Amph What Album Did You Just Hear?

The good and often overlooked only album released by Handsome. Handsome was started by guitarist Peter Mengede after he left / was fired from Helmet. He recruited former members of other bands such as Quicksand and Cro-Mags for the band.

Incidentally, speaking of Mengede... I found THIS interesting article that is almost entirely in his own words and is basically a history told around the focal point of his main guitar, a Gibson Les Paul.

 

I listened to this album after reading your post. The opening track you mentioned was great as were most of the other songs on this album. My favorite was the the album closer: Honey In The Sun

 

Remission, Mastodon's first album. This album is pretty crazy... really heavy but also really intricate rhythms and compositions. It's not my favorite by them, though; that would be Leviathan, their second album. As I've mentioned in here before, it's a great concept album that's based on the novel Moby Dick. To me, those two albums are their best by far.

 

Too late to edit, but I meant to mention… Remission’s first track starts with a short clip of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park roaring. That’s hard to argue with.

 

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

This thread has gotten too slow lately. Come on, people, you're still listening to albums.

 

When Pearl Jam releases there next album I'll be ready to post again! but I'll probably post before then because Pearl Jam hasn't announced when there album is coming out but it's been finished for over a year comes out this year!

 

Not an album but a song from a new Pearl Jam album coming out in April called Dark Matter! New Pearl Jam album and Song called Dark Matter Album comes out April

 

I listen to "albums: sporadically anymore, more mp3s saved on my phone on shuffle. But over the last couple of weeks:
Clock - Through Time (Short lived Vivian Campbell side project)
The Sharks - Altar Ego (the first version of the band Shark Island)
Shark Island - Bloodline 2.020 (Its not not Law of the Order or the stuff from Bill & Ted's, but pretty cool)
T. Rex - Electric Warrior (very fun album)
Mott the Hoople - Mott (All the Way From Memphis kicks this off brilliantly)

 

Yes, when I refer to "albums" at this point I mean, for me, albums in iTunes on my phone. I haven't bought or listened to CDs or vinyl in many years. In some cases I have entire albums in my collection, and in other cases I just have specific songs from albums.

 

My MP3s, kind of depends on the artist, most I saved sort of a greatest hits playlist for them. A few I have full albums for. I do have medium sized CD and vinyl collections, that I pull out from time to time. If I'm in my office, its the mp3s or CDs. If I have a bit of downtime, I'll pull out a vinyl on the living room setup.

 

I like Spotify!

 

I found an old box of CDs in the loft space recently and i've slowly been going through them all. There's some absolute stonkers. Last night I decided to listen to The Datsuns by the The Datsuns. It's awesome. A classic 10 track debut. 9 of those tracks start of with a phat guitar riff, the track that doesn't, begins with a rolling drum groove followed by some muted riffage finally topped off with a yeeeaaahh rock screech that Daltrey would be proud of.

It's from 2002. So it kinda places them in that post-punk revival scene that emerged in the early 2000s. But their sound is nothing like The Stokes or The Yeah Yeah Yeahs etc. It's much heavier. More 70's hard rock. Bits of Zeplin, bits of ACDC, a touch of MC5 perhaps.

 

Dirty - Sonic Youth
I didn't listen to Sonic Youth back in the 90's, though I remember the cooler kids in my art class did. I bought Dirty about ten years ago and listen to it occasionally, and there are some great tracks on it, particularly Wish Fulfilment and Sugar Kane. Listening to it now after re-watching French time-travel-body-swap-90's nostalgia-bait drama The 7 Lives of Lea.

 

I'm continuing my quest to complete the discography of my favorite bands.

Next on my list was Beck. These are the albums that I hadn't listened to before: Stereopathetic Soulmanure, One Foot In The Grave, Golden Feelings, The Information, Modern Guilt, Morning Phase, Colors, and Hyperspace.

Beck's early albums are nearly as un-listen-able as Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart at their most extreme, but his later albums prove why he has been nominated for, and won, so many grammys.


