RIOT ACT * THE PEAK ALBUM * NO B.S.

High Fidelity 2000

I don't know if I'd call it the peak album but it is damn good. Maybe the Peak album of the 2nd decade of material. I think it has aged really well. At least half of the songs are all killer, top quality stuff. I have a special place for RA because I saw 9 shows that tour and heard everything live except Ghost to this day... but even now ten years after all that, when I put it on I think it's pretty awesome.

PJ_Soul

I think Riot Act is a major challenger for the best album position (in a fight with Binaural and No Code). I absolutely fucking LOVE it. Every single second of it. :x

Amongst the Ani

PJ_Soul said:

I think Riot Act is a major challenger for the best album position (in a fight with Binaural and No Code). I absolutely fucking LOVE it. Every single second of it. :x

+1

mcgruff10

The riot act tour was great but the album is my least favorite. I never liked a lot of the songs and a few don't translate well live. But to each their own.

oysterjar

Big fan, all around well done.

brianlux

PJ_Soul said:

I think Riot Act is a major challenger for the best album position (in a fight with Binaural and No Code). I absolutely fucking LOVE it. Every single second of it. :x

:-bd

2-feign-reluctance

mcgruff10 said:

The riot act tour was great but the album is my least favorite. I never liked a lot of the songs and a few don't translate well live. But to each their own.

Check out Help, Help from Kansas City 03' & hear Mike shred it out. Might change your mind!

Mad Mohab

choop said:

Riot Act and that tour were the end of a Pearl Jam who took chances in songwriting and they played a ton of improvs that tour. VFC was cool too, but short. By the time they toured in 05 they were probably recording avocado, and were in full on rock star mode, in my opinion.

The Riot Act tour has great improvs, but check out Toronto 06 both nights for the band evolving to another peak in my opinion.

On another note, the 4 singles I have for RA are great, Bushleaguer, Save You, I Am Mine and LBC!

FrankS

Always felt like I'm in the minority. Riot Act is my #1 and Binaural #2

Spiritual_Chaos

2-feign-reluctance said:

mcgruff10 said:

The riot act tour was great but the album is my least favorite. I never liked a lot of the songs and a few don't translate well live. But to each their own.

Check out Help, Help from Kansas City 03' & hear Mike shred it out. Might change your mind!

Can't find this boot, are you sure you mean Kansas City? They played there in 2000 and not 2003...? Or?

boyo79

Spiritual_Chaos said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

mcgruff10 said:

The riot act tour was great but the album is my least favorite. I never liked a lot of the songs and a few don't translate well live. But to each their own.

Check out Help, Help from Kansas City 03' & hear Mike shred it out. Might change your mind!

Can't find this boot, are you sure you mean Kansas City? They played there in 2000 and not 2003...? Or?

Bonner Springs boot, 12 June 2003.

It's an fantastic show.

mcgruff10

spirtual_chaos:
06/12/03 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre: Bonner Springs (Kansas City), KS

support act: Idlewild
preset: Dead Man (Ed solo)

set: Release, Breakerfall, Brain Of J., Get Right, Ghost, Immortality, Whipping, Not For You, Off He Goes, Help Help, 1/2 Full, MFC, You Are, Better Man, Save You
enc 1: Go, Corduroy, Glorified G, Even Flow, Alive
enc 2: Fuckin’ Up, Baba O’Riley

BinFrog

Spiritual_Chaos said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

mcgruff10 said:

The riot act tour was great but the album is my least favorite. I never liked a lot of the songs and a few don't translate well live. But to each their own.

Check out Help, Help from Kansas City 03' & hear Mike shred it out. Might change your mind!

Can't find this boot, are you sure you mean Kansas City? They played there in 2000 and not 2003...? Or?

I'm guessing 6/12/03?

CrookedTom

To the OP - Oh no no no NO! Music is subjective of course (to a point) but I see Riot Act as their worst album. A (mostly) tuneless, dirgey, slob of a record. Overlong and underwritten. I remember the absolute sinking feeling when I played it through the first time. I stuck with it, out of my love for the band, but it never moved me like their past albums. It has redeeming qulaities though, a great cover, interesting song titles (discounting Love Boat Captain), and 2 classic songs (I Am Mine, All Or None). Love Boat Captain is probably my worst PJ song. Ed's cringe lyrics, an awful chant like chorus. Help Help, Ghost, Save You, Bushleaguer, Half Full, all sound like slicked up demos, lacking any of Ed's wonderful use of melody.

