Red Mosquito

Thurman Murman wrote:

epilogue wrote:

Ms Harmless wrote:for me, a major reason I like the album a lot is that it doesn't leave me thinking "oh well, at least these songs have potential live"; I honestly don't care either way, for the first time in a long time, because I feel like they created something of worth as a studio album with its own artistic vision, not just a quickly dashed off excuse to tour

Totally agree.

I am with you on this. At this point i'd personally rather have a really great album that takes them out of their comfort zone than one that will for sure translate well (or easier!) live.

VinylGuy wrote:Retrograde remains as the only one i dont really care about.

stip wrote:The vocals aren't fast, the range isn't stretching. Seems tailor made for him right now.

liebzz wrote:There’s 1129 pages of thoughts on this album, and I am sure this was put in there somewhere along the way - probably multiple times…

Hearing this again yesterday, I still think this is a great album. We’ve sliced and diced Pearl Jam every which way here over the years for sure, but by simply cutting this band in half as nearly two different bands, the Pearl Jam 1990-2005 that fought early on to find its sound (Ten, Vs., Vitalogy), then work on expanding to that definition (No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act) and this current form of Pearl Jam (2006-2021) where the band seems to sit back on a mostly static sound or space to exist in (Pearl Jam, Backspacer, Lightning Bolt, Gigaton), it seems like Pearl Jam here found that sweet spot, where they hit all the points while delivering some new things, but without any drastic expansion of what they do. It’s a mastering of their static era rather than exploring new ground. It’s the greatest Pearl Jam record in this phase of the band. I think that’s worth noting, even if it doesn’t blow down the doors like Ten or blow your mind like Vitalogy or Binaural (depending on the listener). I think that’s at least worth a lot.

Bi_3 wrote:

liebzz wrote:There’s 1129 pages of thoughts on this album, and I am sure this was put in there somewhere along the way - probably multiple times…

Hearing this again yesterday, I still think this is a great album. We’ve sliced and diced Pearl Jam every which way here over the years for sure, but by simply cutting this band in half as nearly two different bands, the Pearl Jam 1990-2005 that fought early on to find its sound (Ten, Vs., Vitalogy), then work on expanding to that definition (No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act) and this current form of Pearl Jam (2006-2021) where the band seems to sit back on a mostly static sound or space to exist in (Pearl Jam, Backspacer, Lightning Bolt, Gigaton), it seems like Pearl Jam here found that sweet spot, where they hit all the points while delivering some new things, but without any drastic expansion of what they do. It’s a mastering of their static era rather than exploring new ground. It’s the greatest Pearl Jam record in this phase of the band. I think that’s worth noting, even if it doesn’t blow down the doors like Ten or blow your mind like Vitalogy or Binaural (depending on the listener). I think that’s at least worth a lot.

Very much this.

Jaeti wrote:Hadn't actually listened to any of these songs for a few months. Popped on Seven O'Clock and Comes Then Goes on a short drive yesterday. Still wonderful stuff.

liebzz wrote:There’s 1129 pages of thoughts on this album, and I am sure this was put in there somewhere along the way - probably multiple times…

Hearing this again yesterday, I still think this is a great album. We’ve sliced and diced Pearl Jam every which way here over the years for sure, but by simply cutting this band in half as nearly two different bands, the Pearl Jam 1990-2005 that fought early on to find its sound (Ten, Vs., Vitalogy), then work on expanding to that definition (No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act) and this current form of Pearl Jam (2006-2021) where the band seems to sit back on a mostly static sound or space to exist in (Pearl Jam, Backspacer, Lightning Bolt, Gigaton), it seems like Pearl Jam here found that sweet spot, where they hit all the points while delivering some new things, but without any drastic expansion of what they do. It’s a mastering of their static era rather than exploring new ground. It’s the greatest Pearl Jam record in this phase of the band. I think that’s worth noting, even if it doesn’t blow down the doors like Ten or blow your mind like Vitalogy or Binaural (depending on the listener). I think that’s at least worth a lot.