Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Vs.

[stip]

Where have you been, PryTo? I await further write ups.

[PryTo]

Aw, ya'll sure know how to make a guy feel welcome. Well, here's song number two.

“Animal” - I don’t love this song as much as “Go,” but it’s nearly as good. Another killer riff. Someone wrote it on here earlier, but they were really good at basing almost an entire song around a killer riff in those days. Compare to the latter period “Unthought Known” types of songs that are just strumming chords. Big difference, although I imagine there are only so many riffs one can write over a musical lifespan. The music tumbles and collides beautifully. I love how the bass drops out for a couple of bars right before the start of the second verse – just drums and guitars. It really highlights the greatness of the riff.

To me, this was part two of the group’s declaration that they weren’t going commercial. “Go” was a song about relationships that was light years (cough cough) from “Black”’s balladry; “Animal” is closer to “Corduroy,” a song about refusing to go commercial. Again this is entirely my interpretation, but Vedder’s lyrics were open to interpretation in those days. There aren't a lot of words in the song, but Vedder chooses them carefully and sells it on pure feeling. The success of “Ten” gave PJ a huge audience of jock/mook types (hasn’t changed all that much, really) and I think it embarrassed the band, especially since Cobain was calling them out so publicly. “Animal” is not unlike “In Bloom,” a song directed at a portion of the audience (the majority?) that the band despised. The lyrics start out with the “five against one” thing, basically feeling oppressed and outnumbered by the dumb, violent masses. “Why would you want to hurt me?” Vedder screams. The album cover of Vs. was based on this song, IMO. Not because it was an animal (duh) but that feeling of being caged, face pressed against the cage, powerless, “abducted on the street,” as he puts it. He’s being hounded by these frightened, pained fans who project their pain onto him, their grunge savior. It’s almost like “Stardust Memories,” that Woody Allen movie where all the fans are grotesque and weird and won’t leave him alone and say stupid things constantly and don’t get him as an artist (and yes, I know Allen stole it from Fellini). Basically, like Corduroy, this is Vedder’s declaration that he’d rather be with an animal than these bunch of animals. Like “Rats,” he’s comparing humans to animals, but here the animals are his own fans. He’s saying he’d rather be alone than be hounded by these jerks. That’s my take on it, anyway.

Random thoughts while listening.

Never noticed how the last “animal” is double or triple tracked at the end of the first chorus. An unnecessary little slice of overproduction on an otherwise raw track.

Love the little “rrrraugh” just before the second verse kicks in. Never noticed that before.

Great greasy little guitar picking during the chorus.

Another ho-hum solo, presumably from that guy, what’s his name again? Oh yeah, Mike McCready.

The second crescendo, crash to closer in a row. Goddamn this band was good back then. Just fucking tight as hell, with every player pounding it for all it was worth. Intensity from all parties. And Dave A deserves the enormous credit he gets for his contribution to the sound of Vs. and Vitalogy. They never played with this level of intensity again.

The “five against one” line always reminded me of The Doors, “Five To One.” Remember how everyone originally compared Vedder to Jim Morrison. That got forgotten as “Ten” got bigger, but the early take on the band was that their singer was like the reincarnation of Morrison, sang just like him, etc. Again, the implication is that fame is a prison, torture and no one here gets out alive.

[EJ]

Great stuff, Pry To. Keep it coming.

[Jorge]

Man, I really like the "Go" solo a lot.

[PryTo]

Man, I really like the "Go" solo a lot.

Yeah, you'll notice I'm not a big McCready fan. I think he's serviceable but unremarkable on nearly every single PJ song. But I know he's got some serious fans and I think when he and Stone are locked in a playing a great riff, they're pretty un-fuck-with-able.

[Jorge]

I'm with you for the most part. I'm not really a big fan of his; I like that solo because it's intense and passionate, with minimal wankery, just really frienzied and urgent-sounding.

[Norah]

I can sail on that boat.

[96583UP]

the solo from Rats 'don't compare'.

building on that 'mike is a contextualist soloist' idea, i think that playing with a true funk drummer like Dave A on Rats brought out a cantabile from mike that he just doesn't seem to hit anywhere else in his repertoire.

that solo has great chops. great flair. great funk.

[PryTo]

“Daughter” – For me, the problem with re-listening to Daughter is that I’ve heard it so many times, it’s a piss break song for me. It’s one of their all-time “hits,” and I tend to get bored of most bands’ all-time hits. So viewed through my eyes today, I think, after this wonderful one-two declaration of refusal to sell out, here we have a commercial, acoustic based ballad with a catchy chorus. Boo!

