Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Binaural

[Norah]

[stip]

One of my favorite things about the 2000 tour setlists was the prevalent use of Breakerfall a the second song.

they were pretty lazy and predictable with those setlists back then, huh

Diversity is overrated.

i was just being hostile.

[stip]

i think the idea of LY as an opener is pretty interesting. Don't know that it would work, but it's interesting

[mikejasond]

Sleight of Hand: I'll admit, I don't even know how this song goes. Binaural is one of the albums I didn't listen to very much, and when I started to listen to it more, it was mostly to the streak from Light Years -> Of the Girl.

I'll get the lyrics out because it feels like a song that is mostly about those.

Hm...I do like how the aimless vocal melody fits the theme of the song, but I think this is something I'll have to listen to more times to judge. As I said, I really didn't even remember which song this was besides knowing a lot of people like it. I've listened to all of their albums many times besides this one and Riot Act.

I do think the placement for this song is right, because honestly it's very hard to digest, and any earlier in the album would probably have cut some momentum. It sort of serves as a first closer to me, with the next two a little interlude and epilogue.

I dunno, I think that this is put in the right place because it probably wouldn't fit anywhere else in the catalog, but I'm still at a place where I haven't really digested it enough yet to judge it. So no real comment. Besides that I like the "other siiiiiide" part.

[stip]

Although I don't like Sleight of Hand or Of the Girl that much, and flat out dislike Soon Forget, I will say that Binaural is maybe the only pearl jam record that feels like it is building to something in its second half. Even the songs I don't care for don't feel like afterthoughts shoved back there because where else are they gonna go.

Every other pearl jam record finds its second half a bit disjointed.

[VinylGuy]

I love Breakerfall...might be one of my favorite openers from PJ. And got nothing against God´s Dice..i just adore Matt´s drums on that one.
I feel these songs set the tone for the album just fine...in fact, Binaural might be their strongest album in terms of their songs having a uniform sound along with Vs.

[mikejasond]

Soon Forget: I like this song being here for no real reason. I don't know if it was a smart move or not. But I like it as a little cooldown song. I guess it's because Eddie sounds great with a ukulele and just his voice, but not for a half hour straight which made Ukulele Songs kind of weak to me, so I like getting little tastes of it at the tail ends of their albums. I liked Sleeping by Myself too.

All I know is when this song ends, I kind of wish there was another verse.

I think the ending structure of this album with Sleight of Hand -> Soon Forget -> Parting Ways works much better than No Code. It just has a more clear structure of Closer -> Interlude/Cooldown -> Epilogue. At least I think that's what No Code was trying to do? But putting two songs there on No Code made it not work very well and made me wonder why the album was still going.

Anyways, I know this is probably unpopular, but I like it even if it is just a little filler. I'd take filler like this over Aye Davanita any day.

[mikejasond]

Parting Ways: I like this song.

Very cool melody and those distorted guitar chords out of nowhere with the violins in the background makes a very cool effect. When Eddie finally comes in with "Driftin awaaaaaay" Im like 'yeahhhhh'. Just has a very overwhelming sound like a wave washing over you. I like it a lot. It seems to suit the tone set by Light Years and Nothing as It Seems. The only thing is it's not really one of their best album closers because Pearl Jam has had a lot of great closers. Actually a lot of amazing closers. This is probably actually one of the WORST ones, but it's still really good. I maybe just wish the VERY VERY end did something different than what it does. Maybe build even a little more before fading out or something. It feels a litttttle too abrupt.

Overall coming next

[stip]

151 posts is enough to know that Binaural is loved on this board to a degree far beyond its merits.

[digster]

The 'first three songs wreck the album' opinion is something I haven't ever really seen anywhere other than these boards. Even reviews I've read that weren't complimentary never point out the first three songs as being the nadir of the album. It's just interesting that that is easily the most common critique of the record here.

[mikejasond]

^To me it's just that the other parts of the album that AREN'T those songs are actually really great but they don't get the spotlight because of those three songs.

Overall:

I used to say that BInaural and Riot Act were by far the worst two albums, and a massive step below all the others.

