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Topic:
All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam discussion thread. Now disc. VH1 Rock Honors- The Who
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
7/11/06 7:27pm
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 2000's "Binaural"
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I like the sound of RearViewMirror, actually.
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Strilo
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
7/12/06 3:17am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 2000's "Binaural"
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Yes and it was put together by the band themselves as a "Best Of" collection and I think it really captures a great cross section of the band and their catalogue.
And on topic for the current discussion... Binaural. For me there are three standout songs on this album that have taken their place in my pantheon of legendary Pearl Jam songs. "Nothing As It Seems" for its surreal lyric, for the eerie sound and for the insanely good guitar work from Mike McCready. "Light Years" for its poignant and powerful lyric about loss (see the subsequent Roskilde incident) and for the simple and elegant arrangement by all members of the band. "Insignificance" for its rocking power, its important and socially relevant lyric and for the fact that the lead singer plays the guitar solo. This band. They just rule my world.
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TheBoogieMan
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
7/15/06 4:48am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 2000's "Binaural"
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Okay, imagine a total Pearl Jam n00b. Now imagine that all that this n00b has heard is "World Wide Suicide" and "Inside Job", but he really, really likes both of them.
Now imagien that that n00b needs some Pearl Jam recommendations, but doesn't want to go out and buy their entire back-catalogue just yet.
What do you recommend?
(PS - the n00b is me. 
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Strilo
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
7/15/06 5:22am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 2000's "Binaural"
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LOL! Dan! Both Amph mods have posted the same thing, though admittedly your post was funnier... 
I suggest Rearviewmirror. It is their two disc "Best of" compilation that I think actually does a nice job of cross-sectioning their work. It contains both the "hits" and the "best songs" from their first seven albums. It is a good place to start, a nice sampling of Pearl Jam's work up until 2004.
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#1 on iTunes Most Played: R.E.M. "Imitation of Life"
#1 on iTunes Film Scores: Harry Potter "A Window to the Past"
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"And therefore blah blah blah your mom..."
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TheBoogieMan
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
7/15/06 5:33am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 2000's "Binaural"
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My own stupid fault for not actually reading the thread. My bad! 
I'll do some research, and possibly come back with some questions and/or discussion.
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Strilo
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
7/15/06 6:50am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 2000's "Binaural"
- Date Edited:
7/15/06 7:17am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Strilo
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Oh it's quite alright. I would love to convert both Amph mods into Pearl Jam fans... 
Anyway, let's move the discussion topic back again to 1998's album Yield. This was the last of two albums with drummer Jack Irons and contains some of Pearl Jam's most radio friendly songs. According to producer Brendan O'Brien, there was a conscious effort to steer song arrangements towards something a little more listenable and mainstream than the previous album No Code. Still true to their own style, Pearl Jam also explored a few influences not previously heard. "MFC" and "All Those Yesterdays" draw heavily on the work of the Beatles. "Low Light" reminds one of the Wallflowers. "Given To Fly" feels as if it has a sample homage to Led Zeppelin's "Going To California."
It was the tour for this album that brought Matt Cameron into the group and the group's long standing boycott of Ticketmaster "yielded" a bit in order to simply allow the fans to see the band in concert. The tour for Yield was the most enjoyable and successful tour to that time, with the release of a compiled live album "Live On Two Legs" being released a year after the tour ended. This tour and the material from Yield most certainly had a major impact on the band, the fans and the beginning of a widespread awareness of the band's stellar live reputation. "Given to Fly," "Wishlist," "Do the Evolution," "MFC" and "In Hiding" all have become very frequent staples of the live show.
This album also saw a little more "yielding" as the band allowed Spawn creator Todd McFarlane to create a video (their first since 1992's "Jeremy") for the song "Do The Evolution."
Thoughts? Reflections? Discussion of Yield?
