Red Mosquito

Apparently, it was plural. I wrote a bunch of shits about this album.

I love the degree to which they were willing to experiment with their sonic structure and with the overall sound of their records during the Binaural/Riot Act era, even if both of those albums feel like missed opportunities in some ways. Binaural is very clearly an album mashed together from sessions that were meant to produce something a little more cohesive and distinctive by a band that was frustrated and unable to seal the deal, and Riot Act is a great sounding record that needed them to be a little more willing to deviate from their typical songwriting or song structure in order to become truly remarkable.

It flows unevenly, not to some purpose or internal rhythm but more like the laziest mix tape ever made. Some of the best songs from the sessions were left off the album, the production is almost as muffled and pinched sounding as it is bright and open...especially on the drums. There are images repeated often enough to suggest a narrative or concept in the conceptual stage, but none is apparent in the final work. The band seemed to be looking for a new approach or update of their sound as they moved away from the sonically safe Yield and into a more space-punk rock and mood-heavy style, but they ended up playing (for whatever reason) too close to the cold cold ground to let it become a truly experimental record. Some of the songs that I wish would branch out and play a bit within the confines of their space end too soon (Of the Girl, Rival, Parting Ways). A "messy" or chaotic record usually works better as a double, and Of the Girl should absolutely open the album. The cover art isn't so much a cool spacey photo as an unaltered copy and paste from a Hubble image that had been flying around emails and internet sites for a long time before the record came out, making it a pretty tired and unremarkable choice for a cover image.

Now, with all that said....

Chaotic, messy, "failed," overreaching, or directionless sessions often produce the most interesting albums. They're never perfect albums, but they're always interesting. Exile on Main Street was as directionless and messy as it gets, Sandinista was overreaching and an arguably failed project, Swordfishtrombones was made by an artist who didn't really know how to get the sound he wanted, he only knew THAT he wanted. Sometimes I wonder if Neil Young even knows how to make a record. I hope he never learns.

I'm not saying I don't like Binaural. I love it, but I love it because it belongs in the pile with those records...the ones that you can stare at all you want, but you're never gonna see clearly.

I still wish:

1 Of the Girl was the opening track
2 that it was 7 minutes plus
3 that it just let itself explore the textures of its moods and shades of its colors the way Neil Young's Change Your Mind does

Ten - Tom Cruise
Vs - Emilio Estevez
Vitalogy - Matt Dillon
No Code - C. Thomas Howell
Yield - Ralph Macchio
Binaural - Patrick Swayze
Riot Act - Rob Lowe
Pearl Jam - Wanda Sykes
Backspacer - church fire

Breakerfall is, in many ways, very near the exact center of that vast musical space between Vitalogy and Backspacer.

(Lightning Bolt) is to Vs-Binaural what You Better You Bet is to 65-73 era Who.

I really like a lot of the material here, and I love the fact that they were willing to try and redefine their sound. My problem is that the way the album was actually put together not only serves to disguise the degree to which the band was stepping outside their boundaries, but it also softens the album's personality.

First of all, you have two types of songs going on here. On one hand, you have the atmospheric pieces that maintain a strong binaural-recording presence. On the other, you have the more traditionally mixed pieces which favor close mic support. This might seem like a production-based assessment, but when you split the two types of songs into their respective camps the unique personalities of both stylistic approaches starts to come more to the forefront, and they start to feel like stronger collections because of it:

Song Set One
1. Of the Girl
2. Nothing As it Seems
3. Thin Air
4. Rival
5. Sleight of Hand
6. Soon Forget
7. Parting Ways

Song Set Two
1. Breakerfall
2. God's Dice
3. Evacuation
4. Light Years
5. Insignificance
6. Grievance

Now, I really really really cannot stand albums that have a 'fast' side and a 'slow' side....that's called two EPs pretending to be an adult, like midgets with a trench coat. And I normally feel the same about double albums that have a slow disc/fast disc setup. However, while separating these two sets does start to reveal the differences that give them each personality and allow them to invite curiosity. They also continue to share enough of an aesthetic bond, even divided up this way, to remain part of a single release. You could take either one of those sets all by itself, package it with that exact album artwork, and nobody would go "wow...talk about the cover not fitting the content." They just need to not give up their individuality in the act of getting married.