Things didn't really improve on Self Titled, but it was a little better. I felt they got back on the road with Backspacer, and Lightning Bolt is a magic album, worthy to stand with their best.

veddertown

It used to get a poor write up from me and I left it out of rotation for months on end. One night while trying out a new set of Sony headphones I really heard it properly for the first time and it wasn't long before it climbed up to third in my rankings behind Vitalogy and No Code. There is so much happening on there that you don't pick up upon without headphones or a really good system. The layers of vocals are really evident and Mike's guitars are just everywhere on the louder songs. You can almost make out every creak of wood and string scuff on All Or None too. Some people don't like Ed's voice on the album but it's what makes the album so special for me. It's the sound of a man burned out by the war in the Middle East, the Bush administration and global politics in general. I sometimes feel like so many people who criticize the album are overlooking the genius of it's statement and the amazing creativity within it. The OP has a good point about this being a peak, maybe not necessarily "the peak" but a really important one. The fact that they tried to follow it with another finger wagging at the war/the world album and only achieved it on a much shallower level shows that Riot Act was a major turning point. Riot Act knew where it was going from the word go, Avocado is somewhat disjointed and the two albums since pretty much say that they are content to have tried to be a political band but are ready to relax and enjoy what they have with only the odd political statement now. Arc is simply stunning too and is an amazing tribute to those 9 lost souls, another piece of Ed genius. I have to have this on vinyl some day!

PJ_Soul

FrankS said:

Always felt like I'm in the minority. Riot Act is my #1 and Binaural #2

\m/

boyo79

veddertown said:

It used to get a poor write up from me and I left it out of rotation for months on end. One night while trying out a new set of Sony headphones I really heard it properly for the first time and it wasn't long before it climbed up to third in my rankings behind Vitalogy and No Code. There is so much happening on there that you don't pick up upon without headphones or a really good system. The layers of vocals are really evident and Mike's guitars are just everywhere on the louder songs. You can almost make out every creak of wood and string scuff on All Or None too. Some people don't like Ed's voice on the album but it's what makes the album so special for me. It's the sound of a man burned out by the war in the Middle East, the Bush administration and global politics in general. I sometimes feel like so many people who criticize the album are overlooking the genius of it's statement and the amazing creativity within it. The OP has a good point about this being a peak, maybe not necessarily "the peak" but a really important one. The fact that they tried to follow it with another finger wagging at the war/the world album and only achieved it on a much shallower level shows that Riot Act was a major turning point. Riot Act knew where it was going from the word go, Avocado is somewhat disjointed and the two albums since pretty much say that they are content to have tried to be a political band but are ready to relax and enjoy what they have with only the odd political statement now. Arc is simply stunning too and is an amazing tribute to those 9 lost souls, another piece of Ed genius. I have to have this on vinyl some day!

Very well written Gary. Totally agree. And on vinyl it is immense!

pearljamchris

yes! my favourite album, I can listen to it no matter what mood I'm in and theres not many albums I can say that about. I still think Ghost is Pearl Jams most underrated song just as Riot Act is their most underrated album. From start to finish Riot Act is A masterpiece and I will never tire of this album. Best ever.

PJ_Soul

It's interesting the reaction I'm getting to PJ albums from non-PJ fans now. I don't have any close friends who give much of a shit about PJ one way or the other, and really none of them have even listened to anything since Vitalogy for the most part, and really had no clue what their last 6 albums were. Anyway, in EVERY case with these people, they react VERY positively to Riot Act. They ask with some pleasant surprise, "What album is this???" They are all surprised that they weren't even aware of such a great album that immediately strikes them and fucking awesome. I'll also mention that the same reaction comes when I play Yield, Binaural, and S/T, and the opposite reaction comes when I put on Backspacer and Lightning Bolt. For those two everyone starts acting slightly uncomfortable because they just aren't loving it but don't want to offend me by saying so because they know how huge a fan I am, lol. (of course, I don't mind if they don't like any PJ album - to each their own... plus they are 100% right about BS, and while I like LB for the most part, I understand their reaction. Anyway, main point is that grown ups (several of the ones I know anyway) who hear Riot Act for the first time think it's an absolutely incredible album - takes no getting used to at all for them. These are the people who don't pick it apart like crazy people the way we all do, hahaha. Although for me as a huge fan it was also love at first listen, so I can't relate to the fact that so many fans took some warming up with this one.

Spiritual_Chaos

CrookedTom said:

Ed's cringe lyrics

CrookedTom said:

I felt they got back on the road with Backspacer,

Hehe, yeah... must feel relieved after hearing the "cringe lyrics" on Riot Act to instead get The Fixer and, Amongst the Waves and The End ... haha