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The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

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The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:34 pm

2013 is the 20th Anniversary of one of the greatest albums ever this thread is for
anything related to any of the songs from the Vs. recording sessions:
· March - May 1993 - The Site - San Rafael, CA

Ed Vedder - vocals, guitar, background vocals
Stone Gossard - guitar, background vocals
Mike McCready - guitar
Jeff Ament - bass, background vocals
Dave Abbruzzese - drum kit, percussion
Brendan O'Brien - organ
Victoria Williams - guitar and background vocals on 'Crazy Mary'

Animal [Vs.]
Better Man
Blood [Vs.]
Crazy Mary [Sweet Relief - A Benefit For Victoria Williams]
Daughter [Vs.]
Dissident [Vs.]
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town (a.k.a. Small Town) [Vs.]
Glorified G [Vs.]
Go (a.k.a. Don't Go) [Vs.]
Hard To Imagine
Indifference [Vs.]
Leash [Vs.]
Rats [Vs.]
Real Thing {instrumental} [Judgment Night Soundtrack]
Rearviewmirror [Vs.]
Whipping
W.M.A. [Vs.]
? Yellow Ledbetter
unknown {instrumental}
unknown {instrumental}
unknown {instrumental}

Notes: Vs. sessions began in mid-March and lasted until early May 1993. Sessions were completed before May 13, 1993, as Ed stated during a concert on that day Pearl Jam was leaving the San Francisco area the following day. Everything recorded during these sessions was recorded live except for some lead and vocal overdubs. The band set up in a semi-circle with the drum kit in the middle to record. The drum kit was eventually moved into a tiled room because they wanted a different drum sound on some songs. There were many days where they would record the album all the way through and pick the best takes from those days. They would usually record two to five takes of each song and move on to the next song if it wasn't sounding the way they wanted it to. The rough mix of the album contains outtakes, countdowns, extra feedback, and some guitar lines that were later removed from the final versions of the songs. The first week of recording produced 'Blood,' 'Go,' a slow version of 'Leash,' and 'Rats.' After awhile, recording hit a snag because Ed began frequently disappearing to work on lyrics. He would leave for days and come back ready to finish the songs being worked on, but this held up some of the sessions because the band wanted to keep all of the takes live and mix them down immediately after they were recorded. Without Ed present, those takes could not be finished and everyone would have to wait on him to return to complete them. This resulted in a number of instrumentals being recorded. Ed's vocals on 'Blood,' 'Leash,' and 'Indifference' were his reference vocals. One take of 'Better Man' was recorded, but it didn't sound very good so it was scrapped. An acoustic take of 'Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town' was released on the Go single. 'Glorified G' went through a series of changes before it was finalized. Mike stated in the February 1995 edition of Guitar World his guitar solo on 'Go' "was probably the second of three or four takes." Stone, Jeff, and Dave recorded an instrumental and sent it to Cypress Hill, and they later rapped over it and titled the song 'Real Thing.' 'Rearviewmirror' was the last song recorded and was almost left unfinished. Dave had trouble nailing his drum line for it, so after finally playing it to Brendan O'Brien's satisfaction, he threw his sticks against the wall, punched a hole through the snare drum, and later threw the broken snare off of a nearby cliff. Ed finished his vocals for the song on the final day of recording. 'Whipping' was recorded, but it ended up being shelved and later re-recorded for Vitalogy. Many percussion overdubs were added to 'W.M.A.' Dave stated in the December 1993 edition of Modern Drummer, "I laid down this two-measure drum track and we looped it all the way through the song. Eddie and Jeff came in to do vocals and bass on it and then I went back with some octobans and a cymbal and just winged it. I also did some tambourine and sleigh bell thing and then we did some other crazy stuff like using a slapstick and another tambourine and Stone dancing around the hallway with this freaky boinging thing." An alternate recording of 'Yellow Ledbetter' exists that is different from the version recorded during the Ten sessions, so it may have been recorded, but no information is known for sure. Three instrumentals were recorded, but Ed never got around to writing lyrics for them so they were left unfinished. This seemed to be a common problem throughout the Vs. sessions as Jeff commented in the April 1994 edition of Bass Player, "We got to the point where [we] were getting ahead of Eddie; we were getting a lot of musical ideas, and trying to write lyrics for 20 songs in a month and make them mean something is a pretty intense job."
Last edited by Big Bank Hank on Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:35 pm, edited 3 times in total.
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A00F7314885A11C
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Re: The Official VS album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:40 pm

versions of every song from VS twice plus Crazy Mary twice which is a cover from those VS recording sessions as well as a send off of Yellow Ledbetter unreleased from those recording sessions & The Star Spangled Banner which is the proper way to finish this playlist off and give an appropriate dedication to the VS album, I got at least one song from every year from 1992-2012 except 1998 and 2006 so it is also like a walk through history with the band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQZgJ28tzpc&list=PL1FUjoCdCskfQEdrFuyLzeNteVWHl5jtO