Next, I listened to every Belle And Sebastian album. I had heard their first three albums, which regularly appear on many 'best albums of all-time' lists already. These are the ones I hadn't heard before: Fold Your Hands Child You Walk Like A Peasant, Storytelling, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, The Life Pursuit, Write About Love, Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance, Days Of The Bagnold Summer, A Bit Of Previous, and Late Developers.

All of their albums, perhaps with the exception of Days of the Bagnold Summer, which is a soundtrack to a movie, are very listenable. Dear Catastrophe Waitress and The Life Pursuit are my favorites of these, with my favorite songs being 'For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea' and 'Mornington Crescent' (both from TLP.)


Next was a band named Belly. Of their three albums (Star, King, and Dove) I had heard only Star before.

My favorite song on these albums was one called Quicksand from the album Dove.


Next, I listened to the only album by Big Star that I hadn't heard before. #1 Record, Radio City, and Third/Sister Lovers were all released in the 70's and appear on many 'greatest albums' lists. The band released another album in 2005 called In Space. I thought it was every bit as good as their earlier albums.


Finally, I listened to every Billy Bragg album. I'd heard seven of Billy's albums already, so I finished up with these: The Internationale, Tooth and Nail, Bridges Not Walls, The Million Things That Never Happened, England Half-English (w/ the Blokes) and Mr Love & Justice (w/ the Blokes.)

Billy is one of the greatest songwriters ever and I love listening to his voice. I Keep Faith from the Mr Love & Justice album was my favorite song from these.


I'm currently catching up on all the Billy Joel albums I missed.

 

I never caught up to Sister Lovers and was unaware that they did a fourth one, but, man, those first two are absolutely perfect albums. Some of those songs I could literally just loop for an hour. I know I've put September Gurls on a loop before and listened to it over and over for a really long time. Those albums just still sound amazing and not dated in the least.

 

New J Mascis Album came out February 2nd 2024 he is the lead singer of Dinosaur Jr

 

Foreigner 4
After the relative miss of Head Games (still a hit but not a massive hit like their first 2) Foreigner regrouped with Aussie super producer Mutt Lang (Back in Black). The result is a career high for the supergroup. Urgent, Waiting for a Girl Like You, Juke Box Hero. But the standout is Break It Up, perhaps a career high for the band. Lou Gramm's voice is just sublime.

 

With the band announcing a new album for next month, it's time for the next series.

You know the rules; albums only, no compilations or any of the 10,000 bootleg live albums the band sells when they're not extorting you for more money through Ticketek since it is endorsed by the Senate.



Pearl Jam: Ten (1991)

This series will open with a controversial hot take; Pearl Jam, wasn't really a grunge band. Yes, they had the aesthetic and the nods to the Seattle grunge scene in there but, really, it was just the thing to be in the early 1990s. If you look at a handful of major rock bands at the time like Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M, and Metallica, each had their tribute to 'grunge'. But, this was mostly limited to the aesthetic. I place Pearl Jam in this category because, excepting some tracks, Ten is not a dye-in-the-wool grunge album. Yes, the album is abrasive, dark, and weathered. But, there's more to Ten than being a competition for the likes of Nevermind. Nirvana's sophomore album did not combine elements of funk, stadium rock, and ambiance. Ten does. Pearl Jam themselves were never looking to be only a grunge or an alternative band (saved at timestamp):



Pearl Jam, unlike Nirvana in their ephemeral career, were a band that could combine metal with blues with country with shoegaze with rock and rock with funk. Although Ten is the most direct album in the band's discography, this can be attributed to the fact that the album was recorded in only two weeks (saved at time stamp):



Had the band been allowed more time to develop the album, would it have been something different? We'll never know. But, what is clear, is that by the time the band get to their third album, the idea of Pearl Jam being a grunge band is dead because the genre itself would be around that time. In fact, the roots of Pearl Jam themselves weren't even in grunge:


(Courtesy of Far Out Magazine - https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/dark-road-to-making-pearl-jam-ten/)

Despite their beginnings being rooted in the heartland of grunge, Pearl Jam's aspirations (before even becoming Pearl Jam) were to be something greater than a hot topic of the early 1990s. Again, the elements of Pearl Jam make them the obvious candidate for grunge. That includes the fashion, their dreary vocalist, the themes in the music, and their place in radio at the time. But what is so often overlooked is that on Ten, Pearl Jam were doing a lot of things that grunge band of that era were not. Even grunge pioneers themselves, Nirvana, refused to acknowledge Pearl Jam as a true grunge band:



