in ’92 this would have lasted me weeks. Nowadays, not so much. This is a one hitter.” He has someone in the audience throw him a lighter.
He tells the audience that they have a friend here tonight that helped write the set list. “Tonight’s set list was written by Mr. Steve Gleason.” The audience chants for Steve.
“This one, I think applies to Mr. Steve Gleason”

21. I Won't Back Down-(Lynne, Petty)
(“This is another one that Steve picked out and features Mr. Mike McCready and was written Jeff Ament. I would like to welcome the people from Big Sandy, like half the town came out.. that is like eleven people.”)

22. Nothing As It Seems
23. Footsteps

(“I would like to dedicate this next one to the person that threw that big fat joint up on stage. Oh, and Mr. Haircut Guy, you should start making your way over here. Look for a guy that really needs a haircut and put him in a cage and hang onto him until we figure out what we are gonna do. Maybe we should spay him as long as we have him. Or is it neuter? which one is which?” )

24. Severed Hand
(“Since you have elected him Stone is gonna sing one for you.” Stone greets the audience and asks them to applaud for Ed who never gets a shout out even though he gives them out all the time.
Ed jokingly offers to hold the lyric sheet for Stone and eventually gets him a music stand. Stone continues with saying that if it weren’t for Ed they wouldn’t be where they are today. Ed has carried them on his back. Stone decides that Matt also is carries the band. Ed says it is the audience is the reason they are here today)

25. Don’t Gimme No Lip

(Dreadlock guy comes up on stage and mentions they are professional and reminds the audience of the time they shaved off someone’s mullet. Once they see dreadlock guy Ed has second thoughts because the dreads are so long. Jeff exclaims “that is like twenty years!”
Dreadlock guy wants to headbang one last time to “Brain Of J” before shaving off the hair. The band plays the song. During the song Ed starts shaving. When the song is over the band plays a blues jam while Ed continues to shave the guy.

26. Brain Of J/Dread Shave Blues Jam (Ed has trouble getting through the last dread)

(“This is the first song of your head banging without all the weight”)

27. Go
28. Black
29. Rearviewmirror

Encore Break 2

(Ed talks about his friend Bob Whittaker and the Rail Trail project. He encourages people in Spokane to protect the environment and replace or run for city council so they can look after environment)

30. Given To Fly (Ed sings part from Matt’s drum riser and Mike plays guitar on stage left facing Steve Gleason)

(All right, Mr. Steve Gleason is still playing DJ for us up here.)

31. Eruption-(Van Halen)
32. Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love-(Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen)
33. Alive
34. Yellow Ledbetter (Mike plays the end of the solo standing in front of Steve Gleason
Click to expand...
 
Of course now the 2 times I saw them cover Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love in Hartford seem less special. Friggin Spokane. (Looks like another tremendous show)
 
It looks like a mix of stadium/arenas ... they're doing Stadhalle in Vienna but also San Siro.

Would you reccomend seeing them indoors or outdoors ?
 
Hewson said:
Ideally in a smaller venue.
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Yes. As good as Pearl Jam is, I think they're better in an arena than in a stadium. Especially if it's a mega-stadium. (The exception might be when they played the La Plata stadium in Argentina as that bootleg sounds amazing, but that's South America) The first time I took the chance to see them, I traveled to a (small) sports arena in Belgium instead of the easier option of the (small) stadium they were playing here in the Netherlands.
 
And they aren't going to bring a claw or a lemon or 2,869 ZooTV screens with them to a stadium like some other band might, their staging will be fairly simple so no visual advantage to a stadium show.
 
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