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#1 on iTunes Most Played: R.E.M. "Imitation of Life"
#1 on iTunes Film Scores: Harry Potter "A Window to the Past"
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"And therefore blah blah blah your mom..."
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Kyptastic
Title: Manager Emeritus
SWD Co-Commish
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
7/15/06 3:29pm
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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It's not their best in terms of songwriting and music, but it didn't have to be. Whilst taking elements of previous albums, it still had it's own individual sound which is enjoyable and most of the songs could be enjoyed right from the get go. Favourites on this album were Given to Fly, Do the Evolution and Brain of JFK
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Strilo
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
7/15/06 3:53pm
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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I still say that Yield is their most easily accessible album to the casual fan... certainly since Ten.
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#1 on iTunes Most Played: R.E.M. "Imitation of Life"
#1 on iTunes Film Scores: Harry Potter "A Window to the Past"
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whiskers
Registered:
May '05
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Date Posted:
7/16/06 2:30pm
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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Are we going to be discussing Lost Dogs, or should we start discussing B-sides on the albums that the single was released to support?
Yield as their most "newbie friendly" album since Ten? I'll accept that. It's got a lot of great songs that have become favorites in the eyes of fans. I hear a lot of well deserved acclaim for Given to Fly, Low Light, Brain of J and others. My personal favorite on this album has to either Do the Evolution or Given to Fly. Low Light, In Hiding, and All Those Yesterdays are also personal favorites of mine.
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Strilo
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
7/17/06 2:27am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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It really is a great album with a lot of classic Pearl Jam tracks. They still play a lot of it in concert.
As for Lost Dogs, I figured after we were done with the albums in reverse order, we could do some discussions about b-sides and Rearviewmirror and some bootlegs and stuff, if people are interested.
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#1 on iTunes Most Played: R.E.M. "Imitation of Life"
#1 on iTunes Film Scores: Harry Potter "A Window to the Past"
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"And therefore blah blah blah your mom..."
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Ceethreepio
Registered:
Mar '03
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Date Posted:
7/17/06 3:48pm
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
- Date Edited:
7/17/06 4:06pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Ceethreepio
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I blame you Tim for gettin me into such a great band. Yes Yield is a great album I am trying to find it now, for my collection and music is actually one of my favorites next to Pearl Jam(the recent album)
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YodaKenobi
Title: TFN EU Staff
Registered:
May '03
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Date Posted:
7/17/06 11:22pm
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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I'm late to the discussions again, I see 
Zaz, I also think Yield would be a good place to start, though the best of (Rearviewmirror) would also probably be good. I don't think the singles off several of their albums are the best representation of their work however, since the band was admittedly attempting to sabotage its career...
whiskers posted:
It's kind of sad but you can obviously hear the difference between the shows that were pre-Roskilde and post-Roskilde on the tour. It's kind of hard to explain, but after listening to the second night at Kadowice Poland and then listening to Las Vegas or Seattle 2 it seems nearly obvious.
Yeah, the band seemed so happy on the European leg, and for obvious reasons, that changed by the time they came back to the states. I do think the Binaural tour was one of the band's best though. They had a great selection of songs and it was the start of the bootleg program (and the time they were produced best...). You just have to admire a band with so much confidence in their performance that they release every show from a tour, warts and all.
Strilo posted:
Okay moving on (back)! Let's open up discussions of the band's darker and denser 2000 album Binaural. This was their first album away from producer Brendan O'Brien since their debut album. Produced by Tschad Blake, the album has a duality to it in that the faster songs were mixed by O'Brien and the slower songs by Blake. Overall I think this works for the idea of the album, two ears, two rings on the cover, two different vibes to the songs. Binaural contains some of the band's staple live songs, "Insignificance," "Grievance," "Light Years" and "Nothing As It Seems." Much more than Riot Act I think this album has a unified "album" feel to it, in the words, the music and the sound. The darkness and denseness seems in retrospect to be a indication of how the band felt at the time and how they would feel in the wake of the tragedy that almost crushed the band entirely: the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, where nine fans were killed on June 30, 2000. The band carried on and the intense emotions they felt seemed to fuel the intensity and the darker edge to Binaural and its tour.
