"pearl jam" revisited, 2 yrs later.

Gmoney

Busted out Avocado today because my pearl jam choices are often based on the weather. Today feels like it did when all the hype was building regarding pj's 8th release. A cool day here in the Chi, but you can tell that spring is so close... Anyways, like most I was so fired up for this album. I loved it at first, but a few short months later I found myself playing yield or binaural again. I loved the first 6 tracks of pearl jam, but i just wasnt feeling the album as a whole.

I listened again today, a few times, and I'm still up in the air about this album. It is a good album for sure, but to me, it lacks a theme more than any other pj album. I can get a good impression of where the band was at mentally and emotionally in all the other albums, even riot act, but im just lost when it comes to this album. The first 6 tracks are still amazing to me, and i like unemployable and army reserve, and the other songs are good, but something just doesnt sit right with this album. One of the guys said that they loved this album because the last few felt like "a collection of songs." That is exactly how I feel about avocado. Army reserve and inside job are symbolic of this album to me. They start off great, get even better, but then just fizzle out in the end...

rambo

i like it but its probably my least favorate pearl jam album

pjtradeking

I like it as well, although I cannot stand Army Reserve for some reason. Not sure if it is the words or the arrangement or what, but it may be my least fav PJ tune ever.....And I am inlcuding Bugs and Stupidmop...;)

drlovemonkey

Loved it instantly when I first played it 2 years ago. But it hasn't passed the test of time for me. I rarely find myself listening to the studio album. When I'm listening to the shows from the 1st leg of the 06 tour, I find myself jumping to track 3 or 4 to avoid WWS and Severed Hand. They're good songs but right now I'm bored with them. Maybe in time I'll get back into them. I listened to Binaural once, hated it and put it away for 2-3 years - time proved that I was obviously a moron as I now love that CD.

Man_Of_The_Hour

pjtradeking wrote:

I like it as well, although I cannot stand Army Reserve for some reason. Not sure if it is the words or the arrangement or what, but it may be my least fav PJ tune ever.....And I am inlcuding Bugs and Stupidmop...;)

I agree that Army Reserve is somewhat weird. Could it be that it sounds Soundgarden-ish? That's what irks me about it.

Sexy2aFault

Great album, it has timeless tracks with good punk rock meoldy. WWS and Comatose are just "cool" songs that are better than anything they have done since VS. So punk it makes Binaural look retarded for it's attempt at a rockin opening set. Listen to Corduroy-WWS-Severed from any bootleg and it still sounds fresh and relevent. Life Wasted after Guitar Hero finally made sense to me (did I just say that?) Unemployable likewise grew on me. I agree Come Back sounds pointless and dated now and Inside Job does end so poorly, I cannot believe that Mike, who wrote such brilliant lyrics throughout that song, ended with "Let me run into the rain", how did that crap slip through? I have to skip the end everytime.

I am not sure how one could say that this was just a collection of songs, it is clearly political at almost every turn, such an obvious theme. David Fricke of Rolling Stone nailed it when he said it was "like VS. with politics".

I contend that this is there most relevent album since the VS-Vitalogy days.

pjsteelerfan

I like this recrord more than riot act or binaural. I still listen to the songs off of it alot, but I rarely listen to any of their studio tracks anymore, I prefer live versions of most of their songs

giventofly0812

It took awhile for this album to grow on me, but eventually it did. I LOVE the first four songs. But i never liked the last 5 or so songs, but many have grown on me once listened to them played live. I love come back and big wave now, they are great live songs

overall it has finally come around for me, i really enjoy this album

Gmoney

do you all agree that avocado lacks a central theme? Or in other words, all of the songs don't mesh well together?

U R A Crazy Breed

drlovemonkey wrote:

I listened to Binaural once, hated it and put it away for 2-3 years - time proved that I was obviously a moron as I now love that CD.

holy shit,that's exactly the same scenario for me!! It's now my favorite PJ album now.

Man_Of_The_Hour

Gmoney wrote:

do you all agree that avocado lacks a central theme? Or in other words, all of the songs don't mesh well together?

Hm, I don't know if I really believe in central themes when it comes to albums. Sure, ITW, for example, sounds very coherent and the songs are similar in style. But overall, I think as long as you put 11 to 13 good to great songs together, they will mesh no matter what. I think that when people say an album doesn't mesh, what it's really about is that some songs just fall short in quality, not necessarily in theme or style.

12345AGNST1

uhh... it came out may 2nd, not march 2nd. not quite 2 years.

U R A Crazy Breed

Gmoney wrote:

do you all agree that avocado lacks a central theme? Or in other words, all of the songs don't mesh well together?

actually i disagree, I think the anti-war/anti-Bush theme is quite prevalent through out that album.

as far as it standing the test of time goes, i think a lot of us played the shit out of it and just need a break from it but will come back to it in time.

i think it is/was a great album though.Better than Riot Act for sure (sorry Yosi)

pjsteelerfan

Man_Of_The_Hour wrote:

Hm, I don't know if I really believe in central themes when it comes to albums. Sure, ITW, for example, sounds very coherent and the songs are similar in style. But overall, I think as long as you put 11 to 13 good to great songs together, they will mesh no matter what. I think that when people say an album doesn't mesh, what it's really about is that some songs just fall short in quality, not necessarily in theme or style.

I agree

Gmoney

Man_Of_The_Hour wrote:

Hm, I don't know if I really believe in central themes when it comes to albums. Sure, ITW, for example, sounds very coherent and the songs are similar in style. But overall, I think as long as you put 11 to 13 good to great songs together, they will mesh no matter what. I think that when people say an album doesn't mesh, what it's really about is that some songs just fall short in quality, not necessarily in theme or style.

interesting... this makes total sense when applied to this album. Maybe the tracks just fall short. It's just that with the other albums I get a feeling when I think about them, almost like I can see them recording it. But with avocado, i get nothing, it's all over the place.

