Red Mosquito

Man, the tail end of Avocado was such a disappointment. I remember leaving the first listen with a "that's it?" feeling for the rest of the day. It's such a mixed bag album but a strong finish might have done wonders.

I disagree. Sure, they often end on a contemplative note, but Avocado was the first time they ended on a dull or bland note for me. Not just talking about the closers, either. Last two or three songs would typically have some really interesting ideas buried in there. Everything after Big Wave was a signal that Pearl Jam was about to enter a safe zone, and boy did they ever.

Can't Deny Me isn't terrible. Could've been pretty cool.

marker in the sand
big wave
gone
force of nature
johnny guitar
supersonic
lightning bolt
let the records play
future days
can’t deny me

honorable mention aka songs i don’t like that most people seem to love
small town
leash
crazy mary (i know it’s a cover)
come back
unthought known

washing machine wrote:I disagree. Sure, they often end on a contemplative note, but Avocado was the first time they ended on a dull or bland note for me. Not just talking about the closers, either. Last two or three songs would typically have some really interesting ideas buried in there. Everything after Big Wave was a signal that Pearl Jam was about to enter a safe zone, and boy did they ever.

Avocado is probably a top heavy album, but I think the back half is still very solid. I like Gone, Army Reserve, and Inside Job quite a bit. Come Back is admittedly feeling like a stab at Black (in some ways, so is Sirens - the whole hey Eddie can still croon vibe), and Wasted Reprise is a waste, but I can’t really complain. I still love that album.

I don't love Inside Job. But otherwise, I think the back half of the record is great. I actually dislike two of the first three songs more than any of the last six (and I like Wasted Reprise more than Life Wasted).

It's the first album from Pearl Jam that I recall not feeling special in any way. The back half especially.

Context though: The lead up to it was huge for me. RM did some April Fool's joke leaks of WWS, I had seen them twice in the prior two album cycles, and Man of the Hour and Lost Dogs hinted at some really cool stuff. It was their last one with Sony so I naively thought that meant they were going to leave it all on the floor. Probably my own expectations were setting myself up for underwhelming reception, no matter what. Though spenno made a live mix of all the songs for me once that really changed my mind on a lot of songs, by the way.

I'm babbling now, so here's RMer Anders with one of the most accurate RM takes I've ever read on this album. He says it all here.

http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/viewtop ... 5#p1047725

I definitely agree that the album has a "something missing" aspect. That has faded for me a bit over time, however. The productions is still terrible. But I think the song writing is solid throughout and with different production, the album has opened up.

The first album that I felt wasn't special in any way (the one I think most identifies with what you're experience was with S/T, Reid) was Backspacer.

But even that record has a couple of individual tracks that I still adore and consider top tier, Pearl Jam.

I definitely understand that I was in the minority here. If you notice, a lot of RM's big players showed up in 2006. Anecdotal, but the band was definitely doing something interesting for a lot of people to migrate this way during that summer tour.

There were quite a few of my musical loves releasing albums that underwhelmed me upon release in 2006, so maybe it was just me in general? I've come around on many of these, but I remember having the same feeling I had about Avocado with each of these bands that year: Sonic Youth, Cat Power, Belle & Sebastian, The Flaming Lips, Beck, and Wilco.

EDIT: Sky Blue Sky was 2007?? Could've fooled me.

washing machine wrote:RM did some April Fool's joke leaks of WWS,

It was better than the real one!

Anyway, bottom 10 PJ

Inside Job
Come Back
Brother
Sirens
Sleeping by Myself
Soon Forget
Army Reserve
Mind Your Manners
The Fixer
Leash

McParadigm wrote:

washing machine wrote:RM did some April Fool's joke leaks of WWS,

It was better than the real one!

"Uh, Stone was pissed."

Man, I love S/T

Inside Job and Come Back are not my favorites, but they're no worse than Retrograde or River Cross. Those two Avocado songs are also far less cheesier than The End, Just Breathe or Future Days. And Come Back might actually be an ok song if someone would give it a Muscle Shoals treatment and replace the guitars with a horn section etc. Obviously someone other than Ed would have to sing it too.

For my money, Inside Job is worse than all the other songs mentioned in that post. Yet somehow I still feel like I like it more than most fans. Maybe that's not true but it sure seems like people fucking hate it.

epilogue wrote:For my money, Inside Job is worse than all the other songs mentioned in that post. Yet somehow I still feel like I like it more than most fans. Maybe that's not true but it sure seems like people fucking hate it.

It's very bad, but I can't really describe why. I don't know where to start.

Well, it's not a good song that's for sure, but at least it doesn't have strings.