Is Vitalogy the best album if...

on2legs
on2legs Posts: 16,132
edited November 2013 in The Porch
you discount Pry, to; Bugs; Aye Davanita; and Stupid Mop?

For years, Yield has been my favorite album but recently I burned a copy of Vitalogy minus the four tracks above and it might be my new favorite. For me an already great album becomes brilliant once you eliminate some of the more distracting tracks on there. I know music is a form of art and should probably be experienced as the artist intended, but sometimes I wish they hadn't messed around so much on that album and just dropped ten kick ass tracks on the world. :D

Yes? No? Maybe?
1996: Randall's Island 2  1998: East Rutherford | MSG 1 & 2  2000: Cincinnati | Columbus | Jones Beach 1, 2, & 3 | Boston 1 | Camden 1 & 2 2003: Philadelphia | Uniondale | MSG 1 & 2 | Holmdel  2005: Atlantic City 1  2006: Camden 1 | East Rutherford 1 & 2 2008: Camden 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 (#25) | Newark (EV)  2009: Philadelphia 1, 2 & 4  2010: Newark | MSG 1 & 2  2011: Toronto 1  2013: Wrigley Field | Brooklyn 2 | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2015: Central Park  2016: Philadelphia 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Fenway Park 2 | MSG (TOTD)  2017: Brooklyn (RnR HOF)  2020: MSG | Asbury Park  2021: Asbury Park  2022: MSG | Camden | Nashville  2024: MSG 1 & 2 (#50) | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2025: Raleigh 2


Post edited by Unknown User on
«1

Comments

  • vaggar99
    vaggar99 San Diego USA Posts: 3,431
    i tend to agree. Vitalogy is the best album if you only count the true songs. They are ALL very good. The playing and singing on this album is by far the best of any pj album.
  • Daron Oshay
    Daron Oshay Middletown, NJ Posts: 2,603
    With the exception of stupid mop the others are excellent pieces that accompany the mood/flow of the album. They aren't songs per se. They are transitions.

    I think they make the album better.
  • Yarden
    Yarden Posts: 820
    i've always liked all those songs.. even stupid mop is sentimental for me.. in a strange way :?
  • Ledbetterman10
    Ledbetterman10 Posts: 17,017
    edited November 2013
    on2legs wrote:
    you discount Pry, to; Bugs; Aye Davanita; and Stupid Mop?

    Well if we're gonna discount those tracks, we might as well get rid of the liner notes and unique packaging too while we're at it. And the strange beginnings of Last Exit, Satan's Bed, Better Man need to go too. And none of this releasing the album two weeks early on vinyl either.

    As you can probably tell, I feel strongly against this thread topic.
    Post edited by Ledbetterman10 on
    2000: Camden 1, 2003: Philly, State College, Camden 1, MSG 2, Hershey, 2004: Reading, 2005: Philly, 2006: Camden 1, 2, East Rutherford 1, 2007: Lollapalooza, 2008: Camden 1, Washington D.C., MSG 1, 2, 2009: Philly 1, 2, 3, 4, 2010: Bristol, MSG 2, 2011: PJ20 1, 2, 2012: Made In America, 2013: Brooklyn 2, Philly 2, 2014: Denver, 2015: Global Citizen Festival, 2016: Philly 2, Fenway 1, 2018: Fenway 1, 2, 2021: Sea. Hear. Now. 2022: Camden, 2024: Philly 2, 2025: Pittsburgh 1

    Pearl Jam bootlegs:
    http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
  • Bant
    Bant Millinowhere, ME Posts: 506
    Daron Oshay wrote:
    With the exception of stupid mop the others are excellent pieces that accompany the mood/flow of the album. They aren't songs per se. They are transitions.

    I think they make the album better.

    This.

    but No Code is their best album. Nothing else is close.
    9/13/1998 - 9/15/1998 - 8/29/2000 - 7/2/2003 - 7/3/2003 - 7/11/2003 - 9/28/2004 - 9/28/2005 - 5/13/2006 - 5/27/2006 - 6/1/2006 - 6/28/2008 - 6/30/2008 - 5/17/2010 - 10/25/2013
  • ikiT
    ikiT USA Posts: 11,059
    I like Vitalogy the way it is, but for me, Binaural is my favorite album. Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me is my least favorite song by the band, but where it's situated on the record, tape, or CD, it's easy enough to press stop or lift the needle after Immortality. It probably could have been left off, but the boys were experimenting. Sonically speaking, it's pretty interesting. Now that time has past, I bet they don't like it.

    For me Pry, To is the perfect beginning to Corduroy. Aye Davanita is 3 minutes of bliss. Bugs is Bugs.

    i got bugs, i got bugs in my room
    bugs in my bed
    bugs in my ears
    their eggs in my head
    bugs in my pockets
    bugs in my shoes
    bugs in the way, I feel, about you