Binaural, in short, needs to be a double album.

It wouldn't be that hard, really. I maintain, at all times, a fresh mucusy spitwad that I can hurl at anyone who opposes the idea of Of the Girl as an album opener. But I go further than that. That song as such space...it's like a wide open sky. And the hypnotic acoustic is a great backdrop....Mike should be Change Your Minding the shit out of that track. Don't be in any hurry, you know. Don't get "look at all these notes" crazy. Just...decorate. Echo. Sustain. Crackle a little. Stretch the fuck out. Add a little vibraphone/soft keyboard in the back a'la Strangest Tribe, perhaps. Of the Girl song could be seven to eight minutes of slow burn orgasm and never get old. Done well, it would be the most amazing opening salvo/statement this band has ever made on a record. It would redefine, in a single track, who this band was and what they were going to be in the coming decade.

I'd do a few other things here and there...change the lyrics on Soon Forget, put something else into Thin Air so it feels more finished (gentle handed pipe organ? I dunno), but those are personal choices. The one thing I would insist on doing is investing another two minutes or more of blissful stretched out, distorted wave crash and moody string slide to the outtro of Parting Ways...as well as a minute or more of atmospheric dancing to either the middle or the end of Sleight of Hand (or both). Give people another 30 seconds of the end of Rival, too. Let that disc be the "put on your headphones and vanish into the music" disc. It's still got that "I'm Captain Rockhole from Space, and this is my GEEETAAAAAAAAR" badassery, so it feels like it has a connection to what's to come. It's just sort of like the far wall to the room.

Disc two, fleshed out by some of the pieces left off (the band might have to hang out long enough to come up with one or two other tracks for each disc), is the punkier, no-wasted-breath side of that equation. It's not all rockers (Light Years gives it a pretty good nod to what you just experienced on disc one), but it's aggressive and a little more outwardly focused....even Breakerfall and Sad come across like two sides of the same coin, combining to make a statement about valuing love rather than just serving as character studies.

So now the album as a whole has its personality, the two discs establish the different extremes of that personality, and you don't get those little two or three songs stints where you START to get a sense of cohesion, only to have it snapped away from you. Plus you get more Binaural. So it looks something like....

Disc One (currently at 35 or so minutes):
1. Of the Girl (8:00)
2. Rival (4:00)
3. Nothing As it Seems (5:30)
4. Thin Air (3:30)
5. Sleight of Hand (6:30)
6. Soon Forget (1:30)
7. Parting Ways (6:30)

Disc Two (currently at about 30 minutes):
1. Sad (3:30)
2. Breakerfall (2:00)
3. God's Dice (2:30)
4. Evacuation (3:00)
5. Insignificance (4:30)
6. Grievance (3:00)
7. Education (3:30)
8. Light Years (5:00)
8. In the Moonlight (3:00)
9. Fatal (3:30)

So, assuming you don't use Hitchhiker or Driftin' (your call), you might need to add two songs to each disc, or some interludy pieces dependent upon your creative design. Honestly, I wouldn't have been sad if Strangest Tribe had been stretched and included, or something similar sounding. There are also some instrumental ideas already sitting around waiting to be fleshed out, if you're feeling lazy.

I think it would have been more defined, more cohesive, and better received, thus better embraced by the band in the long run. That might be a sad way to get that to happen, but that's just who they are. It still wouldn't have been a radio smash, but with Sad on there to serve as single fodder I think they would have been alright. Critical love would have been more pronounced...and thus they would have been a little more confident going into Riot Act, which would then have allowed that record to more confidently step out into its own rather than being a little too sheepish about where mommy's skirts were. Finally, maybe we wouldn't have had a band that by mid-decade was desperate to show everybody they could still be those guys you remember from when you were 15.

