RANK THE ALBUMS

[PHATJ]

I posted this in the Rank the Pearl Jam Catalog thread a while back, but I suppose it should be in his thread instead.


Top Tier:

1. Vitalogy - I still feel that Vitalogy is Pearl Jam's best album. Start to finish it gives the listener a really strong and unique experience. The song writing is probably Eddie at his peak. The guitar tones are my favorite of any PJ album. The rockers rock. The ballads ballad. The "fillers" (although not very valuable in and of themselves) make the listening experience of the album as a whole make sense and they provide the perfect transitions when needed. Combine the music along with the album artwork, and you have PJ's most artistically complete project.

2. Ten - Song for song this ranked #1 for me. For the longest time I did rank this my favorite PJ album. One of the major reasons that I have Vitalogy ranked ahead on Ten is because Ten is clearly not the artistic piece that Vitalogy is, and I value that. When comparing the best songs on each of the albums Vitalogy has seven songs in my top 50 and Ten has four. Also, Ten has clearly not aged quite as well as Vitalogy. All that being said, Ten is still a monster of an album and one of the best debut albums of all time. I still love it but just not as much as Vitalogy.

3. Yield - Yield has also been my #1 in the past. With six songs in my top 50 and all but two in my top 90, it clearly has a special place in my heart. Yield is an album that I can put on and never feel the need to skip a song. When I introduce a friend to the band and they have mostly only heard the early PJ hits, Yield is usually where I start. DTE is my favorite rocker the band has ever written. Jack Irons is my favorite PJ drummer and I love his playing on Yield.

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Mid Tier:

4. No Code - This album jumps up for me after putting together these rankings. I always knew that I LOVED many individual songs from this collection, I just regularly devalued that some because of a few stinker songs near the end of No Code. I have reevaluated my stance. The biggest change in my thought process is that my love for the good much out weighs the negative of the bad. Again, Jack's drumming also makes a big impact. Hearing No Code after the Vitalogy release was such a major change up for PJ, one that probably needed to happen to keep the band creative and moving forward. The album art and packaging adds to the experience.

5. Vs. - In my song rankings, this came in at #2. Vs. is a hard one for me to judge as a complete work. The reason it did so well song for song is that there are no songs in the mix that I don't really like individually. The hard part is that Vs. has become more about individual songs for me than an "album". I don't ever put on Vs. to listen from start to finish. I'll do a song or two here, then a song or two there, but never feel the need for much more. Artwork and packaging is cool but again it doesn't add much to the whole. It has however moved up one spot from where I had it placed in my last album rankings based on the strength of the songs.

6. Pearl Jam - I really like S/T but I found that the exact opposite was happening for me with this album as what was happening when I listened to No Code. I have been over-rating the album as a whole based on my particular enjoyment the best tracks (five songs in my top 32). The problem is that even those favorites aren't on the same level as No Code. Songs like Army Reserve, Unemployable and Severed Hand are great but they can't compete with Red Mosquito, Present Tense and In My Tree. Also, my lowest rated songs here come in slightly behind the lowest rated songs on No Code. I think part of my long appreciation for S/T is that it came directly after Riot Act (a bottom level PJ album for me) and I have been giving it "bonus points" for that.

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Bottom Tier:

7. Binaural - These ratings have given me a new appreciation for Binaural. There still is a decent gap between my mid level albums and my bottom level, but Binaural jumped a spot up in my rankings and closed the distanced itself from the bottom of my list significantly. One of the major reasons it has always ranked low for me is the crazy omission of songs from the original track list that would have made Binaural probably my fourth favorite album. I will never get how Sad, In The Moonlight, Education and Fatal were left out in favor of (in my opinion) far inferior songs. That being said, Sleight of Hand is probably the best song PJ has ever written. Nothing As It Seems has slowly climbed from a mid level PJ song to #30 on my list. Binaural's sonic experimentation boosts it's value as well.

8. Riot Act - Riot Act's over all value fell a bit in my mind. I've always ranked it ahead of Binaural and even considered moving it up another spot (potentially as high as sixth). The truth is there just aren't enough top tier songs on the album. Only one song (#25 You Are) rank in my top 40. Only Backspacer has a #1 that ranks lower on my over all list. There are plenty of "good" songs here that rank in the middle of the pack. Help Help, Cropduster, and I Am Mine are all examples. But there are some of my least favorite (non filler) album tracks too. I can't stand Get Right, Green Disease, and Ghost. Combine that with the fact that there isn't that one "classic" track, and I can't rank Riot Act higher then eighth.

