The Journey/Rank Thread to Rank Them All - the Worst Thread

[stip]

Ten dipped for me for a long time, but these days, it's probably my most common go to album. Somehow of a moment and timeless/universal, and there was a lack of self-awareness to it that we never quite got again. The only time (at the height of his powers) Eddie ever sang like Eddie without having to wonder what Eddie Vedder is supposed to sound like

I actually think Vs. is where he sounds the least self aware, just raw passion.

The Vs-Vitalogy period was absolutely (I think) when he was the most self-aware, self-conscious, most worried about the idea of what Eddie Vedder is. And I can't imagine that didn't carry over into how he approached his singing. The attempt to sound as un-Operaman as possible

I can't say it is any more or less authentic than Ten.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Chris_H_2]

My god, if the next synopsis starts with “from the ashes of …”

Challenge accepted.

[VinylGuy]

Listening to Hunger Strike right now, jesus what a monster of a song...i love what Stone is doing at the start of the song...and the bass when Ed comes in...man, what a song

[VinylGuy]

Mother Love Bone - Apple

The sole proper album from the band that really immediately preceded Pearl Jam. I do think the suggestion that this band was going to be huge is a bit of an overstatement. While they did a great job mixing the groove and guitar work of alternative rock groups like Jane’s Addiction and a hint of Chili Peppers with Andrew Wood’s natural glamminess, I do think their own peers in Seattle would have rendered them obsolete pretty quickly in any event.

For the album, it certainly is an album with big highs (Crown of Thorns and Man of Golden Words the obvious picks) with good songs that are almost a precursor to Ten. Big riffs, though where Eddie Vedder would bare his soul through characters he envisioned, Andrew Wood wears his huge personality on his sleeve to great effect on This Is Shangrila, Stardog Champion, Holy Roller, and Come Bite the Apple. The rest for me is good but nothing to really go crazy over. Yes, a very talented band and front man, but they were soon taking on the world proper rather than in their collective imagination.

Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

I feel Apple was probably a good debut and they were hinting some more dark and groovy material when Andy died. Its impossible to know what could have happen but if they recorded a second album, im sure it would have been closer to what was happening in the 90s.

[stip]

Ten dipped for me for a long time, but these days, it's probably my most common go to album. Somehow of a moment and timeless/universal, and there was a lack of self-awareness to it that we never quite got again. The only time (at the height of his powers) Eddie ever sang like Eddie without having to wonder what Eddie Vedder is supposed to sound like

I actually think Vs. is where he sounds the least self aware, just raw passion.

The Vs-Vitalogy period was absolutely (I think) when he was the most self-aware, self-conscious, most worried about the idea of what Eddie Vedder is. And I can't imagine that didn't carry over into how he approached his singing. The attempt to sound as un-Operaman as possible

I can't say it is any more or less authentic than Ten.

I don't think it's fair to lump Vs and Vitalogy together from that standpoint. When he screams "It's my bloooooood", I hear a scared, pissed off kid who was trying to hold on to his sanity in a world that had gotten very crazy very quickly.

But when I hear Not For You, as much as I adore that song, I hear a naval-gazing rockstar with his head up his butt.

Again, I love the song, and that whole album. But it always felt to me like Ed the lyricist and frontman evolved by leaps and bounds between those two albums, and that the self awareness was really front and center during Vitalogy-No Code.

Self-conscious is maybe more what I meant.

[liebzz]

Brad - Shame

Every now and then, you have right a wrong, admit your mistakes of the past, and start anew. In the middle 1990s, I found out about this side project, ran out and bought the CD, and started playing it. Halfway through Buttercup, I stopped the CD, hit the eject button, and put on a Pearl Jam CD instead. Every once in a while, I’d take a look at that jewel case, decide to try to give it another spin, and the pattern repeated itself. After a while, having never gotten past Buttercup, I sort of lost track of it, and now probably 25ish years later, it’s time to try again now that we are in this journey together.

What I’m trying to tell you is I had this great effin’ music sitting right in my lap since 1994, and I didn’t even know it was there. I was blown solid out by this today, the grooves, the textures, Shawn Smith’s voice. It hit me like a ton of bricks (though honestly 16 year old me wouldn’t have given a crap). My Fingers, Nadine, the last minute or so of Screen, the funky 20th Century, Raise Love, Good News, the closer We (though not the talking at the end) - awesome. I should never underestimate Stone Gossard. My bad. Can’t wait to get to 1997 now!!

Pearl Jam - Ten
Temple of the Dog
Brad - Shame
Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

[liebzz]

Hater

A little sidetrack into one of the supergroups Matt Cameron played with, this one is a total break from the grooves and riffs of the last few days and more into a straight ahead garage rock. Matt’s drumming is very evident here, and it’s certainly worth checking out for that alone. The songs are decent enough, mostly working at that garage rock pace with a touch of early 90s Seattle flavor. Nothing here particularly blew me away, but then again nothing to really complain about either. It was fine.

Pearl Jam - Ten
Temple of the Dog
Brad - Shame
Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Hater
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

[evenslow]

The only time (at the height of his powers) Eddie ever sang like Eddie without having to wonder what Eddie Vedder is supposed to sound like

great point!

