The Journey/Rank Thread to Rank Them All - the Worst Thread

[Birds in Hell]

I feel like you went a bit out of order there jumping to brad after ten! Now I’m questioning everything

The first Brad album was recorded in October '92, per Wikipedia.

Right after Pearl Jam finished up the Lollapalooza touring the previous month, but before they hunkered down to prepare for the Vs sessions in March '93.

[Strat]

I’ll be damned.

Carry on

[evenslow]

nice take on vitalogy.

god damn is that a fucking great record.

[liebzz]

I’ll be damned.

Carry on

I’m no savant. I had to look it up.

[liebzz]

Mad Season - Above

This Seattle based supergroup recorded together therapeutically after each individually recovering. With little hype or fanfare, this album quickly became a must for the die hard fan, in part on Mike McCready’s end as proof positive he is a killer guitarist and that he is often underutilized in Pearl Jam’s universe (though he seems to be heavily favored then forgotten from one album to the next). That aside, Layne Staley is exceptional here, and delivers songs here very different from his day job in Alice In Chains. The secret weapon here in the original album but highlighted in the expanded edition is Mark Lanegan, who adds a lot to Long Gone Day, but then is a star in Locomotive, Black Book of Fear, and Slip Away (where McCready just tears it up). Wake Up, I’m Above, and particularly the 7 minute jam of November Hotel are all timers for me. Love this album!

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Pearl Jam - Ten
Temple of the Dog
Mad Season - Above
Brad - Shame
Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Hater
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

[E.H. Ruddock]

I love November Hotel

[VinylGuy]

Brad is one of my favorite bands from the 90s. Shame is a masterpiece and to think Stone jumped from Ten to Shame is fucking amazing. Of course, you got a broader image with him playing the proto grunge music in Green River, or the more rock arena oriented MLB.

But damn, still its impressive.

I also feel that with Mike going from Vitalogy ( it was super clear at the time this wasnt Mike´s album...Vs has him so in your face, and this was PJ´s hardcore album) to Mad Season, were he can unleash whatever he had at the time.

[VinylGuy]

Oh and by the way, im a huge Hater fan. Both of those albums, are so fucking good....i would say Hater is more of a Ben Shepherd and Matt band...Lets not forget that Ben was also part of the first WWC incarnation.

But Hater has everything i love bout them, the weird signatures, the rock and roll swagger, the overall garage rock type of sound. I prefer this one to WWC´s first album.

[liebzz]

Neil Young - Mirrorball

1995 was a very tumultuous year for Pearl Jam. Failed tours, sickness, internal turmoil, an Eddie Vedder profoundly insecure in his place in pop culture, a new drummer to fit into the fold. This album highlights two of the men responsible for beginning to bring Pearl Jam back from the abyss of dissatisfaction and creative friction: Neil Young and Jack Irons. Refocusing on recording with a living legend, the band essentially exists in awe of what Neil Young is putting down sonically. Neil is in his element with this band, powering through huge riffs and playing by feel in a signature that is his alone. For their part, the rhythm section in Jeff and Jack are more than up to the challenge, and together they, with help from their band mates, expand and contract at Neil’s will to create longer and more expansive songs, even if sonically consistent throughout. Eddie gets a backup role here, but it’s clear after the whirlwind of the last 3-4 years that he and the band need this.

The results seemed to always have a mixed reaction from fans, but for me, this is pure gold. From the crunch of Song X and Act of Love to the epic tapestries of I’m the Ocean, Big Green Country, and Scenery…to the more fun Downtown to the pre rock or Throw Your Hatred Down, this album is all killer. The fact that, 27 years later, it still grows on me and feels both familiar and new, only adds to its charm and mystique.

