17. Breath vs. Down vs. I Am Mine

[stip]

Breath vs. Down vs. I Am Mine

[stip]

Toughest match of the round. Down is fine, but I'm way less into it than I used to be. A perfectly good optimistic rocker that stands out a bit for being an upbeat track on a mostly downbeat album.


I adore I Am Mine. It's my favorite song from Riot Act, and probably my favorite song from the Binaural-Riot Act period. I love the sea shanty music, mike's transcendent solo at the end (one of his all time best) and despite 1-2 slightly awkward lines some really nice lyrical moments as well.

But Breath is one of their greatest barnstorming anthems. The bridge is one of the finest moments in the catalog, and "If I knew where it was I would take you there/there's much more than this" is probably my single favorite pearl jam lyric. I hate voting against I am Mine (criminally underrated around here), but it's gotta be Breath

[liebzz]

This one is easy for me. I like all three songs, but Breath is special.

[tragabigzanda]

Two are overrated and I actively hate I Am Mine.

Down i guess.

[Jaeti]

Two good songs, one great one. Breath should cruise.

[JuanHamm]

Riot Act was the first album release that I was an active fan for and I have extremely fond memories of wearing out my Bridge School I am mine mp3 and being blown away when I got to the unexpected solo at the end of the studio version for the first time.

[thesound]

An easy breath and scream from me.

[epilogue]

Love all three. I'll be happy with any winner.

But I Am Mine gets the nod. I just love it so much.

[Birds in Hell]

Man, what a collection of snoozers.

Breath, I guess.

[Higgs]

Two are overrated and I actively hate I Am Mine.

Down i guess.

I'm beginning to realise that you're PJ tastes lean well towards mine. Nice.

[Anders]

I Am Mine

[ABNorman]

Breath is a regular top 32 placer, with its best performance being a top 16 loss Vs Alive.

Down's also made a top 16, losing out to Rearview mirror (no chance of that this year...)

I Am Mine is yet to place higher than the top 32.

[digster]

Breath's another example for me of an early era song that I enjoy, it's perfectly fine and and I appreciate the songwriting, but has never been something I gravitated towards. Down's a fun song, but my vote's for I Am Mine. I think it's really great that the band that wrote Riot Act wrote this track, because you could easily see it getting too hokey. But Eddie stays on the right side of the line, and his lyric feels like one of his more naturally empathetic. From the start of the instrumental bridge through the last chorus and Mike's solo still gets me when I listen to it, even though I've heard it many times (I particularly love the moment when the bridge collapses back into the chorus).

[stip]

Breath's another example for me of an early era song that I enjoy, it's perfectly fine and and I appreciate the songwriting, but has never been something I gravitated towards. Down's a fun song, but my vote's for I Am Mine. I think it's really great that the band that wrote Riot Act wrote this track, because you could easily see it getting too hokey. But Eddie stays on the right side of the line, and his lyric feels like one of his more naturally empathetic. From the start of the instrumental bridge through the last chorus and Mike's solo still gets me when I listen to it, even though I've heard it many times (I particularly love the moment when the bridge collapses back into the chorus).

It's so good. I love Breath just a bit more, but that doesn't take away from how great I am Mine is. I love that moment too

[Kevin Davis]

I like all of these too, but agree that "Breath" takes the cake, and agree that the bridge is what pushes it into the stratosphere. One of my favorites from the Ten era.

[Brett]

It's weird to me that Stip criticizes Riot Act for being low energy and then has one of its most plodding numbers as his favorite. "Down" is light-hearted Americana that I've never felt all that strongly about. "Breath" is the kind of soaring anthem that was fairly common in the early days of the band, but it has a certain kind of bright feeling today I've always enjoyed. None of these are favorites, but "Breath" is the one I like most.

[stip]

It's weird to me that Stip criticizes Riot Act for being low energy and then has one of its most plodding numbers as his favorite. "Down" is light-hearted Americana that I've never felt all that strongly about. "Breath" is the kind of soaring anthem that was fairly common in the early days of the band, but it has a certain kind of bright feeling today I've always enjoyed. None of these are favorites, but "Breath" is the one I like most.

I have nothing against a plodding number per se. It's just when you add them all together things start to drag, especially in the second half of the record. And I am Mine also has that cathartic climax that re-contextualizes everything that came before

[epilogue]

I Am Mine
Down
Breath

But I love all three for different reasons. Very different songs, all.

[Bammer]

I Am Mine …. among my fave PJ lyrics.

[4/5]

I am Mine deserves better than this.