Post Random Pearl Jam-Related Thoughts You Have

[stip]

I love sirens. All those songs, really

[VinylGuy]

Future Days is awful specially the studio version

[epilogue]

I do and it's weird that you don't

YIKES

You're too far gone. That's downright embarrassing.

Nowhere near as embarrassing as not liking Sirens...

Unreal

Sirens sucks.

Stabbed right in the back. Brutal.

[lvc]

In whatever order you want.... Awful? Or brilliant?

Just Breathe - Overplayed. This is the Forrest Gump of Pearl Jam songs. It's actually good but played so much it's a cliche.
Sirens - could have been good, but the guitar solo didn't lead to anything interesting after
Future Days - didn't even import to iTunes from the CD. Belongs in a diary somewhere.
Parachutes - wonderful song, one of my favorites on Avocado
Wreckage - it's fine
Retrograde - it's sub-fine but not awful
Won't Tell - it's fine
Sleeping By Myself - the lesser of the two converted uke tracks, but pretty much ok
The End - liked it at the time but it's not a Pearl Jam song, it's an Eddie Vedder song.
Come Back - really want to like it but it ends just as it gets going. Take Mike off the leash sooner. Also, can't not be reminded of Boys II Men when I hear it.

[mikejasond]

Just Breathe - Pretty good, a bit overplayed but it's a good song, just not really my thing

Sirens - Great. I really like this one for its honesty and seeing Vedder and what he's preoccupied with at this point in his life. It's cheesy in it's production sure, but I really like it and while some live versions are meh I've heard at least one really good one. The only great song to come out of lightning bolt IMO.

Future Days - Weakest on this list, but not horrible or anything, just kind of boring. He's had better songs like this and this one is just ok. One of the more boring pearl jam songs in fact.

Parachutes - Love it.

Wreckage - Love it, but IMO live it doesn't really work for me. The best parts of the song don't really come across that well live. This is one that actually needs the album production (a rare thing for Pearl Jam)

Retrograde - Pretty good

Won't Tell - Pretty good, I don't like it all that much on the album but think it's one of the best live from the album, so that gives it a big upgrade. I really like it live.

Sleeping By Myself - Love it

The End - Love it

Come Back - Love it

So in summary all are very good besides Future Days.

[stip]

the man's got solid taste, folks

[Matters]

The End and Won’t Tell are the best for me by far. The rest I’ve enjoyed at times but never crave. Least favorites are Come Back and Wreckage. Just Breathe is fun to play but I never feel like listening to it.

[liebzz]

Just Breathe
Sirens
Future Days
Parachutes
Wreckage
Retrograde
Won't Tell
Sleeping By Myself
The End
Come Back

In whatever order you want.... Awful? Or brilliant?

Wreckage - Brilliant
Retrograde - Brilliant
Parachutes - Brilliant
Won’t Tell - Brilliant
Come Back - Good
The End - Good
Sleeping By Myself - Okay
Sirens - Okay
Future Days - awful

[96583UP]

Eddie with the Doors

haven't listened to this in ages

was wonderful

[96583UP]

[96583UP]

[96583UP]

[96583UP]

robby krieger kinda looks like mike mccready

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Birds in Hell]

Just Breathe - Regrettable the band/Ed were convinced by Brendan to expand Tuolumne into this treacly nothingness. It's not like the band lacks talent now, it's more that their taste radar has been seriously broken for about 20 years and this is a prime example (among several in this bunch).

Sirens - God, this is terrible. It felt, even at the time, like the band had so much fun playing Pink Floyd's Mother that they decided to come up with something vaguely similar. Well, it didn't work, it's like underheated Bon Jovi combined with some of Ed's worst lyrical clunkers.

Future Days - What can I even say about this one? Brendan's piano accompaniment is excruciating - again, the total absence of good taste. It sounds so glossy, like it was pulled out of a 90s radio ballad. None of it makes sense.

Parachutes - This song is way too good for this list, just a lovely composition and performance, everybody doing their job admirably.

Wreckage - Surprisingly, I still like this one quite a bit, but I might feel differently with some more distance. It's not as bad as some on this list, I can say that much.

