The Pearl Jam Catalogue Journey

[liebzz]

Those who have been hanging out over at the Other Bands section may note that I have been listening to artists full catalogue in chronological order and posting my thoughts and experiences with them. So far, I have gone through Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Neil Young, Tom Petty, and R.E.M.

I figured what would be better next than to go back through the catalogue of my all time favorite band. So here goes...

Ten - starting here, it’s still an incredible wonder that there’s no build up in the way a journey through other artists catalogue makes you feel and sense the beginning as you journey towards classic albums that are the culmination of the band’s progress as a group. Pearl Jam hits you straight in the gut with Ten, an album littered with classic cuts that have developed themselves over the years in the live setting, but nonetheless feature masterful performances throughout, especially in the interplay between Stone Gossard and Mike McCready. Eddie Vedder’s vocals and lyrics often get the attention, and for good reason, but it’s their guitar work that gives the songs direction and focus. We know the Storyteller’s story of Alive that Vedder told as the sort of powerful development that changed the song’s meaning over time, but when you look beyond the vocals and lyrics and focus on the interplay in the guitar parts, the song simply evokes a hopefulness in Stone’s riff and ascending to the mountaintop on Mike’s solos. The song has built to a completely new place once it’s reached the summit, and that to me has always been the story of that song and why it resonates in that powerful way of overcoming the singer’s struggles. Elsewhere, Vedder deserves a lot of credit throughout, but particularly on Why Go, Jeremy (FYI, that bass line can still knock you right over nearly 30 years later), and Black for creating tortures characters you can not only relate to and enter into their minds with him, but also envelope the characters around them and what they perceive. It’s masterful on that level.

I love every song on this album like each is a friend of mine, but maybe none packs the emotional wallop of Release, which as I have grown up, has taught me to appreciate my father in real time while also gazing down on my own children with a sense of their familiarity to me. Vedder never really got that chance and is reaching out for the connection on a purely spiritual level, but those of us there in his moment can feel that same spiritual power without the need to have the same experience. Vedder’s ability to draw you in and then send you off on a cathartic release is just amazing and this song is the perfect example. I’ll also note the other profound cathartic release on this album belongs in the bridge to final outburst of energy in Porch that is a high point in many across their careers. Stunning stuff really.

[liebzz]

Vs. - this album finds the band in incredible form, and really is the sound I most associate with Pearl Jam, in part because I believe in sheer numbers I might have heard this album more times than any of the others. I can remember even 26 years ago first hearing this album and thinking the songs were somehow so familiar from the start. I think while there are certainly great moments with Vedder’s lyrics here and some great characters for us to live in, the star really is the band, performing on album at their propulsive best, particularly on Animal, Go, and Rearviewmirror. The band simply rocks fast and hard. Blood takes us into Vedder’s psyche at the time and how he perceived the crunch of fame on him. Even with many of these propulsive songs being as great as they are, some of the range Pearl Jam exhibits here on the slower songs are just as impressive. Indifference is so excellent, and a nice smoky room/bluesy feel on that great bass line. WMA is Jeff Ament front and center. Rats also occupies some great Jeff Ament territory and reveals a band with a sense of humor (along with Glorified G).

This isn’t ultimately my favorite Pearl Jam album but that’s relative. I still remain moderately obsessed with it all these years later. Final note: a lot of credit on this album in terms of quality goes out to Dave A. Who is the perfect drummer for this album. There may have been personality conflicts with the band but he is spot on here.

[evenslow]

I love every song on this album like each is a friend of mine, but maybe none packs the emotional wallop of Release, which as I have grown up, has taught me to appreciate my father in real time while also gazing down on my own children with a sense of their familiarity to me. Vedder never really got that chance and is reaching out for the connection on a purely spiritual level, but those of us there in his moment can feel that same spiritual power without the need to have the same experience. Vedder’s ability to draw you in and then send you off on a cathartic release is just amazing and this song is the perfect example. I’ll also note the other profound cathartic release on this album belongs in the bridge to final outburst of energy in Porch that is a high point in many across their careers. Stunning stuff really.

Yes. Release my #1 b/c of all this and more.

[liebzz]

Vitalogy - of all their albums, this is the most cohesive, despite there being a whole lot going on and the album finds the band and its singer at their most raw. Stip noted in his deep reflections that this plays like a concept album without overtly admitting it and I think that’s spot on. Listening front to back, the theme of abuse is interwoven into all aspects of this album, whether is related to entering into the mind of the regretful abuser (Nothingman) or the abused who chooses to endure it (Better Man). And interesting that these two are probably the most palatable land easy to digest listening experiences on the album - the ones most prepared for singalongs and arena thrills.

