I would say they are both in bottom 3 for me in terms of PJ albums, but still in top 20 overall, they just cant seem to make an album I dont like at all. I guess they made Yeild too perfect that everything else after isnt gonna seem up to par.
Riot Act and Binaural are two of the most solid albums ever recorded. But, you're right, people tend to dog these two efforts. I have no idea why. Some of the best lyrics and riffs ever written by Pearl Jam are on these two gems.
I've really enjoyed each album as a separate entity. They're all good... great I mean. Pearl Jam's longevity and ability to draw sell out crowds with minimal airplay and exposure, in my opinion, is because of their ability to show growth and change with the their music that is honest, effortless, and real. No musician sits down and says, "OK.... let's write a song!". Their personal changes undoubtedly affects the demeanor of each record.
I saw them for the first time on an off night from the RHCP/ Smashing Pumpkins tour in 1992 in Ithaca, NY at a small place called the Haunt (and for the last time in Mansfield night II) with 28 other shows in between, so I've followed their metamorphosis quite closely although I'm a new poster (or am I?). :0)
They'll be doing stadiums soon on a regular basis, so enjoy these arena shows while you can... as well as each record they put out... equally.
riot act strikes me as almost a total U-turn away from binaural's balls-to-the-wall punk influences. it's a much more contemplative album, but still manages to rock hard.
i don't buy the argument that ten and vs. "rocked" any harder than other albums ... i think that the post-80's crashing guitars on ten and the dominant rhythms on vs. are easier to apprehend and maybe groove to, but the later albums have a much better symmetry in many respects. listening to ten and vs. now, i'm not sure if i'm listening to a band that's on tilt and will implode at any moment or a bunch of guys in it for the long haul ... maybe that's the tension that people find so exciting.
all that said, i agree with everyone who put up yield as the epic album. so good ... so very good.
(but i've gotta at least mention VITALOGY for all the singles it spawned ...)
Rise. Life is in motion. I'm stuck in line.
Oh rise. You can't be neutral on a moving train.
They're all good albums and they're great in spots, but I don't think Pearl Jam's last three albums stand up very favorably to their first five at all. I mean, it's all a matter of opinion and you can prefer whatever you want to, but it's not unlike how Physical Graffiti, Presence, and In Through the Out Door don't really cut it when compared to the first five Zep albums.
it's like saying strawberry cheesecake is subpar compared to raspberry cheesecake, it's fucking cheesecake you know, it's all good!! if you like cheesecake that is
I've never met a person who initially liked Riot Act, its definitely an album that grows on you. I was listening to it in the car and was blown away by Get Right, normally I skip it, but what an amazing song! How can you not like an album with All or None, 1/2 Full, Get Right, Green Disease, Cropduster, Thumbing My Way, Can't Keep, Bushleaguer, You Are, and Ghost on it? I could do with out Help Help though...
Binaural also genius, Grievance, Light Years, Parting Ways, Soon Forget, Of the Girl, Rival, Sleight of Hand, God's Dice, Thin Air, Insignificance, Nothing As It Seems, and Breakerfall. How is that a subpar album!? There were songs that are better than a lot of their other songs that didn't make it on the album i.e Sad.
If anything Yield is the subpar album, it only has Brain of J, No way, Low Light, Do the Evolution, In Hiding, Faithfull, All Those Yesterdays, Given to Fly, and MFC...
I think the point is there is no subpar Pearl Jam album. If anything Lost Dogs is subpar because of the songs they didn't include like Breath, State of Love and Trust, Crazy Mary, Long Road, and I Got Shit.
No Code? Smile = automatic win, everything else is just icing on the cake, especially when that icing involves Red Mosquito, In My Tree, Lukin, Mankind, Around the Bend, Present Tense, Off He Goes, Who You Are, Sometimes, Habit and Hail, Hail.
They're all good albums and they're great in spots, but I don't think Pearl Jam's last three albums stand up very favorably to their first five at all. I mean, it's all a matter of opinion and you can prefer whatever you want to, but it's not unlike how Physical Graffiti, Presence, and In Through the Out Door don't really cut it when compared to the first five Zep albums.
Er, did you just call Physical Graffiti sub par? Now that is not true.
Presence wins for the fact that Achilles Last Stand is on that album, which is Zeppelins finest song.
"Riot Act" and "Binaural" are two excellent albums. Neither of them are bad in any aspect for my listening tastes. I actually went to the stores and bought both when they came out the night before at midnight like a crazy fool. They are not my most favorite albums but they are the albums that forever changed how I listen to Pearl Jam. I liked "No Code" and "Yield" was simply the album to top them all besides "Ten" for me. I have not been moved by any of the albums as much as "Ten" and "Yield". It's my view that "Riot Act" and "Binaural" were an evolving point of comfort for the band. I have a deep appreciation for the albums.