The more I listened to Binaural the more I began to change my mind, and realized that when I stopped listening to the first three songs and setting the tone for a generic rocker album, and it slowly changed in my mind, I began to like it more.

This in my opinion isn't an album that should center around its five rockers (Breakerfall, God's Dice, Evacuation, Insignificance, Grievance) because when it does I think that this is an album in which the songs mostly sound the same and sort of grating and droning, and I mourn for Pearl Jam's old sound.

When it's a calm, chill, laid-back album centered around songs like Light Years, Thin Air, Nothing as It Seems, and Of the Girl....then I begin to really like what Binaural is.

I think the problem is they didn't commit to this enough. I think this should be like No Code and not really be a rocker album. Eddie at this point I think sounded better on the non-rockers, and those songs were the interesting ones from this. I like that the sound is sort of bouncy and calm, and yet it has that introspection of Riot Act more so than No Code did. With a little tweaking this really could have been one of the most focused Pearl Jam albums.

Insignificance and Grievance are the best of the rockers here, though neither of them measure up to the rockers on the past five albums and are diluted by being played after the three before them. Without those though, I do think they should stay, though to me they aren't really classics.

Personally I like Light Years or Of the Girl as the intro, we set the tone differently, and then from there on I like the album...and I think Sleight of Hand -> Soon Forget -> Parting Ways is a good ending, reminding me of the ending of No Code, done better (despite me not liking Sleight of Hand as much as Present Tense, one of the best songs in their catalog.) In addition, the Light Years -> Of the Girl streak is one of the best in their catalog. My two favorite songs are probably Thin Air and Of the Girl which are songs that have a unique sound which is very suited for Vedder's voice and which sadly isn't seen much again.

So basically, I like this album more than I thought I did, and think it would have been better received if it had been tweaked a bit to let the focus be on the high points of the album. I think the shortcomings on it are mostly the fault of the band. But there are definitely great songs and it falls just short to me of being a classic album like the others before it.

[---]

the songs mostly sound the same

do you even listen bro

[digster]

It's hard for me to see Evacuation, even if one feels it has faults, as a 'generic' rocker.

[mikejasond]

Also I just read Stip's write-ups, and you described the first three songs way better than I ever could. There's so much going on and yet...it's somehow boring and bland. I feel the exact same way.

[mikejasond]

the songs mostly sound the same

do you even listen bro

I think it's just they all have....gahhhhh....

I dunno how to describe this in a way that makes sense.

I think of Once and how dynamic it is.

To me, the rockers on this album are NANANANANANANANANANANA

That's all I hear is this constant droning banging on the same chords over and over and over again. I guess that's a punk sort of sound, but that to me is not at ALL what their other ones sounded like. They may not actually sound the same at a specific level, but listening just generally to me they do.

I guess Evacuation doesn't really do this but to me the songs are all about how they make me feel, and it makes me feel exactly like the other two make me feel - nothing.

[mikejasond]

And hate me all you want since I know people here don't much like Avocado but I think they didn't recover from this until Life Wasted and World Wide Suicide, both of which sound energized again and which I love.

[---]

oh

[---]

well then

[mikejasond]

Im not a sophisticated music reviewer or anything. Im really just giving my opinion, as it comes to me. Probably I should analyze the lyrics and things like that, but I'll admit I'm not sure what some of these songs are about. Eventually I'll delve deeper into them, but I'm not really looking to analyze. If the song grabs me, it grabs me. A song like Black, or Elderly Woman, or Release, I know all the lyrics because the songs connect with me, and make me interested in delving deeper. Corduroy as well. Sirens too.

But the song has to sound good first and foremost. He could be singing the deepest and best lyrics in the catalog on this album and I probably wouldn't notice for some of them because they didn't grab me enough to pay more attention at a deeper level. A song like the ones I mentioned above made me say, wow this sounds really great, what's he singing about? But I didn't really get that much here so I haven't looked too deeply into most of these songs.

Reading Stip's reviews does make me more interested in looking up the lyrics to Insignificance though.

Anyways, like I said, I'm no stip, I'm just a fan who decided to give my opinions as I listened for better or worse.

[---]

i like your style, mikejasond