Binaural is one of my absolute favorites and it's the CD that made me pick up a guitar and learn to play (and the first song I ever learned was "Parting Ways" ). Some of the band's best material is on this album, and it's a shame that it gets a bit of a bad rap, mostly from people who I imagine couldn't see past the slow tempo single they released for it.
"Grievance" is probably my favorite PJ song of all time, and "Insignificance", "Soon Forget," "Parting Ways," and "Evacuation" are up there as well. "Breakerfall" is probably the only one I've never been all that crazy about. I also love the experimenting with tracks like "Nothing as it Seems" and "Slight of Hand," both of which are outstanding, but I can understand why casual listeners would be turned off. It's pretty obvious the band picked "Nothing as it Seems" as the single, knowing it would do just that (and it still did pretty well on radio...).
Blake's production was a bit uneven. The stuff that was recorded with the Binaural method, like "Of the Girl" and "Soon Forget," sounds amazing, and should be listened to with headphones so you can truly experience the fullness and depth in the room. However, "Grievance" for one is simply produced horribly. Compare the album version to the one played live on Letterman a month before the album came out: "Grievance." (I also love Stone playing the ending a little faster. Too bad they ditched this by the time the tour started ) In fact, if you look at the liner notes, you'll find that the songs with the best production on the album were actually mixed by Blake and Brendan O'Brian  (I like Adam Kasper, but they should really go back to Brendan...)
I agree that Binaural definitely feels more like an album than Riot Act. I'm not sure where it ranks among the other albums, but it's up there for me. I certainly wasn't disappointed in it.
As for the Roskilde incident, it was incredibly tragic. I remember a lot of fans being convinced it would be the end of the band, and it sounds like it very nearly was. I remember the video clip on the news of Ed breaking down in tears on the stage when they were finally getting the audience to back away and it became clear that people had died. I just get a heavy heart every time I think about those 9 individuals.
There's also a tragic irony to it, considering the band has been so influenced by the Who, and Eddie has made no secret Pete Townsend is his hero ("Pete Townsend saved my life" when "Pry, to" is played backwards), that this would happen when the Who had a similar situation in Ohio when 11 people were killed trying to get into the arena because of festival seating.
Strilo posted:
Anyway, let's move the discussion topic back again to 1998's album Yield. This was the last of two albums with drummer Jack Irons and contains some of Pearl Jam's most radio friendly songs. According to producer Brendan O'Brien, there was a conscious effort to steer song arrangements towards something a little more listenable and mainstream than the previous album No Code. Still true to their own style, Pearl Jam also explored a few influences not previously heard. "MFC" and "All Those Yesterdays" draw heavily on the work of the Beatles. "Low Light" reminds one of the Wallflowers. "Given To Fly" feels as if it has a sample homage to Led Zeppelin's "Going To California."
It was the tour for this album that brought Matt Cameron into the group and the group's long standing boycott of Ticketmaster "yielded" a bit in order to simply allow the fans to see the band in concert. The tour for Yield was the most enjoyable and successful tour to that time, with the release of a compiled live album "Live On Two Legs" being released a year after the tour ended. This tour and the material from Yield most certainly had a major impact on the band, the fans and the beginning of a widespread awareness of the band's stellar live reputation. "Given to Fly," "Wishlist," "Do the Evolution," "MFC" and "In Hiding" all have become very frequent staples of the live show.
This album also saw a little more "yielding" as the band allowed Spawn creator Todd McFarlane to create a video (their first since 1992's "Jeremy") for the song "Do The Evolution."
Thoughts? Reflections? Discussion of Yield?