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Vs.

This album holds a special place for me. It was the album that fully hooked me into the band on first listen in 1993. The songs all seemed so fresh and yet somehow completely familiar. This album is also responsible for my entire 30 year obsession with rock music just in the way it sonically spoke to me as a 15 year old. This album begat going back to Ten when I was only vaguely familiar with it, begat me exploring Led Zeppelin, classic rock, and many of the band’s influences.

That said, this still feels like the album that most sounds like Pearl Jam. The breakneck propulsive start with Go and then Animal, the kind of focused noodling that permeates through both Daughter and in a louder sense Rearviewmirror. The funkiness in WMA and Rats. The juxtaposition of determination and resignation in songs like Indifference and Small Town. There are short allusions to Ten in Dissident and Leash, but I was always blown away by how different this album sounds from that one. Two all time great albums out the gate, and it can be quite difficult given all this to pick a favorite between the two of them.

Pearl Jam - Vs.
Pearl Jam - Ten
Temple of the Dog
Brad - Shame
Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Hater
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

[wease]

Hater

A little sidetrack into one of the supergroups Matt Cameron played with, this one is a total break from the grooves and riffs of the last few days and more into a straight ahead garage rock. Matt’s drumming is very evident here, and it’s certainly worth checking out for that alone. The songs are decent enough, mostly working at that garage rock pace with a touch of early 90s Seattle flavor. Nothing here particularly blew me away, but then again nothing to really complain about either. It was fine.

Pearl Jam - Ten
Temple of the Dog
Brad - Shame
Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Hater
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

Wasn’t Ben Shepherd in Hater with Matt?

[liebzz]

Wikipedia says yes.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[liebzz]

the low ranking of Hater is the first big misstep in this thread

I stand by it. It’s fine, I like it, but it wasn’t anything earth shattering to me. I put it below the albums I think moved the needle forward but above the releases that I wasn’t all that fond of.

[Anders]

I really appreciate this thread.

Love the first two Brad albums.

[RockPusher]

It strikes me now that Brad was way ahead of its time- slots well with a lot of the current "stuff hipsters listen to." I don't mean that as a negative btw, my brother in Brooklyn is a hipster 13 years my younger and his taste in music is pretty great, having opened me up to a lot of cool stuff.

[liebzz]

It strikes me now that Brad was way ahead of its time- slots well with a lot of the current "stuff hipsters listen to." I don't mean that as a negative btw, my brother in Brooklyn is a hipster 13 years my younger and his taste in music is pretty great, having opened me up to a lot of cool stuff.

With Shame I would say both in its time and ahead. It’s lack of dedication to one prevailing sound I think is ahead of its time. I think there was more pressure in 1993 to sort of fit in the box the record company could use to market the album. At the same time, there’s a lot of sonic allusions to music of the era - a little Achtung Baby here, a little Flea bass riffing there, that definitely puts it squarely in that period.

[RockPusher]

It strikes me now that Brad was way ahead of its time- slots well with a lot of the current "stuff hipsters listen to." I don't mean that as a negative btw, my brother in Brooklyn is a hipster 13 years my younger and his taste in music is pretty great, having opened me up to a lot of cool stuff.

With Shame I would say both in its time and ahead. It’s lack of dedication to one prevailing sound I think is ahead of its time. I think there was more pressure in 1993 to sort of fit in the box the record company could use to market the album. At the same time, there’s a lot of sonic allusions to music of the era - a little Achtung Baby here, a little Flea bass riffing there, that definitely puts it squarely in that period.

Sure and I think you've hit upon what appeals to the younger folks today about that kind of music- the freedom of its sonic themes. That ability of bands to not be tethered to tradish big label expectations. Bands like Grizzly Bear and Daft Punk for instance have really sailed on that.

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

On Pearl Jam’s third album, barely a year after Vs., the band has in some ways transformed from the creative direction of Stone and Jeff to Eddie Vedder. The guitars seem a bit more straight forward, the band embracing a more abrasive style of song writing, and the band clearly emoting an uneasiness that reflects the state of the band at that point and the message Eddie Vedder is delivering about abuse, annoyance, and the temptation to give and just be what everyone wants them to be. I think those shifts sort of happen throughout the album - abuse in the context of Better Man, Nothingman (kind of from the perspective of the abuser whose potential is now lost because of his actions), Stupid Mop and perhaps selfishly in Not For You, though I think who this isn’t for might contain multitudes (thanks Bob!). I think the characters here are largely multifaceted and his writing quite exceptional. And even the grander statements in Last Exit are pretty great. I know I have spoken about this one in the past, but the way Tremor Christ plays musically and thematically could be one of the big high points in this band. This album is constantly operating on multiple levels of genius, certainly occasionally flawed, but in such a way that gives it character and places to go. This has certainly hovered among my favorite Pearl Jam albums since its release and continues to do so.

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Pearl Jam - Ten
Temple of the Dog
Brad - Shame
Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Hater
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

[Strat]

I feel like you went a bit out of order there jumping to brad after ten! Now I’m questioning everything