Retrograde - This one's a dark horse favourite of mine, I really like it and hope it doesn't disappear forever from the band's setlists. It has a lilting, almost quasi-REM vibe in the main part of the song that I really enjoy. I can take or leave the outro portion.

Won't Tell - A mixed bag but this one deserved more sympathetic production than the sugary gloss given to it by Wotman.

Sleeping By Myself - Horrendous. I'll always be convinced this was Brendan/the band's misguided attempt to cobble together something in the 'millenial wedding'/'stomp clap hey' idiom. I think this is the single worst piece of music the band has released. I don't have any enthusiasm for Ed's solo endeavours bleeding into the band's work either.

The End - It's fine, I guess, but should've been kept away from a Pearl Jam record.

Come Back - Terrible song, turgid melody and chords. There's no life or excitement or anything interesting or ear-catching, just bland faux-soul.

[Ello Sailor]

Sirens - God, this is terrible.

Thank you. I try to have an open mind, but if someone likes/loves this song, I will no longer be able to trust them with anything. Taking out the trash, making dinner reservations, feeding the cat. You're done. Fuck off.

[McParadigm]

Almost exactly my feelings on all of those, except that I would speak more favorably of Won’t Tell and the final portion of Retrograde than that.

[oasisfan35]

Sirens - God, this is terrible.

Thank you. I try to have an open mind, but if someone likes/loves this song, I will no longer be able to trust them with anything. Taking out the trash, making dinner reservations, feeding the cat. You're done. Fuck off.

[stip]

Just Breathe - the chorus of this song has always felt overly saccharine for the quiet, gentle conceptualization of love in the verses, which I think are lovely. It's half a great song.

Sirens - I think Mike botches this solo, but there is room in my heart for power schmaltz as long as it is rare. I like the lyrics, I like the ornate melody, I think Eddie's performance is really good, and I do like the patient bombast in the song. I kinda love Sirens, though it's a song I love as a guilty pleasure - I won't argue it's a classic

Future Days - "Brendan's piano accompaniment is excruciating" - it really is. But I think there is a harvest time understated beauty to this, similar to Just Breathe, that I find compelling. A lot of these are songs that work really well for me in the context of the entire catalog, where in the overall sweep of pearl jam songs there is room for a wider emotional pallete. I wouldn't want to start here, but I can find space for it when I've already got a Black, Nothingman, etc. doing the heavy lifting. It would help if the phrase future days was more compelling.

Parachutes - Agree with Spenno. A lovely, suprising song, and parachutes is a great and underutilized metaphor, especially in a song that drifts along currents like this one does.

Wreckage - Still love this one. Still think it's overlong, but Eddie's vocal melody, lyrics, and the subtle nuance in his performance from verse to verse make this outstanding. it's one of my favorite extended set of verses in the catalog, maybe.

Retrograde - Feels similar to Sirens to a point. I like the sentiment, the lyrics are fine, and Mike's performance feels patiently big in an unhurried way. It's a satisfying listen until the amazing outro (which kills live, so huge). Its the moments of grandeur that they used to do effortlessly well, and then withheld from us really since Yield, until they return in most of of the songs on Dark Matter.

Won't Tell - I agree with Spenno that this one, a strong song with strong moments, would benefit from a slightly lighter touch. It always feels slightly out of place on the record no matter where I envision it. And this is not a subtle album, but if there's one song where the 'too loud' critique holds water for me, it's here.


Sleeping By Myself - I love this song so much. I love how jaunty it is, the juxtaposition between the upbeat music and the darker lyrics, the way it tries to be brave in the face of its sadness. It's like a smile that is about to break into tears, but is just holding on.

The End - This is a song I need to listen to only occasionally. It's powerful if I let it sneak up on me, but it's so up front in its emotion that it kind of wears itself out when it gets familiar.

Come Back - I like Come Back, but I think the harshness of S/T does this a little dirty. It doesn't fully lean into its soulfulness to really unlock the power of that format/style. But it's also too bound to it for the ways it deviates to fully land. It ends up being pretty good. But this is a song that wants to be great.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now