Oh, and yes, I do realize that Light Years could go on disc one, but because it is as tightly woven structurally as it is I like it better this way.

I'm so into everything McParadigm it's sickening.

I love Binaural as is, and end up rejecting most efforts put forth to retrack it. But if that's what Binaural was, it would clearly be their magnum opus.

chud named his son house

my favorite thing I've read about Binaural

Binaural (2000) I once had a conversation with this guy about Pearl Jam in which he claimed that the band's best era was 1998 to 2002. This is the sort of argument a person makes after digesting so much of a particular artist's work that it has driven him to the brink of insanity. It's like saying, "You know, Raging Bull and Goodfellas are solid, but they pale in comparison to Scorsese's output from 1997 to 2002."3 The early '00s were clearly a bad time for Pearl Jam — Mike McCready struggled with drug addiction, there was the Roskilde tragedy, and the band was perceived by many casual observers as passé. Pearl Jam should've taken an extended break after Yield, but instead it plowed forward with the most dispiriting and deeply confused record of its career. Binaural represents the worst instance of Pearl Jam attempting to make music least suited to its specific skill set — it's a record of dense atmospherics and measured brooding by the most stridently anthemic and emotive band of its generation. What's supposed to be a pained, delicate sigh comes off as a dull, thudding roar. Binaural is a three-dimensional sonic representation of a band being flattened against a psychic brick wall

if you're not in love with this album I think that comment pretty much explains why

I get what he's saying in the latter half of it, even though I think he's off the mark. The Scorsese comparison seems kind of silly. In general, I think PJ is better when they either directly fight what comes naturally (Vitalogy, No Code, Binaural), or simultaneously subvert and indulge it (Yield).

Yeah the first half is a cheap shot. I just happen to agree.

Oh, I don't mind the shot or anything. I just think the gulf between Raging Bull and something like Kundun is more sizable than anything in PJ's career.

Binaural is a challenging album, not just for a pj fan, but for a music fan in general. Its chaotic, messy and awesome in the same amounts...and the tracklist is perfect.

McParadigm wrote:
Binaural, in short, needs to be a double album.

Disc One (currently at 35 or so minutes):
1. Of the Girl (8:00)
2. Rival (4:00)
3. Nothing As it Seems (5:30)
4. Thin Air (3:30)
5. Sleight of Hand (6:30)
6. Soon Forget (1:30)
7. Parting Ways (6:30)

Disc Two (currently at about 30 minutes):
1. Sad (3:30)
2. Breakerfall (2:00)
3. God's Dice (2:30)
4. Evacuation (3:00)
5. Insignificance (4:30)
6. Grievance (3:00)
7. Education (3:30)
8. Light Years (5:00)
8. In the Moonlight (3:00)
9. Fatal (3:30)

Interesting idea. Given how many of their heroes released at least one magnum opus double LP, it's almost surprising PJ hasn't issued one at some point. Their propensity towards self doubt is boundless in some regards.

Binaural ranks high on my list, but I want to listen to it again before commenting further.

PryTo wrote:
Binaural ranks high on my list, but I want to listen to it again before commenting further.

what a concept!

Brilliant album. Loved it then. Love it now. Every song is excellent. If you don't like it, you're a fucking pussy.

Binaural is arguably PJ’s most experimental album, a more proper followup to No Code than was Yield. No Code expanded the group’s musical palate considerably and Binaural takes it a few steps further, but mostly takes whatever proclivity the band had towards experimentation and runs in different directions with it. There are no Mankinds or Lukins here. There are some songs that might be called distant cousins of Who You Are or In My Tree, so we're on similar ground in some regards.