1.Rare Vinyl Pearl Jam 2001 Christmas Single Indifference feat. Ben Harper
2.Leash Hartford 2008 (for Katie)
3.Small Town Bridge School 1999
4.Rats Dusseldorf 2007
5.Rearviewmirror Seattle 2002
6.Blood Fairfax 1994
7.WMA New York 2008
8.Dissident Oakland 1997
9.Glorified G Boston 1994
10.Daughter San Francisco 2009
11.Animal Red Rocks 1995
12.Go Gorge 1993
13.Crazy Mary New Orleans 1993 feat. Victoria Williams
14.Indifference Porto Allegre 2011
15.Leash Boulder 1992
16.Small Town Nurnberg 2000
17.Rats New York 2010
18.Rearviewmirror Milan 1996
19.Blood Philadelphia 2005
20.WMA Studio Version
21.Dissident New York 2003
22.Glorified G Montreal 2011
23.Daughter with War tag Washington DC 2004
24.Animal Toronto 1996
25.Go Newark 2010
26.Crazy Mary Santiago 2005
27.Yellow Ledbetter & Star Bangled Banner Philadelphia 2009
Last edited by Big Bank Hank on Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A00F7314885A11C
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Re: The Official VS album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:17 pm

We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A00F7314885A11C
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Re: The Official VS album appreciation thread

Postby CJMST3K » Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:18 pm

I have much love for VS.

I don't think Dave threw his sticks / punched a hole in his snare drum. I believe when BOB was interviewed on PJ Radio I had The Rob ask about this via the chat session, and he had no recollection of this ever happening.
ADD 5,200 to the post count you see, thank you. :)
*NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
*MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
*Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
*Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
*Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
*VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
*EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
*Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
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Re: The Official VS album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:24 pm

CJMST3K wrote:I have much love for VS.

I don't think Dave threw his sticks / punched a hole in his snare drum. I believe when BOB was interviewed on PJ Radio I had The Rob ask about this via the chat session, and he had no recollection of this ever happening.

well this is where I got the info from, it seems pretty detailed though, not saying you aren't right
http://www.grunge-forum.com/topics13/pearl-jam-recording-sessions-guide-vt2542.htm
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:26 pm

Rearviewmirror Santiago Chile 2005
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTpl2WsezKQ
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A00F7314885A11C
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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:56 pm

We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A00F7314885A11C
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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:06 pm

who is the Ben he is referring to in Rats?
Pearl Jam- Rats (with Lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3OmG6H12Iw

They don't eat, don't sleep
They don't feed, they don't seethe
Bare their gums when they moan and squeak
Lick the dirt off a larger one's feet
They don't push, don't crowd
Congregate until they're much too loud
Fuck to procreate till they are dead
Drink the blood of their so called best friend
They don't scurry when something bigger comes their way
Don't pack themselves together and run as one
Don't shit where they're not supposed to
Don't take what's not theirs, they don't compare
They don't scam, don't fight
Don't oppress an equals given rights
Starve the poor so they can be well fed
Line their holes with the dead ones bread
They don't scurry when something bigger comes their way
Don't pack themselves together and run as one
Don't shit where they're not supposed to
Don't take what's not theirs, they don't compare...
They don't scurry when something bigger comes their way
Don't pack themselves together and run as one
Don't shit where they're not supposed to
Don't take what's not theirs, they don't compare...
Rats...they don't compare
Rats...they don't compare
Ben, the two of us need look no more
Ben, the two of us need look no more
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby PJStatTracker » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:21 pm

Big Bank Hank wrote:who is the Ben he is referring to in Rats?


no joke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40WCBaUXR4

from this movie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_(film)
Last edited by PJStatTracker on Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:22 pm

Pearl Jam - Animal (New York, 1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsdobEnZe4s
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:26 pm

Pearl Jam - Indifference (Bologna '06) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOZJRPDTh48
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby dimitrispearljam » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:29 pm

best record after TEN...enough said
ATHENS - 30-9-06 / VENICE - 15-6-07(CANCELED) / NEW YORK - 24-6-08 / NEW YORK - 25-6-08 / ROTTERDAM - 13-8-09 / BERLIN - 15-8-09 / MANCHESTER - 17-8-09 / LONDON - 18-8-09 / DUBLIN - 22-6-10 / BELFAST - 23-6-10 / LONDON - 25-6-10 / NIJMEGEN - 27-6-10 / BERLIN - 30-6-10 / ARRAS - 3-7-10 / WERCHTER - 4-7-10 / VENICE - 6-7-10 / BILBAO - 9-7-10 / LISBON - 10-7-10 /EAST TROY 3-9-11 / EAST TROY 4-9-11 / TORONTO 11-9-11 / TORONTO 12-9-11 / AMSTERDAM 26-6-12 / AMSTERDAM 27-6-12 / PRAGUE 2-7-12 / BERLIN 4-7-12 / BERLIN 5-7-12 / STOCKHOLM 7-7-12 / OSLO 9-7-12 / COPENHAGEN 10-7-12
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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:32 pm

PJStatTracker wrote:
Big Bank Hank wrote:who is the Ben he is referring to in Rats?


no joke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40WCBaUXR4

I remember that movie! lol
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A00F7314885A11C
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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:33 pm

PJStatTracker wrote:
Big Bank Hank wrote:who is the Ben he is referring to in Rats?


no joke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40WCBaUXR4

from this movie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_(film)


thanks for the 411
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A00F7314885A11C
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Re: The Official Vs. album appreciation thread

Postby Big Bank Hank » Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:11 pm

Pearl Jam - Daughter / WMA (Murfreesboro '94)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-amqXAeuc
We all have a winning lottery ticket within ourselves, we just have to have to the courage to believe in ourselves enough to cash it -Hank Kershell 2013

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