Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[Strat]

Not sure i can inch it above Binaural but its definitely best since Binaural.

lol

why is this funny to you

come on man

yea, we get it, you love riot act production!

[VinylGuy]

Vs
No code
Binaural
Gigaton
Dark matter
Yield
Ten
ST
Vitalogy
Riot act
Backspacer
LB

[Strat]

Dark Matter
Gigaton
Binaural
Yield
Vitalogy
Backfacer
No Code
VS
Lightning Bolt
S/T
Riot Act
Ten

[Strat]

No im just kidding

[EBowie]

I'm incapable of definitively ranking the albums but I do know for sure that Backspacer and Lightning Bolt are the bottom 2 for me.

[Birds in Hell]

For me, it's a worse album than Gigaton (or Riot Act, for that matter) but better than either Backspacer or Lightning Bolt.

It really sounds terrible, however. Bland, loud modern production.

Barring any future remasters, I'll probably never listen to the studio recordings again.

[McParadigm]

I'm incapable of definitively ranking the albums but I do know for sure that Backspacer and Lightning Bolt are the bottom 2 for me.

Preferences are in a continual state of evolution….but for the spot I’m at right now in my life, I never feel compelled to go back and listen to S/T or Backspacer. I’ve never cared for LB, so that one is pretty consistent.

I haven’t spent a lot of time returning to Binaural or Riot Act in the last 10 years, either. I still appreciate them in the way that I always have: as flawed, perseverant, and occasionally brilliant works by one of the best bands of all time, captured while in a state of flux and struggle. But it isn’t ground that I feel a great urge to return to on a regular basis. I give them each a spin every few years or so.

I think they are hindered for me by the fact that the journey they undertook ultimately had such an unsatisfying conclusion (they were followed by three desperate and retreating ‘pick me’ records). I also think Riot Act is 9 good Pearl Jam songs packaged with 5 Eddie Vedder solo works, which have a very different personality and don’t really belong with those other tracks.

Every time I get caught up in the things those other songs are doing, it switches over to an ‘Eddie Vedder as a songwriter’ piece. That changeover consistently feels more reductive to me than it does on any other record that heavily features solo Ed stuff. I don’t mean that those songs are worse or less than, just that they don’t feel ‘of a piece’ with the other material. He was doing so much solo writing in that era, and I wish he had made a solo record with those songs (and things like Sleeping By Myself) instead. I wish the band had done more communal work for Riot Act.

I’m also not saying any of these are bad records. I think this band always wants to believe that it might make a record that changes your life, and I think that ambition has a certain level of provocative reach baked in. The older I get, the less compelling I find music that aspires to anything less.

So that’s where this record becomes probably my favorite since Yield.

[digster]

At this point, it feels pretty settled in for me behind Binaural, Riot Act and Gigaton as far as their 2000s-era material goes. But their second best record in 20+ years is still really admirable, and it significantly exceeded the expectations I had after hearing the first two singles. There's some songs (RR, Wreckage, Upper Hand) I still find myself going back to really frequently.

[Monkey_Driven]

At this point, it feels pretty settled in for me behind Binaural, Riot Act and Gigaton as far as their 2000s-era material goes. But their second best record in 20+ years is still really admirable, and it significantly exceeded the expectations I had after hearing the first two singles.

This is where I land too.

[Tj]

It is today in my top 3., but only a collection of tracks put in great sequence. I would be more likely to work around the house or drive to this , but not with headphones. I think it will hold this spot for s good while. However as isn't in the top five because of the overall sound of the album. It's not bad at all though just bland production and mixing. Overall I put it in the top six. I will probably mainly be listening to these on boots anyway.

[dimejinky99]

Wouldn’t mind but it’s the worst three song run opener on any album.

They’re trying to do vs and they fucked it. Then a shite in hiding cover to follow


This album Fucking sucks

RM really needed this energy following the album’s release when people were weeping with joy.

i didnt wanna be a thief of joy.. its so cool seeing people loving it..too bad its crap.

