Red Mosquito

Release_Me wrote:I am loving plenty of songs on this album and don't really dislike anything (OK, I won't seek out The Haves or Long Way) but the one that I seem to want to put on repeat most often is Mrs. Mills. What a beautiful melody and such great lyrics.

It is beautiful.

stip wrote:Just put this on for the first time in two days and this whole album feels like a hug. It's the Great British Baking Show of Pearl Jam's extended catalog.

I only recently got into and slightly obsessed with the Great British Baking Show and this description makes me happy.

Random album thoughts:

What Andrew was able to help Ed pull out of himself is astounding me. These lyrics are far beyond what I thought Ed had left in the tank.

What's been said about Invincible is right on. Ed is so confident and I love that he knocked down the 4th wall and speaks right to his audience. Lately I've been reading more Buddhist literature (Thich Nhat Hanh) and so many lyrics across this record and connecting easily and deeply to those same thoughts. "The only rule is to keep your cool" could be such a throw away line but at this time and from this artist is right on target.

Fallout Today is perfection. The tone, lyrics, delivery, melody....how the solo perfectly fits and then hands back off to the chorus. It's giving me a Wilco vibe and I can't get enough of it.

The Dark - Stip said it so well. What I'll add, and maybe this should go in the "Andrew Watt" thread, is this superfan helped capture, on tape, the amazing ending of almost every live Better Man for the last 20 years. I love this song and it only gets better then longer it plays.

Try - One of the most fun songs he's ever done and for us Dad rockers I love the lyric which seems to be a nod to the reality of life in a long term relationship and being the best husband/dad you can be.

I started this Earthling journey thinking, "God, I wish Ed would grow out of this punk thing." I was so wrong. Power of Right, Good and Evil and Rose of Jericho keep climbing. Again, Watt as Pearl Jam producer should work out!

“The Dark” could easily be the music played over a montage in an ‘80s movie starring Anthony Michael Hall.

Bammer wrote:“The Dark” could easily be the music played over a montage in an ‘80s movie starring Anthony Michael Hall.

I picture the opening credits to Growing Pains when I hear The Haves

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-des ... phant-hunt

His wife had the kill shot apparently

so this thread made me realise I hadn't read the Good Evil lyrics; I like them! it's definitely going after those rich white "game hunters", I don’t think Ed is good at metaphor

B wrote:

stip wrote:

B wrote:

Anders wrote:

B wrote:Haven't had time to spin the record, but I went ahead and dropped the needle on Ms. Mills because I've been singing that in my head for 2 weeks now.

Sounds great!

Power of Right and Rose of Jericho ... why aren't these Pearl Jam songs? These are Pearl Jam songs.
Fallout Today, Good and Evil - pass
Picture - Better than I originally thought
Try and Mrs. Mills (and maybe Brother the Cloud) - I want more of this Eddie Vedder

what about invincible and the dark?

I don't really care for invincible. It's fine. I need to listen to The Dark again.

The Dark - in the top 6 songs of the album.
The Haves - Once I got over a millionaire writing about poor people, I like it. It's a good song.
Long Way - Still just feels like Eddie asking himself, "How much can I sound like Tom Petty?" Answer: A lot.

Decided to give this an extended listen before I posted what I thought. I'm loving it. It's great that we have had Gigaton and this from 2020 -2022 when all we got from 2010-2020 was really only lightning bolt. It feels like one of the most personal records Eddie has ever written. I've waited a long time for him to put out a record like and it does not disappoint at all really except for 3 songs. I wish on my way was more of a fully realized song. It sound so great as closer. My real issue is power of right and picture. It's not that picture is a bad track, I just don't think it fits on the record. Power of right, I can't believe people complained about the haves more than this one. This track doesn't sound right to me, maybe it's the guitars, the lyrics, it just doesn't even sound like a song he would write. I really love the combo of good and evil, rose jericho and try. Something tells me good and evil will makes it way into pearl jam setlists this spring and summer. I feel like stone, mike and matt will really give this a go on tour. Solid record and I hope he hits the southeast at the end of the year.

lowlight79 wrote:Something tells me good and evil will makes it way into pearl jam setlists this spring and summer. I feel like stone, mike and matt will really give this a a go on tour.

I think this might be my final breaking point with the band.

Should I listen to this album?