For me, all of the albums are equally good but all occupy very different places in my life. I'm 24. The first PJ album I bought (almost the first album ever) was VITALOGY. I bought it when I was eleven, right after it was released. It means a lot to me because it was my first. Also, the first two tracks rock so hard they made my neck hurt, and there are plenty of catchy, easy to understand lyrics like Nothingman, Better Man, Corduroy. This was perfect for me because I was young. I then went and bought TEN and VS and found that these were very much the same for me. They were catchy tunes with lyrics that I could at least try and grasp, and they were on the radio. They were cool, which is important in middle school.
By the time NO CODE had come out, I had grown up a bit, I was a teenager, and I liked PJ so much that it didn't matter what the songs sounded like. I was memorizing the lyrics, reading books about the band, and felt very close to the band. It was weird after the first three CDs but I listened to it and loved it for what it was.... now some of my favorite songs are on the album.
YIELD was the first time I ever saw a PJ commercial on TV and I remember thinking, 'hey, now my friends will see this commercial and see the light!' I had an amazing composition teacher that let us bring music into class and talk about the lyrics. We spend hours after school one day going through the YIELD lyrics, and then I started bringing in more PJ stuff. This is when I started writing... which is something I still do today.
When BINAURAL came out I was kind of lost in some weird music along with a lot of 2Pac (which I still listen to). Basically I was working at a car audio shop and let that influence my tastes. I still bought it the day it came out, but didn't listen to it as much. God's Dice was a song I loved from the beginning... some of the best writing Eddie has ever done. Once I heard Beneroya, I was like "Where the fuck did all of these songs come from?" Answer: BINAURAL. I went back and fell in love with it all over again.
RIOT ACT just fucking rocked. I was in college at this point, figuring this crazy world out for myself... becoming very passionate about certain issues and very active in the community. This CD touched on a lot of things that were going on in my life. The 2003 tour got me so fucking crazy that I almost got arrested at the Raleigh show during SAVE YOU. That album had a little of everything. It was bluesy, had some punk, even had a song about George W! It was my favorite PJ CD... I listened to it so much that I had to buy a second one. I think it is some of the best writing Eddie has done.
PEARL JAM/AVACADO came out while I was in New Orleans to volunteer after Hurricane Katrina. I had to drive an hour just to buy it because there were no stores open in New Orleans. I had planned on leaving in the middle of May. The CD came out May 1, and after listening to such politically driven lyrics, I ended up staying in New Orleans for another 3 months. Seeing what had happened to this wonderful city and its wonderful people, and seeing how no one wanted to help was devastating. I had an M16 pointed at me by an AMERICAN SOLDIER... I'M FUCKING AMERICAN!! Eddie spoke to me on that album in a way he never had before. Gone was a song that made me realize that after living in New Orleans for 6 months doing relief work, I could never go back to my superficial, meaningless life in college. Since the day I heard that song I have been striving to make a difference in this world, one way or another.
Sorry for the Novel... but this music means a lot to me and all of it means different things.
One thing I wish would come out is a compilation of all of the wonderful things Eddie has supported on stage and all of the amazing songs that he has covered and written. He has so much passion. He has said some pretty awesome stuff that has stuck with me for a long time. He is inspiring. Songs like GIMME SOME TRUTH, NO MORE, HERE'S TO THE STATE, and IT'S OK (I know he wrote NO MORE) are all amazing and I'm just happy I've been fortunate enough to see two of them live.
I think the point is there is no subpar Pearl Jam album. If anything Lost Dogs is subpar because of the songs they didn't include like Breath, State of Love and Trust, Crazy Mary, Long Road, and I Got Shit.
God I love Pearl Jam! What an amazing band...
I agree... there isn't a subpar one. BUT PJ didn't write Crazy Mary and Long Road and I Got Shit were released... that's why they were not on Lost Dogs... which not not subpar either even though it was the songs that the band didn't like enough to put on the original releases. Like you said, WHAT AN AMAZING BAND!
I think they should have made them both shorter and stronger albums.
Binaural: Make it 12 songs. Remove 1)Nothing as it Seems 2)Of the Girl 3) Sleight of Hand and 4)Evacuation and add 1) Fatal 2) Sad and 3) Education, which are all Binaural out-takes and this would have been an OUTSTANDING 12-Song album.
Riot Act: Make it 12 songs. Remove 1) Bushleager 2) Can't Keep 3) You Are 4) Help Help and either 5) All or None or I Am Mine and add 1) Down and 2) Undone, which are both Riot Act out-takes and this would also have been an OUTSTANDING 12-Song album.
