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

[E.H. Ruddock]

You are getting closer to the first Wellwater album. I'm looking forward to your review.

[Anders]

This one as well:

[Jorge]

Mirrorball has a mixed reactions from fans?? I think its a beloved album.

Jorge doesn’t care for it

im sure he loves it but he needs the street creed more.

The street cred of... disliking Neil Young?!?

[liebzz]

But are you a Hater hater?

[evenslow]

Fucking love Mirrorball.

I remember a lot of Neil Young fans were pissed that it didn't have the David Briggs sound and wasn't Crazy Horse, which was... kind of the whole point. Thought Neil and PJ welded together perfectly on this. Act of Love is a towering achievement and of course Jack Irons brings the heat throughout.

[liebzz]

Three Fish

I believe this is the first album that Jeff Ament and Richard Stuverud - side band mates over three decades, and despite regular changes in lead singers and band names, they’ve remained a solid team consistently putting out top notch music together. Here, there’s a mix of straight ahead rock, folk, and meditations that show a lot of range, though ultimately this album feels truly great for the first two-thirds and then starts to fall off a bit. Solitude, Song for a Dead Girl, Silence at the Bottom, Zagreb, All Messed Up, Strangers in My Head, and A Lovely Meander were the big highlights for me. I don’t think I have heard this album since the 90s either. You forget what you miss sometimes.

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Pearl Jam - Ten
Neil Young - Mirrorball
Temple of the Dog
Mad Season - Above
Brad - Shame
Three Fish
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]

never listened to a second of it in 27 years.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jaeti]

It’s an awesome album. I’d put it above Ten very easily.

This thread has officially begun.

[LetMeSleep]

never listened to a second of it in 27 years.

Same boat, slow.

[liebzz]

It’s an awesome album. I’d put it above Ten very easily.

This thread has officially begun.

I am sure there will be a point where a side band album is ranked above a Pearl Jam album for me. But not yet.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Bammer]

If I could only have one, I could see choosing Above over Ten

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - No Code

From the ashes of Neil Jam, the band deliver their fourth album, one clearly influenced by what they saw in Neil Young’s creative freedom though with Eddie Vedder still taking on the lion’s share of writing and control. Songs like Smile and Red Mosquito most directly feel Neil Young influenced sonically, but with this great album, even when Pearl Jam lurches from one style to the next, it still feels distinctly Pearl Jam, and it’s all held together by Jack and Jeff, who give this album a particular warmth amidst the chaos that separates it from its peers.

I often can’t decide from day to day whether I would prefer this or Vitalogy, and I experience them as opposites on the Pearl Jam spectrum. Vitalogy is sonically abrasive and largely lashes outward, the instruments crashing and leaping out of the speakers. No Code has more often felt like a warm embrace despite songs like Habit and Lukin being amongst the loudest in their catalogue. Sometimes sucks you into the experience, slowly bringing you in before you are jolted by Hail Hail - but it’s all still warm and familiar and comfortable. At the same time, the themes of Vitalogy, an outward battle with discomfort, agitation, abuse juxtapose against No Code’s look inward at a loss of innocence (still got my inner sense). Today, I’m feeling this one just a little bit more. Tomorrow the feeling could change. But this Pearl Jam is always there for me - the reason I am a fan in the way I am.

Pearl Jam - No Code
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Pearl Jam - Ten
Neil Young - Mirrorball
Temple of the Dog
Mad Season - Above
Brad - Shame
Three Fish
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

[Anders]

Well written. Fully agree.

[liebzz]

I haven’t keyed in on Pearl Jam like this in a long time. I love this band. So much great great music.

[VinylGuy]

ill blast that Three Fish album tomorrow. I think i only listened once.

[McParadigm]

Three Fish was the first side project I bothered checking out, and it still has a special place in my heart.

[joostone]

Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by all their music. PJ is the mothership but in their surrounding universe there's just so much to discover. They've been going at it for almost 40 years by now and they still feel inspired and releasing albums as a group, solo or with other bands. Whether you like their recent output or not, it's all just impressive to me. What a career these guys are having.

[Anders]

Luckily we can pick and choose.