Red Mosquito

What are the most common guesses so far on the title? Echos and X ?

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:What are the most common guesses so far on the title? Echos and X ?

I think X is the running favorite.

Thejambi wrote:

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:What are the most common guesses so far on the title? Echos and X ?

I think X is the running favorite.

Its what Im expecting, but the tides and Echos double album would be great

Echoes would be a funny title if the whole thing was a collage of pj trying to sound like old pj hehe.
It won't be.

dimejinky99 wrote:Echoes would be a funny title if the whole thing was a collage of pj trying to sound like old pj hehe.
It won't be.

Ah but it would be awesome if they somehow did pull that off. Old PJ with a mix of maturity and everything they've learned....epic. But yeah probably not. Lol

First impressions of albums 1 through 9

Ten. Loved it. Felt like I could listen on a loop. I could go to sleep, wake up, and go to sleep again with Ten playing in the background. When I focused I connected with Ed's anger. Daddy and mommy issues. Check. I was a student at the UDub when the album came out and Pearl Jam was not a Seattle grunge band. It was not okay to like Pearl Jam. I got over it. It was only later that I began to hate the production and my impressions of Ten began to erode slightly.

Versus. Relief that it wasn't a Ten retread. I cringed a little at Glorified G and Leash but for some reason thought Rats was fantastic. RVM and Animal were and are top drawer. I never connected with Daughter although I understand its appeal. Indifference. Wow. Also, slightly off topic, but there was a texture, a quality, to Crazy Mary on the Victoria Williams benefit album that was so warm and organic and perfect for the band that I'm not sure they ever replicated. Maybe Elderly Woman came closest.

Vitalogy. I felt challenged by this record and I rose to the challenge. The guitar sound is gritty. There is something both cohesive, unhinged and exuberant about the playing on this record. Sadly they never recaptured, or chose not to recapture this sound again. I dug all the detours. Possibly Foxy Mophandle was indulgent but whatever. I can do with a creepy sonic soundscape once.

No Code. Got this leaked way before it came out on a tape from a diehard fan who worked with me at a bookstore after college. Suffice it to say I wasn't taking the world by storm. From the first notes of Sometimes I knew I was in for something good. No Code was the album that most closely connected to where I was in life. I was searching. I was roiling inside still but I was trying to heal. I was growing up and trying to find my place in the universe.

Yield. Heard Wishlist and DTE for the first time in Oakland when PJ opened for the Stones and I was excited for the record. There was nothing I didn't like about Yield but they seemed to be retreating to safer terrain overall and I was ready for more exploration. If Pearl Jam followed their muse they might have walked away from being a mainstream band altogether. Their muse was to hold onto an audience. I would have preferred the alternative that a large audience was interested in their explorations. Whatever, Yield was PJ's first "return to form" and I while I thought the first half of the album was filled with top drawer songs I never connected to MFC and In Hiding which felt PJ paint by numbers.

Binaural. My darkest period as a fan. I was now living in New York and working for the man in a corporate skyscraper. Pearl Jam was by this time not even yesterday's news. They were last decade's news. Being a diehard felt slightly awkward and retro and not yet retro cool. God's Dice and Evacuation were crap. I have since amended this evaluation to different and interesting. I had high hopes for Nothing As It Seems having heard it at the Bridge Show before the album and then the album version was off somehow or I was off. Probably the latter. Parting Ways was a boring Neil Young retread. Soon Forget borrowed from a Pete Townshend melody (I think it was this one). Writers block is right. But still so much to love: Insignificance is one of my all time favorites.

Riot Act. Exiled to the hinterland of Michigan because of an illness in the family this album was my soundtrack to the rural highways and byways. I *heart* Green Disease and Help Help. I am a huge Bu$hleaguer fan despite the wish that Ed had never discovered spoken word. Thumbing My Way into You Are is hilarious. These songs shouldn't be on the same record and my vote is to exclude Thumbing My Way. Riot Act didn't sound like a riot act. Overall kind of a loveable stew.

Self titled. First I was like yes! Then I was like, hrmmm. Then I was like WTF. Songs like Marker In the Sand and Worldwide Suicide have not aged well at all. Songs like Life Wasted and Comatose are still outstanding. A song like Severed Hand is somewhere in the middle. I didn't like Parachutes initially and now I can't get enough. Army Reserve has stood up well.

Backspacer. First I was like yes! Then I was like, hrmmm. Then was like WTF. I dug Pearl Jam's pop album at first and there is something to be said for being able to throw on a PJ album and have your 7-year-old daughter respond positively which was not going to happen with the previous 8. But damn, it's wafer thin and when you consider that Supersonic and Speed of Sound are duds that's like, what, 25 minutes of music. Just Breathe and The End are so good even if they belong on an Eddie Vedder solo album. The Fixer, meh.

My expectations for number ten are way too high. I still think these guys have a masterpiece in them. Bring it on.

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:

Thejambi wrote:

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:What are the most common guesses so far on the title? Echos and X ?

I think X is the running favorite.

Its what Im expecting, but the tides and Echos double album would be great

Based on titles from their past... I honestly don't give a shit what it's called.

So long as it's not Lightning Bolt.

yeah, that's not so good.

McParadigm wrote:So long as it's not Lightning Bolt.

Let's look at the trends...

Ten, Vs, Vitalogy NO CODE. Yield Binaural RIOT ACT. PEARL JAM Backspacer. Is there a pattern we can discern regarding titles with two words instead of one? Can we use that pattern to predict if this one will also have two words? Can I start drinking yet?

looking at that list makes me realize how crappy their album titles often are.

I'm going to consider the album being called "Lightning Bolt" a worst-case scenario at this point.

Maybe if Shazam is on the cover, and it's all pop arty....

stip wrote:looking at that list makes me realize how crappy their album titles often are.

Aw huh.

They've never really excelled at naming their pets.

durdencommatyler wrote:

stip wrote:looking at that list makes me realize how crappy their album titles often are.

Aw huh.

They've never really excelled at naming their pets.

Lost Dogs is a phenominal title.

McParadigm wrote:Maybe if Shazam is on the cover, and it's all pop arty....

Shazam holding a gun and a rosary. Like with Yield. I want the gun/rosary to be in every picture, hidden on every page. It would be a grand return to form.

stip wrote:looking at that list makes me realize how crappy their album titles often are.

I was gonna type the same exact thing, and I swear to god I just went "meh, stip will just bitch at me for hating all things Pearl Jam."

Thejambi wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

stip wrote:looking at that list makes me realize how crappy their album titles often are.

Aw huh.

They've never really excelled at naming their pets.

Lost Dogs is a phenominal title.

It would be a phenomenal title for a proper album; for a collection of B-Sides it's a little too literal to be inspired.

durdencommatyler wrote:I want the gun/rosary to be in every picture, hidden on every page. It would be a grand return to form.