Yield was the album that really got me into Pearl Jam. I had bought Ten a couple months before "Yield" came out, and liked it, but when I heard Yield it changed from "like" to "I have to hear everything this band has ever done!"
While I normally don't fall in love with PJ songs on the first listen, "Do the Evolution" and "All Those Yesterdays" are certainly the exceptions. The first time I heard DtE I think my jaw must have hit the floor. The incredible rage and sarcasm in it and the duel guitars... one of the best songs ever. It's just so clever. "All Those Yesterdays" is obviously an ode to the Beatles and one that's definitely done well. I would love for them to play this live more, but I guess I can see that it's not exactly good for the mood to tell your audience that they should sleep
Standouts for me also include "No Way," (I love the vocals on this so much) "In Hiding," "Push Me, Pull Me," "Faithful," and "MFC." The two singles were also fantastic, both with beautiful lyrics. Conversely, "Lowlight" never blew my socks off, but hey, it's still Pearl Jam
Yield certainly does feel like more of a "mainstream" album when compared to the two that bookend it, but it still manages some unique arrangements. "Push Me, Pull Me" continued the string of terrific and weird spoken word tracks that I always enjoy
The video for "Do the Evolution" is definitely the best the band has ever done in my opinion. The images Todd McFarlane put to this song were perfect— the man is a genius.
I know you said we'd talk about B-sides later, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Leatherman" and "U" from the Yield sessions. Two of the band's best B-sides (the version of "U" on the "Wishlist" single being far better than the one on Lost Dogs...)
"Live on Two Legs" was my introduction to live Pearl Jam, and started my obsession with bootlegs  Great record at the time, though admittedly, there doesn't seem much of a point in listening to it anymore It's heartbreaking to see the band give up on its fight with ticketmaster, but it was also inevitable. It's also the reason why we can all see Pearl Jam now and tickets aren't as rare as they were in the mid 90's, so I won't ever complain about it.
I also really liked the bands first video endeavor, "Single Video Theory," which I think was directed by Mark Pellington (and maybe Cameron Crowe was involved?). Was a great look into the rehearsals for the Yield album.
All in all Yield was a terrific album.
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Strilo
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
7/18/06 6:19am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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Wow! Epic post! I have to say that "In Hiding" is one of my all time favorite songs by Pearl Jam. I got to see it live in 1998 in Portland. Great show and my first time ever seeing Pearl Jam in concert. I agree that the single version of "U" is much better than the Lost Dogs version. I do like both b-sides from this era but I would not say they are the among the best.
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#1 on iTunes Most Played: R.E.M. "Imitation of Life"
#1 on iTunes Film Scores: Harry Potter "A Window to the Past"
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General Kenobi
Title: Comms Admin
SW & Film Music
Classic Trilogy
Registered:
Dec '98
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Date Posted:
7/20/06 9:12am
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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Yield is one of my favorite PJ albums along with Ten. I don't have time for an epic post, but I'd say that "Wishlist" is my favorite song on the album. "I wish I was the full moon shining off a camaro's hood." - that's one of my favorite lyrics.
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Strilo
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
7/20/06 5:14pm
Subject:
RE: All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam Discussion thread. Now discussing 1998's "Yield"
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"Wishlist" is one of those songs that grew on me. I always liked it, but it sort of snuck up on me after a few months. I really got into the word pictures that Ed paints in the lyrics, like the one about the moon and the Camero's hood that you mentioned, GK. But I gotta say the coolest thing about "Wishlist" was seeing it in concert in 1998 and 2000. A giant mirror ball comes down and it fills the whole stadium or venue with light. The simple beauty of this really fits the simple beauty of the song. Someone said in a 1998 review of Yield that "Wishlist" could possibly be the simplest arrangement of any Pearl Jam song ever. That still holds true in my opinion and simplicity in this case is beautiful.
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#1 on iTunes Most Played: R.E.M. "Imitation of Life"
#1 on iTunes Film Scores: Harry Potter "A Window to the Past"
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