But I also remember what I thought when I first heard it, and that was that it was really radical because Vedder was singing a song from a girl’s perspective. Again, this level of empathy is what killed hair metal, which was all about banging someone’s daughter. So in that sense it was a pretty radical song and again declared that PJ was far from a big, dumb rawk band – especially given that many assumed they were in the wake of “Ten.”

Random thoughts while listening:

“You guys ready?” someone says right as the song begins. Never noticed that before. Is it Dave A.?

The production is really gorgeous. Sounds as great today as ever. It’s not nearly as overproduced as the “Ten” material, but still a pretty damned commercial sounding song in almost every regard. Other than the lyrics, this is the least "surprising" song on Vs., although I suppose an acoustic-based number was novel for PJ at the time. Again, really hard to listen to this one today and find it to be as fresh as it was back then. And everyone, including me, loved this song when it first came out.

More unnecessary echo/double tracking of Vedder on the “holds the hand that holds her down” line. Grrr.

The violins/violence line seemed really deep to me back then. Now? Eh, not so much.

The solo reminds me of something the Black Crowes would play. I like the Black Crowes, but I don’t like this solo. I don’t dislike it either. As always, McCready just does nothing for me as a guitarist. And I love guitarists, I swear!

Jeff deserves some credit for this one. Lovely bass line. Almost McCartney-esque. Not quite that good, but somewhere in the ballpark.

I like the weird outro fade out thing, where someone (Dave A?) is slapping their hands on their thighs or something, along with some light guitar picking. Pretty cool and different and it sets things up for the next couple of songs, where we change directions in an interesting way.

[stip]

I hope PryTo is making the rest of you feel ashamed of yourselves.

I'm off to bed, and look forward to reading more in the morning

[Kevin Davis]

I thought the "you guys, ready?" was Stone.

To me live versions of the song always feel just a tiny bit empty without that cymbal intro and guitar arpeggio.

[PryTo]

“Glorified G” – “Four or five virgins and a pelican.” Told ya things were about to get weird! I love the next two songs, maybe even more today. I mean, if this is going to be a “we’re not selling out” record, then you’ve got to live up to that and take the music in some interesting directions. Mission accomplished here.

Knowing the backstory to this song makes it hard to listen to the same way ever again. At the time it seemed like an anti-gun song, rather than an anti Dave-A-owning-guns song. At the time, though, this struck me as a declaration from Vedder that he didn’t stand with or condone redneck America. Not exactly a bold political stance from a leftist rock band, but a political stance nonetheless. And this was an era when, you know, Poison was still on the charts and selling out arenas. On Vs. PJ took real stances, stances that were not there on “Ten.” This was the emergence of their political element, which has waxed and waned, but never gone completely away. I don’t remember hearing anything remotely like that on “Ten.”

I love love love the music on this one. It reminds me of “Rival” in some ways. Really, this is the first song on the album where Vedder doesn’t dominate the proceedings. This is really about the band. Love the guitar playing during the verses. This is where I really do like McCready, when he and Stone are riffing off each other and serving the greater good. When left to his own devices, McCready cannot be trusted, but he does great when he’s not flying solo.

Random thoughts while listening:

Dave’s drums have a lot of echo on them. Commercial sounding and unnecessary.

The seemed really into that thing where the bass drops out and the guitars and Dave A repeat the main riff a few times. Seems to be a repeating musical motif on Vs. Like they discovered a new trick and couldn't stop doing it!

Another solo that does nothing for me. Sorry Mike fans!

Is that Chris Cornell in the middle eight part? “Life comes, I can feel your heart.” Got to be him! Never knew that. I suppose that's why we're doing this, finding new things in the familiar.

[HardTI]

RVM was a song that took years to click with me. I distinctly recall that moment too. I still lived at home with my parents and had just bought a nice audio system. The first album I put on was VS (This was probably in 97). I turned the lights out and listed to this album and RVM just fucking floored me. That build towards the last 3rd of the song is maybe one of the most intense PJ moments in their catalog.

Overall this is still one of my least favorite PJ albums, but it has quite a few 5 star songs for me. Go, Animal, WMA, Indifference, and RVM. I don't really like the production of the album though. It feels very cold and flat. I guess I just don't feel like it has personality.

Dave and Stone own this album.

[PryTo]

Dave and Stone own this album.

Agree. Ed sings the hell out of most of these songs, too. He can't begin to touch these performances today, but they're a big part of the reason we're still talking about him twenty plus years in.

“Dissident” – Another highlight. If “Go” and “Animal” were energetic declarations of intent, “Glorified G” and “Dissident” were all about expanding the musical and lyrical possibilities. And both songs achieved that goal.

