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Wearing Their Influences On Their Sleeve.
I love the record...don't get me wrong
BUT...
As is the case with several songs on Riot Act...
I think the band was heavily wearing their influences on their sleeves during the writing and recording of this album.
Riot Act has a very distinct sound to it...But not what I'd call a "Pearl Jam Style" to it.
The songs seemed to come more from music that the band was listening to at the time, rather than songs created in a totally original "Pearl Jam Style".
I find that much of Riot Act just sounds derivative of other music and not highly original to the band....Not that this is a bad thing, or made it a bad album...But just interesting.
Now obviously Riot Act wasn't the first time Pearl Jam has cut a song or two that sounds just like someone else's style (Neil Young, The Who)
However...This just seemed more apparent on The Riot Act record than any of their previous albums. They've always had different styles sprinkled around here and there...and it's what makes them such a diverse band.
But with Riot Act I can really pick out the influences much more than any of their previous work.
Every album before and after they've sounded like no other band out there....except for Riot Act???
I'm wondering if this was a conscious decision within the band, or if the album just caught them at a weird time when they were inadvertently writing music derivative of someone elses style?
Anyone else feel this way?
BUT...
As is the case with several songs on Riot Act...
I think the band was heavily wearing their influences on their sleeves during the writing and recording of this album.
Riot Act has a very distinct sound to it...But not what I'd call a "Pearl Jam Style" to it.
The songs seemed to come more from music that the band was listening to at the time, rather than songs created in a totally original "Pearl Jam Style".
I find that much of Riot Act just sounds derivative of other music and not highly original to the band....Not that this is a bad thing, or made it a bad album...But just interesting.
Now obviously Riot Act wasn't the first time Pearl Jam has cut a song or two that sounds just like someone else's style (Neil Young, The Who)
However...This just seemed more apparent on The Riot Act record than any of their previous albums. They've always had different styles sprinkled around here and there...and it's what makes them such a diverse band.
But with Riot Act I can really pick out the influences much more than any of their previous work.
Every album before and after they've sounded like no other band out there....except for Riot Act???
I'm wondering if this was a conscious decision within the band, or if the album just caught them at a weird time when they were inadvertently writing music derivative of someone elses style?
Anyone else feel this way?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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To me, riot act has the same vibe than binaural.
songs like green disease or 1/2 full sound (at least to me) like grievance or insiginificance..
2007: Copenhagen, Werchter
2009: Rotterdam, London
2010: MSG, Arras, Werchter
2012: Amsterdam, Prague, Berlin
2014: Amsterdam, Stockholm
I think Riot Act is a great and original album..
As far as songs sounding like other bands, nowhere is that more true than in Avocado.
AC/DC, U2, The Beatles, The Who, 50's rock 'n roll and motown... It's all there in Avocado and although I think it's an OK album, it doesn't say Pearl Jam to me.
- the great Sir Leo Harrison
It seems to me that, on Riot Act, the band is more in-your-face. They are always up front and making sure that you are paying attention on the other albums but they don't invade your "personal space". Listening to the album, especially on headphones, gives me the feeling that there is no place to hide, almost as if the band have formed like Voltron and are staring me in the face, nose to nose.
That sounds kinda nerdy but...
Bruce
Neil--Finn and Young
The Who
I think Riot Act was actually giving more of a nod to the new bands that were out at the time... more so than the classic rock influences that were usually sprinkled throughtout their previous work.
I think Riot Act was Pearl Jam's most modern sounding album because it embraced alot of the song structures and production of the time
Remember in 2001-2002 when the new wave of bands came through the pike with this Garage-like sound?
I'm thinking of The Hives, The Strokes, The Vines, ect ect...
"Get Right" to me is an example of a song (especially with the hand claps and main riff) that may have been consiously derivative of that style.
There definately seemed to be a consious move by the band to sound more modern...
Not commercial...mind you...but modern.
That's basically what I'm getting at.
Riot Act is so much more than this to me. Songs like "You Are" and "Can't Keep" are far too complex with too many different layers of sound for me to group them in with the garage sound you are talking about. I think that most of PJ's albums, as a whole, are too produced (not in a Coldplay or U2 way) to group them in with the "garage sound" that was so prevalent in the early 00's. Granted, there might be individual tracks that are more raw (a few cuts off of Vitalogy, STBC for example), but overall the album is a little slicker, and much better really, than the groups you mentiond.
Perhaps if you gave a few more examples of songs from Riot Act that were so obviously derived from other bands' styles I could be more on board with your opinion. Interesting thought though...
"Cropduster", "Ghost", "Help Help" have this very Inde guitar sound to them;especially in regards to prodcution and tone...
"Green Disease" in particular with it's main riff bears a distinct resemblence to Dig Me Out era Sleater Kinney...with a dose of Modest Mouse, Sonic Youth and Death Cab thrown in for good measure.
Maybe my ear is picking up on things from a production standpoint, the influences are blended nicely...it's far from a "rip off" but it definately sounds like they were picking up on alot of the recording, production techiniques that were familiar at the time.
The production really stands out on Riot Act as a deliberate attempt to sound modern rather than:
Vintage (Vitalogy)
or
Roomy and Organic (Binaural, No Code, Yeild)
Again...Maybe it's just me
I feel exactly the same way. I don't get what Gonzo is trying to say.
Milwaukee 2 '95
Alpine Valley '00
Milwaukee 1 '06
Help Help is mad underrated...the lyrics are great.....The man I call my enemy, I see his face, he looks just like me, a mirror....The more you read, we've deceived, Everyday it becomes clearer....Clearer...then a sick solo...
Great tune, not for radio play...Riot act is a good album, I don't care what anyone says...
I completely agree with you. I think Avocado is much more derivative. In many spots it just has classic rock sound. Besides the ones you listed I hear Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones.
I don't get the same feel from Riot Act which I find has more originality to it. Can't Keep is an underrated yet fantastic song.
in my Bruce Lee voice "Pearl Jam's style is the style of NO style,like water...continuously changing form and adapting..."
Would you say that Pearl Jam doesn't have "A Sound"?
So...I'll try this
Take the albums
Ten, Vs, Vitalogy, No Code, Yeild, and Binaural
In my opinion Pearl Jam had a certain sound (exception of a few songs) on those albums that was entirely unique to them.
A "Pearl Jam Sound" if you will.
What I'm getting at with Riot Act was that....
I believe there was a direct attempt by the band to not sound like "Pearl Jam" on that record and possibly explore and move towards creating some music that is similar to the feel and production of some of the music that they were listening to...or...what was popular and current at that time...circa 2001-2002