Amph All Five Horizons: A Pearl Jam discussion thread.

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.

 

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?

 

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

 

I still say that Yield is their most easily accessible album to the casual fan... certainly since Ten.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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)

 

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...

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.

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

"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.

 

Okay let's move discussion back to Pearl Jam's 1996 album No Code. Perhaps their most experimental album to date, No Code features such diverse and unique songs as "In My Tree," "I'm Open" and "Who You Are." It also features live staples "Hail, Hail," "Red Mosquito" and "Off He Goes." Several songs explore a Neil Young influence (Smile). Overall I think this album is more introspective than the previous three, with songs like "Present Tense," "Off He Goes," "I'm Open" and "Around the Bend." Also, No Code is the first Pearl Jam album to open with a slow song, instead of rockers like the first three albums. This is their least-selling album and one that many casual fans cited as the "downfall of Pearl Jam." Thoughts?

 

I think that the person in a local record store said it all when I bought No Code and Yield at the same time. He saw the two albums that I was buying and simply said "Don't let anyone tell you that these are bad Pearl Jam albums." (I'm paraphrasing)

 

Good advice. I cannot believe anyone would say Yield is bad. And I think No Code is just brilliant. There are some real classic Pearl Jam tracks on this album. I cannot imagine a PJ world without Hail Hail, In My Tree, Off He Goes, Red Mosquito, Lukin and Present Tense. Those songs are all brilliant.

 

I don't think that there's a bad song on No Code--a few "odd" ones that didn't sound like anything Pearl Jam had done at the time (I'm looking at you I'm Open) but it was pulled off greatly.

I'd have to say that my favorite tracks on the album are In My Tree (the new version is, dare I say, better than the old version in its own way), Red Mosquito, Present Tense, and Smile.

And the Pearl Jam world without those songs you mentioned, Strilo: frightening!

Edit: Looks like I was a little premature on the post-count celebration.

 

Oh yeah! I have that new version of In My Tree on the New York 2003 bootleg. Wow it's awesome.

 

Ahh, No Code? the album that seems to separate Pearl Jam fans Their is a definite change in the music from Vitalogy to this album, and a lot of people just couldn't make the leap. Like whiskers, when I bought it, I was playing catch-up, having just discovered PJ about 6 months earlier. I had Ten, Vs., and Yield already, and bought Vitalogy and No Code on the same day.

Like a lot of people, I didn't think much of No Code on my first listen, or even my 5th. I think I liked "Hail, Hail," and not much else It seems like such a departure from the band's previous work, much of it slow and experimental. I can understand why a lot of people didn't like this album and said goodbye to PJ after it, especially when the band was admittedly pruning off any songs that sounded too much like a "hit."

But for me, at least, one day it just hit me and I realized that No Code was brilliant. "In My Tree" and "Red Mosquito" are two of my all-time favorites And I too can't imagine the Pearl Jam catalog without "Lukin," "Smile," "Present Tense," or "Hail, Hail." Like Strilo said, the album is largely introspective, and was really the start of that change in the band's work. And I agree with Whisker's assessment that their are no bad songs. "Who You Are" was never my favorite, but it is a blast to play on guitar.

The album couldn't be less "pop." There are no hooks and lots of experiments for PJ, like the harmonica in "Smile", the punkishness of "Lukin" and of course, "I'm Open." Ed's got a great voice though, speaking or singing. I'd buy a whole spoken word album by Eddie if he put one out

The change in drummers was apparent almost immediately with Jack Irons' tribal drumming on "In My Tree" and "Who You Are." I think Irons was probably the band's most creative drummer, though my least favorite overall. He didn't hit nearly as hard as Dave A., but I guess the band was through with that phase anyway.

I love No Code. I wish the band would play more of it live these days, because the songs have always sounded great. My dream concert would probably have 6 or 7 off the album

As for the reworked "In My Tree," I won't go as far as Whiskers in saying it's better than the original, but I like it a lot. Boom's solo is great and the guitar intro/chorus sound great. But given the choice, I'd rather hear the faster version

Anyway, No Code is like a lot of Pearl Jam, IMO. You don't immediately love it, but one day it all makes sense and you fall in love with it. And it never seems to get old because it's not like the ultra-catchy stuff you hear on the radio

 

No Code and Yield are probably my two favorite Pearl Jam albums.

 

I totally agree with this. His speaking voice is amazing.

Yeah he's got some moments as what I call a "groove drummer." "In My Tree" and "Given To Fly" are examples of this. But overall, I think he's a mediocre drummer who repeats a lot and plays way too simply for my tastes... and for the complexity of Pearl Jam's entire catalog. He is by far my least favorite Pearl Jam drummer. But I also think it needs to be said that Jack is older than the rest of Pearl Jam and I think his experience and wisdom helped the band through the transition to being much more comfortable with how things are in a band. I think without Jack in there as the drummer, we may well not have had any more Pearl Jam.

See exactly. EXACTLY. I just got into this with a friend of mine the other day because he downloaded Pearl Jam and listened to it once then decided he didn't like it. ANY band you have to give time. But Pearl Jam especially has this thing where things are not instantly accessible. It takes some time to explore the music and notice the things within the music and the words. But the stuff that is so instantly accessible has grown tired and boring by 100 listens, whereas Pearl Jam doesn't. This is music that lasts because it more than instantly catchy.

 

Well I was into Pearl Jam along long time ago, but I really didn't get back into it until Strilo got me back into it. Almost every time when I am feelin the need for somethin rockin or sad, I just go to my Itunes and just choose a song and enjoy and it seems as everythin else melts away, especially when I listen to songs something like "I Am Mine" or "Alive". I am currently working on a wallpaper of all the Pearl Jam album covers for my computer.

 

I just realized (after five albums) that I really should post the track listing for the album we're currently discussing... So without further ado:


No Code

1. Sometimes
2. Hail, Hail
3. Who You Are
4. In My Tree
5. Smile
6. Off He Goes
7. Habit
8. Red Mosquito
9. Lukin
10. Present Tense
11. Mankind
12. I'm Open
13. Around The Bend

 

I notice that M. Night Shaymalan is a huge Pearl Jam fan. His iTunes celebrity playlist is full of PJ tracks.

 

Really? I did not know that. You should post the PJ tracks on his list here.

 

Sure. He's listed:

Rearviewmirror
Alive
Black
Jeremy


It's a pretty big selection considering that he only has 15 songs on his list.

 

Cool! However, other than Rearviewmirror, those songs are all the hits off the first album... He may just be a casual fan of the first two albums.