Yield

BlkFlg1

likepilateihaveadog wrote:

Yeah, and to answer the previous question about Ten being better...
I think, speaking on behalf of the people that post here, YIELD means a little more to us because of everything else that surrounds it. The things that were going on in our life at the time, when we've listened to it, why we've listened to it, all these things factor in to it.

We're not trying to push YIELD on everyone or say it's better, all we're trying to do is discuss it to find out more about it, thusly finding out more about ourselves.

If you can do that with Ten, that's great, please do. I think that's half the point of the message board. If you'd like to join us and do so with YIELD, post away.

It's all state of mind, so I don't think it's fair to characteristically assume one album is better than any other. The album is meaningless without the listener.

true. i like YIELD because thematically it transcends and integrates (Ken Wilber) in a way that the other albums haven't. It answers the soul searching in No Code, it is the answer to the question that No Code asks (thanks to likepilate for this analogy). We feel it is more like a concept album than anything that PJ has ever made- but accidently. It was the perfect convergence of events- the bands history, the writing process, the elder guidance of Mr. Jack Irons (MJI), etc. all put into one coherent package.

For me as well, it is before Ed went off the deep end with his adolescent political commentary. There was social commentary, sure, but he didn't try to be a college professor or Noam Chomsky. It was general enough to allow the listener to fill in the blanks.

Lastly, I can't describe it, but I feel an emotion when I listen to YIELD that is something between grief and joy.....the feeling of being ALIVE. It's this tension- the paradox of beauty and destruction, the paradox of the internal experience and the external environment that sums up the feeling I get, but alas, words are only vague signposts to what the experience truly is.

In any case, welcome.

distantsun

BlkFlg wrote:

true. i like YIELD because thematically it transcends and integrates (Ken Wilber) in a way that the other albums haven't. It answers the soul searching in No Code, it is the answer to the question that No Code asks (thanks to likepilate for this analogy). We feel it is more like a concept album than anything that PJ has ever made- but accidently. It was the perfect convergence of events- the bands history, the writing process, the elder guidance of Mr. Jack Irons (MJI), etc. all put into one coherent package.

For me as well, it is before Ed went off the deep end with his adolescent political commentary. There was social commentary, sure, but he didn't try to be a college professor or Noam Chomsky. It was general enough to allow the listener to fill in the blanks.

Lastly, I can't describe it, but I feel an emotion when I listen to YIELD that is something between grief and joy.....the feeling of being ALIVE. It's this tension- the paradox of beauty and destruction, the paradox of the internal experience and the external environment that sums up the feeling I get, but alas, words are only vague signposts to what the experience truly is.

In any case, welcome.

i love this. all of it really.

yosi1

likepilateihaveadog wrote:

Yeah, and to answer the previous question about Ten being better...
I think, speaking on behalf of the people that post here, YIELD means a little more to us because of everything else that surrounds it. The things that were going on in our life at the time, when we've listened to it, why we've listened to it, all these things factor in to it.

We're not trying to push YIELD on everyone or say it's better, all we're trying to do is discuss it to find out more about it, thusly finding out more about ourselves.

If you can do that with Ten, that's great, please do. I think that's half the point of the message board. If you'd like to join us and do so with YIELD, post away.

It's all state of mind, so I don't think it's fair to characteristically assume one album is better than any other. The album is meaningless without the listener.

I think I've seen at least one or two posts where people in here have said that Yield is better/the best... :rolleyes:

RockKing

BlkFlg wrote:

Lastly, I can't describe it, but I feel an emotion when I listen to YIELD that is something between grief and joy.....the feeling of being ALIVE. It's this tension- the paradox of beauty and destruction, the paradox of the internal experience and the external environment that sums up the feeling I get, but alas, words are only vague signposts to what the experience truly is.

I don't have a lot of time to post, I have to run to an appointment, but I have to reply to this. I think you nailed this with your comment about the tension between grief and joy. That's the duality we used to talk about with this album. It makes you somewhat uncomfortable at time, because there is this conflict between seemingly opposing forces and/or feelings....but somehow it's a familiar discomfort that's like an old sweatshirt. It just seems to fit us perfectly no matter what the flaws are. And it's in that paradox that you mentioned that you find the message of YIELD. 2 forces pushing and/or pulling us in 2 different directions. Will we YIELD, or will we escape? Good stuff, my friend. Well done.

assron_gtf

Great thread, Yield has always stood out in my mind as their best album, both lyrically and the production behind it. Ed's voice never sounded better, not before or after.
The entire album just has this total organic feel to it and is still the only record that I can still listen front to back and upside down over and over.

Assron

likepilateihaveadog

yosi wrote:

I think I've seen at least one or two posts where people in here have said that Yield is better/the best... :rolleyes:

Well, yeah, it's better than Riot Act.
But everyone knows that.

yosi1

likepilateihaveadog wrote:

Well, yeah, it's better than Riot Act.
But everyone knows that.

I guess I walked right into that...

likepilateihaveadog

RockKing wrote:

I don't have a lot of time to post, I have to run to an appointment, but I have to reply to this. I think you nailed this with your comment about the tension between grief and joy. That's the duality we used to talk about with this album. It makes you somewhat uncomfortable at time, because there is this conflict between seemingly opposing forces and/or feelings....but somehow it's a familiar discomfort that's like an old sweatshirt. It just seems to fit us perfectly no matter what the flaws are. And it's in that paradox that you mentioned that you find the message of YIELD. 2 forces pushing and/or pulling us in 2 different directions. Will we YIELD, or will we escape? Good stuff, my friend. Well done.

I'll third the Flag here on a job well done.

