Pearl Jam Fans' Music Critic Roleplay. (Be Honest)
I Just Realized That Pearl Jam Hasn't Made A Good Album In Ten Years.
Before the Avocado album was released, a lot of the music critics were saying the self-titled release was one of their best work in ten years and sounded similar to Ten and Vs. That was totally wrong. Personally, I think it is their WORST work yet. I've bashed Riot Act before but it's much better than the Pearl Jam album. The main reason for these mediocre releases is because of Eddie's love for punk music. Eddie, can you just stick to writing lyrics please and leave the composing to Jeff, Mike and Stone. Matt writes a bit here and there, and I can tolerate with most of his songs. With that being said, I'm just hoping their next studio release would be more of a band effort rather than just individual pieces.
Here's my ranking and reviews of their studio albums.
7-10 are good to great albums, with 10 as a masterpiece.
4.5-6.5 are decent and average albums. For casual fans, just buy used ones.
1-4 are garbage. For casual fans, not worth buying, just download it.
Ten is their best-seller, well, because it was a masterpiece. The worst song on the album is Jeremy, which is probably their most famous song.
That just shows what a classic album this was. I'll give it 10/10 rating.
Vs is great but not a masterpiece, mainly because there was only one anthem song, Daughter, from that album. But every song on that release are still really good. I also think that their choice of singles also demised the album's value a bit. If RVM and Small Town were singles instead of Go and Glorified G it could turn out to be a masterpiece as well. Gets 9/10.
Vitalogy was good but not near their first two releases. It might also be the reason for their decline of popularity. The problem is because only 10 out of the 14 songs were "regular" songs. Like Vs, the singles for this album were poorly selected, why weren't Corduroy and Better Man released as singles? But like Black from Ten, both of these songs made a life of their own and became very popular. 7/10 rating for this.
No Code had a new sound, somewhat cultural flavor to it. Personally, it's my second favorite album. Even without a signature single, it's still an amazing album in its own right. Receives 8/10. EDIT:
Yield is possibly the best album to describe Pearl Jam's music and sound.
Every single songs on it are solid with exception to the "Red Dot" song. The lyrical content were diverse of various subject matter. It had a spirit feeling to it. Personally, it's my favorite album of theirs but only gets 8.5/10.
Binaural was the first album I can say that had songs I truly disliked. They were Gods' Dice and Rival, and sadly these were written by Jeff and Stone, the two veterans. Rest of the tracks were above average to the point that I can tolerate with them. This piece gets 5.5/10 ranking.
Riot Act was good at first but slowly drifted away from my rotation. But after listening to it several times recently it became favorable again. "LBC," Green Disease, Help Help, Half Full, and Arc were just unpleasant to listen to.
The rest of the tracks are average to good. Still only gets 6/10.
Pearl Jam AKA Avocado album had a good reception by reviewers. But to me, this album was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It had 7 solid tracks but also contained 6 terrible ones as well. Tracks 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 11 were very unpleasant to my ears. I never thought I'd say ever think that a Pearl Jam album would be a waste of my money but this album truly was.
Therefore only receives 3.5/10 rating.
Please for the love for your fans NO MORE mediocre releases. Just get rid of that punk sound. Thank You!
Before the Avocado album was released, a lot of the music critics were saying the self-titled release was one of their best work in ten years and sounded similar to Ten and Vs. That was totally wrong. Personally, I think it is their WORST work yet. I've bashed Riot Act before but it's much better than the Pearl Jam album. The main reason for these mediocre releases is because of Eddie's love for punk music. Eddie, can you just stick to writing lyrics please and leave the composing to Jeff, Mike and Stone. Matt writes a bit here and there, and I can tolerate with most of his songs. With that being said, I'm just hoping their next studio release would be more of a band effort rather than just individual pieces.
Here's my ranking and reviews of their studio albums.
7-10 are good to great albums, with 10 as a masterpiece.
4.5-6.5 are decent and average albums. For casual fans, just buy used ones.
1-4 are garbage. For casual fans, not worth buying, just download it.
Ten is their best-seller, well, because it was a masterpiece. The worst song on the album is Jeremy, which is probably their most famous song.
That just shows what a classic album this was. I'll give it 10/10 rating.
Vs is great but not a masterpiece, mainly because there was only one anthem song, Daughter, from that album. But every song on that release are still really good. I also think that their choice of singles also demised the album's value a bit. If RVM and Small Town were singles instead of Go and Glorified G it could turn out to be a masterpiece as well. Gets 9/10.
Vitalogy was good but not near their first two releases. It might also be the reason for their decline of popularity. The problem is because only 10 out of the 14 songs were "regular" songs. Like Vs, the singles for this album were poorly selected, why weren't Corduroy and Better Man released as singles? But like Black from Ten, both of these songs made a life of their own and became very popular. 7/10 rating for this.