[dimejinky99]

Getaway was a great opener.

Getaway is so bad. Like, bottom 10 bad.

yeah. username is certified and confirmed.

[dimejinky99]

Wouldn’t mind but it’s the worst three song run opener on any album.

They’re trying to do vs and they fucked it. Then a shite in hiding cover to follow


This album Fucking sucks

RM really needed this energy following the album’s release when people were weeping with joy.

I like this album a lot, but at times things may have been a bit too cheerful. Could always use some darkness amongst the light.

wait til you get to riot act!

[dimejinky99]

Wouldn’t mind but it’s the worst three song run opener on any album.

They’re trying to do vs and they fucked it. Then a shite in hiding cover to follow


This album Fucking sucks

RM really needed this energy following the album’s release when people were weeping with joy.

I like this album a lot, but at times things may have been a bit too cheerful. Could always use some darkness amongst the light.

Binaural has the worst 1-2-3 start to any album, hands down.

SoF and RR are mediocre/ decent - but Wreckage is great.

jesus christ...
the pain of this....
bryan adams and bon jovi are right there bro..

[dimejinky99]

its so much better than both of those records

honest question..

why the need to rank? it all?

makes no sense whatsoever

lets rank the best gap between pj records.

it would be about as useful

never understood it. ranking is utter bollox.

[liebzz]

its so much better than both of those records

honest question..

why the need to rank? it all?

makes no sense whatsoever

lets rank the best gap between pj records.

it would be about as useful

never understood it. ranking is utter bollox.

Why rank it when you can crank it!? Rawk on!

[Release_Me]

I think Dark Matter is pretty settled as no. 4 or 5, for me. Maybe tied for 4th place with Yield.

Top Tier:

Ten, Vitalogy, Vs.

Second Tier:

Yield/Dark Matter

Third Tier:

Gigaton, No Code, Binaural, Riot Act, S/T

Fourth Tier:

Backspacer, Lightning Bolt


Note: Everything except the Fourth Tier is very good to great.

[Kevin Davis]

I also think Riot Act is 9 good Pearl Jam songs packaged with 5 Eddie Vedder solo works, which have a very different personality and don’t really belong with those other tracks.

What are the five you're thinking of -- "Can't Keep," "Love Boat Captain," "I Am Mine," "Thumbing My Way," and "Green Disease" I am guessing? Or "Arc" maybe?

I really like what the band brings to all of these, especially "Can't Keep" -- the uke version is nice but, much like they did with "Sleeping By Myself," the band transformed it into something surprising and much different from the solo version. No other song in the PJ catalog sounds like it, and the tone it establishes for Riot Act right at the beginning of the record couldn't be established by a different song from the same batch. Perhaps if they'd taken an entirely different approach to recording the album, something similar would have materialized independently, or maybe the record would have been differently defined in a way that would feel equally compelling to me, but without the ability to say such things for sure, I'm glad "Can't Keep" exists as it does.

What the band brings to the other songs is less dramatic perhaps, but (to me anyway) it's enough to claim them. I think a lot of what I like about the No Code through Riot Act period is that sense of everyone's songs having a place in the mix, of everyone having the space able to singularly direct a creative work, as opposed to being expected to dump fragments of ideas into a collective melting pot and see what bubbles up; to me the way those varying compositional voices (Ed's included) play off each other is ultimately what makes those records feel like the dynamic things they are. In a Dark Matter-type environment, and with that that all-for-one-and-one-for-all writing style, you would lose songs like "Get Right" and "You Are" and "All or None" and "Cropduster" and "Help Help" and "Ghost," and maybe those would be welcome omissions for some, but if I'm honest those are the flavors and spices that have kept Pearl Jam at the fore of my listening for 30 years. The more communal writing environment always and immediately favors Ed's compositional voice, because while there is a sense of collective democracy in the music, where everyone's voice matters but only to a point, (most likely) all the lyrics and vocal melodies are coming from him. He's great at it, and his efforts certainly help make Dark Matter a really strong record. But the stuff that's missing...well, I miss it. And I think the reason that "Ed solo song" template feels so prevalent is because he's the only band member whose voice as a solitary writer has been allowed to continue dominating records beyond that middle period, such that now we're retroactively going back to songs like "Thumbing My Way" and "I Am Mine" and hearing foreshadowings of "Just Breathe" and "Future Days" in them. But they didn't feel like "Ed solo songs" at the time, and in my opinion they still don't in the context of the record they're on, whose one creative through-line perhaps is this concept of "solo" songs (by all the members, save for Mike), brought to the band to be seen through to fruition.

