Yield: the happiest album in the Pearl Jam catalogue?

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Comments

  • RockKingRockKing Posts: 431
    I miss our discussion of YIELD and I hope with the 10th anniversary of it's release on the way that more in depth conversations spring up.

    I was just talking last night about how much I missed talking about YIELD. I was looking through my archived copy of the old YIELD thread....there was some amazing stuff in there. So I share your optimism, or hope, that the 10th anniversary sparks some new discussions.
    --"I'm like an opening band for the sun"

    --"We’re taking pills to get along with life… the pills are YIELD and PJ’s music. Then we create words to call our own = our analysis of YIELD." - YIH
  • BlkFlg1BlkFlg1 Posts: 156
    RockKing wrote:
    I was just talking last night about how much I missed talking about YIELD. I was looking through my archived copy of the old YIELD thread....there was some amazing stuff in there. So I share your optimism, or hope, that the 10th anniversary sparks some new discussions.


    yes, the 10th anniversary approaches! Great post RK. YIELD feels happy because it's the closest to "god" the band has come. Its the feeling of transcendence from a matrure point of view (Ten being that from a more adolescent place).
    YIELD Fan Club Sergeant-At-Arms
  • Jason PJason P Posts: 19,147
    Yield = happy
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • No Code = question
    Yield = answer
    Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
  • PissBottleManPissBottleMan Union City, TN Posts: 4,154
    No Code = question
    Yield = answer

    Expand.

    PBM
    "We paced ourselves and we didn't rush through it and we tried to be as creative as our collective minds would let us be over some course of time instead of just trying to rush through a record"

    Wishlist Foundation: http://wishlistfoundation.org
  • Expand.

    PBM

    Seems to me that No Code was the band questioning themselves... who they were, where they stood with the other members of the band, with the press, with the industry as a whole, with the fans... A very conflicted record.
    Yield, on the other hand, seems to be the band coming to terms with who they were/are - even if that meant accepting they didn't have all the answers. It just sounds to me like there was a wisdom gained in between No Code and Yield.

    I'll try and come up with something more coherent in a while.:p
    Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
  • Seems to me that No Code was the band questioning themselves... who they were, where they stood with the other members of the band, with the press, with the industry as a whole, with the fans... A very conflicted record.
    Yield, on the other hand, seems to be the band coming to terms with who they were/are - even if that meant accepting they didn't have all the answers. It just sounds to me like there was a wisdom gained in between No Code and Yield.

    I'll try and come up with something more coherent in a while.:p

    I love your post and your screen name. We need more folks like you around this place.
    No longer overwhelmed it seems so simple now.
  • I love your post and your screen name. We need more folks like you around this place.

    Cheers! :)
    Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
  • PissBottleManPissBottleMan Union City, TN Posts: 4,154
    Seems to me that No Code was the band questioning themselves... who they were, where they stood with the other members of the band, with the press, with the industry as a whole, with the fans... A very conflicted record.
    Yield, on the other hand, seems to be the band coming to terms with who they were/are - even if that meant accepting they didn't have all the answers. It just sounds to me like there was a wisdom gained in between No Code and Yield.

    I like where you're going...just wanted to hear more in detail.

    PBM
    "We paced ourselves and we didn't rush through it and we tried to be as creative as our collective minds would let us be over some course of time instead of just trying to rush through a record"

    Wishlist Foundation: http://wishlistfoundation.org
  • fanch75 wrote:
    Great thread with the 10th Anniversary of YIELD coming out.

    The first time I heard GTF was when the YIELD commercial came on MTV at like 2-3am. It was a life-changing moment for me, musically.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=6_PKg4MI-5A

    Woah! Never seen that before, but that gave me serious goosebumps! I don;t think I'll ever get tired of that song.
  • fanch75fanch75 Posts: 3,734
    I hear you. Imagine my surprise that night; I hadn't thought of Pearl Jam much for probably 4 years at that point, and THAT just happens to come on at 2-3am. It wasn't long before I bought the album!
    Do you remember Rock & Roll Radio?
  • PJPixiePJPixie Posts: 3,026
    fanch75 wrote:
    I hear you. Imagine my surprise that night; I hadn't thought of Pearl Jam much for probably 4 years at that point, and THAT just happens to come on at 2-3am. It wasn't long before I bought the album!

