Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[Rob]

Also is there a album that has Ed reacting to his own feelings about his own life . It is usually the outside reacting to him or him reacting to it. Or to at most his circumstances. This is very different he seams to really presenting this inside out.

I think it ties into the observations people had that there aren’t many word salads here. Less thinking, more feeling.

[WaitingForBluey]

It’s been a journey from the metal door leak to today. Congrats to everyone who made it.

https://vocaroo.com/1gOtuLFjam5X

Perfect! I was just looking for this. One last listen for the record books

Holy crap, first of all... that sounds horrendous, what were we thinking?

2nd of all, Upper Hand comes before Won't Tell! Further proof that this was staged and pre-edited, ha!

[Strat]

Man, i spilled my guts and got bottom paged. Dealing with this in therapy tomorrow

[stip]

It’s frustrating that for all the greatness this album offers, they still allow for some of their worst tendencies: the speedy punker that’ll give Ed a stroke, the syrupy song that should’ve been on a solo album, no regard for production. Just be great. Is that so hard?

Yield had the same tropes, spritzy rocker in MFC, and syrupy song aka Wishlist and is unabashedly loved by the fans. So I dont see the problem in that.

Wishlist is not syrupy like Something special. Not even close.

Wishlist is .....subtle. Insecure. Beautiful. Restrained

I love something special, but not even the same thing.

(if that is what your comparison was)

We all love Wishlist, but lets not pretend is not cheesy af.

wishlist is sentimental, but I think that means something else. Cheesy has a winking syrupyness to it, and Wishlist is deathly sincere

Something Special seems deeply sincere as well.

sure, it is. but its playful and leaning into dad joke energy at the same time (‘and not cuz its my job…)’.

I get what you guys are saying, but given the context of the album and that in some parts of this song, you can hear some genuine worry and anxiety about the future, I hesitate to call it cheesy. The dad-isms can be a way to deliver a message in a way that doesn’t reveal fear. I haven’t really heard this as playful, but rather a dad being gentle with his daughters. Maybe this is the same thing and our definitions of cheesy are different. Dunno.

I don't know that we're disagreeing too much. I think Something Special is sincere. I think it comes from a place of worry. I like how you phrased it above. But I think this is all hiding underneath the surface of a fun, playful, intentionally hokey song. The layers make it interesting. I just don't think Wishlist is a good comparison. Even something like Future Days isn't. I'm trying to envision what is. Not much from the primary studio catalog

[stip]

Ten ----> Avocado were always the untouchables. or at least the albums that fit within a frame of "pearl jam at their best".

Many of them might fight for attention in the rankings. Self titled has dropped for me but even still part of the upper echelon of PJ. For me, that period of time was kind of untouchable and the absolute prime of my fandom.

Backspacer, LB, Gigaton....i can always find enjoyment. Gigaton as good as it is, never cracked that upper echelon, though was a clear favorite above LB and backspacer. It was a reminder of the band i fell in love with and the album came out at the perfect time for me. But it just didnt .....it didnt have the legs.

Self Titled was so exciting at the time. It made sense. It hasn't aged as well for me but i still consider it as part of that PJ prime period. A hell of a run.

Ten through Riot Act.....depending on my mood and the day....i could argue any of those to be in my top 3 or 5. Rankings would always change.

What am i getting at?

I dont want to rank albums, especially since technically DM hasn't even been released yet.

However, i do firmly believe this album can fight for space with the first 6. Easily can fight for space. No, it will never crack the top 3 or 4. It just doenst work like that at our age.

But, im just fucking thrilled that this album is clearly a legit offering from the band i fell in love with so long ago. A cohesive artistic statement. NOt a collection of songs that they feel represent what they think pearl jam should be. "heres an ed song, this is the jeff song"

This is the feeling i got from following this band since i was 10 years old and wondering what the next album might sound like. That is so exciting because it came out sounding nothing like i anticipated. I cant say that about the last 15 years. We all kind of settled into what pearl jam was at this point in their career. We accepted it for what it was.

This skirted expectations, like they used to do every release for their first 13 years of being a band.

I love it but i cant rank it and i dont care.

I like what you had to say at the bottom of the previous page

[stip]

It’s been a journey from the metal door leak to today. Congrats to everyone who made it.

https://vocaroo.com/1gOtuLFjam5X

Perfect! I was just looking for this. One last listen for the record books

Holy crap, first of all... that sounds horrendous, what were we thinking?

