Match BD: Ole vs. Around the Bend

[stip]

Match BD

[CopperTom]

Ole is one of their worst songs. Period.

[stip]

I've come around on Around the Bend a little bit. I like the second half of Ole more than any part of around the bend, but I sure don't like the first half of it.

[chewm]

Around the Bend.

[Iholdthepain]

Hate Ole', Love the lullaby.

[Birds in Hell]

I still like Olé but Around the Bend is fantastic.

[WtOB?]

around the bend, obviously.

[EJ]

I think we know who won't be voting for Olé.

[stip]

i wish future days was up against around the bend so I could have voted for it

[McParadigm]

Around the Bend is top tier Pearl Jam, just for the goddamn performance. So nice to have that too-rare exemplar of subtle craft and quiet nuanced musicianship.

[stip]

It's moved up from a song I flat out didn't like to a song I kinda like over the years. I think KD's championing it at one point made me look a little closer, and, unlike In the Moonlight, I saw things that I didn't really notice before.


Also, they've been around long enough and the catalog is deep enough that I have an easier time appreciating niche pieces now (and I don't mean that in a derogatory or diminishing way) than I once did. It's why I enjoy Mankind a lot more than I used to, as well.

[McParadigm]

I think we know who won't be voting for Olé.

I rewatch this every time it gets posted. And I keep looking...like, really earnestly looking...for something indicative that I might have missed. Something that would explain such an old man hissy fit beyond "not an ideal crowd."

[McParadigm]

It's why I enjoy Mankind a lot more than I used to, as well.

I'll never understand anyone not liking Mankind.

[EJ]

It's why I enjoy Mankind a lot more than I used to, as well.

I'll never understand anyone not liking Mankind.

I like it now. But, when this was released, I really hated it. Mostly because I thought it was just taking up space where a superior song should be. Just seemed like a throwaway track fitting of a b-side. I still expected big, important (whatever that means) music from the band in 1996. Oh, and I really wasn't prepared for anyone other than Ed to sing a Pearl Jam song.

[McParadigm]

It's why I enjoy Mankind a lot more than I used to, as well.

I'll never understand anyone not liking Mankind.

I like it now. But, when this was released, I really hated it. Mostly because I thought it was just taking up space where a superior song should be. Just seemed like a throwaway track fitting of a b-side. I still expected big, important (whatever that means) music from the band in 1996. Oh, and I really wasn't prepared for anyone other than Ed to sing a Pearl Jam song.

I think my entire reaction to No Code when it first dropped was something like "Ha ha, weird." Not "Oh fuck me this band has reached its zenith," or "In 2014 I'll still be fetishing over this thing while the band does its best to forget it ever happened." So I grok someone thinking "there should have been something better to put there." It's more when someone totally dismisses it or acts like its inclusion is offensive somehow that I am at a loss. I feel the same way about I'm Open.

[stip]

It's why I enjoy Mankind a lot more than I used to, as well.

I'll never understand anyone not liking Mankind.

I like it now. But, when this was released, I really hated it. Mostly because I thought it was just taking up space where a superior song should be. Just seemed like a throwaway track fitting of a b-side. I still expected big, important (whatever that means) music from the band in 1996. Oh, and I really wasn't prepared for anyone other than Ed to sing a Pearl Jam song.

I think my entire reaction to No Code when it first dropped was something like "Ha ha, weird." Not "Oh fuck me this band has reached its zenith," or "In 2014 I'll still be fetishing over this thing while the band does its best to forget it ever happened." So I grok someone thinking "there should have been something better to put there." It's more when someone totally dismisses it or acts like its inclusion is offensive somehow that I am at a loss. I feel the same way about I'm Open.

EJ is exactly where I was. And over time you need less from each record, and your expectations change, and it is easier to appreciate those moments.

I actually like I'm Open less now than I used to.

[McParadigm]

I have to credit this little tournament with the urge I felt to listen to Around the Bend this morning. Glad I did. In some ways, I forget that Pearl Jam was ever capable of a studio performance that gently crafted and engaging.

[hlniv]

What an interesting matchup.

Obviously, the lullably will win, but....

Ole is underrated. It's really not bad at all if you can get past the chorus vocals (In fact, I'd say it's good). It's a pretty killer rock song, in my opinion.

Around the Bend is just too nice to ever not win this, though. It really is one of the forgotten gems that had been overlooked for way too long because of what it is. I have sung / will sing this to each of my kids at night, which is simply amazing coming from a rock band like PJ in '96.

[Mine]

I think we know who won't be voting for Olé.

I rewatch this every time it gets posted. And I keep looking...like, really earnestly looking...for something indicative that I might have missed. Something that would explain such an old man hissy fit beyond "not an ideal crowd."

It's difficult to tell. It seems like it wasn't the crowd as much as a small group of people. What was so wrong with them besides them being less enthusiastic than the rest of the crowd i can't tell or even imagine. For some reason i have the impression that it was a case of people getting the best sits in the house trough connections and don't really care to be there. The apologetic fans who where there seem to understand it as something like "those seats should have gone to people who would have actually appreciated them".

I think there's a simple explanation though: booze.

[Lament]

I thought we knew why he was so pissy...