(Courtesy of Tim Palmer - https://timpalmer.com/2021/03/12/the-making-of-peal-jams-ten/)



The album's second track, 'Evenflow' is far too clean and explosive in its stadium rock prowess to fit the bill of an introspective and downtrodden grunge song. 'Alive', meanwhile boasts a Lynard Skynyrd-esque solo, combines hard rock with jangly and melodic qualities, telling the story of Eddie Vedder making contact with his biological father, having realised that he was adopted. The guitar tone throughout the album is very clean unlike the distorted and downturned standards of grunge. Thematically, as dark as the album can be, Ten also boasts a romantic quality. On 'Black' for instance:

Oh and all I taught her was everything
Oh I know she gave me all that she wore
And now my bitter hands
Chafe beneath the clouds
Of what was everything
Oh the pictures have
All been washed in black

Of course, there's the obvious tale of loss, but the imagery and the piano arrangements 'Black', along with Vedder's clean soar. It offers optimism more than it does the defeatist tone of a Cobain style of songwriting. 'Black' is a hauntingly beautiful song that is rich with melody and a slight gothic atmosphere. But, there are some extremely dark corners like those heard on 'Jeremy':

Clearly, I remember picking on the boy
Seemed a harmless little ****
Ooh, but we unleashed a lion
Gnashed his teeth and bit the recess lady's breast, how could I forget?
And he hit me with a surprise left
My jaw left hurting, ooh, dropped wide open
Just like the day, oh, like the day I heard

The song, of course, famous for telling the story of a bully victim who unleashed his rage in the form of a school shooting. Despite the grim subject matter, there's still a cleanliness to the song which leans heavily toward alternative more than it does grunge. If this were a Nirvana song, there wouldn't be an acoustic tinge to the guitar, nor would Cobain be hitting the higher notes.

Besides the rock elements of this album are songs that would be considered experimental by grunge standards. 'Oceans' is an acoustic-laden spiritual track in the vein of R.E.M which wouldn't sound out of place on an album like Out Of Time or Automatic For The People. The sound of this track is very mandolin-like and heavy on plucking more than it is riffing. Vedder sings:

Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
Glide me towards you
know something's left
And we're all allowed
To dream of the next
Oh,
oh the next, time we touch

The album itself, meanwhile, concludes in much the same way with the gentle 'Release' which is a soaring ballad which, once again, is about loss and longing:

I see the world
Feel the chill
Which way to go
Windowsill
I see the words
On a rocking horse of time
I see the birds in the rain

Uncharacteristic of grunge, 'Release' is gentle and is heavy on build-up, more akin to a Led Zeppelin song.

It's really not until the second half of the album with tracks like 'Garden', 'Deep', and 'Porch' that the album boasts a grunge-like muscular tone. But, even then, these songs are more in the vein of Guns N Roses with their soaring riffs. Admittedly, this section of the album makes for the more forgettable part of the album.

Overall, Ten feels like a collection of ideas which don't always feel as though they were suited for the one album. Instead, it feels like a proof-of-concept of who Pearl Jam were and where they would like to go as a band. Although uneven in areas, Ten is never forgettable or boring because of the variation of sound and the band's desire to be more than the sum of their parts. A bold and timeless debut, in any event.

4.5 out of 5

 

Ten is a great album.

 

Very 1991, but one that still holds up.

 

The thing about “grunge” as a descriptor of music is that most of the bands it was associated with didn’t really like the term, and didn’t really want it applied to them (including Kurt Cobain). Really the main thing they mostly had in common was that they were rock bands from Seattle.

Anyway, Ten is good but not my favorite from Pearl Jam. Having said that, though, I have their first five albums (up through Yield), but nothing after that. That basically means I only have the albums from the first half of their career so far, and now another one is coming out. I just didn’t really engage with the post-Yield stuff at all, and I stopped trying to keep up with their releases (even though I still like those earlier albums).