Flagg

Gmoney wrote:

do you all agree that avocado lacks a central theme? Or in other words, all of the songs don't mesh well together?

No, I think it has more of a theme than any of the others. That being the war in Iraq and how it affects people's lives and what it is like to live in America these days. Songs like WWS, Marker in the Sand, Army Reserve, Come Back, Unemployable, Gone are all related to that idea.


Edit because I am idiot and origianally said Army Wives.

U R A Crazy Breed

Gmoney wrote:

interesting... this makes total sense when applied to this album. Maybe the tracks just fall short. It's just that with the other albums I get a feeling when I think about them, almost like I can see them recording it. But with avocado, i get nothing, it's all over the place.

and no code wasn't? there is certainly no central theme to that album.

U R A Crazy Breed

Flagg wrote:

No, I think it has more of a theme than any of the others. That being the war in Iraq and how it affects people's lives and what it is like to live in America these days. Songs like WWS, Marker in the Sand, Army Wives, Come Back, Unemployable, Gone are all related to that idea.

BINGO!

Man_Of_The_Hour

Gmoney wrote:

interesting... this makes total sense when applied to this album. Maybe the tracks just fall short. It's just that with the other albums I get a feeling when I think about them, almost like I can see them recording it. But with avocado, i get nothing, it's all over the place.

I think when people like an album, they themselves "create" the central theme because they view the songs as part of an album. For example, I love the album Worlds Apart by Trail of Dead and of course I associate the songs with one another. But objectively speaking, the theme that makes the album great is just that it consists of great songs, which are really diverse when you think about it. But people listen to music in different ways so the listening experience may vary.

Its Evolution Baby

In retrospect this album was not as good as some of there past masterpieces (Albums Ten thru Yield) it was definitely a step in the right direction from Binaural and Riot Act in terms of rock songs. I would give the first 5 albums 5 stars, Avocado 4 1/2 stars, and Riot Act and Binaural 3 1/2 stars just so you can tell where I'm coming from.

None of the harder rock songs from those two albums touch the first 5 songs from Avocado. It was good to see that Pearl Jam still has there fastball which gives hope that they can channel that energy into one more great album especially Eddie who sounded bored during Riot Act. (I mean Save You is rocking yet Eddie has 0 emotion in his delivery. I can't even listen to the studio version of this song anymore.)

Gmoney

Crazy Breed wrote:

and no code wasn't? there is certainly no central theme to that album.

No Code's theme was that the album was an experiment. It's the kind of music they wanted to make themselves, regardless of what fans, or the media, or the industry wanted from them. It was them stepping out on a limb and taking the biggest risk of their musical lives. And I think the songs and the album reflect that...

Gmoney

Flagg wrote:

No, I think it has more of a theme than any of the others. That being the war in Iraq and how it affects people's lives and what it is like to live in America these days. Songs like WWS, Marker in the Sand, Army Wives, Come Back, Unemployable, Gone are all related to that idea.

See I think avocado didnt live up to being an "anti war album". WWS, and Army Reserve are the only songs that strike a nerve for me. I know other songs are indirectly related to the topic, but to me, it's not very anti war. My friends who are more casual pj fans only credit wws with being anti war...

QuarterToTen

sorry to say, but the avocado disappoints me as much today
as it did 2 years ago. it's just lacking a certain....something.

as much as i want to love it, i just don't.

pjsteelerfan

was avacado supposed to be anti war? I agree, I only think WWS and AR fit into that theme.

Flagg

Gmoney wrote:

See I think avocado didnt live up to being an "anti war album". WWS, and Army Reserve are the only songs that strike a nerve for me. I know other songs are indirectly related to the topic, but to me, it's not very anti war. My friends who are more casual pj fans only credit wws with being anti war...

Did I actually write "Army Wives"? Hahaha - I meant Army Reserve. Army Wives is that Lifetime show. What a dork!


I see what you are saying though.

Carlos D

The production was awful,the songs sounded good in the AOL sessions but whatever way they did Ed's voice on it it's just distressing.This whole thing of bands like REM,U2 an Pj 'going back to their roots' by dumbing down their music and shouting when people don't like their new stuff can't be doing anyone any favours.

Also, they shouldn't allow anyone other than Ed write the songs.Yes Mike wrote Inside Job but the other guys are really losing it as far as songwriting goes on the last few albums(Big Wave?Get Right?Evacuation?)
I personally loved Binaural and Riot Act but I'd like to see them go a different direction,something Bruce Springsteeny or Neil Youngish would be great....or they could be really brave and make a techno album.

Gmoney

Flagg wrote:

Did I actually write "Army Wives"? Hahaha - I meant Army Reserve. Army Wives is that Lifetime show. What a dork!


I see what you are saying though.

hahahha. i like army wives better

SENROCK

got me a BIG WAVE ride me a big wave got me a big WAAAAAAAVE!!!!

gregkitefan

I love it.
The songs sounded great live.
Much better than Riot Act.

yosi1

Crazy Breed wrote:

i think it is/was a great album though.Better than Riot Act for sure (sorry Yosi)

I didn't realize that people really know me as the Riot Act loving guy

I think that Avocado is good, but definitely not their best. My 3 favorite PJ albums are RA, Binaural and Yield. They really kept evolving in a good direction but missed something with Avocado.

To me, all the songs are good, but I think they don't work as a studio album. The songs really capture a live feeling, but not this feeling of cohesion that everyone keeps mentioning. I don't know. Just rambling...

giventofly0812

the songs are amazing live, i personally saw come back live, and i dont go a day without listening to the recording