Eddie Vedder - Earthling

[Anders]

http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/viewtop ... &start=320

This was a good thread for ranking this.

[Leatherhead]

Seems to me that it's maybe beneficial to have some special connection to growing up with Eddie Vedder since the 90's to really enjoy what's going on here. Everybody keeps saying it's great to "hear Eddie having fun."

[JuanHamm]

Eddie having fun is usually the problem. He must suffer for his art.

[Buby]

4 stars for the merit alone of having Stevie blasting a harmonica on a punky song.
The story behind "Mrs. Mills" is pretty darn cute too.

[Jaeti]

Can anyone cast any light on the "excitement gang!" lyric in Invincible? I love the line and delivery and know not what it means.

[RockPusher]

Where do you put it against I Should Be Outside or Painted Shield, 'pusher?

I like it quite a bit better than both. It's fun to hear Jeff be influenced by Joy Division, Modest Mouse and Dinosaur Jr., but I'd still much rather hear Ed singing. As for Painted Shield, it's fun and energized. There's kind of a glam aspect that I am not always in the mood for. Stone's side stuff always has that, lol.

[Anders]

It’s a good album, up there in the Pearl Jam universe discussion with Mad Season, TOTD, Into The Wild, the Brad albums, the RNDM albums and the Stone Gossard solo albums, and even a couple of the Pearl Jam albums. Not quite at the level of the top Pearl Jam albums.

[RockPusher]

It’s a good album, up there in the Pearl Jam universe discussion with Mad Season, TOTD, Into The Wild, the Brad albums, the RNDM albums and the Stone Gossard solo albums, and even a couple of the Pearl Jam albums. Not quite at the level of the top Pearl Jam albums.

Absolutely where I'm at.

[Tj]

Can anyone cast any light on the "excitement gang!" lyric in Invincible? I love the line and delivery and know not what it means.

Joe Strummer references the excitement gang in the song Coma Girl. That is the only other time I have heard it

[stip]

What tune is Ed’s dad on?

closer

How’s he sound?

Pretty cool - loungey vibe to it

[stip]

With regards to comparisons to Pearl Jam and specifically Gigaton, my overall grade for this album is lower but much higher than I ever would have expected for a PJ member solo project. I absolutely adore Gigaton and it holds a lot of "5" songs for me. However, I do believe that the stronger songs on Earthling are better than the weaker songs on Gigaton.

That seems right to me. Actually I'd go further. The better songs on Earthlings might be ahead of some of the medium songs on Gigaton. But as much as I am enjoying the hell out of this album now there aren't any true 5 star songs. At least not yet.

[stip]

4 stars for the merit alone of having Stevie blasting a harmonica on a punky song.
The story behind "Mrs. Mills" is pretty darn cute too.

What is the story?

[Tj]

With regards to comparisons to Pearl Jam and specifically Gigaton, my overall grade for this album is lower but much higher than I ever would have expected for a PJ member solo project. I absolutely adore Gigaton and it holds a lot of "5" songs for me. However, I do believe that the stronger songs on Earthling are better than the weaker songs on Gigaton.

That seems right to me. Actually I'd go further. The better songs on Earthlings might be ahead of some of the medium songs on Gigaton. But as much as I am enjoying the hell out of this album now there aren't any true 5 star songs. At least not yet.

Hog wash

[JuanHamm]

I've only listened to Invincible twice, but it sounded like a candidate for a 5 to me. Maybe I'll never listen to it again to preserve that feeling.

[guitar_davey]

What tune is Ed’s dad on?

closer

How’s he sound?

Pretty cool - loungey vibe to it

Reminds me of the "hidden" track on the second STP album.

[epilogue]

4 stars for the merit alone of having Stevie blasting a harmonica on a punky song.
The story behind "Mrs. Mills" is pretty darn cute too.

What is the story?

It's a long rambling (in typical Eddie Vedder fashion) story that starts with a piano at Abbey Road and ends with Ringo Starr playing drums on this album.

Ed tells it on the Smartless podcast.

[Tj]

I've only listened to Invincible twice, but it sounded like a candidate for a 5 to me. Maybe I'll never listen to it again to preserve that feeling.

It is. 5 stars that is.

[gardenparty]

As much as i kind of enjoy Invincible i can't help but think it wouldn't be out of place being performed by a Christian rock band at worship service. With the congregation raising hands, singing and dancing.

[Kevin Davis]

4 stars for the merit alone of having Stevie blasting a harmonica on a punky song.
The story behind "Mrs. Mills" is pretty darn cute too.

What is the story?

It's a long rambling (in typical Eddie Vedder fashion) story that starts with a piano at Abbey Road and ends with Ringo Starr playing drums on this album.

Ed tells it on the Smartless podcast.

Mrs. Mills is a piano at Abbey Road Studios, named after the stride pianist Gladys Mills:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Mills

The song is ostensibly about the piano, but in his conversation with Bruce Springsteen Eddie explains how it also has a parallel message about a woman's freedom to choose her romantic lifestyle. I'm not sure I think that element is as deftly woven in as he thinks -- to me it works best as a clever tune about a piano with a healthy dose of double entendre worked in -- but I do think it's a really well-written song, probably my favorite set of lyrics on the album.

[washing machine]

loves "with the congregation raising hands, singing and dancing"