To me, it almost seems like PJ got pretty far out on No Code, retreated back to safety for Yield, and when that didn’t really pay off, just said fuck it and went back to the weirdness. When talented musicians decide to make art for art’s sake, the results are almost always interesting, adding something to their oeuvre. Every great band has to make at least one record along the lines of No Code or Binaural. I'm glad this record exists.

I think that context is important, too. At this point, Napster had seized the attention of music fans. Music, a once valuable and treasured commodity, had become a free all-you-can-eat buffet. People were gorging on the stuff, but it also dispersed and fragmented the audiences. The most popular rock band in the world just a few years earlier was now irrelevant to nearly everyone outside of its core fans. They made No Code, a record that alienated the masses, followed up by Yield, a return to base that failed to bring the fans back, and basically gave up. They weren’t trying to please anyone with Binaural, they were trying to make music that mattered, if only to themselves. This period, from 2000-2004 (or so) is important because it marks the transition from the young, scrappy Pearl Jam to the group’s rebirth as a corporate behemoth, Pearl Jam, Inc. This era was the last time the group lived and breathed music. At the same time, they were doing things like releasing an entire tour’s worth of bootlegs, seeing likely for the first time how much money was available for the taking. I can’t envision Pearl Jam circa 1994 doing that. 1994 PJ would have released them all for free or something along those lines. Things were changing.

I think Ed’s divorce is also overlooked (or at least under-discussed) in all of this. It was a dark time for the band in general, but it’s hard to imagine what Ed was going through on a personal level. As with any musician, that has to work its way into the music somewhere. I think Binaural reflects this sense of numbness and loss. Ed sings a lot of third person songs here, often about characters who have lost their sense of purpose. I don’t think you need a PhD in psychology to interpret what some of that meant. He did the same thing on Off He Goes, later admitting that he was writing about himself, so it was not without precedent. Binaural is Ed’s divorce album and it’s one of the keys to understanding it. The contributions from Stone and Jeff only augment this covert (unintended?) theme. Not since Ten had the group released an album that was so serious, without a Rats, a Bugs, a Mankind, or a Brain of J to offset the somber tones and moods.

It was also the first PJ record I didn’t make a point of listening to. I caught a show on the 2000 tour and I don’t even think I’d heard the entire album at that point. It certainly had zero impact on me at the time; it was a record I came to appreciate later. But enough of my yakkin’. Let’s throw it on and see how it sounds today.

Breakerfall – A great opening. No, it’s not on par with Once or Go or Last Exit, but I love it. The guitars sound great, but also a bit quirky. Matt’s drumming is nice, but you cringe to think what Dave A. could have done with this number. Lyrically, it’s an odd choice to open with. How can anyone hear this and not think that Ed’s divorce was on his mind? Oh, Beth! Never noticed that the bass line “falls” right when Ed sings that word in the chorus.

God’s Dice – Never liked this song much and it’s not doing anything for me now, either. It’s not a well constructed song. It’s just an unmemorable riff, lyrics that don’t add up to much, and a lot of hot air. Talkin’ loud and sayin’ nothing, as James Brown once put it. A lot of movement and energy that doesn’t add up to much. In some ways, this is a precursor to much of what can be found on the last three albums – guitars and drums everywhere, Ed hollering about something or another, no real melody, all adding up to one big meh. This is a song that utterly fails the acoustic guitar test.

Evacuation – Hey, sirens! Who knew? PJ has a growing list of these types of songs. A decent (but unmemorable) verse with a chorus that takes a giant shit in the middle of the song. Like Pilate, this song is a dog. We see another appearance of Ed writing about himself in the shroud of third person narrativizing: “There was a solemn man who watched his twilight disappear.” But really, frontloading God’s Dice and Evacuation likely killed Binaural’s chances with the masses. These songs are very similar in that they’re “doing” a lot but getting absolutely nowhere. Evacuation sounds like a band that has no clue how to write a song. A song meaning something you hum to yourself, despite yourself, because that melody is just so catchy or that riff is just so unforgettable. Nothing like that here. The one thing I will give them is that these two songs are so completely uncommercial, it’s clear that the band did not give one fuck about appealing to anyone beyond the diehards. You’ve gotta love ‘em for that.