9. Backspacer - Backspacer still comes in last place but believe it or not, it has gained a bit of respect in my mind. To my shock it actually ranked higher then Riot Act in my song for song comparison. That was something I never expected, and for that I appreciate it more then I did before. My major problem with Backspacer from its release till now is that it is by far the most bland album in PJs catalog. It is chalked full of okay and mostly unmemorable songs. There are a few songs that I still enjoy hearing from time to time, but there is no overall statement being made. There is no "wow" song in the lot. On the other hand there are no embarrassing songs on the album either (many would argue The Fixer here, but I don't hate it). The lows aren't as low as some tracks on other releases, specifically Riot Act, but the utter mediocrity of the album experience just leaves me feeling nearly nothing. This is the only PJ album I can listen to from beginning to end and say that I never feel much of an emotional response to any of it. For that reason more then any, I don't see how I can ever rank this ahead of any of the other PJ albums.

I just went back and read through this list that I submitted at the end of February and I have got to say that I'm still on board with everything that I said then. This is probably the most accurate list I have done in regards to my relationship with PJ's albums.

[LetMeSleep]

Vitalogy
Ten
Yield
Vs
No Code
S/T
Riot Act
Backspacer
Binaural

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

Yield
No Code
Binaural
Riot Act
Vitalogy
Vs.
Backspacer
Ten
S/T

[joostone]

Top tier:

1-No Code
2-Vitalogy
3-Ten

Middle tier:

4-Yield
5-Riot Act
6-S/T

Bottom tier:

7-Binaural
8-Vs.
9-Backspacer

[Coach]

There isn't one song on there that doesn't sound better live.

Sleight of Hand
Parting Ways
Of the Girl
Nothing as it Seems

Disagreed on all, except maybe Sleight of Hand. It may come down to how you like to consume PJ, but those other three are all vastly better live.

The studio version of Slight of Hand is far superior to every live version I've heard, but I'm now wondering if there's a live version out there that really kicks ass, but I haven't heard.

[Whitey McTeeth]

Yield
No Code
Binaural
Vitalogy
Ten
Vs.
Riot Act
Backspacer
Avocado

[mkay0]

There isn't one song on there that doesn't sound better live.

Sleight of Hand
Parting Ways
Of the Girl
Nothing as it Seems

Disagreed on all, except maybe Sleight of Hand. It may come down to how you like to consume PJ, but those other three are all vastly better live.

The studio version of Slight of Hand is far superior to every live version I've heard, but I'm now wondering if there's a live version out there that really kicks ass, but I haven't heard.

This thread made me revisit Binaural, and I stand by my comments about all songs being better live, other than Sleight of Hand, which is much better on the record. There is no live version of it that holds up to the album.

[stip]

Insignificance is 10 times better on the album than live, at least to me. It loses the wonderful atmosphere and has always sounded painfully thin compared to how robust the album track is.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Yield
Vitalogy
Binaural
Vs.
No Code
Ten
Riot Act
Ghost Rider
S/T
Backspacer

[Lament]

Insignificance is 10 times better on the album than live, at least to me. It loses the wonderful atmosphere and has always sounded painfully thin compared to how robust the album track is.

I agree that Insignificance is better on the album than live, but I've got to say the first time I saw them do it live I was really stunned at how effective the whole extended pause after "Let the song protest" was. That's still one of my favorite parts of any Pearl Jam show.

[stip]

really? I hate that part.

[Kevin Davis]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that either.

[Lament]

really? I hate that part.

Yeah, it's one of the few things that they do live that I wish they would've done on the record. I found it jarring in the best way possible the first time I heard it, especially given the lyrical content surrounding it. For me it's just this perfectly placed moment of an almost misguided calm that adds exponentially to the swirling panic and building paranoia around it. It's just always worked for me.

[Jorge]

this perfectly placed moment of an almost misguided calm that adds exponentially to the swirling panic and building paranoia around it.

I've done this. I believe they call it "edging".

[Birds in Hell]

Vs
No Code
Vitalogy
Yield
Ten

---

Binaural
Riot Act
S/T

---

Backspacer

[elliseamos]

Yield
Vs
Vitalogy
Ten
Riot Act
Pearl Jam
No Code
Binaural
Backspacer

reverse alphabetical works for today.

[mkay0]

Insignificance is 10 times better on the album than live, at least to me. It loses the wonderful atmosphere and has always sounded painfully thin compared to how robust the album track is.

Our tastes are pretty different, then. I think insignificance is the definitive 'better live than on record' song.

[Birds in Hell]

I'll only agree that Grievance is better live than on record. The album version is a complete misfire.

[Jorge]

I'll only agree that Grievance is better live than on record. The album version is a complete misfire.

I'm with you.

[Norah]

Most Pearl Jam songs are better on the record.