No Code had a new sound, somewhat cultural flavor to it. Personally, it's my second favorite album. Even without a signature single, it's still an amazing album in its own right. Receives 8/10. EDIT:
Yield is possibly the best album to describe Pearl Jam's music and sound.
Every single songs on it are solid with exception to the "Red Dot" song. The lyrical content were diverse of various subject matter. It had a spirit feeling to it. Personally, it's my favorite album of theirs but only gets 8.5/10.
Binaural was the first album I can say that had songs I truly disliked. They were Gods' Dice and Rival, and sadly these were written by Jeff and Stone, the two veterans. Rest of the tracks were above average to the point that I can tolerate with them. This piece gets 5.5/10 ranking.
Riot Act was good at first but slowly drifted away from my rotation. But after listening to it several times recently it became favorable again. "LBC," Green Disease, Help Help, Half Full, and Arc were just unpleasant to listen to.
The rest of the tracks are average to good. Still only gets 6/10.
Pearl Jam AKA Avocado album had a good reception by reviewers. But to me, this album was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It had 7 solid tracks but also contained 6 terrible ones as well. Tracks 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 11 were very unpleasant to my ears. I never thought I'd say ever think that a Pearl Jam album would be a waste of my money but this album truly was.
Therefore only receives 3.5/10 rating.
Please for the love for your fans NO MORE mediocre releases. Just get rid of that punk sound. Thank You!
PJ- 04/29/2003.06/24,25,27,28,30/2008.10/27,28,30,31/2009
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
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Comments
i agree with you 10000%
i never thought i would find another pearl jam fan that would agree that one of their albums sucked.
Ten was most definitely a masterpiece
Vs., as you said, could have been bigger with a better selection of singles
Vitalogy was great up until they retardedly stuck Bugs and Heyfoxymopblahblahblah on it. 2 actual songs would have been nice
No Code was great all the way around i though. And while a little experimental, they should be commended for it.
Yield was pretty amazing, and was when i think they discovered what pearl jam actually sounds like. Unfortunately Pilate and Red Dot were a waste of album space
Binaural was pretty crap outside of God's Dice, Thin Air, Of the Girl, and Slight of hand. The rest of the songs were just an uncatchy muddy mess.
Riot Act i felt was a really strong attempt, but only half the songs were good. i thought LBC, Arc, Ghost, Get Right, Green Disease, Bushleaguer, and 1/2 Full sucked and i pretty much always skip them
As for Avocado....fuck it. Awful tones, awful songs. i listened maybe 3 times and gave up on it. Gone is the only song i even think is solid all the way through.
i hope they put out a good album again next, and stop with the filler songs and half-assed attempts. And seriously guys.....DITCH THOSE OLD ASS AMPS. i know you want to get that classic rock sound, but that classic rock sound sounds like shit. Get a marshall and some new guitars.
There isn't a bad song on Vs, Vitalogy, No Code, Yield or Pearl Jam in my honest opinion.
Binaural is my favourite, even though i don't really care for Rival. It's got a groovy funk to it, i guess.
I love Riot Act too; not their strongest by any means but its fairly solid. The latest record is phenomenal to my ears; i can listen to it without ever getting bored. I'm not the biggest fan of the full-band 'Gone', though.
I still find it fascinating that people think Ten is PJ's greatest album. That's not a criticism of people's opinions, but i just don't understand it when there are 7 albums after it that are so much stronger.
2) I didn't realized they're still using the old gear? :( The thing I hate about punk rock is it always sounds half-ass because they're 2 minute songs. :mad:
Yes Avocado was made of half and half on the tracks. Half are "average and pretty good" but half of the album is really really bad as well.
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
There are several songs on Pearl Jam I consider indispensable to their catalogue. Like, if I went to a show, and they didn't play them, I would feel a tinge of regret.
for the least they could possibly do
Man, I agree with 99% of what you said. Well done.
-Tom Waits
I made the thread for way we can review their music from a critics' or casual fans' observation/opinion.
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
What's the 1% that we disagree on?
The Bible is full of lies - Stone is the leader of us all!
i am definitely die-hard. i would have left after Binaural if i wasn't.
i just keep waiting for that one album where every song is an Epic. i think that is the appeal of Ten, and why every mainstream fan says "they have sucked since Ten"....because every song made every hair on your body stand on end.
i say bring back the big fluffy riffs and the big choruses and fuck the punk rock "stripped down and simple" crap. Pearl Jam's music should be bigger than life, like their stage shows.
i think we'll see how they feel about those songs in 5 years. How many go in the setlist will determine it.
i am guessing we won't see many.
Binaural has some great songs, but others seem a little... well, half-assed, like they just weren't totally into it, which would make sense considering McCready's relapses over the recording period of the album.