I think they should have made them both shorter and stronger albums.
Binaural: Make it 12 songs. Remove 1)Nothing as it Seems 2)Of the Girl 3) Sleight of Hand and 4)Evacuation and add 1) Fatal 2) Sad and 3) Education, which are all Binaural out-takes and this would have been an OUTSTANDING 12-Song album.
Riot Act: Make it 12 songs. Remove 1) Bushleager 2) Can't Keep 3) You Are 4) Help Help and either 5) All or None or I Am Mine and add 1) Down and 2) Undone, which are both Riot Act out-takes and this would also have been an OUTSTANDING 12-Song album.
Nothing As It Seems, Of the Girl, & Sleight of Hand are pretty much in the top 4 best songs on Binaural, along with Light Years, & you want them removed...? Thank God you make no decisions about music except for yourself.
"Why stand when you can sit?" - Winston Churchill
"Why sit when you can dance?" - Me
Nothing As It Seems, Of the Girl, & Sleight of Hand are pretty much in the top 4 best songs on Binaural, along with Light Years, & you want them removed...? Thank God you make no decisions about music except for yourself.
Sorry man, Of the Girl and Sleight of Hand are total sleepers and Nothing as it Seems, while OK, is also a snoozer. I think Sleight of Hand and Of the Girl are probably at the bottom 5 percent of all PJ songs. Just different opinions I guess.
Er, did you just call Physical Graffiti sub par? Now that is not true.
Presence wins for the fact that Achilles Last Stand is on that album, which is Zeppelins finest song.
yeah but Achilles is one song. Physical Graffiti, my favorite Zeppelin album, IS sub-par compared to their first five albums. Many of the songs are throwaways that didn't make those albums. In My Time of Dying, Kashmir, In The Light, Trampled, etc....are all great songs. just like how Binaural has some good songs but I would say it's better than any of their first five albums.
(and looking for jeremy part II -- the casual fans that is).
2003 Mansfield III 2004 Boston I 2006 Boston I 2008 Bonnaroo, Hartford, Mansfield I 2010 Hartford 2013 Worcester I, Worcester II, Hartford 2016 Bonnaroo, Boston I, Boston II 2018 Boston I, Boston II 2021 Sea.Hear.Now 2022 Camden 2024 Boston I, Boston II
Comments
you were at the haunt. great club.
http://www.myspace.com/brain_of_c
Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!
i don't buy the argument that ten and vs. "rocked" any harder than other albums ... i think that the post-80's crashing guitars on ten and the dominant rhythms on vs. are easier to apprehend and maybe groove to, but the later albums have a much better symmetry in many respects. listening to ten and vs. now, i'm not sure if i'm listening to a band that's on tilt and will implode at any moment or a bunch of guys in it for the long haul ... maybe that's the tension that people find so exciting.
all that said, i agree with everyone who put up yield as the epic album. so good ... so very good.
(but i've gotta at least mention VITALOGY for all the singles it spawned ...)
Oh rise. You can't be neutral on a moving train.
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
See These Bones
Binaural also genius, Grievance, Light Years, Parting Ways, Soon Forget, Of the Girl, Rival, Sleight of Hand, God's Dice, Thin Air, Insignificance, Nothing As It Seems, and Breakerfall. How is that a subpar album!? There were songs that are better than a lot of their other songs that didn't make it on the album i.e Sad.
If anything Yield is the subpar album, it only has Brain of J, No way, Low Light, Do the Evolution, In Hiding, Faithfull, All Those Yesterdays, Given to Fly, and MFC...
I think the point is there is no subpar Pearl Jam album. If anything Lost Dogs is subpar because of the songs they didn't include like Breath, State of Love and Trust, Crazy Mary, Long Road, and I Got Shit.
No Code? Smile = automatic win, everything else is just icing on the cake, especially when that icing involves Red Mosquito, In My Tree, Lukin, Mankind, Around the Bend, Present Tense, Off He Goes, Who You Are, Sometimes, Habit and Hail, Hail.
God I love Pearl Jam! What an amazing band...
Er, did you just call Physical Graffiti sub par? Now that is not true.
Presence wins for the fact that Achilles Last Stand is on that album, which is Zeppelins finest song.
By the time NO CODE had come out, I had grown up a bit, I was a teenager, and I liked PJ so much that it didn't matter what the songs sounded like. I was memorizing the lyrics, reading books about the band, and felt very close to the band. It was weird after the first three CDs but I listened to it and loved it for what it was.... now some of my favorite songs are on the album.
YIELD was the first time I ever saw a PJ commercial on TV and I remember thinking, 'hey, now my friends will see this commercial and see the light!' I had an amazing composition teacher that let us bring music into class and talk about the lyrics. We spend hours after school one day going through the YIELD lyrics, and then I started bringing in more PJ stuff. This is when I started writing... which is something I still do today.
