Pearl Jam's self-titled= masterpiece

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Comments

  • elmerelmer Posts: 1,683
    it's a writing exercise as you say, well done.... but you're jumping ahead of yourself with the assumptions you make, particularly with referance to the Avocado 'sound'.
  • EPOTTSIII wrote:
    HOW ARE YOU A FAN OF THIS BAND, POST ALL THE TIME, AND SAY SHIT LIKE THIS!

    It is not their best album, but one of the better ones! I know its my opinion, but if you are a huge fan how do you say anything like that bad about the bands album or about Ed?!

    Get a life. Not everybody worships every note Pearl Jam has ever played. I happen to think Avocado is their worst album by a mile...and I don't care if the band sees it. I'm here to discuss Pearl Jam, not suck their dicks.
  • EPOTTSIIIEPOTTSIII Posts: 190
    JWBusher wrote:
    Get a life. Not everybody worships every note Pearl Jam has ever played. I happen to think Avocado is their worst album by a mile...and I don't care if the band sees it. I'm here to discuss Pearl Jam, not suck their dicks.

    WOW....
    Hardly suck their dicks, you are just a rough person. Your statements reflect that and you have further illustrated my point. If I worshiped every note I would not have said there are songs I skip. Been a fan since the first week TEN came out and am die hard as I am with other bands I think are great.

    GOOD TALK....
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  • Good piece of writing although I have to say I don't agree with a lot of it. Self titled is ok. It opens with a bunch of good abrasive tracks, which I really enjoy. It kind of goes downhill after that and loses direction. Parachutes is painfully boring, Unemployable is a failed attempt at a working class hero type of song and Wasted Reprise sounds like a bad church hymn. I enjoy the bluesy feel of Comeback and dont mind Gone, Army Reserve and Inside Job. After listening to Self titled many times all the way through I feel that it's a collection of songs but not an album. I don't come out of listening to it really feeling anything special. I actually feel the same way about Ten, the difference being every song on Ten is great, the same cannot be said for Self Titled. Either way thanks for the post.
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  • SVRDhand13SVRDhand13 Posts: 26,468
    eldarion75 wrote:
    Weak album. weaker responses. But i'm on the pit so it's to be expected i guess...

    'Play evenflow!!!' being the rallying call in these parts.
    I'm happy I'm not you.
    severed hand thirteen
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  • elmer wrote:
    it's a writing exercise as you say, well done.... but you're jumping ahead of yourself with the assumptions you make, particularly with referance to the Avocado 'sound'.

    There is a lot going on in the album. There are slow songs (parachutes, come back) and some pieces of music deviating from the norm (especially army reserve). It is these songs that can make an album 3-dimensional. So my classsic rock + punk rock=avocado does not apply across the board. Each album does contain a personality, a theme. But it's not monochromatic.
    The self-titled album is the most aggressive one they have made since vs. Where these two albums diverge is vs. came at a time before the band readily embraced the punk rock aesthetic. Eddie touched upon it in rvm and made it into a dominant trait by Vitalogy. Punk rock can be more basic (even dumb, but it in a good way. Think Lukin) and cathartic. It takes away from the more complex arrangements Stone was heading towards in the early-mid 90's. So 'avocado' has punk rock riffs and simplicity with jamming, solos, more riffs, and a few unorthodox arrangements that is largely associated with 70's classic rock. These songs couldn't be written and performed the way they are by the likes of Led Zeppelin or another great band like the Buzzcocks, but the musical style of the album is inextricably linked to both. And what binds all of this together is Eddie's vocals. That is the main feature of the band.
    Is this what you meant by the assumptions I made? Hmm, maybe I should have asked you to clarify before I ranted. After being in various socio-political debates throughout the month, it's a relief to discuss cool, fun stuff like this. It would have been great to be surrounded by some of you guys back in 2000, 2003 when we had to wait hours in line for fan club tickets. Ah, those were the days!
  • gndcd402gndcd402 Posts: 2,567
    http://www.youtube.com/user/gndcd402

    Touring Avocado videos :)
  • eldarion75 wrote:
    To the OP-
    Pearl jam have all these other amazing records which clearly you have never heard...Go buy No Code, Yield, Vitalogy...Avacadio is a steaming pile of crap ('the gas in my tank, feels like money in the bank'..no! it sounds like Ed was out on the booze last night & isn't trying AT ALL!)

    Avacado is weak and the runt of the litter. Destined to die in that they won't play many, if any, of those songs in future tours...
    thats all...

    I think i'll just wait, oh, about 3 years and you, amongst many others here, will be discussing how Avocado is underrated and a masterpiece...and how their newest record is stinking pile of dirt.

    It's evolution baby!
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  • I think your review is well-written, so thanks for sharing.

    I think your review would be much stronger though if you spent more time talking about the songs on the album and why they are so good. I think if you are going to categorize an album as a "masterpiece" you need go beyond the context of its creation, which is primarily what your review focuses upon.

    You're a good writer though, so keep it up.
    "Goddamn Romans. Sure know how to make a ... drum room." --Matt Cameron
  • I think your review is well-written, so thanks for sharing.

    I think your review would be much stronger though if you spent more time talking about the songs on the album and why they are so good. I think if you are going to categorize an album as a "masterpiece" you need go beyond the context of its creation, which is primarily what your review focuses upon.

    You're a good writer though, so keep it up.