I guess it symbolizes those times when you're in the middle of making a decision, be it "escape" in one form or another or not. You're out of the routine and picking your future. Maybe the grief and joy can be explained in talking about the past and the future - grief at not being able to go back, joy at the unwritten promise of the future. YIELD certainly has a time element going on as well.

likepilateihaveadog

yosi wrote:

I guess I walked right into that...

Nah, like I said before, everyone likes what they like for a reason.
Here, we're just offering our reasons, exploring them and opening up new avenues and perspectives for other people too.

Keep up the good fight.

yosi1

likepilateihaveadog wrote:

Nah, like I said before, everyone likes what they like for a reason.
Here, we're just offering our reasons, exploring them and opening up new avenues and perspectives for other people too.

Keep up the good fight.

I guess I'll try and add something Yieldy to this thread, cause well, that's what it's here for.

Lowlight is possibly the most beautiful song Pearl Jam ever wrote. And at the same time so bitter sweet. The music comes off so happy, but the lyrics aren't. This song has some strange calming effect on me. I'm not great at describing experiences, but to me, this song is the epitome of Yield.









Edit: Plug for Riot Act

YieldInHiding

yosi wrote:

I guess I'll try and add something Yieldy to this thread, cause well, that's what it's here for.

Lowlight is possibly the most beautiful song Pearl Jam ever wrote. And at the same time so bitter sweet. The music comes off so happy, but the lyrics aren't. This song has some strange calming effect on me. I'm not great at describing experiences, but to me, this song is the epitome of Yield.

I believe that's that duality theme kicking in. There's something to it.

PissBottleMan

BlkFlg wrote:

For me as well, it is before Ed went off the deep end with his adolescent political commentary. There was social commentary, sure, but he didn't try to be a college professor or Noam Chomsky. It was general enough to allow the listener to fill in the blanks.

Everything used to be subtle...under the radar. I miss that. Now, it's wrapped up in a nice little box and bow.

PBM

yosi1

YieldInHiding wrote:

I believe that's that duality theme kicking in. There's something to it.

It's definitely possible. I just remember listening to the song the first time before paying attention to the lyrics, and thinking wow, this is really beautiful and happy. And then reading the lyrics and being like, "what"?

likepilateihaveadog

yosi wrote:

I guess I'll try and add something Yieldy to this thread, cause well, that's what it's here for.

Lowlight is possibly the most beautiful song Pearl Jam ever wrote. And at the same time so bitter sweet. The music comes off so happy, but the lyrics aren't. This song has some strange calming effect on me. I'm not great at describing experiences, but to me, this song is the epitome of Yield.









Edit: Plug for Riot Act

Awesome.
There is something to Jeff's songwriting in the YIELD/Binaural/RA trio there, especially on YIELD and RA. Help, Help live in 03, the few times they played it, kicked so much butt since that's just a great bassline and McCready slashes it up on the solos. He's never quite had a song on another record like Low Light...the Ghosts and the God's Dice's, Big Wave's, etc...I would much like a return to this type of song if he has it in him on the next one.

yosi1

likepilateihaveadog wrote:

Awesome.
There is something to Jeff's songwriting in the YIELD/Binaural/RA trio there, especially on YIELD and RA. Help, Help live in 03, the few times they played it, kicked so much butt since that's just a great bassline and McCready slashes it up on the solos. He's never quite had a song on another record like Low Light...the Ghosts and the God's Dice's, Big Wave's, etc...I would much like a return to this type of song if he has it in him on the next one.

Yea, the guy writes a good tune or two.

I actually think Help Help is one PJ's most underrated songs, and its truly something else. But that's for a different thread...

PissBottleMan

yosi wrote:

Yea, the guy writes a good tune or two.

His backing vocals need work...sorry Jeff...it's true.

PBM

yosi1

PissBottleMan wrote:

His backing vocals need work...sorry Jeff...it's true.

PBM

It's totally true. He almost ruined Lowlight in Boston last time around...

PissBottleMan

jeddeth wrote:

I just have to ask, before I can ever really get into my full appreciation mode, how can anyone realistically say Yield is better than Ten? I don't know how to get past that.

I struggled with this for a long time. Ten is the album that introduced me to the band and it contains so many epic songs.

However, YIELD is an album that constantly evolves for me...as I've said before...it challenges me to think and ponder alternative points of view.

Musically, as well as conceptually, it's a work of art.

PBM

yosi1

PissBottleMan wrote:

I struggled with this for a long time. Ten is the album that introduced me to the band and it contains so many epic songs.

However, YIELD is an album that constantly evolves for me...as I've said before...it challenges me to think and ponder alternative points of view.

Musically, as well as conceptually, it's a work of art.

PBM

It sometimes strange for me to see how much people want Ten to be their favorite, or proclaimed best album. I personally think, that it would be pretty sad if Ten were the best. I mean, they've done so much more, and to think that they peaked and wrote their best music before their career even started I would believe is kind of sad.

I'm not trying to take away from Ten at all, and its not the reason that Ten isn't my favorite. I think it's a great album, but somewhere in the middle. They've grown past it, and in my opinion written better music. Which is how it should be. I do think some albums aren't quite as good as Ten, but that's also ok. Maybe they were just a little dry one recording period. Anyway, just some random thoughts.

BlkFlg1

likepilateihaveadog wrote:

I'll third the Flag here on a job well done.

I guess it symbolizes those times when you're in the middle of making a decision, be it "escape" in one form or another or not. You're out of the routine and picking your future. Maybe the grief and joy can be explained in talking about the past and the future - grief at not being able to go back, joy at the unwritten promise of the future. YIELD certainly has a time element going on as well.

right, the crossroads, the existential dilema of a desicion, the feeling of being alone, but connected to somethign greater than yourself...

the past/future piece is right on.