Won't Tell and Got To Give are definitely getting a lot more of a minimal response than I expected
Got to Give is growing on me faster than any of the other songs, even though it wasn't the one that made the biggest initial impact. It's definitely top three on the album for me -- today, anyway. :-)
"for the serious collector" that can enjoy parts of PJ tunes instead of the whole song at times- the last 45 seconds or so of Got To Give is great. has that full band garage sound.
Toronto 8/18/93 Randalls Island 9/29/96 Pittsburgh 8/25/98 Phoenix 10/21/00 Pittsburgh 4/26/03 State College 5/3/03 Philly 7/5/03 Hershey 7/12/03
It’s extremely hard to pick. Every time I get to the end I think I have one and then Setting Sun comes on. It’s crazy good.
Thinking the same thing as I'm listening to Setting Sun now. That intro is so so good, that guitar drum combo. I find myself always turning the volume up when I hear this song start. It's entrenched in my top 3, and I love all of the songs. And of course the rocker that this morphs in to. This is going to be amazing live.
Won't Tell and Got To Give are definitely getting a lot more of a minimal response than I expected
Got to Give is growing on me faster than any of the other songs, even though it wasn't the one that made the biggest initial impact. It's definitely top three on the album for me -- today, anyway. :-)
"for the serious collector" that can enjoy parts of PJ tunes instead of the whole song at times- the last 45 seconds or so of Got To Give is great. has that full band garage sound.
They could have named this album “back half” or something. The second half of so many songs are absolutely killer and a lot of them on the back half of the album…won’t tell, upper hand, Stevie, got to give, setting sun
Mansfield 6/30/08 Boston 5/17/10 Baltimore 10/27/13 Central Park 9/26/15 Philadelphia 4/29/16 (TEN) Fenway Park 8/5/16 Fenway Park 9/4/18 St. Paul 9/2/23 Philadelphia 9/7/24 Baltimore 9/12/24
Upper Hand, closely followed by Waiting for Stevie. Two belters. The whole album rocks like a bugger, too.
Manchester 04.06.00, Leeds 25.08.06, Wembley 18.06.07, Dusseldorf 21.06.07, Shepherds Bush 11.08.09, Manchester 17.08.09, Adelaide 17.11.09, Melbourne 20.11.09, Sydney 22.11.09, Brisbane 25.11.09, MSG1 20.05.10, MSG2 21.05.10, Dublin 22.06.10, Belfast 23.06.10, London 25.06.10, Long Beach 06.07.11 (EV), Los Angeles 08.07.11 (EV), Toronto 11.09.11, Toronto 12.09.11, Ottawa 14.09.11, Hamilton 14.09.11, Manchester 20.06.12, Manchester 21.06.12, Amsterdam 26.06.2012, Amsterdam 27.06.2012, Berlin 04.07.12, Berlin 05.07.12, Stockholm 07.07.12, Oslo 09.07.12, Copenhagen 10.07.12, Manchester 28.07.12 (EV), Brooklyn 18.10.13, Brooklyn 19.10.13, Philly 21.10.13, Philly 22.10.13, San Diego 21.11.13, LA 23.11.13, LA 24.11.13, Oakland 26.11.13, Portland 29.11.13, Spokane 30.11.13, Calgary 02.12.13, Vancouver 04.12.13, Seattle 06.12.13, Trieste 22.06.14, Vienna 25.06.14, Berlin 26.06.14, Stockholm 28.06.14, Leeds 08.07.14, Philly 28.04.16, Philly 28.04.16, MSG1 01.05.16, MSG2 02.05.16
Upper Hand remains my favorite but I think I like all 11 better now than I did Friday. I expected the album to be good, I think all the albums are good. I didn’t expect to love it this much though. My favorite since Riot Act by a good margin. (For comparison purposes, I think RA is a top 4 PJ album).
I'm back and forth on it but finally voted for Upper Hand over Waiting for Stevie.
I think the Pink Floyd feels of Upper Hand put it as #1 for me. Buuuuuttt....goddamn is WFS 🔥! That's undoubtedly the one I'm most looking forward to seeing live.
"A smart monkey doesn't monkey around with another monkey's monkey" - Darwin's Theory
Upper Hand is my favorite for now. I
love the "Nothing as it seems"/Binaural vibes of it. Waiting For
Stevie is another special song, does not remind me of other PJ songs and it has
a Soundgarden feeling in it. Dark Matter, Running, Scared of fear also good, Got
To Give has a Yieldy (Faithfull, In Hiding) vibe. In general I think it’s their
best and more coherent work since Avocado in 2006.