2nd of all, Upper Hand cokes before Won't Tell! Further proof that this was staged and pre-edited, ha!

this was a delightful revisit

[WaitingForBluey]

Man, i spilled my guts and got bottom paged. Dealing with this in therapy tomorrow

Haha, fuckin Rob

[Strat]

shut up stip

[Anders]

Going to listen to the official album (via Apple Music now).

My local LP and CD stores have the album, but I do think the prices are higher than ever. $25 for the cd, $35 for the cd with a blu-ray disc, $53 for the LP (on a new album discount, regular price $58). I also never bought Give Way. Let’s say I buy the Dark Matter cd and lp, and a Give Way LP. That’s at least $100 right there.

And here I am already listening to the album(s) digitally.

[WaitingForBluey]

Strat, I'm with you on not wanting to rank albums anymore

But where I digress is, S/T was the height of my fandom but it was also the first time I realized that PJ was moving towards Pj 2.0...

Dark Matter is the album that I so desperately was hoping that would be

[Gigalogy84]

I can honestly say I have never been so blown away after first listen to a new Pearl Jam album as I have with this.

You're not alone. From Wikipedia:

Dark Matter received a score of 84 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on nine critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Ultimate Classic Rock said "With cutting lyrics and slicing riffs, Eddie Vedder and the band delivered their most satisfying album since the '90s." Uncut called it "a fretful and ferocious record, lyrically much preoccupied with things having ended or appearing about to end, but musically much more blaze of glory than any kind of funeral pyre".

Oh yeah…I think this is the best since Yield for sure.

[WaitingForBluey]

Going to listen to the official album (via Apple Music now).

My local LP and CD stores have the album, but I do think the prices are higher than ever. $25 for the cd, $35 for the cd with a blu-ray disc, $53 for the LP (on a new album discount, regular price $58). I also never bought Give Way. Let’s say I buy the Dark Matter cd and lp, and a Give Way LP. That’s at least $100 right there.

And here I am already listening to the album(s) digitally.

Buddy, if you need me to Venmo you $25 for a CD just let me know... in today's economy that's just like a working week of coffee

[Anders]

Going to listen to the official album (via Apple Music now).

My local LP and CD stores have the album, but I do think the prices are higher than ever. $25 for the cd, $35 for the cd with a blu-ray disc, $53 for the LP (on a new album discount, regular price $58). I also never bought Give Way. Let’s say I buy the Dark Matter cd and lp, and a Give Way LP. That’s at least $100 right there.

And here I am already listening to the album(s) digitally.

Buddy, if you need me to Venmo you $25 for a CD just let me know... in today's economy that's just like a working week of coffee

No thank you. Very kind of you to offer. I do have a healthy economy, but I still think prices have gone up too much.

[Homeboyd]

Okay here is a ranking an hour prior of my first proper album (I did not track down the better leak today)

1. Waiting for Stevie
2. Setting Sum
3. Scared of Fear
4. Dark Matter
5. React/Respond
6. Wreckage
7. Running
8. Got To Give
9. Something Special
10. Upper Hand
11. Wont Tell


I have not spent enough time with 8/10/11 yet (any of them really but especially those 3) so that placement is tenuous

Okay, one of my buddies somehow got 12 of us together tonight for bowling that don't get to see each other enough because of, well, life, and it was a blast. And of course someone ordered shots because that's just what happens. So I'm good and buzzed for the album release.

Anyways, I said all that to say this, Stip's reviews are probably the reason I keep coming back here but this list is BONKERS lol. Upper Hand and Won't Tell are top tier...can't wait to read the review...

[Hypnos]

...And nobody asked me how I feel. I got 16 minutes to go...

[WaitingForBluey]

For the record, when the clock strikes midnight hear in the Eastern US, is it too much to ask for us to get one hour with no discussion of production or sound quality? So we can just have some fun.

Or is that like asking my ass not to fart?

[blueviper]

Only 15 minutes…

[Anders]

Starting the album right now.

[smallest_oceans]

Strat, I'm with you on not wanting to rank albums anymore

But where I digress is, S/T was the height of my fandom but it was also the first time I realized that PJ was moving towards Pj 2.0...

Dark Matter is the album that I so desperately was hoping that would be

I agree with both of you here.

I think this is why so many of us have had such an emotional response... it reminds us of an earlier time when they world was still unknown and we were discovering music. Here, Pearl Jam have made a record that honors the past whilst still resonating with where their fans are at later stages of life. They've threaded a needle. It doesn't sound forced.

And all that was needed was getting them in a room together. Maybe they had to go through the recent albums to get to here.

[WaitingForBluey]

...And nobody asked me how I feel. I got 16 minutes to go...

How DO you feeeeeelllll???

Can you heal? Can you feel?