Limited posting around these parts, but I thought i'd do a brain dump on Earthling:

- One, I'm of the mind that PJ albums are remarkably consistent. I don't see such a major gap between the best and 'worst' of PJ. I've listened to their contemporaries - RHCP, Oasis, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Metallica, et al and those bands have massive ocean wide gaps between their best and worst work. PJ is a 'high batting average" band for me. This makes it especially precarious to rank an EdVed album amongst them. I'm not even going to try.

- In terms of EdVed albums, I *love* Into the Wild and Ukelele Songs. They are singular EdVed pieces that he and only he could have made. Earthling is it's own thing, but I may have to bring in those two albums as comparitor reference points when evaluating Earthling in the scope of his solo work.

- Earthling feels like his Temple of the Dog. A summer camp like hang with some new or newly reacquainted buddies. A free-spirited, low expectations hootnanny meant to release some pent up energy but surprisingly yields some very cool results.

- This surpassing expectations feels triumphant, but only because expectations tend to be adjusted for EdVed albums. He has a very natural way to bring the stakes down for his solo albums. It's really cool how he does that. He always surpasses them.

- I have a bizarro review for a world where there actually *are* larger expectations and my evaluation changes some for that.

- This feels like a covers album. That's both a compliment and a criticism. It's great and alot easier and fun to listen to in the context that many of these songs feel familiar. If we're being hard - hard in a 'this is a new PJ album after a several years gap' level of expectation - you can level that alot is derivative and unoriginal. Eddie Petty, Eddie Gabriel, Eddie Springsteen, Eddie Finn, Eddie Mccartney, Eddie Ness. It's a tribute and alot of fun. Don't go too deep into the originality stuff and this record is a blast.

- Brother the Cloud and Rose of Jericho feel like they could be PJ worthy and they nearly get there. If these were on a PJ record they'd fit in well. But there are *so many* amazing PJ songs (and yes that includes Avocado-Lightning Bolt) that would stack up and often surpass. But those 2 are legit and really help shed light on where Ed drives the band.

- Where I really miss the PJ guys - the lack of transitions, pedestrian chords, intros, outros, interplay - Power of Right and Good and Evil are good enough for this record and help give it the 'summer camp' blast sort of vibe, but this wouldn't completely pass muster with the PJ guys. i really miss Mike and Stone on these.

- I was fully prepared to hate on Andrew Watt - he of the Bieber camp - but man, this guy won me over and his energy and enthusiasm is infectious. He's young, energetic, fun, very talented, steeped in rock history, and just good for Ed at this point. He can shred, I'm not convinced of his songwriting yet.

- Try - good harmonica romp, listening closely doesn't help, so I won't too much. Could've used a bridge. Picture - ugh not digging this at the moment but could grow ... maybe.

- Rose of Jericho - man, rocks my balls off.

- Long Way, Fallout, Dark - all good covers sounding songs and just such a pleasure to listen to. Again, best enjoyed without too much analysis, but good lyrics and soundly structured songs, good solos, good buildups and bring downs.

- The Haves - Future Days + Parachutes. Took a bit for my ears to sink in, but I think it's starting to come around.

I stick by my Temple of the Dog analogy. Not in sound, but in spirit in that it's a natural release of friends jamming and feels spontaneous. Ed deserves this, and I'm happy for him and for us. This is an uplifting album. You've have to be a cynical dick not to smile inside for alot of this.

These aren't deeply cathartic pieces like Into the Wild or Ukelele Songs (which is underestimated in that it is a devastating heartbreak-->new love record). Earthling doesn't have, or even try, to carry the same weight. The melodies are tributes to his favorite artists, while ITW and Ukelele Songs have melodies that are uniquely EdVed.

No way of getting around it - he and all of the PJ guys are integral to forming my tastes. This makes me naturally bias towards liking their music. I pretty much always love PJ and Ed released. Their tastes inform mine, so I'm not super objective. That's okay, that's what being a lifelong fans can mean and I'm fine and happy with it.

Cheers and enjoy the album everyone.

welcome back

BurtReynolds wrote:Should I listen to this album?

BurtReynolds wrote:Should I listen to this album?

If you’ve listened to any Pearl Jam album for a considerable amount of time and it meant a great deal to you, then yes.

It cracks me up that there are posters on this board who aren’t PJ fans but then I remember that’s like half of y’all.

I can see why you could enjoy this board regardless of what you think of Pearl Jam, but surely to find it, you need to have looked for Pearl Jam online to begin with, and then signed up to a Pearl Jam forum, and started posting on it.

Are there song by song credits for this album?

Bammer wrote:It cracks me up that there are posters on this board who aren’t PJ fans but then I remember that’s like half of y’all.

We've been here for like 15 years.