RANK THE ALBUMS

[Monkey_Driven]

S/T is good.

It is, yes.

I think S/T is an excellent album. I even enjoy Big Wave which I know is derided around here. I generally agree that the production wasn’t great but I enjoyed the songs. I also enjoy the studio version of Gone *gasp*.

I don't think Big Wave has that bad of a reputation. It's one of their better rocking "fun" songs.

[PHATJ]

S/T is good.

It is, yes.

I think S/T is an excellent album. I even enjoy Big Wave which I know is derided around here. I generally agree that the production wasn’t great but I enjoyed the songs. I also enjoy the studio version of Gone *gasp*.

I don't think Big Wave has that bad of a reputation. It's one of their better rocking "fun" songs.

I like Big Wave well enough. Gone too.

[liebzz]

S/T is good.

It is, yes.

I think S/T is an excellent album. I even enjoy Big Wave which I know is derided around here. I generally agree that the production wasn’t great but I enjoyed the songs. I also enjoy the studio version of Gone *gasp*.

I don't think Big Wave has that bad of a reputation. It's one of their better rocking "fun" songs.

I like Big Wave well enough. Gone too.

Let the proper appreciation for the avocado album begin!!

[Birds in Hell]

You all know how I feel about Big Wave.

[liebzz]

I always thought of s/t as a reaction to Riot Act in Sound much the way Yield was a sort of reaction to No Code. Both No Code and Riot Act played around with sounds and textures. No Code is full of abstract contemplation and Riot Act is very dark sounding. Both Yield and s/t are sort of clean sounding rock records. They have their explorations here and there, and covers some of the same themes, but what defines those albums are the more straightforward Pearl Jam sounding songs. And while I personally prefer No Code and Yield, I also think both Riot Act and s/t are very strong albums in this similar vein.

Also, the run from Life Wasted through Marker in the Sand is just excellent hard rock.

[Tuolumne]

Big Wave is awesome. It is a teaser for the Backspacer awesomeness that I would love later. The most Backspacer-y song on the album and a good representation of where they were about to go.

It's bouncy, concise, rockin, simple, and streamlined. It's one of those songs where I imagine they worked their butts off - not in a "let's add on more stuff" but working hard to skim all of the fat out and peeling away all excesses and stripping songs down to bare essentials. Their version of less is more.

[Tuolumne]

Hot Take: Pearl Jam has no bad albums.

Yep. Consistent batting average band. Like Tom Petty. Not a string of all-time singular great album followed by a bunch of junk, but a band where they always comes through with something worthwhile enough to sink your teeth into. That is the great benefit of having 5 songwriters in a band. It doesn't all fall on one person. The downside is it's hard to get that singular masterpiece coming from one person's unique vision - like a Pete Townshend or Cobain or Reznor or something.

[Norah]

oh honey

[epilogue]

Not a string of all-time singular great album

wait, what?

[Monkey_Driven]

I listened to Backspacer front to back last night with the windows rolled down. It's fun!

[liebzz]

This doesn’t sound like the RM I’ve known and loved where the routine is to crap on all releases post Riot Act...

[PHATJ]

I’ve got a crap

[Birds in Hell]

Big Wave is awesome. It is a teaser for the Backspacer awesomeness that I would love later. The most Backspacer-y song on the album and a good representation of where they were about to go.

It's bouncy, concise, rockin, simple, and streamlined. It's one of those songs where I imagine they worked their butts off - not in a "let's add on more stuff" but working hard to skim all of the fat out and peeling away all excesses and stripping songs down to bare essentials. Their version of less is more.

This doesn’t ring true for me at all. There’s a lot more going on in Big Wave than is being acknowledged here, it’s musically quite complex. If anything, Backspacer seems like a repudiation of the kind of compositional nuance that's all over S/T, especially a song like Big Wave with its weird twists and turns.

[Strat]

Big Wave is awesome. It is a teaser for the Backspacer awesomeness that I would love later. The most Backspacer-y song on the album and a good representation of where they were about to go.

It's bouncy, concise, rockin, simple, and streamlined. It's one of those songs where I imagine they worked their butts off - not in a "let's add on more stuff" but working hard to skim all of the fat out and peeling away all excesses and stripping songs down to bare essentials. Their version of less is more.

This doesn’t ring true for me at all. There’s a lot more going on in Big Wave than this acknowledges, it’s musically quite complex. Backspacer seems like a repudiation of this kind of material, if anything.

Musically speaking, other than than the matt cameron songs - yes.

[Jorge]

it’s musically quite complex.

This is extremely generous

[Birds in Hell]

it’s musically quite complex.

This is extremely generous

Well, this is contextual. It's pretty complex for Pearl Jam.

[epilogue]

IN ORDER OF REPLAY FREQUENCY:

1. Riot Act
2. Yeild
3. No Code
4. Vitalogy
5. Ten
6. VS
7. Binaural
8. Lightning Bolt
9. S/T
10. Backspacer

[96583UP]

IN ORDER OF VALUE TO ART AND SCIENCE:

1. BACKSPACER
2. LIGHTNING BOLT
3. THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
4. S/T
5. HAMMERKLAVIER
6. 2018 ANNUAL SINGLE
7. AVE MARIA
8. BASMATI BLUES SOUNDTRACK
9. NOCTURNES
10. BARACK AROUND THE CLOCK

[bodysnatcher]

i can't believe we've spent 76 pages ranking these albums

[Monkey_Driven]

i can't believe we've spent 76 pages ranking these albums

Never underestimate the internet.