Red Mosquito

Kevin Davis wrote:I think I've been kind of surprised to see, in all the post-Gigaton rankings, here and elsewhere, how low people still rate Riot Act. I feel like there is a general sense around here that the fanbase has "come around" on that album -- maybe it's just a small but vocal faction of RM'ers (with excellent taste, but still) that give that illusion.

Gigaton has grown on me immensely in the past week. But, as some others have said as well, I think I still pretty comfortably rank it below the first seven, if comfortably ahead of the last three.

Kevin Davis wrote:I think I've been kind of surprised to see, in all the post-Gigaton rankings, here and elsewhere, how low people still rate Riot Act. I feel like there is a general sense around here that the fanbase has "come around" on that album -- maybe it's just a small but vocal faction of RM'ers (with excellent taste, but still) that give that illusion.

Gigaton has grown on me immensely in the past week. But, as some others have said as well, I think I still pretty comfortably rank it below the first seven, if comfortably ahead of the last three.

Strat wrote:I dont know. Pearl Jam was always special to me because of their warts. Not every song on Ten is great. Not every song on Vs is great. Not everyone song on Vitalogy is great. But for most of their albums, they always felt like a complete work of art. A specific set of songs that were put out there for a very specific reason. I was always drawn to that.

Oceans, Garden, Deep....eh. BUt i wouldn't remove them from Ten. Ever.

Strat wrote:Oceans, Garden, Deep....eh. BUt i wouldn't remove them from Ten. Ever.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:

Strat wrote:Oceans, Garden, Deep....eh. BUt i wouldn't remove them from Ten. Ever.

what the flying fuck

evenslow wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:I think I've been kind of surprised to see, in all the post-Gigaton rankings, here and elsewhere, how low people still rate Riot Act. I feel like there is a general sense around here that the fanbase has "come around" on that album -- maybe it's just a small but vocal faction of RM'ers (with excellent taste, but still) that give that illusion.

Gigaton has grown on me immensely in the past week. But, as some others have said as well, I think I still pretty comfortably rank it below the first seven, if comfortably ahead of the last three.

I think both things are true. Riot Act is great. The other records ahead of it are exceedingly tough to top.

Brett wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:I think I've been kind of surprised to see, in all the post-Gigaton rankings, here and elsewhere, how low people still rate Riot Act. I feel like there is a general sense around here that the fanbase has "come around" on that album -- maybe it's just a small but vocal faction of RM'ers (with excellent taste, but still) that give that illusion.

Gigaton has grown on me immensely in the past week. But, as some others have said as well, I think I still pretty comfortably rank it below the first seven, if comfortably ahead of the last three.

I was really big into Riot Act in my first two years of college when it was still new. Over time, though, its flaws seem to have been magnified. I really like the first five songs, but it gets hit or miss after that.

PHATJ wrote:

Fattie_Vedder wrote:I’ll attempt this though effort to do so meaningfully is futile.

1. Vitalogy
2. Yield
3. No Code
4. Binaural
5. Gigaton
6. Vs? Ten?

8. Riot Act
9. Pearl Jam
10. Backspacer
11. Lightning Bolt

The top 3 are interchangeable. Yield is often my number 1. Sometimes No Code is. Sometimes Binaural is. All depends on mood and broader mental and emotional state. But the holy trinity of Pearl Jam albums for me is Vitalogy-No Code-Yield. Binaural can tag along and make it a... Quad... rinity.

I have no idea how to rank Ten and Vs. They are more complete albums from top to bottom than most anything in their catalogue, full of timeless master pieces. Yet the albums themselves have not aged consistently well for me, and I almost never have a desire to listen to them back to front anymore. Yet some of the songs on them will forever be some of my favorites, and I bet would still sound amazing 30 years from now. They can be ranked at the very top simply for the fact that for the time they were created, they were perfect albums through and through, and for the sheer nostalgic emotional power they hold. Or they could fall in the middle of the pack for me because I’m more called to the music of the aforementioned holy trinity of albums.

Gigaton is the closest thing in sound they’ve done recently to that top tier. It naturally falls right after that. The fact that the messages in the album are both relevant to our times and resonate emotionally with my emotional and mental state at this age with how I want to approach life make it super fucking special.

And it puts Gigaton above Riot Act, as good as Riot Act is. Easily.

That may change over time, and time will tell where Gigaton ranks in the fold...

Nice post. I can relate very much with your thought process. Ranking Ten and Vs. feels impossibly complicated and nuanced. And your top five albums are basically mine in reverse order, but they’re all pretty much interchangeable. Like you, I’d rank Riot Act just a step below, but then a small gap before Avocado, and a massive gap before Backspacer and Lightning Bolt. To me, that’s seven 5 star albums, one 4 star album, one 3.5 star, and two duds. That’s a pretty damn remarkable career.

Kevin Davis wrote:

Brett wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:I think I've been kind of surprised to see, in all the post-Gigaton rankings, here and elsewhere, how low people still rate Riot Act. I feel like there is a general sense around here that the fanbase has "come around" on that album -- maybe it's just a small but vocal faction of RM'ers (with excellent taste, but still) that give that illusion.

Gigaton has grown on me immensely in the past week. But, as some others have said as well, I think I still pretty comfortably rank it below the first seven, if comfortably ahead of the last three.

I was really big into Riot Act in my first two years of college when it was still new. Over time, though, its flaws seem to have been magnified. I really like the first five songs, but it gets hit or miss after that.

That's interesting, I think Riot Act has aged extraordinarily well, in many ways I find it their most natural-sounding, best-rounded album; in terms of personal meaning to me, I rank it only below Yield. I certainly understand others not putting it that high, but the number of folks putting it in their bottom 2-3 goes pretty soundly against the received RM wisdom of S/T being the clear moment the tides turned for the band.

Strat wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:Yield remains the last Pearl Jam album I can enjoyably listen to all the way through.

This is foreign to me.

I get it, im strat, a fanboy, but I can always at least enjoy hearing ed's voice, or mike playing guitar, etc...etc...

There are absolutely 0 songs that I would immediately turn off or skip because I couldnt stand them.

Yea, backspacer and lightning bolt are easily bottom of the pile, but if i decided to listen to the album i could still sit through the entire thing and find some enjoyment.

B wrote:Vs.
Vitalogy
No Code
Yield
Ten
Backspacer
Binaural
Lightning Bolt
Pearl Jam
Riot Act

Birds in Hell wrote:

Strat wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:Yield remains the last Pearl Jam album I can enjoyably listen to all the way through.

This is foreign to me.

I get it, im strat, a fanboy, but I can always at least enjoy hearing ed's voice, or mike playing guitar, etc...etc...

There are absolutely 0 songs that I would immediately turn off or skip because I couldnt stand them.

Yea, backspacer and lightning bolt are easily bottom of the pile, but if i decided to listen to the album i could still sit through the entire thing and find some enjoyment.

I can still listen to individual songs from their post-Yield records, I just can't sit through them in sequence.

I really do have a strong preference for the pre-Matt Cameron years. Following those recent rehearsal leaks, I listened to a few Dave Abbruzzese-era things and it's ruined me for listening to the recent material again for a while.