    You're right. I originally wrote this as the first part. I envisioned using quotes (research aarrghh!) to back up my statements, discussing songs in-depth lyrically and sonically. My favorite part was going to be how it stacks up with the rest of the discography. Thereby finding some common threads between them. All the while making visible the shortcomings and strengths in their works. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm waned. It started to seem like, well, homework. So I left it alone for a bit. Remembered about it, re-read it, decided I might as well do something with it, so I posted it here. It's not as comprehensive as it should be, instead more of an overview with some history attached.
  • You're right. I originally wrote this as the first part. I envisioned using quotes (research aarrghh!) to back up my statements, discussing songs in-depth lyrically and sonically. My favorite part was going to be how it stacks up with the rest of the discography. Thereby finding some common threads between them. All the while making visible the shortcomings and strengths in their works. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm waned. It started to seem like, well, homework. So I left it alone for a bit. Remembered about it, re-read it, decided I might as well do something with it, so I posted it here. It's not as comprehensive as it should be, instead more of an overview with some history attached.

    I've been there. You have all these ideas and you just run out of time/steam. If you ever complete this I'd love to see it.
    "Goddamn Romans. Sure know how to make a ... drum room." --Matt Cameron
  • gndcd402 wrote:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/gndcd402

    Touring Avocado videos :)

    When others speak of the pearl jam community being the new deadheads and all, I always felt people unknowingly undermined the role fivehorizons.com played by giving us a palpable resource to help unify our passion in a way only the internet can. Your channel on youtube is of the same caliber, as it goes a long way to continue fueling that passion. Thanks for spreading the wealth!!
  • mdgsolomdgsolo Posts: 796
    JWBusher wrote:
    Made sense to me. I dunno if it's inappropriate to comment or not, but if Avocado is a "masterpiece" then what WTF are their 7 previous albums?

    Could it be it made sense to you because your "on the pit" as well. Maybe, if the poster would have said "posting here" or something it would have been clearer. But what's with the elitism that people like you dump on here? If you and your buddy are at such an elevated state of consciousness, maybe you should be off developing a transporter beam or something instead of interrupting an intelligent discussion about music.
  • mdgsolomdgsolo Posts: 796
    ejny wrote:
    good album, very nice writeup. but, IMO its far from a masterpiece record. I think the Vitalogy through Binaural years produced the bands most creative and interesting work to date...to me, self-titled just comes across as a band just trying to prove it can still rock which is fine, but I don't find the album deep enough to reward me with multiple listens. just my 2 cents...

    That kind of response is what I'm talking about- thoughtful, not in agreement, but respectful. thank you to posters like this and the original thread starter.
  • rival.rival. Chicago Posts: 7,775
    ejny wrote:
    good album, very nice writeup. but, IMO its far from a masterpiece record. I think the Vitalogy through Binaural years produced the bands most creative and interesting work to date...to me, self-titled just comes across as a band just trying to prove it can still rock which is fine, but I don't find the album deep enough to reward me with multiple listens. just my 2 cents...

    well said, i couldn't agree with you anymore.

    avocado rocks, because well, it shows pearl jam CAN still rock.

    vitalogy - binaural era for the win.
  • EP1973EP1973 Posts: 112
    Song for song, Avocado stacks right up there with Ten, Vs., and Yield. Some of the posters on here may not be from the US, thus lessening the impact they feel from these songs. But, IMO Avocado is a true portrayal of what the last 6-8 years have been under Bush...and maybe unless you are in the country it is hard to relate to the feeling of alienation that those in this country who are actually capable of thinking for themselves feel. And, I hope they never make another album like No Code...It had its day, and IMO didn't age well.
  • DrHeidi41DrHeidi41 Posts: 106
    EP1973 wrote:
    But, IMO Avocado is a true portrayal of what the last 6-8 years have been under Bush...and maybe unless you are in the country it is hard to relate to the feeling of alienation that those in this country who are actually capable of thinking for themselves feel.

    I'm interested to see how I feel and what I think about it in five or six years post-Bush. There is a lot of raw hostility towards the administration and the world in general on Avocado. I am curious to see how it ages.
  • CitizenRickCitizenRick Posts: 1,079
    Great album! I've been spinning it all week.

    I love the way it comes out rocking!
    "Had my eyes peeled both wide open, and I got a glimpse...of my innocense, got back my inner sence, baby got it...still got it"
  • MohabMohab Posts: 310
    great record, one of their best. binaural is still tops in my opinion, but either this or vitalogy comes in second. every song is good and the thng works as a whole. way better than ra which was still a cool record well worth buying,

    great things are in store for believers
  • Any album with a song as crappy as "Come Back" should automatically score a notch below the rest.
  • gndcd402gndcd402 Posts: 2,567
    JWBusher wrote:
    Any album with a song as crappy as "Come Back" should automatically score a notch below the rest.
    please tell me you are joking...
  • EP1973EP1973 Posts: 112
    IMO, Avocado is about as close as a band can come to a concept album that isn't a concept album...if that makes any sense.
  • EP1973EP1973 Posts: 112
    DrHeidi41 wrote:
    I'm interested to see how I feel and what I think about it in five or six years post-Bush. There is a lot of raw hostility towards the administration and the world in general on Avocado. I am curious to see how it ages.
    The hostility is warranted, and I think that's what gives it its punch.
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