Riot Act has some fun, catchy songs, it just feels kinda like an undeveloped Avocado, Green Disease being a weak WWS, Cropduster being a poor man's Unemployable. Vedder's voice is just weak on this as well, and some have claimed that is how the songs were meant to be sung, but take a slow song like Sometimes, and compare it to Can't Keep, there is just more passion to my ears.
The Bible is full of lies - Stone is the leader of us all!
What more do you need? I said I can tolerate listening to Binaural and Riot Act, they have more average/good songs than terrible ones.
OK my defends for how shitty Avocado is. Well, Comatose, Severed Hand, Marker in the Sand are bad songs and especially when they're place back-to-back like that. They have NO melody what soever. I'll add Big Waves, WR, and AR too, they're just terrible.
Two major reason for their recent quality decline. One is Eddie's love of "punk." I don't how people can listen to the Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Sex Pistals at all. There is NO rhythm and melody to punk music what soever.
Second reason for the decline is Eddie's voice. His voice is getting worse and worse every album. I can't understand a words he says in alot of the songs in RA and PJ.
Punk sound and Eddie's voice are killing the quality of PJ.
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
Well said Im gone. I felt like many of the songs on Binaural were representative of some ambivalence in the band in general. It felt as if the band themselves weren't sure in which direction to head musically. They would experiment on some tracks, which would go awry and sound overproduced and not spontaneous, while on other tracks they built the whole song around a very unoriginal riff that Ed could sing to. I felt like the only reason the songs had any merit was because Eddie is capable of making just about any song sound okay. Riot act was better, getting a little dirtier in the production booth, and some of the spontaneity returned. I just happen to like some of the songs on this album- LBC- a complex song with many changes and odd progressions, yet the end result was fluid and graceful. I dig 1/2 full, Stone's raking guitar style returns up front, and living in Montana and an outdoor enthusiast, the opening line hits home everytime. I also thought Help, Help was an ambitious and candid song by Jeff, a rare insight into the private world of Jeff. What I find most important about Avocado is that the band loves the album. I am not particularly fond of the songs, except for come back, life wasted and big wave, but you can tell live that they did the new stuff, and that's cool.
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
They don't even have to go with the Ten/Vs. sound, something like NC/Yield would be great as well. Or even better something totally new.
...But just get rid of that punk crap. :mad: like I said, there's no rhythm with punk. it's so disorganized and sloppy. Sounds like amateurs. That's why a lot of teens go the punk route when they start a band because it's easy and dumbed down. Even the punk greats "(Ramones, SP, DK, Black Flag, etc...)" are nowhere on the great musical levels of Zepplin, Sabbath, and Van Halen.
Drop the punk sound and have Eddie work on his voice again. That will be a blessing for me.
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
At least Binaural and Riot Act had their own character, seemed to be somewhat experimental and had exploration in some regards. With Avacado they used the "Pearl Jam record template" and just phoned it in. I mean, they didn't even name the bloody record for fuck sakes. I say they stop concentrating on letting drummers write songs, letting guitarists write horrible lyrics, and start focusing on their strengths again. Another album like this and Pearl Jam will become the worst thing a band can become...boring and predictable. Heck an album of organ songs would've been more interesting than Avocado is.
WRONG. They need MORE Matt Cameron songs because his songs are the most fun and interesting. Unemployable is easily the best song on Avocado. What we need less of is the generic crap Eddie's been writing.
I can't believe some of the crap I'm reading on this thread. I know it's all opinion, but holy shit. I couldn't disagree more with most of it.
for the least they could possibly do
that nickelback reference was uncalled for, seriously, this is why I stay away from the board nowadays, stupid fucks like yourself
Think more from a music critic or better yet a record executive's point of view.
If I was the head honco of J records or Epic I would not approve their recent crap. I would work them like slaves to make great quality music as they used to put out.
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
It's okay to rant to PJ, just so they can stop slacking.
EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
lol..it was an exaggeration not meant to be taken seriously..you are that easily offended when people say something slightly critical towards Pearl Jam? I'm a stupid fuck because I didn't like Avocado? Maybe you should get a fuckin' life and not be so offended when someone critique's something you like.
Or, since you're not a stupid fuck, why don't you prove me wrong about Avocado. Dickhead.
You lost all credibility by rating an album by sales figures..........
I couldn't disagree more with some of this shit.
Are you really telling the band how to do their own music? Why are you even a fan anymore if you cant appreciate it?
Every single album has explored new areas and been refreshing to me.
Probably one of the people who stands in the front row and doesnt move.
Yeah we get it, you are the ultimate Pearl Jam fan because you tap your foot and you love every single record. Hopefully the band sends you some kind of medal or something, because clearly you've earned it.