Gigaton: Official album thread

[Ms Harmless]

What does it mean when your favorite band as a teenager releases a new album 30 years after you first fell for them?

What does it mean when that record comes out during a global pandemic?

What does anything mean anymore?

No matter what cultural significance Gigaton ultimately does or doesn’t end up having, I still get a rush from unwrapping the plastic on a new Pearl Jam LP. Though their last three records have been relative disappointments to me, I keep listening, hoping to rekindle the fire the band lit within me in their early days. Even if the flame lasts for just a couple songs, or is fleetingly found in a soaring Eddie Vedder chorus, or a rousing guitar riff from Mike McCready or Stone Gossard, I listen for those moments where they bring me back and make me feel young again. A part of my youth that I will always treasure is still tied directly to this band, and it always will be.

Pearl Jam helped me make some sense out of my confusing teenage years, helping me feel less alone in those moments of uncertainty and isolation, and they also soundtracked those celebratory momentswhere I began discovering just who I was and what truly mattered to me. As I grew with the band, their music encouraged me to nurture my creative self during my experimental college years, when I proudly proclaimed my love of Pearl Jam by getting the Alive stickman tattooed on my ankle. They reinforced my belief that no matter where I call home, I should always have my trusty record player by my side. And their outspoken support of political and charitable causes refined how I viewed the world at large and helped me discover what my role was in making society a better place for everyone.

Nearly 30 years after they started (and almost seven years since their last record, Lightning Bolt), Pearl Jam are back with their 11th studio album, Gigaton. After spending a couple weeks with the new record, I can confidently say that it is their strongestand most assured album since 2000's Binaural. The band sounds inspired, revitalized, and remarkably of the moment. They aren't trying to capture the lightning in a bottle moments from early in their career, and they’re wise enough to not attempt to replicate themselves, though there are still strong echoes of the band’s long history, especially within Vedder's weathered, resonant vocals.

Like most of Pearl Jam's recent albums, the rockers kick things off and propel the front half of the album before giving way to a series of ballads and more relaxed, somber tunes on the latter half. But Gigaton stands out as a cohesive creative statement, with the band reflectively examining the fractured state of our fragile world (even before COVID-19) and their tenuous place in it.

"I want this dream to last forever/A wish denied to lengthen our time/I wish this moment was never ending/Let it be a lie that all futures die," Vedder sings on the wistful album closer, "River Cross." Rather than wallowing in regrets of things left undone (or rivers left uncrossed), the song is a hopeful anthem of potential change. A better way forward is possible as long as we stick together and share the light.

Pearl Jam also takes a refreshing detour on the album's first single, "Dance of the Clairvoyants." The track is a quirky, Talking Heads-like stomp (complete with Vedder's David Byrne-esque vocal delivery) with a smoothed-out '80s Bowie swing to it. The risky musical experiment (complete with bassist Jeff Ament switching to guitar and keys while guitarist Gossard plays bass) really pays off.

One of the most satisfying things about Gigaton is that the album really didn't have to happen. Pearl Jam could have kept touring to sold-out stadiums and festivals even without releasing a new record. But while they certainly took their time putting this record together (this is a band who just got around to releasing their 2017 and 2018 fan club singles, mind you), the results have the unhurried, thoughtful quality that comes from a band having the space and time to assemble only their best material.

At 57 minutes, Gigaton is the longest record of the band's career, yet there are few unnecessary moments. The band is both stretching out and coming closer together, tapping into the dynamic creative partnership that has fueled them all these years. For a longtime fan, these new songs offer a sense of emotional escape, fitful unease, steadfast belief, and a personal reconnection and collective recalibration. Gigaton is a boisterous creative check in to make sure the kids are still alright.

And if nothing else, Gigaton is an affirmation that this band I pledged my soul (and skin) to in the '90s hasn't led me astray. The kid I was when I discovered Pearl Jam is still alive within me, and their music is an uninhibited, exhilarating reminder to enjoy my youth no matter how old I get.


http://www.citypages.com/music/pearl-ja ... WwsZCMxOGY

cant wait for people to quote that entire post for the next three pages

Nice

[Rob]

What does it mean when your favorite band as a teenager releases a new album 30 years after you first fell for them?

What does it mean when that record comes out during a global pandemic?

What does anything mean anymore?

No matter what cultural significance Gigaton ultimately does or doesn’t end up having, I still get a rush from unwrapping the plastic on a new Pearl Jam LP. Though their last three records have been relative disappointments to me, I keep listening, hoping to rekindle the fire the band lit within me in their early days. Even if the flame lasts for just a couple songs, or is fleetingly found in a soaring Eddie Vedder chorus, or a rousing guitar riff from Mike McCready or Stone Gossard, I listen for those moments where they bring me back and make me feel young again. A part of my youth that I will always treasure is still tied directly to this band, and it always will be.