 

Howard Shore's LotR soundtracks, all three of them.

 

Pearl Jam: Vs (1993)

By this point of the 1990s, the only sounds reverberating from hair metal or thrashers were the death throes. Grunge was in full force where airways were feeding listeners with copious helpings of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains. There was no escaping the genre and Pearl Jam, only one album into their career, already felt the pressure of Ten. Despite a slower start to sales than Nevermind, Pearl Jam's debut would eventually outsell Nirvana's sophomore smash. While Ten is not a sleeper album, the slow burn of sales that would eclipse the cult of Cobain supported the idea that listeners were coming around to the fact that maybe the whole Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam debate wasn't so obvious.

Throughout their seismic tour when supporting Ten, Pearl Jam were already thinking about their second album where they would write and demo on the road before they forged their soon-to-be ongoing relationship with producer, Brendan O'Brien:


(Courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine: https://www.rollingstone.com/featur...ttled-stardom-on-angry-sophomore-lp-2-195438/)

Where on Ten the writing for that record was the culmination of years worth of ideas condensed into the one melting pot, nearly every song for Vs was intended for the record rather than being part of an ongoing series of ideas that the band threw among themselves. But, much like Oasis, The Rolling Stones, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Prince, the band were always writing and good songs were never in supply. This included hits being left at the altar during the sessions for Vs:


(Courtesy of Far Out Magazine - https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-hidden-inspiration-behind-the-pearl-jam-song-better-man/)

In fact, Eddie Vedder's disdain to have another hit even extended to demanding a more authentic recording environment for the band after feeling that, upon arriving in the studios, it was too luxurious and comfortable for his liking. In an effort to bring a "grungy" element to the recordings, he would spend considerable time in his truck writing lyrics. Additionally, Vedder felt that the band were losing some of their creative ability and autonomy as a band:


(Courtesy of 'The Year That Grunge Broke' - https://theyeargrungebroke.com/2023/10/pearl-jam-vs-1993/)

There's no denying that Vs is substantially Ten - Part II. Although there are some shifts in tone, the stylistic changes are minimal because Vs sees the bands drawing upon the strengths of their debut. While the album is the obvious sequel to their debut in sense of pacing, genre, writing, and overall production, I think Vs is a more focused album than its predecessor. Much of this is credited to their more song-driven approach of writing (as mentioned above) rather than sorting through material that had been amassed through the years where the certainty of the band was unclear (saved at time stamp):



In the leadup to Vs, however, the band were writing knowing that they would be recording a sophomore effort. And what an effort it is! The album opens with 'Go', a ferocious rocker that wouldn't have sounded out of place on their debut. Vedder sings:

Oh please don't go out on me don't go out on me now
Never acted up before don't go on me now
I swear I never took it for granted just thought of it now
Suppose I abused you just passing it on

Vs certainly opens by hitting on a much harder note than its predecessor with rollicking guitar riffs which lean slightly toward metal than they do alternative rock. The second track follows up on a less promising note with 'Animal' which sounds like a Walmart brand 'Evenflow'. It isn't until 'Daughter' that Vs begins to testify the band's growth since the days of Ten. Vedder's vocal tone is lighter and where his lyrical clarity is the clearest it has ever been. This could be attributed to the pacing of the song, the acoustic drive of the song, and the more alternative rock vibe which is more akin to R.E.M or a mellower Pixies song. Pearl Jam also venture into less familiar territory on the 'W.M,A' which Afro-beat percussion, while 'Rats' a funk heavy groove.

The songwriting, meanwhile, is more personal and inspired by politics within the band itself. On 'Glorified G', Vedder decries:

Got a gun, fact I got two
That's O.K. man, 'cause I love god
Glorified version of a pellet gun
Feels so manly, when armed
Pellet gun (glorified version)
Pellet gun (glorified version)
Pellet gun (glorified version)
Double think, dumb is strength
Never shot at a living thing
Glorified version of a pellet gun
Feels so manly, when armed

The above sentiment being a direct response to the band's them drummer, Dave Abbruzzese, having told the band that he had recently purchased two guns:


(Courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine - https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/pearl-jam-vs-things-you-didnt-know-731555/)

Vedder has even commented on the difficulties of singing the song live (saved at time stamp):



While the heavier tracks go harder, the mid-tempo and faster tracks are catchier ('Dissident', 'Rearviewmirror', and the folk-laden 'Elderly Woman Behind A Counter').

