Why Pearl Jam’s Yield is One of the Best Fucking Albums Ever

A little something I wrote last night in honor of Yield's 14th birthday:


Why Pearl Jam’s Yield is One of the Best Fucking Albums Ever Made

http://kennyolav.com/articles/why-yield ... -made.html

Pearl Jam’s fifth studio album Yield was released on February 3, 1998. In a few more years, babies born on that date will be old enough to drive and hopefully know what a yield sign is for. I was 21 when the album was new. I had been a fan of Pearl Jam ever since MTV imposed them upon my generation early in 1992, and after the hype subsided, Yield was there to take music to a level no marketing department could ever fucking dream of.

Like any great album, Yield is an ideal road trip album. It’s even got a picture of a road on the cover, and not just any fucking road, but an open highway. And yet, there’s a yield sign on the side of this highway. Open the cover, and you’ll see the yield sign in the middle of an ocean. What the fuck, Pearl Jam? I suppose the message is that no matter how clear the road (or water way) is ahead, something can still fuck up your day. Always be prepared to yield.

The album begins with Brain of J, which blazes a trail of fiery discontent with scorching guitars and its mocking chorus: “the whole world will be different soon, the whole world will be relieved”. Faithfull, intentionally misspelled with two l’s, is full of everything that makes this album great (details to come). No Way is so fucking good, I don’t want to say anything more about it. Given to Fly is where the album... how do I make this not sound fucking cheesy? takes flight... no... gets its wings... no... it just fucking tickles your eardrum with a prickly little guitar lick and then grabs you by the throat with each huge chorus. You really feel like a human being that’s given to fly by the time it’s done, especially if you hear it live in concert, trust me. Next is Wishlist, which is just fucking beautiful, no matter what any fucker says. Pilate? It fucking jams. Do the Evolution? Holy fuck. It’s played slower on the album than how it’s played live, but Eddie sounds fucking possessed on the album version. It’s one of their absolute best songs. There’s nothing else like it. Perhaps the most heartfelt sarcasm ever recorded. I fucking mean that, okay? The next track, represented on the back cover as a red dot, is a weird little jam with simple, true lyrics: “We’re all crazy, we’re all crazy at war.” MFC (‘mini fast car’) is about getting the fuck out of Dodge and has one of my favorite lyrics ever: “There’s a lot to be said for nowhere”. Low Light is another one of Pearl Jam’s most beautiful moments. In Hiding is the album’s majestic high point, and by the way that is one fucking difficult song to sing. Push Me, Pull Me is lyrically at odds with the nature of reality and sonically at odds with all the trends of the 90’s or any decade before that - pretty fucking cool. Finally we have All Those Yesterdays reminding us to let each day wash away and that it’s no crime to escape. Except it’s not done yet because there’s the hidden track, which is a middle-eastern flavored tune about hummus. What the fuck, Pearl Jam? Oh, right... something can always appear out of the blue. Be ready to fucking yield.

Yield is Pearl Jam’s best work in the studio and producer Brendan O’Brien deserves all due credit. The guitars are layered together dynamically, and everything from raw crunch, fiery wail, funky twang and simple fucking beautifulness is delivered with sonic excellence. The bass sound is a warm undercurrent and Jack Irons’ drumming gels with the band even better than it did on his first album with them, No Code, creating hypnotic rhythms with just the right amount of spazziness. Above it all is Eddie’s voice, still full of youthful pride and still unashamed to unleash rage, but with newfound maturity and a healthy dose of humility. For the first time on a Pearl Jam album, Vedder sang lyrics that were not his own (four of the songs’ lyrics were penned by either Ament or Gossard) but you would never question that he believed in them.

It’s not as haunting as Vitalogy, not as emotional as Ten and not as contemplative as their later albums, but Yield is an equal blend of everything that has made Pearl Jam great over the years. I don’t know what else to say. The album fucking rocks. If you didn’t already know that, I recommend that you find out for yourself. Take a long fucking drive with it if you can.