Pearl Jam helped me make some sense out of my confusing teenage years, helping me feel less alone in those moments of uncertainty and isolation, and they also soundtracked those celebratory momentswhere I began discovering just who I was and what truly mattered to me. As I grew with the band, their music encouraged me to nurture my creative self during my experimental college years, when I proudly proclaimed my love of Pearl Jam by getting the Alive stickman tattooed on my ankle. They reinforced my belief that no matter where I call home, I should always have my trusty record player by my side. And their outspoken support of political and charitable causes refined how I viewed the world at large and helped me discover what my role was in making society a better place for everyone.

Nearly 30 years after they started (and almost seven years since their last record, Lightning Bolt), Pearl Jam are back with their 11th studio album, Gigaton. After spending a couple weeks with the new record, I can confidently say that it is their strongestand most assured album since 2000's Binaural. The band sounds inspired, revitalized, and remarkably of the moment. They aren't trying to capture the lightning in a bottle moments from early in their career, and they’re wise enough to not attempt to replicate themselves, though there are still strong echoes of the band’s long history, especially within Vedder's weathered, resonant vocals.

Like most of Pearl Jam's recent albums, the rockers kick things off and propel the front half of the album before giving way to a series of ballads and more relaxed, somber tunes on the latter half. But Gigaton stands out as a cohesive creative statement, with the band reflectively examining the fractured state of our fragile world (even before COVID-19) and their tenuous place in it.

"I want this dream to last forever/A wish denied to lengthen our time/I wish this moment was never ending/Let it be a lie that all futures die," Vedder sings on the wistful album closer, "River Cross." Rather than wallowing in regrets of things left undone (or rivers left uncrossed), the song is a hopeful anthem of potential change. A better way forward is possible as long as we stick together and share the light.

Pearl Jam also takes a refreshing detour on the album's first single, "Dance of the Clairvoyants." The track is a quirky, Talking Heads-like stomp (complete with Vedder's David Byrne-esque vocal delivery) with a smoothed-out '80s Bowie swing to it. The risky musical experiment (complete with bassist Jeff Ament switching to guitar and keys while guitarist Gossard plays bass) really pays off.

One of the most satisfying things about Gigaton is that the album really didn't have to happen. Pearl Jam could have kept touring to sold-out stadiums and festivals even without releasing a new record. But while they certainly took their time putting this record together (this is a band who just got around to releasing their 2017 and 2018 fan club singles, mind you), the results have the unhurried, thoughtful quality that comes from a band having the space and time to assemble only their best material.

At 57 minutes, Gigaton is the longest record of the band's career, yet there are few unnecessary moments. The band is both stretching out and coming closer together, tapping into the dynamic creative partnership that has fueled them all these years. For a longtime fan, these new songs offer a sense of emotional escape, fitful unease, steadfast belief, and a personal reconnection and collective recalibration. Gigaton is a boisterous creative check in to make sure the kids are still alright.

And if nothing else, Gigaton is an affirmation that this band I pledged my soul (and skin) to in the '90s hasn't led me astray. The kid I was when I discovered Pearl Jam is still alive within me, and their music is an uninhibited, exhilarating reminder to enjoy my youth no matter how old I get.


http://www.citypages.com/music/pearl-ja ... WwsZCMxOGY

Great post.

[VinylGuy]

What does it mean when your favorite band as a teenager releases a new album 30 years after you first fell for them?

What does it mean when that record comes out during a global pandemic?

What does anything mean anymore?

No matter what cultural significance Gigaton ultimately does or doesn’t end up having, I still get a rush from unwrapping the plastic on a new Pearl Jam LP. Though their last three records have been relative disappointments to me, I keep listening, hoping to rekindle the fire the band lit within me in their early days. Even if the flame lasts for just a couple songs, or is fleetingly found in a soaring Eddie Vedder chorus, or a rousing guitar riff from Mike McCready or Stone Gossard, I listen for those moments where they bring me back and make me feel young again. A part of my youth that I will always treasure is still tied directly to this band, and it always will be.

Pearl Jam helped me make some sense out of my confusing teenage years, helping me feel less alone in those moments of uncertainty and isolation, and they also soundtracked those celebratory momentswhere I began discovering just who I was and what truly mattered to me. As I grew with the band, their music encouraged me to nurture my creative self during my experimental college years, when I proudly proclaimed my love of Pearl Jam by getting the Alive stickman tattooed on my ankle. They reinforced my belief that no matter where I call home, I should always have my trusty record player by my side. And their outspoken support of political and charitable causes refined how I viewed the world at large and helped me discover what my role was in making society a better place for everyone.

