Riot Act Revisited

Gern Blansten · November 2013

I've been ignoring this album (like PJ) and recently stuck it in my CD player in the car.

It's like having a new album. I can't believe I haven't been listening to this more.

boyo79 · November 2013

It's a fantastic album, always thought that. Vastly under-rated.

Uncle Snuffy · November 2013

boyo79 wrote:

It's a fantastic album, always thought that. Vastly under-rated.

I agree 100% !

- Uncle Snuffy

jerometurner · November 2013

I also went back to Riot Act earlier this week. Very underrated in my opinion as well. Some really great tracks that have been lost live on that album.

ckravitz · November 2013

Ironically I just sent a text to a few buddies earlier this week telling them to put Binaural and Riot Act on repeat three times and marvel at them. Great, great stuff.

mrluthor9 · November 2013

I heart Riot Act... Green Disease, You Are, All or None... cant go wrong with this one.

FrankieG · November 2013

favorite album

danny · November 2013

great album

thefixer9 · November 2013

jerometurner wrote:

I also went back to Riot Act earlier this week. Very underrated in my opinion as well. Some really great tracks that have been lost live on that album.

I agree! Would love to see more of All or None, Thumbing My Way, Ghost and Save You!

stateoflove79 · November 2013

Bring back Get Right and Help Help...2 of my faves from that record!

SVRDhand13 · November 2013

My least favorite of theirs but still a solid album. You Are brings me back to driving to high school when I got my first car.

Gern Blansten · November 2013

1/2 Full is kicking my ass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5DhrB9F7og

James Lander · November 2013

Not sure why but Riot Act seems to be much under-rated, especially by fellow posters on this site. It's a great album and one of my personal favourites.

After Vs. I struggle to think of a PJ album I love more than Riot Act.

Gern Blansten · November 2013

http://www.pearljamsongranker.com/mainrankpage.html

Cropduster (Riot Act, 2003)
1/2 Full (Riot Act, 2003)
Save You (Riot Act, 2003)
You Are (Riot Act, 2003)
Get Right (Riot Act, 2003)
Ghost (Riot Act, 2003)
Green Disease (Riot Act, 2003)
Bu$hLeaguer (Riot Act, 2003)
Love Boat Captain (Riot Act, 2003)
Cant Keep (Riot Act, 2003)
All Or None (Riot Act, 2003)
Thumbing My Way (Riot Act, 2003)
Help Help (Riot Act, 2003)
I Am Mine (Riot Act, 2003)
Arc (Riot Act, 2003)

Here is how I rank the songs right now....

thefixer9 · November 2013

Gern Blansten wrote:

http://www.pearljamsongranker.com/mainrankpage.html

Cropduster (Riot Act, 2003)
1/2 Full (Riot Act, 2003)
Save You (Riot Act, 2003)
You Are (Riot Act, 2003)
Get Right (Riot Act, 2003)
Ghost (Riot Act, 2003)
Green Disease (Riot Act, 2003)
Bu$hLeaguer (Riot Act, 2003)
Love Boat Captain (Riot Act, 2003)
Cant Keep (Riot Act, 2003)
All Or None (Riot Act, 2003)
Thumbing My Way (Riot Act, 2003)
Help Help (Riot Act, 2003)
I Am Mine (Riot Act, 2003)
Arc (Riot Act, 2003)

Here is how I rank the songs right now....

That sounds fun, I'll have to do that later.

Gern Blansten · November 2013

James Lander wrote:

Not sure why but Riot Act seems to be much under-rated, especially by fellow posters on this site. It's a great album and one of my personal favourites.

After Vs. I struggle to think of a PJ album I love more than Riot Act.

I've been getting back into Led Zeppelin recently and the comparisons between PJ and LZ are pretty amazing when you consider how diverse both their catalogs are.

F5AgainstOne · November 2013

Gern Blansten wrote:

James Lander wrote:

Not sure why but Riot Act seems to be much under-rated, especially by fellow posters on this site. It's a great album and one of my personal favourites.

After Vs. I struggle to think of a PJ album I love more than Riot Act.

I've been getting back into Led Zeppelin recently and the comparisons between PJ and LZ are pretty amazing when you consider how diverse both their catalogs are.

Strange, I too have been getting into Riot Act the past few days, and also Led Zep.

Pointy Birds...

motorcitymadman · November 2013

Amazing how underrated this album is. They probably picked the wrong single, but this is Pearl Jam most expansive album that has a great range.

You've got Pearl Jam as Led Zeppelin on Can't Keep, a song that sounds like it's out of Vs. in Save You, a couple songs in LBC and Help, Help that sound way better live. Perhaps the production missed on a few songs, but Pearl Jam may never record a better cut than Thumbing, which is the grand slam of the entire album.

Then you've got a rare PJ blues song in 1/2 Full, a jazz number in All or None, the voice machine of Arc. This record has so much to it it should not be forgotten, and we should hear more of these numbers live. Can't sleep on Green Disease or the melody of Bushleager either.

Ghost, Cropduster, and Get Right are not great songs. They're good, but not great. Album probably would've been better had some of those been dropped. An oh yea, maybe the best song on the record and one that should've been a single, Down, kicks all kinda ass.

Riot Act Era is not to be forgotten, and it's not just a "political record" as some media say. I'd love to see them play the whole album one day.

etackla · November 2013

That is a top 5 record for me...Cropduster and Thumbing my way at the top...all or none, green disease, save you...awesome record.