The absolute genius in Vedder’s vision for this album is the intentional effort to challenge the listener and keep you uncomfortable, uneasy and unsure what to make of it all. Tremor Christ is a master craft in this, and ultimately gives the feeling of someone on a small boat on rough seas lurching in the boat to keep afloat, and even the ending breakdown feels like sea legs once ashore still feeling the tug and pull of the song. It’s really a microcosm for the feel of the entire album, with massive rock statements juxtaposed against sonic experiments that are there for the purpose of disrupting flow. Corduroy, if ever an expertly crafted hard rock song butts up against Bugs, a spoken word with an out of tune accordian that evokes the discomfort the protagonist feels in his metaphorical infestation. Immortality, another masterful song that goes in the upper part of any list of my favorite Pearl Jam songs is situated right before the closing Stupid Mop, which is maybe the most divisive statement in the bunch - a final statement that after all the conflict and abuse happening on this record, that maybe that’s just better because it’s more real and authentic than hugs and kisses. Straight up disturbing at a closer look, but this is Vedder’s greatest contribution to the Pearl Jam canon.

[Monkey_Driven]

Vitalogy - of all their albums, this is the most cohesive, despite there being a whole lot going on and the album finds the band and its singer at their most raw. Stip noted in his deep reflections that this plays like a concept album without overtly admitting it and I think that’s spot on. Listening front to back, the theme of abuse is interwoven into all aspects of this album, whether is related to entering into the mind of the regretful abuser (Nothingman) or the abused who chooses to endure it (Better Man). And interesting that these two are probably the most palatable land easy to digest listening experiences on the album - the ones most prepared for singalongs and arena thrills.

The absolute genius in Vedder’s vision for this album is the intentional effort to challenge the listener and keep you uncomfortable, uneasy and unsure what to make of it all. Tremor Christ is a master craft in this, and ultimately gives the feeling of someone on a small boat on rough seas lurching in the boat to keep afloat, and even the ending breakdown feels like sea legs once ashore still feeling the tug and pull of the song. It’s really a microcosm for the feel of the entire album, with massive rock statements juxtaposed against sonic experiments that are there for the purpose of disrupting flow. Corduroy, if ever an expertly crafted hard rock song butts up against Bugs, a spoken word with an out of tune accordian that evokes the discomfort the protagonist feels in his metaphorical infestation. Immortality, another masterful song that goes in the upper part of any list of my favorite Pearl Jam songs is situated right before the closing Stupid Mop, which is maybe the most divisive statement in the bunch - a final statement that after all the conflict and abuse happening on this record, that maybe that’s just better because it’s more real and authentic than hugs and kisses. Straight up disturbing at a closer look, but this is Vedder’s greatest contribution to the Pearl Jam canon.

I listened to this for the first time in a good while last night. Very good writeup!

[liebzz]

Thanks, and the thing I wanted to say about Stupid Mop that I left out is that for all the nonsense that it’s filler, it is 100% not and refuses to be a toss away at the end of the album which is punctuated by its 7 minute running time.

[Monkey_Driven]

Thanks, and the thing I wanted to say about Stupid Mop that I left out is that for all the nonsense that it’s filler, it is 100% not and refuses to be a toss away at the end of the album which is punctuated by its 7 minute running time.

I listened to it in its entirety last night as well. Had similar thoughts.

[VinylGuy]

This is a cool idea. Ill jump in later...and i might add a few live releases maybe too.

[liebzz]

No Code - there may no more apt title for a Pearl Jam album than this. Thematically, structurally, and intellectually each song seems to exist on a totally different universe from each other. This album is at times contemplative, serious, light, intense, you name it and it’s here. I mean, it’s got a song sung by Stone, a spoken word and a lullaby and that’s just the last three songs on the album. Lukin and Habit are blistering rock while Who You Are and In My Tree (one of the finest Pearl Jam songs if you ask me) take on atmospheric notes lead by Jack Irons. Red Mosquito conjures some sort of off kilter blues while Present Tense slowly builds into one their biggest outtros. Sometimes is a slow burner that leads directly into Hail Hail. That is to say this album is all over the place. It would (and did in some people’s eyes) hurt the overall experience of the songs weren’t so damn good. Fewer Vedder characters are as well developed in song as in his own autobiographical Off He Goes. Red Mosquito, In My Tree, Smile, and Present Tense are all off the charts great. I have in the past generally considered this my favorite of their albums, and I am quite open to rethinking that stance in this journey, but hot damn these songs are pretty much all incredible, at least in the first 3/4th of the album.