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Pearl Jam - Ten
Neil Young - Mirrorball
Temple of the Dog
Mad Season - Above
Brad - Shame
Green River - Rehab Doll
Green River - Dry As a Bone
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Mother Love Bone - Shine
Green River - Come On Down
Hater
Bad Radio Demos
Green River - 1984 Demos
Deranged Diction - Life Support / No Art, No Cowboys, No Rules

[Bammer]

Are you cut-and-pasting from PJ20?

[VinylGuy]

Mirrorball has a mixed reactions from fans?? I think its a beloved album.

[Strat]

Mirrorball has a mixed reactions from fans?? I think its a beloved album.

Jorge doesn’t care for it

[Bammer]

I love November Hotel

Supposing you’re at a Mad Seaon tribute concert and they break into November Hotel. Do you stand up?

[Strat]

I would tear the shit out of November hotel on guitar.

[liebzz]

Mirrorball has a mixed reactions from fans?? I think its a beloved album.

Jorge doesn’t care for it

I mean most of that statement is from memory. Especially at that point in the 90s, a lot of fans I think saw it as Eddie’s band, and either weren’t exposed or didn’t much care about Neil Young. I think it did bring many fans into the fold with Neil, and I think 27 years later a higher percentage accept and love this album, but it wasn’t always that way. Though it predates the release of Mirrorball, don’t forget that unruly San Francisco crowd that wasn’t feeling Neil (granted they were expecting a healthy Vedder), which the second half of that show is pretty damn good if I remember the rough recording I had at some point (could have been cassette?).

[liebzz]

Are you cut-and-pasting from PJ20?

I haven’t even looked at that book in 10 years…

[stip]

Mirrorball has a mixed reactions from fans?? I think its a beloved album.

Jorge doesn’t care for it

I mean most of that statement is from memory. Especially at that point in the 90s, a lot of fans I think saw it as Eddie’s band, and either weren’t exposed or didn’t much care about Neil Young. I think it did bring many fans into the fold with Neil, and I think 27 years later a higher percentage accept and love this album, but it wasn’t always that way. Though it predates the release of Mirrorball, don’t forget that unruly San Francisco crowd that wasn’t feeling Neil (granted they were expecting a healthy Vedder), which the second half of that show is pretty damn good if I remember the rough recording I had at some point (could have been cassette?).

Mirrorball did not have much of an impact when it was released. I agree it's better received now among the communtiy

[VinylGuy]

Mirrorball has a mixed reactions from fans?? I think its a beloved album.

Jorge doesn’t care for it

im sure he loves it but he needs the street creed more.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[liebzz]

Mirrorball has a mixed reactions from fans?? I think its a beloved album.

Jorge doesn’t care for it

I mean most of that statement is from memory. Especially at that point in the 90s, a lot of fans I think saw it as Eddie’s band, and either weren’t exposed or didn’t much care about Neil Young. I think it did bring many fans into the fold with Neil, and I think 27 years later a higher percentage accept and love this album, but it wasn’t always that way. Though it predates the release of Mirrorball, don’t forget that unruly San Francisco crowd that wasn’t feeling Neil (granted they were expecting a healthy Vedder), which the second half of that show is pretty damn good if I remember the rough recording I had at some point (could have been cassette?).

Mirrorball did not have much of an impact when it was released. I agree it's better received now among the communtiy

Going back to my memory of that time, it was also a tumultuous to be a fan of the band, for many of the same reasons I noted. A lot of fans didn’t have access to see them live because they were mostly playing in strange venues that were not convenient and outside typical live markets, casual fans were still waiting on the next Ten and were more often distracted by songs like Bugs and Pry To and Aye Davanita (despite how we may like them now in the context of a fuller catalogue), complaining that they were going off the rails. Casual listeners were dropping off, everyone seemed in flux and no one knew how many more albums they had left so doing a one off with Neil Young I surmise may have been taking away from the zero sum of potential Pearl Jam albums - like what in the hell are they doing that for - especially when the media really portrayed Eddie Vedder as unstable as Kurt Cobain and now the exalted standard bearer. What a mess that time was.