To that end, there is a quasi-White Album feel to that album, and really to all their stuff from 1996-2003, and a vulnerability in that openness to letting in some odd and unusual lights, that really speaks to and compels me. I connect with the sense of "lost" on those albums more than I connect with the sense of "found" on Dark Matter. I know better than to assume that they could just fall effortlessly back into that space if they wanted to, and if the way they're working now works for them, then that's what I want -- if they go out on 2-3 more albums in the style and at the quality level of Dark Matter, I'd be incredibly happy with that. But I'm also glad that it's not the approach they've taken all along, because I think we'd have missed out on a lot of great stuff.

[guitar_davey]

i didnt wanna be a thief of joy.. its so cool seeing people loving it..too bad I THINK its crap.

[McParadigm]

What are the five you're thinking of -- "Can't Keep," "Love Boat Captain," "I Am Mine," "Thumbing My Way," and "Green Disease"

You’ve got it.

I really like what the band brings to all of these, especially "Can't Keep" -- the uke version is nice but, much like they did with "Sleeping By Myself," the band transformed it into something surprising and much different from the solo version.

Can’t Keep is the only one of those tracks that feels of a piece with the other Riot Act material, to me. I considered separating it from the others, as the one Ed song I would leave on the album…but it was already a long post and I didn’t think it was worth getting into the minutiae.

What the band brings to the other songs is less dramatic perhaps, but (to me anyway) it's enough to claim them.

I’m not talking about whether or not the band finds space to mark the songs. They’re Pearl Jam. They can play Neil Young songs and Victoria Williams songs and Dead Boys songs and sorta make them all into Pearl Jam songs.

Think of it more like: they could have made Try or Long Way from Earthling into a Pearl Jam song, but that still wouldn’t have made them belong on Dark Matter. That’s how I feel about Thumbing My Way, too.

The Ed stuff on Riot Act is musically straightforward and thematically insular. The band stuff on the record is musically expansive and thematically textured. If you retracked the album to put the band stuff on one side and the Ed stuff all together on its own, I think that other than Can’t Keep…the Ed stuff feels like a different record. And it’s very much a “him” journey with them playing on it, where the rest of the record isn’t.

I think a lot of what I like about the No Code through Riot Act period is that sense of everyone's songs having a place in the mix, of everyone having the space able to singularly direct a creative work, as opposed to being expected to dump fragments of ideas into a collective melting pot and see what bubbles up

I too like the period of solo songwriting, and I agree that things get carried in that wouldn’t otherwise. I also think you’re espousing a romanticized view of that approach, especially with white album comparisons, but we all romanticize the things we love.

But I’m not arguing against an approach. I’m sayin that on this one record, Ed’s writing is very distinct and focused and of itself, while the band compositions are very much something else entirely.

I’ll also confess that, almost to a song, I find the non-Ed songs to be the most captivating ones.

But I don’t dislike his songs, and I’m not saying I want them removed for quality reasons. I just don’t think they feel as much like they are of a piece with the rest of the record as they feel like they are of a piece with themselves. They run in the opposite direction. Their personality is distinct from the personality being exuded by those other songs. It’s a valid direction to run in, but it just feels like a different record to me.