Tuolumne wrote:Binaural is an album of massive potential that they just didn't execute well and if they just took a little more time and had better luck production wise could have been a career high water mark. Instead, it's the album I rank the lowest for them.
The only negative with binaural was song selection. They had more good shit than they knew what to do with. But to find faults in its execution or production is just short sighted.
My goodness, that guy had a great tone to his upper register in that era. All that stuff he reaches for Pete Townshends register on (like Sad and Light Years) is just the best he ever sounded, to me.
I just wish Grievance sounded huge, meaty and powerful.
sounds really neutered as it is on the record, and i think that shows up most of the album as an experiment that didn't work/wasn't followed through to the end.
1. LONGEVITY.
The band formed in 1990, and released it’s debut album the very next year in 1991. Here we are 24 years later and they’re still trucking along on massive sold out tours in support of their 10th studio album.
2. CREATIVE VITALITY.
When a band is as successful as Pearl Jam was early on, it’s pretty easy to coast for the majority of your career, relying on those hits to pay the bills . Why bother making new albums when everyone really just wants to hear those 3 great songs you recorded 20 years ago? Well, not Pearl Jam. When they make a new album (which they do on an average of every 2.3 years), they tour in support of that album and they play the majority of the songs from that new album. And Pearl Jam fans LOVE that, because those new songs are consistently awesome. And let’s face it, we’ll all live if we don’t get to hear “Jeremy” today.
3. LIVE PERFORMANCE.
As dedicated fans know, this band plays a different set list at each and every show. And with 10 studio albums, a deep collection of B-sides, and an arsenal of cover songs at their disposal, there is more than enough to choose from. Not only is the set list different each night, but when Pearl Jam takes the stage they’re in it for the long haul. It’s rare to see them play for anything less than 2 and a half hours. Many shows push 3 hours, and some have gone longer. Their longest show to date was nearly 3 and a half hours. You can leave as early as you want, but you can’t ever say you didn’t get your money’s worth.
4. EXPERIMENTATION / RISK TAKING.
Older bands like AC/DC and the newly reunited original lineup of Black Sabbath rely completely on nostalgia in the rare case that they do make a new album. They basically churn out watered down versions of the same album over and over again in fear of losing the winning formula. Pearl Jam has consistently evolved over the years, to the point of alienating large portions of their fan base. Some weirdness was under way on the third album; ‘Vitalogy’, but when they released ‘No Code’ in 1996 all bets were off. This was Pearl Jam not giving even one single solitary fuck. Let’s not forget about the band’s anti trust lawsuit against Ticketmaster, which also happened around the release of ‘No Code’. Pearl Jam have balls.
5. GREAT MUSIC.
Let’s not leave out the most obvious one. As subjective as any art can be, it would be hard for even the most casual music-listener to deny Pearl Jams strength in songwriting. The secret weapon is the fact that they have 5 guys who are all capable songwriters contributing to the process. Not a single one of these 10 studio albums have gone by without at least a couple of show-stopping, classic songs. Any band in the world would be lucky to have any one of them, and Pearl Jam gives birth to these timeless musical gems on the regular.
One could go on and on about the bands charity, activism, control over their career, etc. I love a good music debate, so if you think another band truly qualifies of Greatest American Rock Band Of All Time, bring forth ye argument.
4. EXPERIMENTATION / RISK TAKING.
Older bands like AC/DC and the newly reunited original lineup of Black Sabbath rely completely on nostalgia in the rare case that they do make a new album. They basically churn out watered down versions of the same album over and over again in fear of losing the winning formula. Pearl Jam has consistently evolved over the years, to the point of alienating large portions of their fan base. Some weirdness was under way on the third album; ‘Vitalogy’, but when they released ‘No Code’ in 1996 all bets were off. This was Pearl Jam not giving even one single solitary fuck. Let’s not forget about the band’s anti trust lawsuit against Ticketmaster, which also happened around the release of ‘No Code’. Pearl Jam have balls.
