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

[Anders]

Eddie Vedder - Earthling

This is possibly the most shocking album in this entire journey - yes there’s that feeling of newness that goes along with the immediate adrenaline of hearing a new album from Eddie Vedder - but more so this to my ears is a massive turn from Pearl Jam. It’s hard as fans not to expect Eddie Vedder to at some level sound like Pearl Jam - the voice so distinct and in the manner the band is on some level carrying a classic rock torch along with it. Backspacer and Lightning Bolt both made efforts I think to make more effortless rock, and Gigaton clearly more labored as a work of art (and frankly it succeeds where the other two ultimately fall a bit short of Pearl Jam’s torch). Pearl Jam carries all these classic and meaningful bands on their backs in some way for me, keeping the thread of honest rock music going. They are essential to me for that among many other things.

All this is what Earthling is not, and that is immediately jarring. The immediate feel of this album immediately recalls a sound in the 70s and 80s - like Eddie is channeling, in a no so self serious way - the spirits of Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac and the Clash and Talking Heads, but in a way that has no shades of the self-consciousness that permeates Pearl Jam - a force that might keep Pearl Jam is check but here Eddie is free to do whatever the hell he pleases. Drop an obvious Mike Campbell riff? Why the hell not!? Plop a what now seems obviously a purposefully overwrought and frankly silly ballad in the middle of the album and release it as a single? Try and stop him. That there was a collection of musicians there with him to simply let go all of the Eddie Vedder baggage and power through an album by all rights would leave a purist aghast at this speaks even more to the point he is making.

Let’s be clear though, this still has some Eddie filter happening…intentionally tossed off rockers. In rehashing the conversations we’ve heard about between Eddie and Bono about Pearl Jam embracing and taking the mantle, this is practically what Bono would have had in mind for them. Eddie, 30 years after shunning the spotlight, whips out exactly what we’d never expect - a cohesive set of earworm pop rock songs distinctly Eddie, expressly not Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam - No Code
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Pearl Jam - Binaural
Pearl Jam - Yield
Pearl Jam - Gigaton
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Pearl Jam - Ten
Stone Gossard - Moonlander
Pearl Jam
Stone Gossard - Bayleaf
RNDM - Ghost Riding
Painted Shield
Neil Young - Mirrorball
Pearl Jam - Lost Dogs
Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
Brad - Interiors
Temple of the Dog
Pearl Jam - Riot Act
Mad Season - Above
Eddie Vedder - Earthling
RNDM - Acts
Jeff Ament - Heaven / Hell
Wellwater Conspiracy - The Scroll and Its Combinations
Brad - Shame
Brad - Best Friends?
Eddie Vedder, et al - Flag Day Soundtrack
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Brad Vs. Satchel
Jeff Ament - While My Heart Beats
Jeff Ament - I Should Be Outside
Wellwater Conspiracy - Brotherhood of Electric
Wellwater Conspiracy - Declaration of Conformity
Wellwater Conspiracy
Brad - Welcome to Discovery Park
Three Fish
Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs
Pearl Jam - PJ20 Soundtrack
Green River - Rehab Doll
Jeff Ament - Tone
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
Brad - United We Stand
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Tres Mts. - Three Mountains
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Hater
Hater - The 2nd
Matt Cameron - Cavedweller
Eddie Vedder - Matter of Time EP
Three Fish - The Quiet Table
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Mike McCready - Sadie Original Score
Mike McCready - The Glamour & the Squalor Original Score
Jeff Ament - American Death Squad EP
Ten Commandos
The Rockfords
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules
Eddie Vedder and the Walmer High School Choir - The Molo Sessions
The Rockfords - The Waiting EP

Thank you for posting your journey leading into Earthling.

[stip]

this was a great thread and a really nice review of earthling to close it out. well done!

I also appreciate that we have a definitive list of their work

will you add in jack irons solo work or matt’s soundgarden albums?

[liebzz]

Yeah I certainly could at some point. I think Jack has something like 4 solo albums, his albums with Eleven, his one or two albums with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I did a Chris Cornell journey last year that included Soundgarden - I could practically cut and paste those here too. I’d say I could add Dave Krusen but that would take weeks…and Candlebox.

[VinylGuy]

and Dave A cmon!!

Just kidding.


Yeah, amazing journey! so much good music here. This band and its side or solo projects fascinates me, they body of work is something else.

[liebzz]

Dave A. - got a gun, fact I’ve got two. That’s okay, man. I love God.

Dave A. journey complete.

[Anders]

I think focusing on Matt C is logical. So Soundgarden and the first Skin Yard album could be added.