Nearly 30 years after they started (and almost seven years since their last record, Lightning Bolt), Pearl Jam are back with their 11th studio album, Gigaton. After spending a couple weeks with the new record, I can confidently say that it is their strongestand most assured album since 2000's Binaural. The band sounds inspired, revitalized, and remarkably of the moment. They aren't trying to capture the lightning in a bottle moments from early in their career, and they’re wise enough to not attempt to replicate themselves, though there are still strong echoes of the band’s long history, especially within Vedder's weathered, resonant vocals.

Like most of Pearl Jam's recent albums, the rockers kick things off and propel the front half of the album before giving way to a series of ballads and more relaxed, somber tunes on the latter half. But Gigaton stands out as a cohesive creative statement, with the band reflectively examining the fractured state of our fragile world (even before COVID-19) and their tenuous place in it.

"I want this dream to last forever/A wish denied to lengthen our time/I wish this moment was never ending/Let it be a lie that all futures die," Vedder sings on the wistful album closer, "River Cross." Rather than wallowing in regrets of things left undone (or rivers left uncrossed), the song is a hopeful anthem of potential change. A better way forward is possible as long as we stick together and share the light.

Pearl Jam also takes a refreshing detour on the album's first single, "Dance of the Clairvoyants." The track is a quirky, Talking Heads-like stomp (complete with Vedder's David Byrne-esque vocal delivery) with a smoothed-out '80s Bowie swing to it. The risky musical experiment (complete with bassist Jeff Ament switching to guitar and keys while guitarist Gossard plays bass) really pays off.

One of the most satisfying things about Gigaton is that the album really didn't have to happen. Pearl Jam could have kept touring to sold-out stadiums and festivals even without releasing a new record. But while they certainly took their time putting this record together (this is a band who just got around to releasing their 2017 and 2018 fan club singles, mind you), the results have the unhurried, thoughtful quality that comes from a band having the space and time to assemble only their best material.

At 57 minutes, Gigaton is the longest record of the band's career, yet there are few unnecessary moments. The band is both stretching out and coming closer together, tapping into the dynamic creative partnership that has fueled them all these years. For a longtime fan, these new songs offer a sense of emotional escape, fitful unease, steadfast belief, and a personal reconnection and collective recalibration. Gigaton is a boisterous creative check in to make sure the kids are still alright.

And if nothing else, Gigaton is an affirmation that this band I pledged my soul (and skin) to in the '90s hasn't led me astray. The kid I was when I discovered Pearl Jam is still alive within me, and their music is an uninhibited, exhilarating reminder to enjoy my youth no matter how old I get.


http://www.citypages.com/music/pearl-ja ... WwsZCMxOGY

Great post.

Great great post. I agree with everything. PJ always bring me back but at the same time, made me want to stay in the present. They have that magic and its really present in Gigaton, in a way it wasnt in LB.

Im really happy.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Hatfield]

Eddie is outstanding on this album. He nails and elevates every song.


This is their 4th best album as an album, though a few albums may have higher highs

Outstanding! His harmonies keep jumping out at me. I'm saying this without really listening to all the albums, but I think it's his best harmony choices/performances since No Code.

[Farmer John]

Now that the dust has settled:

1. Dance of the Clairvoyants
2. Alright
3. Comes Then Goes
4. Buckle Up
5. Never Destination
6. Take the Long Way
7. Seven O’Clock
8. Quick Escape
9. Who Ever Said
10. River Cross
11. Superblood Wolfmoon
12. Retrograde

There aren't any songs I dislike anymore. I hated Retrograde at first, but it's been growing on me. Seven O'Clock has REALLY grown on me as well. Quick Escape has lost a bit of it's luster, but I still really like it.

[Farmer John]

This thing gets more and more consistent and cohesive with each listen. This is a fucking great record. No bad songs.

[Tuolumne]

yeah Yield is a good choice, the songs there share a sound like in Gigaton. I still feel Ten, Vs and No Code are their strongest front to back albums.

Front to back, No Code doesn’t compete with Ten or Vs. I love No Code but I don’t think the last few songs are close to the quality of those classic albums.

I think Gigaton feels like a new thing but it’s closest roots are Binaural and Yield.

I put this in a category with Yield and Riot Act in terms of approach, adventurousness, and self-assuredness. I'm not gonna get into album ranking and all of that, but while No Code has a pretty top flight front half, the bottom half sort of loses the identity of both the band and the album itself. (Who thinks Habit, Lukin, I'm Open, Mankind are essential tracks? And if so, really?). Yield was taking the identity they carved out in No Code and just being comfortable with the fact that they're Pearl Jam. Not *trying* to be PJ, but just acknowledging that they as a band gravitate to certain anthemic and earnest qualities naturally. Same with Rio Act. It came off of Binaural, which is good but it's PJ laboring to be different and searching for something. Riot Act does that but also does that Yield thing of being assured of who they are.

