Binaural: Official Album Thread

[VinylGuy]

NEED THIS ONE ON VINYL FUCKERS, RELEASE IT.

It's overrated on vinyl. CD sounds exactly the same.

Have you tried on vinyl with headphones?

[Norah]

NEED THIS ONE ON VINYL FUCKERS, RELEASE IT.

It's overrated on vinyl. CD sounds exactly the same.

Have you tried on vinyl with headphones?

yup

[Sigerson]

Great, great album. On this record--probably more so than any other record--it sounds like the band was trying to push their musical boundaries without simply trying to sound like what others want them to sound.

[McParadigm]

NEED THIS ONE ON VINYL FUCKERS, RELEASE IT.

It's overrated on vinyl. CD sounds exactly the same.

Have you tried on vinyl with headphones?

yup

Yeah, for starting out with such high-fi intentions, they really wet farted the final sonic lap on this one.

[Sigerson]

It's dark and cold in my corner of the world right now and Sleight of Hand just came on. It was...mesmerising.

[bodysnatcher]

NEED THIS ONE ON VINYL FUCKERS, RELEASE IT.

I still have mine sealed

[Kevin Davis]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

[conoalias]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

I find it really strange that people feel this way about Binaural as it is, IMO, a record that is way more about feeling than about any sort of intellectualization. Tracks like NAIS, SoH, Of a Girl are good examples as they're not particularly complex or sophisticated but they're all about great atmospheric sounds that envelop you. I think if you start thinking about the recording process when you listen to the music you kinda miss the point.

[knee tunes]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

I find it really strange that people feel this way about Binaural as it is, IMO, a record that is way more about feeling than about any sort of intellectualization. Tracks like NAIS, SoH, Of a Girl are good examples as they're not particularly complex or sophisticated but they're all about great atmospheric sounds that envelop you. I think if you start thinking about the recording process when you listen to the music you kinda miss the point.

with a nice loud stereo/speaker system, this album is good enough to put one--well, me--into some kind of high heaven

[bodysnatcher]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

I find it really strange that people feel this way about Binaural as it is, IMO, a record that is way more about feeling than about any sort of intellectualization. Tracks like NAIS, SoH, Of a Girl are good examples as they're not particularly complex or sophisticated but they're all about great atmospheric sounds that envelop you. I think if you start thinking about the recording process when you listen to the music you kinda miss the point.

Agreed. It's always been a mood record to me. A depressing, somber mood record. Which I love.

[stip]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

I find it really strange that people feel this way about Binaural as it is, IMO, a record that is way more about feeling than about any sort of intellectualization. Tracks like NAIS, SoH, Of a Girl are good examples as they're not particularly complex or sophisticated but they're all about great atmospheric sounds that envelop you. I think if you start thinking about the recording process when you listen to the music you kinda miss the point.

Agreed. It's always been a mood record to me. A depressing, somber mood record. Which I love.

a pretty 'intellectual' mood though. Binaural is a an album that invites reflection, which draws attention to the details

[Hatfield]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

I remember reading that Mike was frustrated in the studio because of the many takes Tchad asked for. I sometimes wonder if Tchad's "process", not just recording binauraly but asking for so many takes in so many different situations, led to some of the feeling being taken out of the performance.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

NEED THIS ONE ON VINYL FUCKERS, RELEASE IT.

It's overrated on vinyl. CD sounds exactly the same.

Finally, someone gets it!

Pearl Jam on vinyl is a scam. And anyone who think they're acheiving some kind of sonic nirvana by listening to the vinyl versions, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

[VinylGuy]

NEED THIS ONE ON VINYL FUCKERS, RELEASE IT.

It's overrated on vinyl. CD sounds exactly the same.

Finally, someone gets it!

Pearl Jam on vinyl is a scam. And anyone who think they're acheiving some kind of sonic nirvana by listening to the vinyl versions, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

Nope. No Code sounds INCREDIBLE.

[EJ]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

I remember reading that Mike was frustrated in the studio because of the many takes Tchad asked for. I sometimes wonder if Tchad's "process", not just recording binauraly but asking for so many takes in so many different situations, led to some of the feeling being taken out of the performance.

It was an interesting approach and many of the songs sound really cool with headphones. I just don't dig the recording of Breakerfall. That song really needed to be up front to really appreciate/feel the intended aggression of the song. It just sounds too muted, like there's a wall separating you from the band.

[VinylGuy]

This album has always felt sterile to me, like there was something between me and the music. I love the songs live though.

I agree with you. I think "Binaural" is one of the band's most inventive albums but to my ears it's almost all compositional. I admire where their hearts were but I don't think the affected sound of the record is especially functional, and I find Eddie's vocal performances on the album almost uniformly weak.

Maybe if I understood the binaural recording process better I'd appreciate it more, I dunno.

I remember reading that Mike was frustrated in the studio because of the many takes Tchad asked for. I sometimes wonder if Tchad's "process", not just recording binauraly but asking for so many takes in so many different situations, led to some of the feeling being taken out of the performance.

It was an interesting approach and many of the songs sound really cool with headphones. I just don't dig the recording of Breakerfall. That song really needed to be up front to really appreciate/feel the intended aggression of the song. It just sounds too muted, like there's a wall separating you from the band.

True. They sure learnt how to make Breakerfall agressive and rocking live these last couple of years...if you listen to a version from the 2000 tour, is still very muted, very contained. From 2005 to this last tour, it sounds great..specially the jam section at the end.

[Strat]

Aren't people sick of pj doing textbook punk rock songs? Thats why I love breakerfall. it could be that but its much better due to production and instrumentation.

[digster]

The only two songs where I feel the 'muted' criticism is legit is on Breakerfall and Grievance. Besides that, I think the band has always struggled equaling most of the songs on this record live. It certainly is attempting to be a more intellectual album than I think they'd made in the past, but I certainly don't feel it sacrifices emotion. There's stuff on this record that hits harder for me than practically anything else they've done.

[Norah]

NEED THIS ONE ON VINYL FUCKERS, RELEASE IT.

It's overrated on vinyl. CD sounds exactly the same.

Finally, someone gets it!

Pearl Jam on vinyl is a scam. And anyone who think they're acheiving some kind of sonic nirvana by listening to the vinyl versions, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

They can all eat a bag of dicks.

[EJ]

Rival is my favorite headphone track from this album. Love the dog intro, love the way different instruments are introduced, its just a great song - and, sounds like nothing they've ever done before.

OTG is the other standout headphone track for me. Just a lot of atmosphere and moodiness to it, that I just crave sometimes.