[liebzz]

Yield - from the moment I first heard this album even through today, the first thing that sticks out to me is that the production, the songs, everything about this seems like a band refreshed. We all know that this was really the return to a collaborative approach for the band after Vedder took the reigns for Vitalogy and No Code, but there’s something about everyone wanting to be in the room together than permeates from this album, and I think that and the general themes surrounding the songs questioning the intrinsic value of the society we have built that make this album cohesive. And frankly, the band sounds awesome here.

In terms of songs, there’s so much great content in here. The opening 4 tracks here are probably my favorite opening run in any of the albums in Brain of J, Faithful (that bridge!), No Way, and Given to Fly. This is just perfect Pearl Jam. Likely the most known song from this album, and for good reason, is Do the Evolution, which melds a dark sense of humor with the dreadful truth of our own personal greed and ambitiousness being the force behind the destruction of the very thing we’ve claimed to master. MFC, the token getting away car song, is one of my personal favorites on the album for its levity despite its fast pace. In Hiding finds Vedder’s vocals stretched out like he’s singing from the top of a mountain to folks down below. And then there’s All Those Yesterdays, an homage to the Beatles that just works as a one off for them. A lot of people list this one as their favorite and I can see why since it is, for me, the easiest of the Pearl Jam albums to listen to.

[liebzz]

Binaural - the first impression off the bat is that this is the album when Matt Cameron was best utilized. The drums feel more upfront in the sound of the album and it’s to the bands benefit throughout. There does not seem to be a consistent theme so much running through the album, save for the solid impulse to push the sonic boundaries of their formula.

As for the songs, this album could be second to none on that front. Nothing As It Seems, Insignificance, and Parting Ways all belong in my top 10 favorite Pearl Jam songs. I can still remember hearing the audience recording of the 1999 Bridge School performance and immediately thinking that Nothing As It Seems was one of the best songs I ever heard. 20 years later and I still feel the same way. The layering of the guitars lends an intoxicating atmosphere that envelopes the mood of the song and everything fits perfectly. The solos in the song are two of Mike’s best in terms of purely encapsulating and adding to the song. Insignificance is propulsive Pearl Jam at their very best. Parting Ways is so enveloping that it’s nearly hypnotic, and Of the Girl is nearly as addicting in that respect. Pearl Jam has hinted at creating this sort of mood in flashes on other albums, but they are the heart of this album. Sleight of Hand is similarly masterful in that regard.

In addition to all of that, I do love the opening punch of Breakerfall, Gods’ Dice and Evacuation, lest we forget that this band can bang out propulsive rockers with ease. Light Years is one of the best examples of their ability to bring a slower song in perfectly to the mix and has always made me almost fearful of experiencing that kind of loss. Ultimately, I think there’s a very strong case to be made that this is their best album of the bunch, though I am not willing to commit to that statement fully.

[liebzz]

Riot Act - and here we have their nearly completely political album. There have been spurts of this throughout their catalogue, but this album is nearly all about reading the riot act to greed and more overtly the president at the time. Makes me wonder what would have happened in the band in that phase was up against our current occupant.

The songs really are excellent throughout and kick things around enough to stay interesting. Can’t Keep is a great opener and could almost work on Binaural. I tend to enjoy the more experimental songs here like Help Help and You Are (a divisive track amongst fans but I think it is great). I love Half Full and All or None which are major McCready bluesy highlights. Elsewhere, there’s quite a bit of punk rock influences in this one, with Get Right and Green Disease leading the way.

I feel I should address Cropduster since it is not my favorite song. On this listen, however, I softened quite a bit on it. The band sounds great on the song, but there’s something about Vedder’s vocal delivery that never sits quite right with me. Vedder does, however, deliver vocally in the tribute to the lost fans in Denmark on Arc.

Overall, an excellent album that is underrated, but not quite near the top of the list for me.

[wease]

Cropduster really opened up for me when I started listening to the boots. Now it’s my favorite song on the album.

[liebzz]

Lost Dogs (bonus!): I always felt that this was a really good release from them. It gave both hardcore fans something new to digest from their Epic Record years but also showed a totally different side of the band - a bit less serious, and quite a bit more adventurous than they typically let on in their albums. There are poppier tunes (Down, Undone, U), playful tunes (Dirty Frank, Gremmie Out if Control, Don’t Gimme No Lip, Sweet Lew), and songs that are great but somehow didn’t make their respective albums (Sad, All Night, Hard to Imagine, Fatal, Other Side, etc.) plus a home for a few unexpected hits that were b-sides or charity covers (Yellow Ledbetter, Last Kiss). Throughout though, Pearl Jam still maintained quality control and put out what they thought was the best release they could on this and I think they succeeded in that regard. Fans will argue forever over the decision to re-record parts of Footsteps, Wash, etc., but this is a band that has never been short on self-consciousness so it’s ultimately not unexpected.