Gigaton does that. They're pushing themselves creatively, doing some new things, but they know they're PJ and those specific qualities naturally come out (anthemic at times, "hokey", earnest here and there, etc) but there's still that sense of searching and adventurousness. All that said, there is a specific Gigaton identity.

[PHATJ]

This might be Ed’s best album. It’s either this or Vitalogy, and it’s amazing that there’s a legitimate discussion to be had.

[Yield Often]

I can't stop listening....

I mean...I have to be in the 300s in terms of listens...

It's insane how it just continues to maintain your attention from start to finish...

Is this love??

[PHATJ]

I can't stop listening....

I mean...I have to be in the 300s in terms of listens...

It's insane how it just continues to maintain your attention from start to finish...

Is this love??

That’s fucking bananas.

And yes, this is love. My penis feels it too.

[joostone]

Hi guys! First off hope you and your families are both safe right now and are doing well.

This question has probably been asked, but it seems like you guys had a lot of choices for this record, the one notable that missed the cut is Can’t Deny Me. Two years ago when you guys released it as a single, did you have a different concept for the album? If so, when did that all change?

Also, was Of The Earth ever considered for this album? I love the song and would love to hear a studio recording of it some day (hoping that maybe we have enough “Stray Cats” laying around)


Cant Deny Me was a single that came out when we didnt have a record out.It might come out again someday but Im not sure. I think Ed feels like we havent gotten the best take of Of The Earth from what I remember.I hope we can get it sometime>MM

Love the new album... given some of the themes, was “Of The Earth” considered for the track list?
We didnt talk about Of The Earth but it would be great sometime to recordMM

Good evening guys, gigaton is amazing, thank you for all the amazing music you have made. Two quick questions

Are the rumors about Gigaton being a part of a two part album true

Is there any chance that we could get another lost dogs type album with all the unreleased songs from Avocado onward

Hope you’re both doing great in these tough times and thanks again for all the amazing music, can’t wait to see you guys live when all this is over!

Gigaton is its own record. Id love to record more music in this time of pandemic but its imoportant that we are all taking measures to be safe. Good Idea about Lost Dogs 2 Ill bet we have the music for that.MM

Lost Dogs 2 was asked about and Mike seems to like the idea.

[injuddstree]

Quick Escape is a logical extension to Do The Evolution.

[Strat]

This fucking album.

Man alive.

[Leatherhead]

yeah Yield is a good choice, the songs there share a sound like in Gigaton. I still feel Ten, Vs and No Code are their strongest front to back albums.

Front to back, No Code doesn’t compete with Ten or Vs. I love No Code but I don’t think the last few songs are close to the quality of those classic albums.

I think Gigaton feels like a new thing but it’s closest roots are Binaural and Yield.

I put this in a category with Yield and Riot Act in terms of approach, adventurousness, and self-assuredness. I'm not gonna get into album ranking and all of that, but while No Code has a pretty top flight front half, the bottom half sort of loses the identity of both the band and the album itself. (Who thinks Habit, Lukin, I'm Open, Mankind are essential tracks? And if so, really?). Yield was taking the identity they carved out in No Code and just being comfortable with the fact that they're Pearl Jam. Not *trying* to be PJ, but just acknowledging that they as a band gravitate to certain anthemic and earnest qualities naturally. Same with Rio Act. It came off of Binaural, which is good but it's PJ laboring to be different and searching for something. Riot Act does that but also does that Yield thing of being assured of who they are.

Gigaton does that. They're pushing themselves creatively, doing some new things, but they know they're PJ and those specific qualities naturally come out (anthemic at times, "hokey", earnest here and there, etc) but there's still that sense of searching and adventurousness. All that said, there is a specific Gigaton identity.

Habit and Lukin are absolutely essential. I'm Open and Mankind maybe not so much.

[Jaeti]

There truly are no skippable songs on this album.

[PHATJ]

There truly are no skippable songs on this album.

I just basically said the same in another thread. Every time I listen, this album sounds better and better. This could very legitimately be in the conversation for their most complete album. It rivals TEN in terms of every song being vital. This is a perfect current day Pearl Jam masterpiece.

[PHATJ]

Gigaton is Eddie Vedder’s best performance since Vs.

[Tuolumne]

Why anyone would compare this song to Elderly Woman is beyond me. Maybe it's more like an acoustic solo Immortality (without any band build-up, if it was a just a solemn solo song). He really really dug deep for this one. He held his breath and dove to the bottom of the ocean and pulled something up for us. I feel like whatever he was feeling he really put it through the grinder and found words that matches a whole series of different types of emotions. Art. Well done, Mr. Vedder.

edit - I thought this was the Comes Then Goes thread. My bad. The above applies to that.

[VinylGuy]

Gigaton is Eddie Vedder’s best performance since Vs.

since Yield.