Gern Blansten · November 2013

motorcitymadman wrote:

Ghost, Cropduster, and Get Right are not great songs. They're good, but not great. Album probably would've been better had some of those been dropped. An oh yea, maybe the best song on the record and one that should've been a single, Down, kicks all kinda ass.

I like Ghost and Get Right....I don't consider them "defining" Pearl Jam songs but I really disagree about Cropduster.

That song is the definition of Pearl Jam. It's a very intelligent piece of work.

HesCalledDyer · November 2013

Love this album and Cropduster is my favorite tune. The lyrics, to me, are pure musical poetry!

aennil · November 2013

weirdly enough, Lightning Bolt has made me want to hear Riot Act more often than i used to. Can't explain why....
But i love Riot Act! it was first PJ-album i bought, and i still seem to discover new thing about it every time i hear it

Leezestarr313 · November 2013

I love Riot Act too!

Still crossing my fingers that we get to hear YOU ARE or Thumbing my way in Seattle ...

T-Bone 82 · November 2013

I've consistently rated Riot Act as my least favorite PJ album. However, I do think I am going to revisit it. I haven't listened to the record in a very, very long time. And, obviously, they haven't played many songs live in recent years.

I will say this: one of my favorite moments from the 10/21 Philly show was when they busted out 1/2 Full. I thought they killed it with that song and it was a high point of the evening.

I think my problem with Riot Act over the years may have to do with two things: 1) the production (I think they've learned that Brendan is forever their guy) and 2) that Ed does not sound very energetic with his vocals on most of the songs. There just seems to be so much restraint. I remember reading interviews in this time period where he said he didn't feel like screaming to make his point anymore. I think it may have had a lot to do with the early 00's being the pinnacle of post-grunge copycats like Creed, Nickleback, and many other bands I have completely forgotten about at this point. Maybe he was making a conscious effort not to sound like these clowns, but I feel like he held back way too much.

Like any new PJ album, I did love Riot Act for the first few months it came out. I think it's time to bust it out again and give it another shot.

OceanInDisguise13 · November 2013

boyo79 wrote:

It's a fantastic album, always thought that. Vastly under-rated.

agree 100% wish they would play more from it live. More Green Disease!!!

KingJeremyD · November 2013

love me some riot act!!

Eraserhead · November 2013

ckravitz wrote:

Ironically I just sent a text to a few buddies earlier this week telling them to put Binaural and Riot Act on repeat three times and marvel at them. Great, great stuff.

That's not irony, it's coincidental.

/pedant

Big Green Country · November 2013

Riot Act is an awesome album, and for me personally, some of the best touring action of the band's history. Loved the block ticketing system (granted I have a decent 10C number). Waiting in line with other fans for tickets, finding out your seat location, then 2 1/2 to 3 hours of face melting rock and roll. Great period in the band's history. Some of my all time favorite shows during this era.

Veddernarian · November 2013

T-Bone 82 wrote:

I think my problem with Riot Act over the years may have to do with two things: 1) the production (I think they've learned that Brendan is forever their guy) and 2) that Ed does not sound very energetic with his vocals on most of the songs. There just seems to be so much restraint. I remember reading interviews in this time period where he said he didn't feel like screaming to make his point anymore. I think it may have had a lot to do with the early 00's being the pinnacle of post-grunge copycats like Creed, Nickleback, and many other bands I have completely forgotten about at this point. Maybe he was making a conscious effort not to sound like these clowns, but I feel like he held back way too much.

I think you hit the nail on the head and the other guy who said B O'B is their man. Like many others here, I spun Riot Act and Binaural a few times after spinning LB endlessly for almost a month. There are great songs in Riot Act and Binaural. The production on the heavier songs in Binaural makes it sound like I'm listening from the porch, outside of the closed sliding door and the band is inside. On the other hand, Riot Act sounds like a sound casserole. Everything slushy and mixed together. And Ed way too low in the mix. I sort of wish that for songs like Grievance, Insignificance, Save You, for example, they re-assembled whatever instruments, settings, mic-levels, mixing equipment and Brendan, that they did for Mind Your Manners, and re-recorded those songs. Ghost has the band on fire and Ed doing well on the verses. And then the choruses. All the sound disappears and whoever is singing "away, away" sounds sick (not in a good way). It almost seems like somebody said "this will be a hit" and somebody else saying "you're right, let's mutilate it".

There are amazing songs in both. I wish they re-recorded them in current times, and re-engineer some of them as well. Something like "You Are", I wouldn't touch. Pure genious.

choop · November 2013

no code through riot act is my favorite run of albums and will always be what pearl jam is to me.

i do wish that binaural and riot act had been met more receptively at the time. i know PJ always claimed to buck the mainstream, but after those records seemed to flat line their popularity, they came back with avocado, backspacer, and lightning bolt, all with their catchy poppy mainstream feels. these last three albums haven't been the easiest pill for me to swallow.

binaural needs to be repressed on vinyl more than any of the OOP records, because if people could get their hands on that and listen on vinyl i bet that record would jump up many people's favorite list.

riot act was amazing as well. i think the tired kind of vocal effect ed was going for turned a lot of people off. i really miss when they weren't afraid to experiment like that, and hope they can get to a spot where they feel comfortable taking a chance like that again.

PJ_Soul · November 2013

It's a contender for my favorite PJ album ever. Absolutely LOVE it.

Riot Act Revisited

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