Eddie Vedder - Earthling

[spike]

The Haves does get a bad rap. Ed’s not singing it from his point of view.

[epilogue]

Heart on sleeve love songs tend to get a bad rap in general. But especially Ed Vedder ones.

[Ms Harmless]

Power of Right initially had me excited when I first heard it live. I thought it was going to have a Mudhoney feel. Then I heard the studio version and it felt like Finger 11. It was jarring. I do however have come to like it. The gloss feels needed after Invincible. Good solid song for me. Yes it is a very modern rock song, but it has vibe that keeps it grounded. Green day has managed to pull this off as well it is a slippery slope though.

modern day Greenday is a good comparison to the sound, I just think I'd rather listen to Greenday fronted by Ed

[Ms Harmless]

The Haves does get a bad rap. Ed’s not singing it from his point of view.

it's still pretty bad taste, but it's better that it's not about him

[RockPusher]

Power of Right initially had me excited when I first heard it live. I thought it was going to have a Mudhoney feel. Then I heard the studio version and it felt like Finger 11. It was jarring. I do however have come to like it. The gloss feels needed after Invincible. Good solid song for me. Yes it is a very modern rock song, but it has vibe that keeps it grounded. Green day has managed to pull this off as well it is a slippery slope though.

modern day Greenday is a good comparison to the sound, I just think I'd rather listen to Greenday fronted by Ed

Welcome to Para-hee-dise

[Ms Harmless]

[benton netty]

Welp, I’ve finally listened with headphones, and here’s where I’m at:

1. Creatively speaking, I find this album even more encouraging than Gigaton for what the future holds for Pearl Jam. The range of ideas is pretty great, and even the lesser tracks have some fun ideas and ear candy. I’m fully on board with an Andrew Wottman-produced Pearl Jam album.

2. The reliance on digital processing is variously encouraging and concerning. It’s great to hear some new guitar and bass sounds behind Ed’s voice, and the synth pads that we first got in DOTC continue to be the most surprisingly great addition to the pallet…but the sloppy vocal edit in Try (“hitting like the WITNESS in your eyes,” at 1:54), and some of the more Frankensteined song arrangements, give me less hope that PJ will ever make another Riot Act.

3. Ed continues to get away from the condenser mic breathiness of BS and LB, which is so great.

4. The compression and EQ are abysmal. I have serious ear fatigue after one listen, and had to turn the volume way down on the heavier songs. I’m firmly convinced that Ed’s going deaf, and has no idea or awareness of the results that’s having on his finished product. It is what it is, I guess.

Compositionally much stronger than I ever thought this would be, and more importantly, it never sounds tired; there’s nothing that smacks of a retread like SBWM.

Also, I really like The Haves. There I said it.

I would prefer Watt as producer with Evans as key engineer and maybe mixer. It's clear he's inspiring to work with, for Ed. But the sound of this record is so of its time. Chad Smith's drums do not sound like that.

I'd imagine that, for a proper PJ album, Matt Cameron wouldn't be like, sure, make my drums sound like the flavor of the moment. He's spent his life learning how to make his drums sound like he wants them to, so he'd be less apt to say "Sure, whatever," as Chad Smith might do on someone else's solo record.

If Watt can get PJ creating on the fly like they used to, it could be special. Ed has proven lately he's still got his gift. I was worried for a while.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Ms Harmless]

Matt apparently said "sure, whatever" on Lightning Bolt, so the jury's out imo

[Ms Harmless]

if Watt is a fan of Ten-style PJ, maybe he will want to make a clean but expansive Ten-style record; I'd be OK with that

[Birds in Hell]

If this album is any indication, letting this "Watt" character anywhere near a Pearl Jam record seems like a disaster in the making.

I wonder whether the rest of the band share Ed's enthusiasm for bringing this guy into the picture.

[Ms Harmless]

Watt a time to be alive

[evenslow]

fuckin' hell i waited until i heard the album a bunch of times to post and all of a sudden i'm 35 pages deep.

[evenslow]

i just want to say that stevie wonder is the god damn king. thought the harmonica was gonna be cringe but holy shit it lights a fire under my ass. love that fucking song!!

[SJM]

If this album is any indication, letting this "Watt" character anywhere near a Pearl Jam record seems like a disaster in the making.

I wonder whether the rest of the band share Ed's enthusiasm for bringing this guy into the picture.

I don’t like how a lot of these songs sound. To my ears it sounds so slick for lack of a better word.

But I do like a lot of the songs. I’m just hesitant that given the spontaneity associated with Watt and his pop leanings
we’d get backspacer part 2. Some short punky tracks and then an attempt at a couple anthems.

But it would interesting to see nonetheless, a record being essentially produced by a super fan.

[evenslow]

this record is really fun. also has two tracks that make me legit choke up - Invincible and On My Way.

[Ms Harmless]

yeah it's great, I was also worried about the harmonica; Stevie knows what to do

[evenslow]

yeah it's great, I was also worried about the harmonica; Stevie knows what to do

it really is somehow the perfect fit for the song - takes it to another place. and him saying "again" at the very end is such a cool moment.

[Ms Harmless]

this record is really fun. also has two tracks that make me legit choke up - Invincible and On My Way.

yeah me too

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now