[Kevin Davis]

Were there post-facto overdubs on "Wash?" I thought it was just an alternative version to the B-side.

Either way, I totally agree that even with the gratuitous additions it's a wonderful release. This, along with "Man of the Hour," came out at one of my peak moments of Pearl Jam fandom (right after the 2003 tour, and a full summer of maxing out on those bootlegs), and was the perfect mix of old chestnuts and new treasures. Lots of great memories of this time period, in a lot of ways the last true moment that PJ was a do-no-wrong band in my eyes.

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - for their first “independent” release, it is clear from the get go that Pearl Jam set out to make a big fat rock album. The opening cascading of Life Wasted —> World Wide Suicide —> Comatose —> Severed Hand —> Marker In the Sand is proof positive of this. In some senses, this album reads as a sequel to Vs. rather than Riot Act. Artistic and sonic statements replaced by big solos, riffs and political statements. Whether you agree with this direction or not (most here seem to find this a turning point for the band in a less than positive way), they mostly achieve precisely this goal of making an album seemingly aimed to please the masses without holding back the political furor of Riot Act. The star of this album is clearly Mike McCready as his touches and solos are all over this record, not to mention the most ambitious song on the album, Inside Job, written by Mike.

The biggest issues with this album for me exist in the quality of the production, which seems to blankety it’s aside any of the subtlety they may have embraced since Vitalogy for a simple and propulsive sound. If they were trying to appeal to fans that had paid no attention to them since Vs. then this album is a rousing success. I feel, and still feel, exceptionally positive about this album doing that. Mostly, the timing was right for this album and it hit all the right notes for me, at least in the songs themselves despite the sound quality issues.

[liebzz]

Backspacer - despite the fact that I ultimately do like the songs, I find this is the first album of substantial decline for Pearl Jam. In an effort to bring life to the songs, the recording was fast, but rather than getting the Re-Ac-Tor vibe that would be wildly successful for this band, they instead come across as confused and the album half baked. Listening through, it seems they won’t commit to a faster punk rock sound that would have benefited from some rough edges rather than an over-polished sound (Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, The Fixer, Johnny Guitar, Supersonic), Or some adult contemporary sound that resembles a hard rock band (Amongst the Waves, Just Breathe, Unthought Known, Force of Nature). I think if they chose either narrative or at least took the time to develop this album more, it could have been much more successful. And for the first time, Brendan O’Brien was a major liability, with so much sheen and shine on these songs that they end up sounding more like a Pearl Jam cover band.

In a positive note, on this listen I really loved Speed of Sound and The End.

[liebzz]

Lightning Bolt - as Mr. McCready once said, this was the logical extension to Backspacer. The songs do get a little more space and I think that makes this a slightly better album, but the production remains too slick and while there are plenty of successes, the failures tend to overshadow them.

The records starts off quite well with the trifecta of Getaway, Mind Your Manners (their best hard rock song since the S/T), and My Father’s Son. My Father’s Son is probably the most interesting track lead by a great bass line from Jeff, though in some way seems to harken back to their past. Elsewhere, Lightning Bolt and Infallible are good later Pearl Jam tracks, the latter of which has a discordant mania between the verses and the chorus, as if the verses are reaching for something like Tremor Christ but the chorus like a Backspacer tune. I don’t think it ruins it though it could have been better if they committed more to the former. I also feel relatively positive, despite the hate here for Swallowed Whole, Yellow Moon and Sleeping By Myself, the former a solid R.E.M. style jangle and the latter I think seeing the band loosen up a bit.

Now the bad. Sirens is a god awful failure of Vedder’s to par lyrics to a really fantastic sounding tune from McCready. A trip into something more like Inside Job would have been perfect rather than trying to recreate the vocal reach of Black. It just doesn’t work at all. Future Days similarly has promising music, but ends up becoming the dreaded Pearl Jam song most likely to be some couple’s wedding song. Can’t remember if I ever thought Pearl Jam would be writing wedding songs. And it’s not some natural thing. It feels forced.

Now the great. Pendulum I think is their best song in perhaps a decade. It’s got the right mood and tone and stretches out some without feeling like it’s ever overstaying its welcome (hell, I could have enjoyed this as a 7 minute song).

While I get this record is tough because it fails to cover any new ground, I do find it to be a slight improvement from Backspacer, predominantly due to Pendulum. Otherwise they are about the same to me - songs that are good enough that suffer from overly polished production. This band needs a direction and a focus. Let’s hope that’s what is next in the Pearl Jam catalogue.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[epilogue]

Other than some minor quibbles about which songs are better and which are lesser (I don't think Getaway or Lightning Bolt are much to write home about) I can totally pick up what you're putting down here, liebzz. It seems we perceive the album largely the same way.

Nice write up.