Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[lecherouslittlestump]

speaking for the UK (as an elected representative), a lot of casual fans (and otherwise) here seem to be boycotting this tour because for them, Pearl Jam are still synonymous with fighting Ticketmaster and they've noped out; can't blame 'em really; that, plus the general UK fandom has fallen off over the years, it really is just a faithfull few now

Shocked they booked Tottenham stadium. There's no way they're a stadium band in the UK, and the fact they're heavily discounting tickets is proof.

They're not Green Day, RHCP or Foo Fighters - 90s bands who maintained their popularity well into the 00s and 10s.

[Ms Harmless]

speaking for the UK (as an elected representative), a lot of casual fans (and otherwise) here seem to be boycotting this tour because for them, Pearl Jam are still synonymous with fighting Ticketmaster and they've noped out; can't blame 'em really; that, plus the general UK fandom has fallen off over the years, it really is just a faithfull few now

Shocked they booked Tottenham stadium. There's no way they're a stadium band in the UK, and the fact they're heavily discounting tickets is proof.

They're not Green Day, RHCP or Foo Fighters - 90s bands who maintained their popularity well into the 00s and 10s.

true, all three of those other bands are bigger here

[stip]

Was discussing Pearl Jam over lunch and the idea came up that, whatever one thinks of Gigaton, it doesn't have the same number of potential classics that Dark Matter does. Setting Sun, Waiting for Stevie, and Upper Hand have all been embraced heavily by fandom and played very well live to boot. From my perspective, they hit in a way that Gigaton's best songs don't. That's not even to mention other tracks. For instance, comparing song 2: I know a lot of people here really enjoy Super Blood Wolf Moon, but to me, React,Respond just feels more visceral and in line with a history of hard, edgy fast numbers rather than the spritzy punk numbers (of which SBWM is at least somewhat adjacent). I am not trying to disparage Gigaton- it is a completely different type of album. I envision it being somewhat lost live, though, and I don't think the same will happen with DM.

gigaton is certainly a more vibesy/cerebral record (which is not the same as smart). a bunch of those songs would be harder to fully translate live though some like QE and Retrograde really work great

[lecherouslittlestump]

My sense is that outside of RM, Gigaton is not highly regarded within the fanbase. Certainly not compares to Dark Matter.

[VinylGuy]

I think Gigaton is fairly beloved in the pj community but DM was an “instant classic”.
Also Gigaton suffered from the band didn’t really playing it live.

[digster]

I'm not sure for me there's ever been much correlation between the songs the band consistently plays and what their best songs are. Some of my favorite songs of theirs are ones they play all the time, but there's others that would be in my top ten that get one play per tour, if that.

[stip]

My sense is that outside of RM, Gigaton is not highly regarded within the fanbase. Certainly not compares to Dark Matter.

in some of the other spaces ive seen RM was a bit more into Gigaton than they were. utterly unscientific observation

[RockPusher]

I'm glad we have Gigaton, exactly as it is. I'm also glad we didn't get Gigaton 2, but instead got something very different as the next album. As long as the quality doesn't dip, I like it when Pearl Jam changes things up.

[stip]

gigaton is still excellent and i still loves it very very much

[VinylGuy]

I'm glad we have Gigaton, exactly as it is. I'm also glad we didn't get Gigaton 2, but instead got something very different as the next album. As long as the quality doesn't dip, I like it when Pearl Jam changes things up.

agreed, and they always did until LB. Thats the only one were i was like...mmm dude this sounds and feel like something they already done before.

[Kalevi]

PJ is always responding (or reacting) to their last record. Diving deeper into it or getting away from it. I like DM but hope they don't dive deeper in (more soaring lyrics).

[Birds in Hell]

I was pretty surprised they still had something like Gigaton in them, even if it has flaws taken as a whole. It's one of their best sounding records ever and the songs (for once) felt like they just meandered to conclusion on their own logic, not being either abruptly cut short or shoehorned into a self-consciously 'big' ending.

I'd hoped it was a sign of more good things to come but obviously not. Dark Matter is OK, it's not their worst record by any stretch, but it sounds genuinely pretty terrible and I don't think it's any gigantic leap forwards in terms of song-writing. The band sound pretty keen to go back to the well with Wotman too, so not much hope they're about to bunker down in the warehouse again with Josh Evans for months in rainy Seattle and come up with more something more experimental (comparatively speaking).

[warehouse]

it never sounded like they "buckled down" with evans. more like they came and went as they pleased. the watt sessions seemed like they were pretty focused.

[RockPusher]

shoehorned into a self-consciously 'big' ending.

I will call BS on this criticism forever and always. Ten is full of big endings. Vs is full of big endings. Big endings were a staple of early Pearl Jam, and it's obvious the band loves playing big endings when they play live. That is the JAM part of Pearl Jam.

Honestly, after Avocado, big endings were the thing I was missing most. I didn't realize that until I finally got a proper one or several on Gigaton. Then they went to town on Dark Matter, thank the heavens!

I've heard people say that the double-time ending on Upper Hand feels out of place or whatever, but if you listen to 70s hard rock, which is an absolutely HUGE influence on PJ, it is chock full of moments like that. Specifically, bands like The Who. What we are hearing on Dark Matter is the band having maximum fun in their sandbox, and I am 100% here for it!

[RockPusher]

it never sounded like they "buckled down" with evans. more like they came and went as they pleased. the watt sessions seemed like they were pretty focused.

I agree completely, and you are speaking to the strengths and weaknesses of both records. The perfect late-career Pearl Jam album is probably somewhere in the middle of the two albums, with some weird meanderings a la Gigaton and some focused soaring, tight rock n' roll a la Dark Matter.

[epilogue]

Gigaton is way better than Dark Matter. But I'm over the moon that we have both!

[hlniv]

Let's just all be glad there has been a solid course reversal after the Backspacer->Lightning Bolt era, which took like 10 years to get through.

Also I'm enjoying the boots from this tour more than any since the '06 tour

[Monkey_Driven]

Let's just all be glad there has been a solid course reversal after the Backspacer->Lightning Bolt era, which took like 10 years to get through.

Also I'm enjoying the boots from this tour more than any since the '06 tour

Amen.

[stip]

shoehorned into a self-consciously 'big' ending.

I will call BS on this criticism forever and always. Ten is full of big endings. Vs is full of big endings. Big endings were a staple of early Pearl Jam, and it's obvious the band loves playing big endings when they play live. That is the JAM part of Pearl Jam.

Honestly, after Avocado, big endings were the thing I was missing most. I didn't realize that until I finally got a proper one or several on Gigaton. Then they went to town on Dark Matter, thank the heavens!

I've heard people say that the double-time ending on Upper Hand feels out of place or whatever, but if you listen to 70s hard rock, which is an absolutely HUGE influence on PJ, it is chock full of moments like that. Specifically, bands like The Who. What we are hearing on Dark Matter is the band having maximum fun in their sandbox, and I am 100% here for it!

big endings are an essential part of the pearl jam stew. At least my favorite flavor. And they always feel organic to me. I am glad to see them return. Honestly their absence was what always felt artificial - like they were editing their instincts. It's one of the things Dark matter absolutely got right, and why it feels so successfully live.

[digster]

Dark Matter definitely benefits from that approach not being a well they've gone back to that often. I don't think it works on every song, but it works on most, and something like Waiting For Stevie is improved by the fact that there haven't been 20 other rehashes of that throughout their career.