Vs may not offer a whole lot in the way of departures, but there are enough new ideas on the album to testify the band's willingness to expand beyond the banality of the 'grunge' or 'alternative' label. Vs is a varied, energetic, and contemplative offering plenty of the gloom and atmosphere of Ten. Just better.

5 out of 5

 

Pearl Jam: Vitalogy (1994)

Only one year following the success of Vs, it seemed that Pearl Jam were enjoying an all-time high in their prolific creativity. Released just the year after the band's sophomore album, Vitalogy would be released during a year that proved turbulent for both Pearl Jam, and their genre. Early in 1994, of course, was the untimely death of Kurt Cobain, who would bring his life to a dramatic end just as grunge had hit its crescendo as a marketable genre. The void left by Cobain's death is one which is still felt today given the documentaries, album reissues, and overall retrospectives that are devoted to the American music scene of the early 1990s. Grunge, therefore, was becoming divisive because the imitation between the art and the artist was blurring.

Pearl Jam were no exception due to the turmoil that was occurring inside the band itself. The band's guitarist, Mike McCready, would check himself into rehab while drummer, Dave Abbruzzese, would be exited from the band by the time recording for the album would be complete. Then, finalising the trifecta of drama in the world of Pearl Jam, was their flag waving crusade against Ticketmaster. In short, the band were disgusted by the exorbitant booking fees of around $7.00 (BBAWAAHAAHAHAHAH - good luck buying a softdrink at that price) that were being charged at the time, along with price hikes attached to merchandise, plus advertising on the printed tickets. Pearl Jam took their protest to the extreme of actually canceling a tour that was scheduled for mid-1994 (saved at Timestamp):



You don't need to be cynical or even a hater of the band to realise that this was nothing more than a dog and pony show. At best, when the subcommittee opened the floor to the band to air their grievances over the situation, it was an undergraduate open mic which did nothing more than state the obvious. It was over faster than it was organised:


(Courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine - https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taking-on-ticketmaster-67440/)

(Saved at Timestamp):


So, no, Pearl Jam did NOTHING to contribute to the awareness of Ticketmaster price hiking. Don't believe me? Just take a look at the latest pricing for their upcoming tour. If anything, I think this was just an opportunity for the band to take a break due to the album-tour-album cycle the group had been riding almost non-stop since 1991. Canceling the tour provided two benefits: some much rested respite that the band needed due to the turmoil of 1994, along with preserving their image of being an artist and creativity-focused band ahead of being a business like Metallica or Guns n Roses. It didn't work because it didn't promote action. Action is promoted when the artist takes steps to actively represent the consumer beyond the forum provided to them by the Federal Government. Case in point, The Cure's Robert Smith:


(Courtesy of Billboard - https://www.billboard.com/music/mus...ith-ticketmaster-rant-ticket-fees-1235294700/)

Not only did Robert Smith deliver a result, he did it in half the time Pearl Jam spent at a formal hearing where they were the focus.

Overall, life within the band was strained. Eddie Vedder, having sworn at the time that the band would no longer make videos along with the frustration of only hearing their most radio-friendly staples on the radio, suffered an identity crisis of sorts as a celebrity (Saved at timestamp):



The resulting album? Fittingly enough, a messy trainwreck of ideas where the band sounds as though they are suffering an identity crisis in the studio. One of the driving factors of the band's sound for their third album is attributable to most of the songs being written hastily during the recording of the album, rather than the steadier pacing of ideas that flowed between Ten and Vs:


(Courtesy of Nova.ie - https://www.nova.ie/the-classic-album-at-midnight-pearl-jams-vitalogy-214269/)