When BINAURAL came out I was kind of lost in some weird music along with a lot of 2Pac (which I still listen to). Basically I was working at a car audio shop and let that influence my tastes. I still bought it the day it came out, but didn't listen to it as much. God's Dice was a song I loved from the beginning... some of the best writing Eddie has ever done. Once I heard Beneroya, I was like "Where the fuck did all of these songs come from?" Answer: BINAURAL. I went back and fell in love with it all over again.
RIOT ACT just fucking rocked. I was in college at this point, figuring this crazy world out for myself... becoming very passionate about certain issues and very active in the community. This CD touched on a lot of things that were going on in my life. The 2003 tour got me so fucking crazy that I almost got arrested at the Raleigh show during SAVE YOU. That album had a little of everything. It was bluesy, had some punk, even had a song about George W! It was my favorite PJ CD... I listened to it so much that I had to buy a second one. I think it is some of the best writing Eddie has done.
PEARL JAM/AVACADO came out while I was in New Orleans to volunteer after Hurricane Katrina. I had to drive an hour just to buy it because there were no stores open in New Orleans. I had planned on leaving in the middle of May. The CD came out May 1, and after listening to such politically driven lyrics, I ended up staying in New Orleans for another 3 months. Seeing what had happened to this wonderful city and its wonderful people, and seeing how no one wanted to help was devastating. I had an M16 pointed at me by an AMERICAN SOLDIER... I'M FUCKING AMERICAN!! Eddie spoke to me on that album in a way he never had before. Gone was a song that made me realize that after living in New Orleans for 6 months doing relief work, I could never go back to my superficial, meaningless life in college. Since the day I heard that song I have been striving to make a difference in this world, one way or another.
Sorry for the Novel... but this music means a lot to me and all of it means different things.
One thing I wish would come out is a compilation of all of the wonderful things Eddie has supported on stage and all of the amazing songs that he has covered and written. He has so much passion. He has said some pretty awesome stuff that has stuck with me for a long time. He is inspiring. Songs like GIMME SOME TRUTH, NO MORE, HERE'S TO THE STATE, and IT'S OK (I know he wrote NO MORE) are all amazing and I'm just happy I've been fortunate enough to see two of them live.
OK.... I'm done
I agree... there isn't a subpar one. BUT PJ didn't write Crazy Mary and Long Road and I Got Shit were released... that's why they were not on Lost Dogs... which not not subpar either even though it was the songs that the band didn't like enough to put on the original releases. Like you said, WHAT AN AMAZING BAND!
kinakamot ang aking puwit...
me rascando pompis...
krap mijn reet...
boku no ketsuoana o kizu...
bahrosh teezy...
Binaural: Make it 12 songs. Remove 1)Nothing as it Seems 2)Of the Girl 3) Sleight of Hand and 4)Evacuation and add 1) Fatal 2) Sad and 3) Education, which are all Binaural out-takes and this would have been an OUTSTANDING 12-Song album.
Riot Act: Make it 12 songs. Remove 1) Bushleager 2) Can't Keep 3) You Are 4) Help Help and either 5) All or None or I Am Mine and add 1) Down and 2) Undone, which are both Riot Act out-takes and this would also have been an OUTSTANDING 12-Song album.
Now Riot Act? THAT is subpar.
"Why sit when you can dance?" - Me
Nothing As It Seems, Of the Girl, & Sleight of Hand are pretty much in the top 4 best songs on Binaural, along with Light Years, & you want them removed...? Thank God you make no decisions about music except for yourself.
"Why sit when you can dance?" - Me
Sorry man, Of the Girl and Sleight of Hand are total sleepers and Nothing as it Seems, while OK, is also a snoozer. I think Sleight of Hand and Of the Girl are probably at the bottom 5 percent of all PJ songs. Just different opinions I guess.
yeah but Achilles is one song. Physical Graffiti, my favorite Zeppelin album, IS sub-par compared to their first five albums. Many of the songs are throwaways that didn't make those albums. In My Time of Dying, Kashmir, In The Light, Trampled, etc....are all great songs. just like how Binaural has some good songs but I would say it's better than any of their first five albums.
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
He mixed both of them.
If you hate something, don't you do it too
(and looking for jeremy part II -- the casual fans that is).
2004 Boston I
2006 Boston I
2008 Bonnaroo, Hartford, Mansfield I
2010 Hartford
2013 Worcester I, Worcester II, Hartford
2016 Bonnaroo, Boston I, Boston II
2018 Boston I, Boston II
2021 Sea.Hear.Now
2022 Camden
2024 Boston I, Boston II