Eddie Vedder - Earthling

[Ms Harmless]

just heard it again and I think "E-Ticket" is a better song than "Picture"; I'm kind of wishing that had gone on here instead

Agreed.

Also, funny that Ed didn't realize Picture was on Earthling when Bruce interviewed him.

LOL oh no

[Strat]

just heard it again and I think "E-Ticket" is a better song than "Picture"; I'm kind of wishing that had gone on here instead

Agreed.

Also, funny that Ed didn't realize Picture was on Earthling when Bruce interviewed him.

LOL oh no

Yea i gotta imagine if i got to record with a guy like EJ i'd fucking remember exactly everything. lol

[Ms Harmless]

just heard it again and I think "E-Ticket" is a better song than "Picture"; I'm kind of wishing that had gone on here instead

Agreed.

Also, funny that Ed didn't realize Picture was on Earthling when Bruce interviewed him.

LOL oh no

Yea i gotta imagine if i got to record with a guy like EJ i'd fucking remember exactly everything. lol

absolutely; he's a legend enough that I'm letting go that I don't like the song that much; it's Echo Victor and Echo Juliett and I'm just vibing

[Ms Harmless]

some ITW songs just started on my Alexa and god, I love them a lot

[RockPusher]

There was a great moment during the Smartless podcast where Ed was asked what they do if the crowd is just not feeling it- have they ever cut a show short because of that. Ed's answer was so telling - that just makes them play fiercer and longer, because they won't go home until they've hit home with everyone. When I hear "Invincible," I kind of feel like we are getting a peek at Ed's earnest drive to be present with everyone.

[Ms Harmless]

I think "Invincible" is my favourite of Ed's forays into pure cheese, ever; the sheer quality of it compared to the pop attempts on Backspacer is remarkable

[RockPusher]

I think "Invincible" is my favourite of Ed's forays into pure cheese, ever; the sheer quality of it compared to the pop attempts on Backspacer is remarkable

So much this. Honestly, if part of the BO'B problem is that he didn't know how to handle Ed's cheesier impulses, I can almost understand that.

[RockPusher]

Brother the Cloud would be a crazy good PJ song.

[Jaeti]

I think "Invincible" is my favourite of Ed's forays into pure cheese, ever; the sheer quality of it compared to the pop attempts on Backspacer is remarkable

Yeah. I love Unthought Known and will especially go to bat for how it hits live. But I've been comparing it to Invincible in an album sense, and it really pales.

[Habitman]

Keep hearing that Imagine Dragons song(s) the way he sings "reverberaTIONS" and "a bit of echo victOR"

[Ms Harmless]

I think "Invincible" is my favourite of Ed's forays into pure cheese, ever; the sheer quality of it compared to the pop attempts on Backspacer is remarkable

Yeah. I love Unthought Known and will especially go to bat for how it hits live. But I've been comparing it to Invincible in an album sense, and it really pales.

I definitely don't hate it and looking back I appreciate the piano more than I did then

[JC23]

I'm here for the Unthought Known appreciation thread. Was always a highlight of BS to me.

[RockPusher]

On "The Dark" I can hear both how Chad Smith is awesome and also how the sound of him is totally neutered.

[Monkey_Driven]

On "The Dark" I can hear both how Chad Smith is awesome and also how the sound of him is totally neutered.

For sure. After they played the song at the 2nd night in NYC, Ed comments on how much Smith likes playing it.

[Hatfield]

just heard it again and I think "E-Ticket" is a better song than "Picture"; I'm kind of wishing that had gone on here instead

Agreed.

Also, funny that Ed didn't realize Picture was on Earthling when Bruce interviewed him.

LOL oh no

I took that as Ed's humble, "I don't take my stuff too seriously" shtick.

[Tj]

I'm here for the Unthought Known appreciation thread. Was always a highlight of BS to me.

I always thought I was alone in my love for Unthought Known.

[AndySlash]

man, i really wish i was feeling the same about this record as a whole lot of you are. i am truly surprised by the community reaction to this.

[Fattie_Vedder]

This has been my take all along, which is what makes me nervous about a PJ-Watt collaboration. I'm not saying it couldn't work, but something has to change drastically and some big compromises have to be made. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about what a PJ album would sound like if they leaned HARD into the fun-zone and let all expectations go of what they should sound like. Looks like they are already producing with Watt, so let's see what happens...

I really like that post too.

I was thinking about this and I just think it was a wise decision for Eddie to create this with a totally different band. I think even that this album is what he wanted Backspacer and Lightning Bolt to be, but the personnel didn’t match the mood, which is why I think the delivery is clunky and awkward on a lot of those songs. This album feels much more organic and natural to current Eddie. Gigaton feels like a organic and natural sound for Pearl Jam. They are very different albums and if Eddie wants to create in this space and leave it out of Pearl Jam, that would be fantastic. When he tries to shoehorn in things he does outside Pearl Jam into the band’s work, that’s when I think they start to get into trouble - my exhibits are Sleeping By Myself, Swallowed Whole versus Fallout Today, and Just Breathe versus the Into the Wild soundtrack.

Eddie should not be pushing a Tom Petty rave up, or Try into Pearl Jam on the next record.

Just because Ed produced a "fun" record with Watt doesn't mean that Pearl Jam would produce a "fun" record with Watt. Most importantly, Watt brought out of Ed what he needed in the moment. Same can be true for pearl jam as a collective. Whatever that might be....

True, it doesn't necessarily mean PJ would produce a "fun" sounding (for lack of a better term) record with Watt. It's just that Watt's production style and tastes seem to be on the poppier, shinier side of the spectrum, which lends itself well to the generic descriptor "fun". I have my doubts that Watt could bring out whatever he needs to bring out of PJ either way. If it is going to be a "fun" sounding record, then it will require stylistic adaptations from all band members, particularly those not named Eddie Vedder, and vice versa.

The success that Watt had with Eddie may not necessarily translate to Pearl Jam. It's one thing to bring out what's needed from one person who's stylistic tastes match well with the producer's and is the primary composer of the music, and a much more serious challenge to bring out what's needed from multiple people, each of whom have different stylistic tastes and bring their own unique compositions to the table.

To be clear, I don't mean for my speculation about potential struggles with the Watt-Pearl Jam collaboration to sound cynical. I am all for finding out how the Watt-Pearl Jam experiment turns out, and given the recent success, my curiosity slightly outweighs my doubt.

[Strat]

man, i really wish i was feeling the same about this record as a whole lot of you are. i am truly surprised by the community reaction to this.

i think we all are!

[washing machine]

I purchased this CD yesterday and it came with some little pins and post cards. I'm honestly pretty surprised there's no lyric book, but I guess album art was always kinda Jeff's thing. I would have enjoyed liner notes to this.