Red Mosquito

Kevin Davis wrote:

Matters wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:No Code, which was the first "new" Pearl Jam album for me. My friends and I spent the entire summer of 1996 scouring neighborhood trash cans for discarded Pepsi points, in order to fulfill our end of an illicit deal with the local record store clerk who promised to let us buy the album three days in advance of the release date, on the day the store got its shipment, if we brought him 100 Pepsi points for him to put towards the leather jacket he wanted. Easily the most epic quest I've ever undertaken in the service of an album.

Did you make the deal?

We fell a little short but he took pity on us.

Nice work. Anyway, 100 Pepsi points seems a little steep even for a unreleased Pearl Jam CD in the 90’s.

There was a local CD shop where I grew up that he would sell the album a few days early then report it later I think. I was a teenager so I paid cash. I got Yield, Live in Two Legs, and some other albums early from there. The guy hated Pearl Jam so it pained him to do it though not too much since he was making money.

I remember the lead up to Self Titled / Avocado being a tough one because of all the hype around it.
Also, I was pretty disappointed at the time with Riot Act and felt it wasn't the bands best work.
Riot Act was my first experience of being disappointed with Pearl Jam.

Thankfully I loved Self Titled & Avocado when it came out & it restored my love for the band
That 2006 tour was awesome too.

Same deal this time around with Gigaton

This 7 year wait for this album has been a tough one. Especially since the last two albums Lightning Bolt and Backspacer were kind of a let down for me
Once again...there's a lot riding on this album for me as a fan.
I got shut out of 10 club tickets on this tour leg, and find the whole 10 club membership to be a colossal waste of money and a bit of a scam.

If Gigaton falls flat and ends up being mediocre like Lightning Bolt and Backspacer...then that's probably it for me as a fan.

I like what I've heard so far with DOTC & really anxious to hear what Super Blood Wolf Moon sounds like.

Can't tell from the clip of River Cross - Cause Harrison Ford's talking all over it...but it sounds promising.

So...we'll see.

tragabigzanda wrote:Easily this one. Ten-No Code all came quite quickly, and with the subculture of bootlegs, compilation tracks, and other one-offs and random appearances, those years were super fruitful. Also the Boston rock station I listened to debuted all the tracks for No Code and Yield one at a time prior to their release.

Binaural-S/T all came at a point when my musical horizons had expanded so widely that I had more than enough new music to listen to.

Backspacer and LB both came when my fandom had waned quite a bit. I looked forward to those albums and enjoyed the rollouts well enough.

I’m almost 40 now, have settled pretty well into the types of music I wish to listen to, and my roster of big, passionate, rock n’ roll is a lot smaller than it was in 1996. I desperately want to hear this album, and want it to be great. And I’m sure the disappointment of the last two records increases those feelings.

I relate to this almost 100%. With Backspacer and Lightning Bolt, my fandom hadn't waned, but my time and ability to engage with the music had. I bought them the second they came out, but not with the same energy or expectation of other albums. Now, it's all come full circle. I'm back on forums, I'm following every bit of news...it's like Binaural all over again.

Vitalogy. It came out too close to Christmas so I had to wait, taping songs off the radio and listening to the Spin the Black Circle cd single over and over

Ten...

Prior to Nevermind and Ten... I was a bit lost. I had no identity and no real hobbies or interests
Didn't care much for music aside from a few classic rock bands.

Those two albums were landmark albums & changed my life.

They brought a whole new color & open doors into art and music that I never knew existed.

Pages_in_a_book wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Easily this one. Ten-No Code all came quite quickly, and with the subculture of bootlegs, compilation tracks, and other one-offs and random appearances, those years were super fruitful. Also the Boston rock station I listened to debuted all the tracks for No Code and Yield one at a time prior to their release.

Binaural-S/T all came at a point when my musical horizons had expanded so widely that I had more than enough new music to listen to.

Backspacer and LB both came when my fandom had waned quite a bit. I looked forward to those albums and enjoyed the rollouts well enough.

I’m almost 40 now, have settled pretty well into the types of music I wish to listen to, and my roster of big, passionate, rock n’ roll is a lot smaller than it was in 1996. I desperately want to hear this album, and want it to be great. And I’m sure the disappointment of the last two records increases those feelings.

I relate to this almost 100%. With Backspacer and Lightning Bolt, my fandom hadn't waned, but my time and ability to engage with the music had. I bought them the second they came out, but not with the same energy or expectation of other albums. Now, it's all come full circle. I'm back on forums, I'm following every bit of news...it's like Binaural all over again.

Loved this post.

Clem Halibut wrote:Ten...

Prior to Nevermind and Ten... I was a bit lost. I had no identity and no real hobbies or interests
Didn't care much for music aside from a few classic rock bands.

Those two albums were landmark albums & changed my life.

They brought a whole new color & open doors into art and music that I never knew existed.