    I can remember that same exact moment so vividly.
    JOY
    The best use of Life is Love.
    The best expression of Love is Time.
    The best time to Love is Now.


    I'm never as good as when you're there.........
  • Great album IMO. :)
  • Nope....Avocado by a long shot.
  • Alright... Here's my extended take on No Code as the question, and Yield as the answer.

    We're all aware of the fact that the making of No Code was a difficult time for the band. Jeff wasn't aware of the recording sessions till three days in, Mike was going through his addictions... It was also a time when the band was changing focus, almost, with side projects like Mad Season and Three Fish. Then you've got the Jack Irons factor - it was his first record with the band - and the fact that Ed was something of a power freak, and there was a power shift going on between him and Stone...
    And it all came out in the music. First song, Sometimes... possibly the quietest song in the PJ catalogue, no real chorus to speak of. It's Pearl Jam extending themselves to different arrangements, moods and influences. Who You Are and In My Tree take tribal beats, and mold them into something US radio were expected to play. Smile is the simplest song they'd written - just a chugging riff, a verse and a chorus, repeated.
    It's like the band was trying out as many new things as possible, and seeing what stuck. Questioning where they were meant to be at that point in their career. You go from the ragged blues of Red Mosquito to Lukin to Present Tense in the space of fifteen minutes. And then you've got Ed wondering if he's a crap friend in Off He Goes, wondering what makes a lullaby sweet in Around the Bend, and wondering why he ever let Stone sing on Mankind.
    On top of all of the questioning that went into the record itself, Pearl Jam were pretty much finished with the media at this point, and the war with Ticketmaster made touring hell for them.

    Yield, on the other hand, seems to me to be a lot different. It's like they took everything they learned from No Code's experiments with style and mood, and combined it with the harder rocking "classic" PJ sound. We all know the recording was a lot smoother this time around, with Ed letting go of some of his power, and everyone being confident to bring their own stuff to the table, and see it through onto the record.
    And the songs themselves are confident and assured, for the most part. It starts out punky and aggressive with Brain of J, but the next four songs are significant. Faithfull - a reaffirmation of belief. No Way - the band actually poking fun at their own image, in the chorus at least. Given To Fly - arguably the most inspiring, confident song in the PJ catalogue. And Wishlist, where Ed comes to terms with where he is in life... "I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me."
    The band incorporated the styles from No Code - the quiet introspection of Low Light, the spoken-word, off-beat Push Me, Pull Me - and fashioned a new record that consolidated all of their strengths. It even heralded a return to MTV with Do The Evolution, and Single Video Theory was the band letting us look behind the scenes for the first time. Whatever the band was asking with No Code, by the time Yield was recorded, they had their answer.

    For anyone who bothered to read all that, chime in, guy!
    Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
  • Very good analysis.
    Can't escape from the common rule...
    If you hate something, don't you do it too
  • DiRtyFranK38DiRtyFranK38 Posts: 3,131
    Alright... Here's my extended take on No Code as the question, and Yield as the answer.

    We're all aware of the fact that the making of No Code was a difficult time for the band. Jeff wasn't aware of the recording sessions till three days in, Mike was going through his addictions... It was also a time when the band was changing focus, almost, with side projects like Mad Season and Three Fish. Then you've got the Jack Irons factor - it was his first record with the band - and the fact that Ed was something of a power freak, and there was a power shift going on between him and Stone...
    And it all came out in the music. First song, Sometimes... possibly the quietest song in the PJ catalogue, no real chorus to speak of. It's Pearl Jam extending themselves to different arrangements, moods and influences. Who You Are and In My Tree take tribal beats, and mold them into something US radio were expected to play. Smile is the simplest song they'd written - just a chugging riff, a verse and a chorus, repeated.
    It's like the band was trying out as many new things as possible, and seeing what stuck. Questioning where they were meant to be at that point in their career. You go from the ragged blues of Red Mosquito to Lukin to Present Tense in the space of fifteen minutes. And then you've got Ed wondering if he's a crap friend in Off He Goes, wondering what makes a lullaby sweet in Around the Bend, and wondering why he ever let Stone sing on Mankind.
    On top of all of the questioning that went into the record itself, Pearl Jam were pretty much finished with the media at this point, and the war with Ticketmaster made touring hell for them.

