Song of the Moment: Evacuation

[epilogue]

"Evacuation" is interesting in that it's abrasive as all hell but also one of their most thoughtfully composed songs. I love it.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

Just a fantastic song.

I remember when my friend Travis first listened to Binaural. He was living in Germany at the time and it came out over there before it came out in the US. So he called me while he was listening to it. He hated Breakerfall and Gods' Dice. But when Evacuation came on he said, "Oh, okay, cool. Here's something I can work with. Finally."

This very much mirrors my experience with the song too. I stopped listening to Pearl Jam for a few years around 1999 and only started reconnecting with what they had been up to in around 2004 (bad timing, I know). When I first listened to Binaural, I found it completely impenetrable with Evacuation being the only song I felt sounded like the band I remembered; I think it reminded me kind of Last Exit in an off-kilter way.

I'd love to sit and listen and discuss every Pearl Jam album with you. In person, I'm saying.

[Iholdthepain]

How does the chorus even remotely qualify as "screaming"? There are multiple layers of Eddie, just singing and holding notes. It reminds me of the layered vocals on Police albums, especially in the outro. It's one of the coolest and most unique Pearl Jam songs vocally, musically and in terms of production technique. Most musicians WISH they could write a song that interesting.

I will admit, however, that it's no "Future Days".

No screaming, huh? Interesting...

layered like The Police?! Well, maybe, but it still sounds like a fork scraping a ceramic plate, to me anyway...

I feel about as likely to change your mind as Django is to think you're a fine, upstanding member of this here board... Those background vocals are a tough pill to swallow, too!

[epilogue]

Wait, wait, wait!

It's.... it's almost like...

... like different people like different things.

[Iholdthepain]

Exactly... and these threads seem to be created for the exact purpose of discussing those said different opinions. Minds have been changed at times, and insights, and perspectives, and ShoobyDoobyDooby...

[Birds in Hell]

My suspicion is that Pearl Jam have been playing a gigantic prank on us all this time; different copies of Binaural actually feature complete different songs entitled 'Evacuation'. Some CDs contain the song proper while others have the band ineptly banging away out of time while Ed repeatedly screams "EVACUAAAATION!!!" like he's being tortured to death about five thousand times.

[epilogue]

Exactly... and these threads seem to be created for the exact purpose of discussing those said different opinions. Minds have been changed at times, and insights, and perspectives, and ShoobyDoobyDooby...

That's one of my favorite songs!

[Iholdthepain]

WE'VE GOTTA RM TOGETHER!!!

[EJ]

I don't find the chorus nearly as grating as I did 10+ years ago. The music has always been top notch with just a fantastic bridge.

Prob 4 stars for me now.

[Birds in Hell]

I'd love to sit and listen and discuss every Pearl Jam album with you. In person, I'm saying.

Anytime, Joe!

[epilogue]

I don't find the chorus nearly as grating as I did 10+ years ago. The music has always been top notch with just a fantastic bridge.

Prob 4 stars for me now.

That bridge really is just exceptional. Good call, EJ.

[epilogue]

I'd love to sit and listen and discuss every Pearl Jam album with you. In person, I'm saying.

Anytime, Joe!

[Strat]

I sometimes feel Pearl Jam has just been playing a really long mean fucking trick on us for the past 10 years and are still really capable of writing and performing such well thought out rock songs.

[HardTI]

Does anyone have a favorite live version of this song? I know it's a harder one to pull off live, but I gotta believe they nailed it more than a few times.

[epilogue]

I sometimes feel Pearl Jam has just been playing a really long mean fucking trick on us for the past 10 years and are still really capable of writing and performing such well thought out rock songs.

I'm 100% sure they are capable of it. But I wonder how badly they want to anymore. If that isn't their thing, then so be it. I hope the music they are making excites them, though. As long as they love the songs and enjoy playing them and really feel that they represent their honest current creative impulses, I can't be mad at that. No matter how much I long for those more thought-out, layered, intricate/complicated, etc songs.

But if they think/know that they can do better and just can't be bothered? If they know/feel they're phoning it in, that's sad. And disappointing and a little offensive.

[epilogue]

Does anyone have a favorite live version of this song? I know it's a harder one to pull off live, but I gotta believe they nailed it more than a few times.

PM Spenno. He knows all the live versions of every song by heart and off the top of his head.

[HardTI]

Does anyone have a favorite live version of this song? I know it's a harder one to pull off live, but I gotta believe they nailed it more than a few times.

PM Spenno. He knows all the live versions of every song by heart and off the top of his head.

Shit, I thought that was Jorge. I'll PM both of them until one answers.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

Does anyone have a favorite live version of this song? I know it's a harder one to pull off live, but I gotta believe they nailed it more than a few times.

The only time they played it perfectly was Tampa 2000 - the version on TB2K. All of the other 2000 versions have various mistakes (usually by Mike). It was played so infrequently after 2000, they never came close again. The worst performance ever was probably Philly 2009 #2, which I unfortunately witnessed.

[Birds in Hell]

I haven't listened to them in a while but, and I'm relying on possibly foggy memory here, I think the 2000 versions from the German shows are excellent. Berlin and Hamburg, I can't remember which is better. But I think they're both really good.

[HardTI]

Does anyone have a favorite live version of this song? I know it's a harder one to pull off live, but I gotta believe they nailed it more than a few times.

The only time they played it perfectly was Tampa 2000 - the version on TB2K. All of the other 2000 versions have various mistakes (usually by Mike). It was played so infrequently after 2000, they never came close again. The worst performance ever was probably Philly 2009 #2, which I unfortunately witnessed.

Ouch, I'm sorry you had to suffer through that. Luckily, I was at that Tampa show so I guess I got what I was looking for.
Thanks!

[Kevin Davis]

The Boston and Portland versions of "Evacuation" are both great -- flub-free if memory serves. Portland may be my pick of the bunch, actually -- the song is just so well-served by that well-oiled precision so characteristic of the 2000 leg 2 shows.

There have been some pretty dreadful versions since 2000 -- Columbus 2003 has to give Philly a run for its money. Or that show from '08 where they stopped in the middle of it and played something else instead. At least in Philly they finished the song.