This might be Vedder’s best vocal performance on the album, at least from a passion perspective. If this is really a song about a civil war refugee, why does Vedder sing it with such passion? Why does it mean so much to him? Again, I trace it to the underlying theme of Vs, which is that “escape” (selling out) is the safest path, but not the path that’s going to be followed. They’re not going to “fold” and play it safe. There is "meaning" here, this isn't some bullshit; they’re not going to be “sold to the state.” The images in these lyrics are fantastic, both visceral and subtle. Wide open for interpretation.

Ed really kicks it into gear about 2:40 into the song, just singing the shit out of the chorus, then he kicks up another notch for another take on the chorus. Again, I just don’t see him singing a song about a civil war refugee with this much passion. Something in these words really meant something to him.

Random thoughts while listening:

I love that opening repeated guitar motif – the same line is played over the chorus. The song would just be some power chords without it. It really makes the song, from a musical perspective. I’m not sure who’s playing during the verse, but what a cool spiraling upward guitar line (as Vedder sings “She nursed him there”).

An extremely tasteful performance from Dave and really everyone in the band. Listen to that nice little cymbal tap from Dave just seconds before the opening verse. It's the little things like that which make this song special. The details. Love this song, even today – a real gem and one that I think even the band overlooks.

[Birds in Hell]

Is that Chris Cornell in the middle eight part? “Life comes, I can feel your heart.” Got to be him! Never knew that.

That's Ed (and Stone).

[PryTo]

Is that Chris Cornell in the middle eight part? “Life comes, I can feel your heart.” Got to be him! Never knew that.

That's Ed (and Stone).

Wow, sounds just like Cornell. Who knew Ed did such good impressions.

[thierry ennui]

“Glorified G” – “Four or five virgins and a pelican.” Told ya things were about to get weird! I love the next two songs, maybe even more today. I mean, if this is going to be a “we’re not selling out” record, then you’ve got to live up to that and take the music in some interesting directions. Mission accomplished here.

Knowing the backstory to this song makes it hard to listen to the same way ever again. At the time it seemed like an anti-gun song, rather than an anti Dave-A-owning-guns song. At the time, though, this struck me as a declaration from Vedder that he didn’t stand with or condone redneck America. Not exactly a bold political stance from a leftist rock band, but a political stance nonetheless. And this was an era when, you know, Poison was still on the charts and selling out arenas. On Vs. PJ took real stances, stances that were not there on “Ten.” This was the emergence of their political element, which has waxed and waned, but never gone completely away. I don’t remember hearing anything remotely like that on “Ten.”

I love love love the music on this one. It reminds me of “Rival” in some ways. Really, this is the first song on the album where Vedder doesn’t dominate the proceedings. This is really about the band. Love the guitar playing during the verses. This is where I really do like McCready, when he and Stone are riffing off each other and serving the greater good. When left to his own devices, McCready cannot be trusted, but he does great when he’s not flying solo.

Random thoughts while listening:

Dave’s drums have a lot of echo on them. Commercial sounding and unnecessary.

The seemed really into that thing where the bass drops out and the guitars and Dave A repeat the main riff a few times. Seems to be a repeating musical motif on Vs. Like they discovered a new trick and couldn't stop doing it!

Another solo that does nothing for me. Sorry Mike fans!

Is that Chris Cornell in the middle eight part? “Life comes, I can feel your heart.” Got to be him! Never knew that. I suppose that's why we're doing this, finding new things in the familiar.

drums sound great for the riff they're with

[stip]

Interesting to read such unabashed love for dissident

[stip]

Knowing the backstory to this song makes it hard to listen to the same way ever again. At the time it seemed like an anti-gun song, rather than an anti Dave-A-owning-guns song. At the time, though, this struck me as a declaration from Vedder that he didn’t stand with or condone redneck America. Not exactly a bold political stance from a leftist rock band, but a political stance nonetheless. And this was an era when, you know, Poison was still on the charts and selling out arenas. On Vs. PJ took real stances, stances that were not there on “Ten.” This was the emergence of their political element, which has waxed and waned, but never gone completely away. I don’t remember hearing anything remotely like that on “Ten.”

Obviously this is eye of the beholder stuff but I don't think the origins of the song really affect it's meaning. The anti dave stuff, if there, probably just ups the stakes since now eddie is now somewhat guilty by association. The song is needed to purify, or at least establish distance. It enhances the us/them element that is so central to most political writing.

[jtmack20]

I actually think the solos on both Go and Animal are totally kickass. Blazing fast, but not just to show off- they fit the urgency of the songs. I actually think that is one of Mike's biggest assets, to bring energy and intensity but still serve the song.

And I'm pretty sure the solo on Rats is Stone, not Mike.