Light Years – Here’s where the album turns and gets great. This is the first five-star song on the album and one of my favorites in their catalog. They’ve attempted songs like this since but never come close to it. I know this song is supposed to be about death, but c’mon. This is clearly Ed writing about the crumbling of his marriage. “With heavy breath, awakened regrets
Back pages and days alone that could have been spent,
Together but we were miles apart”
No wonder they don’t do this one live much. In fact, that might help explain why Binaural is basically in the trash bin setlist-wise. It’s a whole album about Beth! I love everything about this song. It’s wonderful on all fronts. Yet it’s so simple and really noncommercial, too. The guitars at the end really play off of each other well. Fantastic!

Nothing As It Seems – When this was released as the first single, everyone thought it sounded like PJ trying to imitate Pink Floyd. That was my thought on it, too. And after ripping Zeppelin on the previous album, there was a sense that PJ didn’t have many original ideas. I’ve never been a big fan of this song, and it’s not doing much for me today. I don’t think it’s a Floyd ripoff, but it is perhaps an homage. The solo sounds especially David Gilmour-ian. Lyrically, it sounds like Ament was working with a rhyming dictionary. All the lyrics have the same “one” rhyme but what do they really mean, anyway? More than anything, this song lacks energy and just sounds plodding and lethargic, to me. Pass.

Thin Air – I like how it starts on one acoustic guitar, then the second joins in, then the whole band. I love this song. It’s slow but it doesn’t sound resigned and lethargic, it sounds pensive, thoughful. Fantastic production. Love the little flourishes of slide (I think) guitar. Boy Matt Cameron just really proves to be a nonentity on this song and most of the album. He’s a tapper. So many opportunities to do something interesting and he’s just sort of tapping along. It’s frustrating. Imagine what a great drummer (how about Stuart Copeland) could do with this song when it kicks in at the end. Matt just barely picks things up. One takeaway from this album is how important drummers have been to PJs sound – for better and worse. This song has been played live 34 times. What a crime. They probably played Just Breathe 34 times in the first 34 shows of the Backspacer tour/s, and this song smokes it without even trying.

Insignificance – Everyone, the band included, likes this song more than I do. It’s okay, but somewhere in the middle for me on this album. I like the jagged music during the bridge—really nice. The lyrics are a little too “big” for my taste. Ed writing about society with a capital S. He does a lot of this now and I never find myself thinking, “Wow I never thought of that.” When I want theories of geopolitics, a rock singer is not where I turn.

Of the Girl – Phenomenal. Might be the best produced song PJ has ever released. It takes the greatness of songs like “In My Tree” and runs with it. Ed’s voice is phenomenal on this one. The chorus – “how he makes his getaway” (hey Getaway!)—sounds spacy and Pink Floyd-ish, too, but without sounding like a homage, but more of just one spice in the influence rack. Another example where it was like Stone and Ed were on the same wavelength in terms of overall themes. This is the second song on the album that is unabashedly about, well, a girl. Someone mumbles something right at the end – “one more time?” maybe. This song has been played 42 times in concert. Criminal! How is that even possible?

Grievance – Another capital S song, but more successful this time. The music is excellent, really jagged and tense. But really, songs like this are the precursor to World Wide Suicide at the like. Ament is just killing it on this entire album. His basslines are insane! Worst line: “I want to run into the sea.” Really? You do that, Ed.

Rival – Another standout track to me. The music and lyrics are phenomenal. Go Stone! See, this is how you write about society. You don’t go for the big, grand statements about the state of the world, you get inside the mind of the killer. This is a freaky, scary, maniacal track. Even the solo is twisted, like a funhouse mirror. Probably the only song that would be perfectly comfortable on Vitalogy. Okay, the fadeout sucks; otherwise a genius track. Twenty times played live. Twenty!