    Yield, on the other hand, seems to me to be a lot different. It's like they took everything they learned from No Code's experiments with style and mood, and combined it with the harder rocking "classic" PJ sound. We all know the recording was a lot smoother this time around, with Ed letting go of some of his power, and everyone being confident to bring their own stuff to the table, and see it through onto the record.
    And the songs themselves are confident and assured, for the most part. It starts out punky and aggressive with Brain of J, but the next four songs are significant. Faithfull - a reaffirmation of belief. No Way - the band actually poking fun at their own image, in the chorus at least. Given To Fly - arguably the most inspiring, confident song in the PJ catalogue. And Wishlist, where Ed comes to terms with where he is in life... "I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me."
    The band incorporated the styles from No Code - the quiet introspection of Low Light, the spoken-word, off-beat Push Me, Pull Me - and fashioned a new record that consolidated all of their strengths. It even heralded a return to MTV with Do The Evolution, and Single Video Theory was the band letting us look behind the scenes for the first time. Whatever the band was asking with No Code, by the time Yield was recorded, they had their answer.

    For anyone who bothered to read all that, chime in, guy!

    i agree with you 100%

    to add some of my input onto what you said, i also think that yield was the first point of real maturity for the band. no code was the stepping stone. they tried loads of new things, had issues to deal with, and basically came out with an album that was all over the place. thats how they were at the time. hell, the album did end up being brilliant, i love no code. but by the time of yield, as you said, they found their place. even if all the problems were not settled, they knew who they were, what they could do, and where they were at in their life. lots of the yield songs i think are about embracing that. whether its right or wrong (your beliefs, attitudes, etc..) it's who you are and there aint no changing it. its them comming to terms with themselves and as a band. Yield had more of a central theme and feel then no code. on no code they were working with everything they had and just mixed all ideas reguardless what anyone or each other it seems, really thought. however, it still came out amazing. but yes, yield was the turning point in their career where they realized who they were, and at that point, in making the music of that album, i truley believe the band's chemistry flew to the next level, and the albums after yield became alot more open minded. It was around Yield time where they all changed and slowly molded into who they are now. the most noticable difference is ed obviously. after yield, he really started becoming who he is today, along with the rest of the band.
    2006: Hartford
    2008: MSG 1, Hartford, Mansfield 2, Ed Solo NYC 1
    2009: London (O2), Philly 1, 2, 3, & 4
    2010: Hartford, Boston, MSG 1 & 2
    2011: Ed Solo Hartford
    2012: Philly (MIA Fest)
    2013: Worcester 2, Brooklyn 1 & 2, Hartford
  • IgottagoIgottago Posts: 483
    Yeild inspires a sense of personal empowerment in me. That why its probably my favourite album of all time. The lyrics are incredibly personal, and lack pretentiousness, but aren't overly simple either. Not only that, but the music is perfectly crafted, the production is perfect as well. I think it has a captivating mood from beginning to end, the song arrangement is flawless. Its not depressing music, although it explores those themes, it comes through the other side with a renewed sense of self. Amazing album, Pearl Jam's greatest achievement (among many).
  • PissBottleManPissBottleMan Union City, TN Posts: 4,154
    Igottago wrote:
    Its not depressing music, although it explores those themes


    Indeed.

    PBM
    "We paced ourselves and we didn't rush through it and we tried to be as creative as our collective minds would let us be over some course of time instead of just trying to rush through a record"

    Wishlist Foundation: http://wishlistfoundation.org
  • NoonieNoonie Posts: 93
    A lot of great posts in here. I guess "happy" isn't the best way to describe Yield, but obviously this album is very special to a lot of fans.
    I love where this thread went.
    My rhymes and records they don't get played
    Because my records and rhymes they don't get made
    And if you rap like me you don't get paid
    And if you roll like me you don't get laid.
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