    You could say that The Beatles SHOULD have left Revolution 9 or Honey Pie or Long Long Long off of The White album, and just concentrated on the "good" tunes, but that wouldn't be right.
    Bristow 05132010 to Amsterdam 2 06132018
  • on2legs
    on2legs Posts: 16,132
    I don't disagree with the argument to keep them on because that's the way the band intended the album to be heard.... But dropping those songs makes a great album... Dare I say it... EPIC :lol:
    1996: Randall's Island 2  1998: East Rutherford | MSG 1 & 2  2000: Cincinnati | Columbus | Jones Beach 1, 2, & 3 | Boston 1 | Camden 1 & 2 2003: Philadelphia | Uniondale | MSG 1 & 2 | Holmdel  2005: Atlantic City 1  2006: Camden 1 | East Rutherford 1 & 2 2008: Camden 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 (#25) | Newark (EV)  2009: Philadelphia 1, 2 & 4  2010: Newark | MSG 1 & 2  2011: Toronto 1  2013: Wrigley Field | Brooklyn 2 | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2015: Central Park  2016: Philadelphia 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Fenway Park 2 | MSG (TOTD)  2017: Brooklyn (RnR HOF)  2020: MSG | Asbury Park  2021: Asbury Park  2022: MSG | Camden | Nashville  2024: MSG 1 & 2 (#50) | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore  2025: Raleigh 2


  • october22
    october22 Posts: 2,533
    I disagree. I like all those songs and think they make Vitalogy better.
  • ckravitz
    ckravitz NJ Posts: 1,668
    I sort of like the fillers in there as transitions. If you're playing PJ in random mode than I agree they don't offer much out of context of the specific sequencing of Vitalogy.

    That was really about the first three. Stupid Mop could be removed for all I care as I never hear it anyway!

    Either way, I heart Vitalogy. 8-)
  • Veddernarian
    Veddernarian Posts: 1,924
    Stupid mop is to Vitalogy as that fake tattoo is to Celo Green's head
    Up here so high I start to shake, Up here so high the sky I scrape, I've no fear but for falling down, So look out below I am falling now, Falling down,...not staying down, Could’ve held me up, rather tear me down, Drown in the river
  • OffSheGoes76
    OffSheGoes76 Posts: 44
    My number one! I love Vitalogy.
    I don't mind the tracks you'd exclude.
    2006 Antwerp Belgium
    2007 Werchter Belgium
    2010 Nijmegen Netherlands,
    2010 Werchter Belgium
    2012 Werchter Belgium
    2014 Amsterdam 1 Netherlands
    2014 Werchter Belgium
  • BN8419
    BN8419 Posts: 290
    ah. fiddlesticks!

    stupid mop for congress!!!
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,861
    The best Pearl Jam album is the one you like the most.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • SVRDhand13
    SVRDhand13 Posts: 27,021
    It's the best as is 8-)
    severed hand thirteen
    2006: Gorge 7/23 2008: Hartford 6/27 Beacon 7/1 2009: Spectrum 10/30-31
    2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
    2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
    2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
    2017: RRHoF 4/7   2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4   2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18 
    2022: MSG 9/11  2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
    2025: Pittsburgh 5/16+5/18
  • smanchac1
    smanchac1 Posts: 2,256
    I say, remove bugs, stupid mop. But leave Aye Davanita and Pry, To.

    Pry to, if played backwards says "Pete Townsend saved my life" give it a spin!

    My perfect Vitalogy would be

    Side A

    Last Exit
    Spin TBC
    Not For You
    Tremor Christ
    Nothing Man
    Pry, To
    Whipping

    Side B

    Hard To Imagine
    Corduroy
    Hold On
    Satans Bed
    Betterman
    Immortality
    Aye Davantia (fade out)

    That's my personal track listing ;) let me know how you like it!
  • igotid88
    igotid88 Posts: 28,909
    I like those "filler" songs. And why does everyone hate Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's me?
    I miss igotid88
  • ckravitz
    ckravitz NJ Posts: 1,668
    igotid88 wrote:
    I like those "filler" songs. And why does everyone hate Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's me?

    For me, I guess it's the adolescent-aged-sounding girl asking to be spanked, I don't know :lol:

    (besides for just playing, I said SOUNDING btw, not accusing anyone of anything!)
  • fox_mulderX
    fox_mulderX Posts: 1,134
    I don't really consider those songs or even filler; more like little experiments. Even with those 'experiments', Vitalogy is their best and most important album. They stripped everything they were and became something so unexpected. I'd put Vitalogy on the same level as Nevermind and OK Computer. It's just a great album.
  • vaggar99
    vaggar99 San Diego USA Posts: 3,431
    edited November 2013
    To add a little more to this...i didn't like Vitalogy the first few times i heard it. I guess i was hoping for a Rearviewmirror or Daughter Part 2. And there were no tracks that really sounded like either. But, like most PJ albums, it took a few listens and i was seriously addicted to this album.

    To this day when i hear songs like Corduroy and Betterman on the radio, I turn up the volume full blast. I don't any other songs that hold have that effect on me. This is the world's greatest rock band at their peek. I'm grateful for having been alive for this.

    Also, i'm mostly indifferent to the filler. I do think they kind of fit into the flow of the album somehow and i applaud the experimentalism. but, do i want to listen to stupid mop right now? no
    Post edited by vaggar99 on
  • ladydocNYC
    ladydocNYC Posts: 635
    Ledbetterman10 wrote:
    on2legs wrote:
    you discount Pry, to; Bugs; Aye Davanita; and Stupid Mop?

    Well if we're gonna discount those tracks, we might as well get rid of the liner notes and unique packaging too while we're at it. And the strange beginnings of Last Exit, Satan's Bed, Better Man need to go too. And none of this releasing the album two weeks early on vinyl either.

    As you can probably tell, I feel strongly against this thread topic.

    +1

Categories