Sleight of Hand – I love this song; it’s too bad the band can’t do it justice in concert. It also fails the acoustic guitar test, but the studio version sounds great. Another example where they get the spacy, experimental thing right. They’re not stealing anything from anyone here, and they’re also breaking new ground. Great lyrics – Ed writing about himself again, IMO. Ed’s so much better when he’s making micro observations, like this, and tying them to larger themes and ideas. And really, this is not so much a song as it is a statement. But it totally works.

Soon Forget – The perfect followup to SoH. The only song essential uke song Ed has ever written. It’s brilliant, maybe my favorite song on the album. It might not be the best song on the album, but we’re in fully foreign territory here. And again, Ed’s writing about himself, which is sad given what’s happened. But here you really see him grappling with his youthful ideals. What a sad, beautiful song. I’m so glad they had the courage to include it.

Parting Ways – Should it come as any surprise that the song ends with Parting Ways, a song that directly addresses a breakup. I guess the big takeaway from listening to this album anew is how prevalent this theme is, often covertly, but many times quite directly. The whole feel of disconnect, being spaced out, distant, it all makes perfect sense in that context. And it really makes for a more powerful listen. I can’t say there’s any other record in the band’s catalog that qualifies as a “blood on the tracks” breakup album in the way this one does. Love the strings on this one as Ed sings “drifting away.” A very powerful closer, this. Love it.

Hmm, I didn't think I'd have that response to it. Maybe I'm way off base, but that's what I got out of it.

soon forget as your favorite?

stip wrote:soon forget as your favorite?

It’s one of them. For me, Light Years, Thin Air, Of the Girl, Rival, Sleight of Hand, Soon Forget, and Parting Ways are five-star songs on this album. My favorites change from time to time, but Soon Forget may be the most surprising song, and thus the most delightful in some ways. I know many people hate it. But many people hate Binaural, too, most notably the members of PJ.

I am not sure I think soon forget is about eddie

stip wrote:I am not sure I think soon forget is about eddie

Yeah. I don't think there's any chance on earth it's about himself. Didn't he explicitly say who it was about at one point?

stip wrote:I am not sure I think soon forget is about eddie

No, of course not. Not explicitly. But I think it is about him indirectly. And it does represent someone who’s grappling with the same dual forces at play for our soon forgotten man: gaining wealth and losing love. Ed was in the process of becoming a very wealthy divorcee during the period this song was written. Most writers don’t claim to be writing about themselves, but this is clearly projecting issues that Ed is grappling with. What do they say -- the things we dislike about others are those that we recognize in ourselves. Ed, as the narrator, is opposed to our soon forgotten man, but he also empathizes (i.e., understands) his plight: “Seems the more you make, equals the loneliness you get,” is written from the perspective of someone who’s gone through that. It’s a cautionary tale, aimed at himself as much as anyone.

I LAL'd. I like Binaural but I don't like the sequence. It stumbles about never quite maintaining momentum for me. I thought the same in 2000. When I hear individual tracks it's nothing but love. I am putting together the McP tracklist.

PryTo wrote:

stip wrote:I am not sure I think soon forget is about eddie

No, of course not. Not explicitly. But I think it is about him indirectly. And it does represent someone who’s grappling with the same dual forces at play for our soon forgotten man: gaining wealth and losing love. Ed was in the process of becoming a very wealthy divorcee during the period this song was written. Most writers don’t claim to be writing about themselves, but this is clearly projecting issues that Ed is grappling with. What do they say -- the things we dislike about others are those that we recognize in ourselves. Ed, as the narrator, is opposed to our soon forgotten man, but he also empathizes (i.e., understands) his plight: “Seems the more you make, equals the loneliness you get,” is written from the perspective of someone who’s gone through that. It’s a cautionary tale, aimed at himself as much as anyone.

Cautionary, perhaps, but soon forget always struck me as a pretty judgmental song, more self righteous than empathetic.