Eddie Vedder - Earthling

[E.H. Ruddock]

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.

Great post trag. Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading this

Don’t patronize me ruddo

No Way

[Brett]

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 agree with a lot of this. From a songwriting standpoint, this is much more enjoyable than I expected. If not for the amount of praise from various posters on here, I might not have bothered to check it out at all.

The production, unfortunately, leaves a lot to be desired. When everything gets going, it becomes a mush of sound that is uncomfortable to listen to, defeating the point of the interesting arrangements they the band put together.

I like the bookending of "Invincible" and "On My Way," both emotionally potent songs. Contrary to Trag, I get more out of the rockier songs like "Brother the Cloud," "Power of Right," and "Good and Evil." "Try" makes me laugh because it sounds like a song that would fit on the soundtrack for a skateboard or BMX video game, especially with that wild harmonica solo.

Not sure what I feel about the idea of a Watt-Pearl Jam record.

[DeeDee]

After listening to it a third time, definitely really surprised at the quality. I was expecting much worse. Only PJ album I may prefer It to is backspacer though. But that’s probably the newness. Anybody who says this is a better record than gigaton is out to fucking lunch imo.

I’m not a fan of the protection on earthling though. It reminds me of bad BOB.

I had to go back and listen to some tracks off gigaton just to confirm how much better those songs sound. Josh is the man.

Not really fair to compare this record with pj records of course. I do miss the grooves on earthling though. You can certainly tell it’s not PJ backing Ed.

For me Rose of Jericho and Good and evil are huge improvements to mostly unlistenable dribbling of Quick Escape.
Thank god Stone didn't disrail this with buckle up. The boredom of River Cross maybe the lowest point
In the Pearl Jam catalog. Gigaton is my bottom album. Comparisons can be made just compare them on their own merits. It would be like saying you can't compare Appetite For Destruction to Ten.

I'm loving the new record, but Quick Escape is light years ahead of Good and Evil and Rose of Jericho.

Let's be serious.

[DeeDee]

The Dark is joyous

Agreed.

[DeeDee]

I couldn't help it:

[YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPfNfGFVorY&ab_channel=RawBassCovers[/YouTube]

[YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyWi_p3CzgU&ab_channel=RawBassCovers[/YouTube]

[RockPusher]

After listening to it a third time, definitely really surprised at the quality. I was expecting much worse. Only PJ album I may prefer It to is backspacer though. But that’s probably the newness. Anybody who says this is a better record than gigaton is out to fucking lunch imo.

I’m not a fan of the protection on earthling though. It reminds me of bad BOB.

I had to go back and listen to some tracks off gigaton just to confirm how much better those songs sound. Josh is the man.

Not really fair to compare this record with pj records of course. I do miss the grooves on earthling though. You can certainly tell it’s not PJ backing Ed.

For me Rose of Jericho and Good and evil are huge improvements to mostly unlistenable dribbling of Quick Escape.
Thank god Stone didn't disrail this with buckle up. The boredom of River Cross maybe the lowest point
In the Pearl Jam catalog. Gigaton is my bottom album. Comparisons can be made just compare them on their own merits. It would be like saying you can't compare Appetite For Destruction to Ten.

I'm loving the new record, but Quick Escape is light years ahead of Good and Evil and Rose of Jericho.

Let's be serious.

Srsly

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Leatherhead]

I like Good and Evil more than Quick Escape.

Bonkers.

[Tj]

I like Good and Evil more than Quick Escape.

I agree

[guitar_davey]

I fucking love Good and Evil, such a great performance from Ed

YESSSS!

[guitar_davey]

My son and I have been riding out the latest Covid wave with my folks. I just had a late night playing board games (and maybe having a few too many glasses of wine) with my mom and we bonded over the outro quartet of songs.

As somebody who's heard me blasting Pearl Jam for thirty years, she thought hearing a song like Invincible from Eddie was deeply moving. She also thought Long Way was Tom Petty, and she already liked the Haves by the time I skipped it (at about the six second mark).

My 73-year-old mother's thoughts.

[knee tunes]

My son and I have been riding out the latest Covid wave with my folks. I just had a late night playing board games (and maybe having a few too mang glasses of wine) with my mom and we bonded over the outro quartet of songs.

As somebody who's heard me blasting Pearl Jam for thirty years, she thought hearing a song like Invincible from Eddie was deeply moving. She also thought Long Way was Tom Petty, and she already liked the Haves by the time I skipped it (at about the six second mark).

My 73-year-old mother's thoughts.

Bless you & Mom, guitar_davey

[guitar_davey]

My son and I have been riding out the latest Covid wave with my folks. I just had a late night playing board games (and maybe having a few too mang glasses of wine) with my mom and we bonded over the outro quartet of songs.

As somebody who's heard me blasting Pearl Jam for thirty years, she thought hearing a song like Invincible from Eddie was deeply moving. She also thought Long Way was Tom Petty, and she already liked the Haves by the time I skipped it (at about the six second mark).

My 73-year-old mother's thoughts.

Bless you & Mom, guitar_davey

[knee tunes]

My son and I have been riding out the latest Covid wave with my folks. I just had a late night playing board games (and maybe having a few too mang glasses of wine) with my mom and we bonded over the outro quartet of songs.

As somebody who's heard me blasting Pearl Jam for thirty years, she thought hearing a song like Invincible from Eddie was deeply moving. She also thought Long Way was Tom Petty, and she already liked the Haves by the time I skipped it (at about the six second mark).

My 73-year-old mother's thoughts.

Bless you & Mom, guitar_davey

& Yer kid

[Anders]

After listening to it a third time, definitely really surprised at the quality. I was expecting much worse. Only PJ album I may prefer It to is backspacer though. But that’s probably the newness. Anybody who says this is a better record than gigaton is out to fucking lunch imo.

I’m not a fan of the protection on earthling though. It reminds me of bad BOB.

I had to go back and listen to some tracks off gigaton just to confirm how much better those songs sound. Josh is the man.

Not really fair to compare this record with pj records of course. I do miss the grooves on earthling though. You can certainly tell it’s not PJ backing Ed.

For me Rose of Jericho and Good and evil are huge improvements to mostly unlistenable dribbling of Quick Escape.
Thank god Stone didn't disrail this with buckle up. The boredom of River Cross maybe the lowest point
In the Pearl Jam catalog. Gigaton is my bottom album. Comparisons can be made just compare them on their own merits. It would be like saying you can't compare Appetite For Destruction to Ten.

I'm loving the new record, but Quick Escape is light years ahead of Good and Evil and Rose of Jericho.

Let's be serious.

Absolutely. The heavier/rockier song on the album, are not PJ quality. Quick Escape is great.

[Tj]

Rose of Jericho is the best heavy rocker since Grievance.

[Tj]

Rose of Jericho is the best heavy rocker since Grievance.

For me

[Tj]

Rose of Jericho is the best heavy rocker since Grievance.

For me

Sorry rocker not heavy. Good and Evil is heavy.

[Tj]

Rose of Jericho is the best heavy rocker since Grievance.

For me

Sorry rocker not heavy. Good and Evil is heavy.

Good and Evil has a little Dead Boys thing going on.

[Anders]

I wouldn’t put it in that category, but Rose Of Jericho is growing a bit on me, Good And Evil not so much.