Red Mosquito

stip wrote:yeah we are

You're the best of the worst though.

Of the Girl, Grievance, Rival, Sleight of Hand, Soon Forget, Parting Ways

Possibly my favorite ending stretch of a Pearl Jam record. I've said it elsewhere, but the 2000 bootlegs reveal how great all of Binaural's songs are (except Evacuation). I think the production choices work perfectly for the more meditative songs like most of the above. Breakerfall probably needed to be taken off the leash and allowed to be the guitar blitz it wanted to be.

tragabigzanda wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:I still think the originally planned tracklisting works the best.

I wasn't really a fan of the record until hearing it that way, it makes a lot more sense.

It's too long

i'm going to push back on this...

Search your heart. You know it's true.

In my perfect PJ world alternate reality, Binaural was toiled over for a bit longer and expanded into a double, incorporating all the existing tracks, the TB2K instrumentals, etc., and some other things that only exist in my imagination. I like everything from the sessions but no single-disc version feels fully satisfying. There's an "everything and the kitchen sink" aesthetic that they really threw themselves into on Riot Act which I wish they'd leaned into a bit more on Binaural -- they were certainly in the right creative ballpark for it, and had plenty of material. As such, knowing what we know now about the sessions, the released version feels a bit like the hypothetical "single disc version of the White Album" that people are always saying would be amazing but which always looks like a horrible compromise when people try tracking it out.

In this same alternate reality, all of the Binaural outs were played on the 2000 tour, and we could create a truly definitive compilation of live Binaural sessions songs from their concurrent era.

brick wall production meets brick wall posting on the interwebs

fully agree with Kevin.

Someone needs to hack the PJ HQ super computers and steal all the audio sessions from 1996 to 2003.

McParadigm wrote:fully agree with Kevin.

Yes!

Hypnos wrote:Someone need to hack the PJ HQ super computers and steal all the audio sessions from 1996 to 2003.

The data breach we deserve!

not a trolly question. Were these sessions more prolific than any other than Ten, or do we just know more about them because the band was struggling to figure out what binaural was and kept offering additional pieces of it trying to create that unified whole?

For me, Binaural is their Let it Be, a masterpiece at first glance flawed, where if you grab all the sessions and put together your own version, it will never be entirely satisfying until you finally realize that Binaural is exactly that: a studio album, a live album, the countless retracking, the discoveries, the possibilities, the idealizations, it's a living album. And just like the Beatles' album, all it asks of you is to let it be.

stip wrote:not a trolly question. Were these sessions more prolific than any other than Ten, or do we just know more about them because the band was struggling to figure out what binaural was...

Interesting question that is probably impossible to answer for sure, and is probably somewhat dependent on your definition of prolific -- number of finished tracks? number of song ideas, regardless of whether or not they were finished? something else? Binaural probably ranks near the top in terms of number of finished songs, but probably not by that much -- especially since there are some era-adjacent things from this time that may not have ever been intended sessions for the album (the TB2K instrumentals, "Strangest Tribe," "Drifting"). Without counting I'd guess Ten and Riot Act have about as many unique finished titles (Riot Act has fewer non-album tracks, but is a longer album). And for song ideas, we know that S/T left a lot in its wake, and we know that some PJ songs spanned multiple album cycles ("Brain of J," "Parting Ways," "Sweet Lew"), so -- where do you slot those on the prolificacy spectrum?

stip wrote:...and kept offering additional pieces of it trying to create that unified whole?

If they were trying to do this, it's surprising that none of the unused songs made it out on the singles. None of the Binaural leftovers came out until Lost Dogs -- and on that collection, Binaural was by far the most represented of the album sessions in terms of songs that were "new" on an official release (I think LD had 6 songs from the Binaural sessions that were previously unreleased at the time).

I think from listening to the band members talk about this album, it's clear that they were a bit lost with it through most of the creative process and even up to the release of it, so I am guessing at some point they kind of let go of any sense of vision they may have had for it and moved on, and coralled the leftovers for Lost Dogs because that's what you do when you're releasing a rarities album.

I think the reason it strikes me as so suited to a double album is because good double albums can really lean into that concept of, "Hey, we really don't have a singular vision for this -- we're aware that it's messy, we're aware that we're being vulnerable by giving you a look inside a flawed creative process, but that's where the art is happening here." I feel like that's the most honest presentation of these sessions, as opposed to a curated version that tries to manufacture a sense of coherence that I don't think the band ever really had while working through them. Like I said, I think Riot Act leans into that concept a bit more honestly, and IMO is a more satisfying record for doing so (even though the songs on Binaural are every bit as good if not better). And Ten, while every bit as rich in quality material, really benefits from the streamlining -- many of the true Ten outtakes kind of echo and reinforce the themes and musical feel of the songs on the album, and would have felt like overkill in one place (plus a few of the best Ten-era non-album tracks didn't get definitive versions until a year or so later when they were recorded with Dave A) (plus no way a major label would have gambled on a double for a band's debut in 1991).

Anyway, all interesting stuff to think about. So glad we have all of it now though.

lvc wrote:Of the Girl, Grievance, Rival, Sleight of Hand, Soon Forget, Parting Ways

Possibly my favorite ending stretch of a Pearl Jam record. I've said it elsewhere, but the 2000 bootlegs reveal how great all of Binaural's songs are (except Evacuation). I think the production choices work perfectly for the more meditative songs like most of the above. Breakerfall probably needed to be taken off the leash and allowed to be the guitar blitz it wanted to be.

This is true, but it also reveals how poorly Binaural was produced. Like....the live versions of some of these songs are so much better. It vouches well for the songs, but bad for the album. Grievance does nothing for me on the album, but live its a monster. I think songs like Of the Girl are perfect on album, but all of the rockers are so tepid compared to the live versions and it makes the album feel flat. It maybe could have been better with better performances of the songs.

I know the flat disaffected feel is what the album is going for, but I just find it makes it hard to connect to. Albums like vitalogy seemed angry dark and disaffected, but it felt like they were angry at me, and urgent. Binaural feels like an album that doesn't even want me to listen to it

I would go so far as to say Insignificance is not good live. It loses the incredible atmosphere of the studio version, its primary strength

generally agree about the other faster and mid tempo songs

Insignificance certainly loses a lot live compared to the record, but it's still good. Interesting how it's the only rocker on the album that translates worse at a show.

Or, maybe what I really mean is that it's interesting that they didn't manage to write any other rocker that benefited from the production in the way Insignificance does.

Greivance is certainly the worst offender in that regard. NAIS actually comes in a close second for me, though. Live versions of it make the studio cut seem so minor in comparison.

stip wrote:I would go so far as to say Insignificance is not good live. It loses the incredible atmosphere of the studio version, its primary strength

I agree with this, except I don’t like the way the layered, reverby background vocals in the studio version cover up Ed in the line “to wanna live.” You can feel the volume ducking on main vocal happen in real time, and it gives that crucial emotional moment a feeling of disconnect or calculation, for me. It leashes it. It is not for me.

The howl he conjured up live is so primal and affecting. I wish that had been on the record.

I think you may be right about Insignificance. I think it's the only rocker that's successful on the entire album BUT because there are so many flat rockers on the album it doesn't stand out and gets lumped in with the rest of them. It's actually not bad, but I think it's weakened by being on Binaural, or at least by other songs being on Binaural