Binaural > Vs > No Code > Yield = Riot Act > Vitalogy > Ten > Pearl Jam > Dark Matter > Gigaton > Lightning Bolt > Backspacer
After 5-6 play throughs I'm going with Won't Tell. But it could easily be 4-5 others. Shit, I could have picked Scared of Fear after listening to the live performance this morning. And Got to Give is sneaky good too. On top of the heavyweights Upper Hand and Stevie. It's a good problem to have for PJ fans.
The album is beautiful in its entirety. Some particularly strong songs stand out (Upper Hand, Waiting for Stevie, Setting Sun). I would love to hear the album live in it’s entirety in sequence.
30 spins in, and I still have React, Respond as my favorite. I was correct on first listen. Already a Top 10 overall Pearl Jam song for me.
What I did not see coming after 30 spins, is that I have the other 10 songs tied as great. To be blunt, there's only one other Pearl Jam album that hooked me this much, and that's VS.
Comments
Yes, I was getting strong Who vibes from it.
Melbourne #2 '03
Melbourne #3 '03
Melbourne #1 '06
Melbourne #3 '06
Melbourne '09
Melbourne '14
Randalls Island 9/29/96
Pittsburgh 8/25/98
Phoenix 10/21/00
Pittsburgh 4/26/03
State College 5/3/03
Philly 7/5/03
Hershey 7/12/03
Boston 5/17/10
Baltimore 10/27/13
Central Park 9/26/15
Philadelphia 4/29/16 (TEN)
Fenway Park 8/5/16
Fenway Park 9/4/18
St. Paul 9/2/23
Philadelphia 9/7/24
Baltimore 9/12/24
Ev Solo Providence 6/15/11
Wreckage can get some poppy hate but it’s what I’ve been waking up to in my head.
6/19/95 Red Rocks
9/11/98 MSG
11/19/12 EV solo Tulsa
7/19/13 Wrigley 10/19/13 Brooklyn 2 10/21/13 Philly 1 10/22/13 Philly 2 10/25/13 Hartford
10/08/14 Tulsa 10/09/14 Lincoln
9/26/15 NYC Global Citizen
4/16/16 Greenville 4/28/16 Philly 1 4/29/16 Philly 2 5/1/16 MSG 1 5/2/16 MSG 2 8/7/16 Fenway 2 8/20/16 Wrigley 1
4/7/17 RRHOF New York City
9/2/18 Fenway 1 9/4/2018 Fenway 2
9/18/21 Asbury Park
2/4/22 EV Earthlings NYC 2/6/22 EV Earthlings Newark 9/11/22 MSG 9/14/22 Camden
9/3/24 MSG 1 9/4/24 MSG 2 9/7/24 Philly 1 9/9/24 Philly 2
I think the Pink Floyd feels of Upper Hand put it as #1 for me. Buuuuuttt....goddamn is WFS 🔥! That's undoubtedly the one I'm most looking forward to seeing live.
6/19/95 Red Rocks
9/11/98 MSG
11/19/12 EV solo Tulsa
7/19/13 Wrigley 10/19/13 Brooklyn 2 10/21/13 Philly 1 10/22/13 Philly 2 10/25/13 Hartford
10/08/14 Tulsa 10/09/14 Lincoln
9/26/15 NYC Global Citizen
4/16/16 Greenville 4/28/16 Philly 1 4/29/16 Philly 2 5/1/16 MSG 1 5/2/16 MSG 2 8/7/16 Fenway 2 8/20/16 Wrigley 1
4/7/17 RRHOF New York City
9/2/18 Fenway 1 9/4/2018 Fenway 2
9/18/21 Asbury Park
2/4/22 EV Earthlings NYC 2/6/22 EV Earthlings Newark 9/11/22 MSG 9/14/22 Camden
9/3/24 MSG 1 9/4/24 MSG 2 9/7/24 Philly 1 9/9/24 Philly 2
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
Upper Hand is my favorite for now. I love the "Nothing as it seems"/Binaural vibes of it. Waiting For Stevie is another special song, does not remind me of other PJ songs and it has a Soundgarden feeling in it. Dark Matter, Running, Scared of fear also good, Got To Give has a Yieldy (Faithfull, In Hiding) vibe. In general I think it’s their best and more coherent work since Avocado in 2006.
Then it's pretty much a tie with the rest of these amazing songs.
London, Copenhagen 07
MSG 08
SBE, Manchester, London 09
Dublin, Belfast, London 10
1. Setting Sun (the last 2.5 minutes)
2. Waiting for Stevie
4. Scared of Fear
5. Upper Hand
6. Dark Matter
7. Running
8. Got to Give
9. Wreckage
10. Won’t Tell
11. Something Special (great intro guitar tone though)
What I did not see coming after 30 spins, is that I have the other 10 songs tied as great. To be blunt, there's only one other Pearl Jam album that hooked me this much, and that's VS.
A shocking surprise. Christmas in April.
VS
Dark Matter
Ten/Yield/Vitalogy/No Code