I can relate to that. Before I bought Ten I had only purchased classic rock (started with the doors) albums , other than the black crows and a few cassettes of 80s rock bands when i was in grade school. Getting an album of a modern band was a big step for me. I remember hearing Alive on the radio. The riff and solo sounded similar to classic rock but the song overall didnt. I was also intrigued by the vocals and lyrics. I went on vacation to Florida soon after, was feeling adventurous, saw the Ten cover poster on a record store window as I walked by and took the chance on it. Pearl Jam became my favorite band. I discovered punk and folk (iirc) through pj and nirvana .

The wait for Vs was intense but this long wait for Gigaton really sucks, so its become a tie.

The wait for this one has been pretty rough. I think I've had a lot of mixed feelings with it though. To release CDM and label it "from the forthcoming album" and then to have nothing come out for almost two years, that's a bit much. But on the other hand, I was not a big fan of CDM, so I wasn't too upset about an album not coming out bc in my feeble mind, I thought, "if it's an album of more of that? nah. I'm good". I won't lie, obviously I'd still buy it in hopes that maybe that was the dud of the album. But now, knowing that song isn't on there and listening to DotC and the direction that is taking, and the brief snippet of the Wolf Moon song or whatever, on TOP of the concert happening 5 days after the album is released - I'm really excited for Gigaton. I'm trying to subdue the excitement, bc I don't want to build it up in my head too much to be let down only bc of my unfounded expectations, but it's hard when the first single is something I really dig and can't wait for the 18th to hear the whole Wolf/Moon song...

CDM and what it could have meant for this album was so freakin scary to me. It's absence and the song descriptions have given me some assurance. If this album would have sounded like that and filled with political rants, i just don't know.

DWFB wrote:CDM and what it could have meant for this album was so freakin scary to me. It's absence and the song descriptions have given me some assurance. If this album would have sounded like that and filled with political rants, i just don't know.

Yes, I agree 100%

This is purely speculative, but it seems that they were originally working on an album with Brendan O'Brien.
These would to be the the sessions that produced Can't Deny Me.
Then for one reason or another, work on that album stalled and was abandoned all together.

Perhaps the band didn't like the direction they were going with Can't Deny Me ( I didn't like it either)
Seems they regrouped, changed course, & worked up a different album altogether with a brand new producer.

But from what I've heard so far....(DOTC, River Cross clip & Wolf Moon clip - the songs seem more creative, challenging, and diverse than anything the band has put on the last 2 albums.

Maybe the long gap was what was needed for the band to find their creative spark again.

Who knows what happened.
Hopefully, we'll get more insight on this when the band starts doing press for Gigaton.

Really looking forward to reading an interview from the band to get more details on the making of this album.

Clem Halibut wrote:This is purely speculative, but it seems that they were originally working on an album with Brendan O'Brien.
These would to be the the sessions that produced Can't Deny Me.
Then for one reason or another, work on that album stalled and was abandoned all together.

Perhaps the band didn't like the direction they were going with Can't Deny Me ( I didn't like it either)
Seems they regrouped, changed course, & worked up a different album altogether with a brand new producer.

But from what I've heard so far....(DOTC, River Cross clip & Wolf Moon clip - the songs seem more creative, challenging, and diverse than anything the band has put on the last 2 albums.

Maybe the long gap was what was needed for the band to find their creative spark again.

Who knows what happened.
Hopefully, we'll get more insight on this when the band starts doing press for Gigaton.

Really looking forward to reading an interview from the band to get more details on the making of this album.

I've actually wondered if Mike's "dark / difficult times" (or whatever) comments, and his reference to "the roadmap to musical redemption", are to do with a split with BoB (a longterm working relationship that wasn't... working anymore) and the subsequent change of course to a different, self-produced album

Ms Harmless wrote:

Clem Halibut wrote:This is purely speculative, but it seems that they were originally working on an album with Brendan O'Brien.
These would to be the the sessions that produced Can't Deny Me.
Then for one reason or another, work on that album stalled and was abandoned all together.

Perhaps the band didn't like the direction they were going with Can't Deny Me ( I didn't like it either)
Seems they regrouped, changed course, & worked up a different album altogether with a brand new producer.

But from what I've heard so far....(DOTC, River Cross clip & Wolf Moon clip - the songs seem more creative, challenging, and diverse than anything the band has put on the last 2 albums.

Maybe the long gap was what was needed for the band to find their creative spark again.

Who knows what happened.
Hopefully, we'll get more insight on this when the band starts doing press for Gigaton.

Really looking forward to reading an interview from the band to get more details on the making of this album.

I've actually wondered if Mike's "dark / difficult times" (or whatever) comments, and his reference to "the roadmap to musical redemption", are to do with a split with BoB (a longterm working relationship that wasn't... working anymore) and the subsequent change of course to a different, self-produced album

I thought that too
Hoping to get more information on what he meant on this.
Looking forward to reading interviews from the band

The wait for Binaural caught me at the height of my fandom, I think.
When they premiered Thin Air & NAIS at the bridge school '99 shows I was losing my shit.