Eddie Vedder, meanwhile, was also stepping up his role in Pearl Jam. Remember, Eddie Vedder was the last member of the group to join before the recording of Ten. While contributing tremendously to the band's songwriting and musical ideas, he was very much the new guy. On the one hand, there was the Gossard contingent of the band who wanted to explore the more idiosyncratic side of the band's sound. Eddie, on the other hand, gravitated to the band's heavier and more direct sound of their first two records:


(Courtesy of Loudwire: https://loudwire.com/pearl-jam-vitalogy-album-anniversary/)

Vitalogy, as a result, is an album torn between two versions of Pearl Jam. Simultaneously, it is the band's heaviest, dirtiest, rawest, and grungiest, while being the most melodic and experimental. Vitalogy is a schizophrenic clash of sounds and ideas from a band, who were still early in their career, who were deciding how to define the band. It's a mess of an album, beginning with the chart-topping smash hit, 'Betterman' which would mislead fans and newcomers as to what to expect from the album. 'Betterman' sounds nothing like what is delivered on Vitalogy. As you would have read during my review of Vs, Brendan O'Brien had heard an early version of the track during the recording of their second album, only for Eddie to veto the track due to its commercial-sounding quality. Including it on an album like Vitalogy, therefore, is Pearl Jam's greatest troll outside of their ticket prices in 2024.

Vitalogy, in contrast, would feature their most aggressive numbers ('Spin the Black Circle', 'Last Exit', and 'Satan's bed'), each of which flexed a punk sound with tinges of metal. On 'Spin The Black Circle', Vedder shouts:

See this needle
Oh see my hand
Drop, drop, dropping it down
oh so gently
here it comes
touch the flame
Turn me up
won't turn you away
Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin
spin the black, spin the black
Spin, spin
spin the black circle
Spin, spin

Taking an even darker turn, Vedder barks on 'Satan's Bed':

Never shook Satan's hand, look see for yourself
You'd know it if I had, that ***t don't come off
I'll rise and fall, let me take credit for both
Jump off a cliff, don't need your help so back off
I'll never suck Satan's d**k
Again, you'd see it, you know, right round the lips
I'll wait for an angel, but I won't hold my breath
'Magine they're busy, think I'm doing okay

These two songs are just two examples of how Vitalogy, overall, is the antithesis of what is promised by the mid-paced pleasantries of 'Betterman.' Then, the album delves into the outright bizarre with the Tom Waits-esque 'Bugs' which is driven entirely by a strained-sounding piano accordion, only for the album to conclude with the audio collage of 'Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me" a.k.a. "Stupid Mop"' which features of melody or arrangement, consisting entirely of sampled noises at just over seven minutes.

The ballads ('Nothingman', and 'Better Man') are timeless Pearl Jam classics that could have comfortably worked on either of the band's first two albums. On 'Nothingman', Vedder croons his signature theme of lost potential and unmet realisation:

Once divided...nothing left to subtract...
Some words when spoken...can't be taken back...
Walks on his own...with thoughts he can't help thinking...
Future's above...but in the past, he's slow and sinking...
Caught a bolt 'a lightnin'...cursed the day he let it go...

As outstanding as the ballads and midtempo songs are, Vitalogy is at its best when it is at its bluesiest. By far, the best track on the album is 'Immortality', a slow, downtrodden Neil Young-esque blues-driven number where the lyrical subject is widely open to interpretation:

As privileged as a whore
Victims in demand for public show
Swept out through the cracks beneath the door
Holier than thou, how?
Surrendered, executed, anyhow
Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor
A truant finds home
And I wish to hold on, too
But saw the trapdoor in the sun

'Not for you', while more uptempo than the downtrodden 'Immortality', takes its share of influence from the blues as does the meandering 'Tremor Christ' which doesn't seem to offer much in the way of a payoff in its sloppy riffing. For a band's third album, Vitalogy is an oddity as a band usually waits until around a fourth or fifth album before throwing out the rule book for their sound. The attempt to broaden the sound is commendable and, in many areas, it works. But, more often than not, the album clashes. There are very worthy ideas on Vitalogy with some timeless moments, while some would have benefitted by remaining on the cutting room floor for a rarities compilation.

Vitalogy is reckless and unhinged work, but it's never boring. Just jarring.

3.5 out of 5