Post Random Pearl Jam-Related Thoughts You Have

[Monkey_Driven]

I think he's right for the most part. A lot of people love Binaural and Riot Act but I hate them, because to me it doesn't sound anything like the Pearl Jam I love (which is from Ten -> Vitalogy). And most of the things I loved about them are completely absent from those albums altogether.

Strangely I do like No Code a lot which seems to be a common opinion despite being also very different from Ten Era stuff.

Maybe we can all come together on No Code.

I think our tastes in Pearl Jam differ quite greatly.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I think he's right for the most part. A lot of people love Binaural and Riot Act but I hate them, because to me it doesn't sound anything like the Pearl Jam I love (which is from Ten -> Vitalogy). And most of the things I loved about them are completely absent from those albums altogether.

Strangely I do like No Code a lot which seems to be a common opinion despite being also very different from Ten Era stuff.

Maybe we can all come together on No Code.

So you didn't want to see them grow and evolve, just stay grungey? Got it.

[mikejasond]

I think he's right for the most part. A lot of people love Binaural and Riot Act but I hate them, because to me it doesn't sound anything like the Pearl Jam I love (which is from Ten -> Vitalogy). And most of the things I loved about them are completely absent from those albums altogether.

Strangely I do like No Code a lot which seems to be a common opinion despite being also very different from Ten Era stuff.

Maybe we can all come together on No Code.

So you didn't want to see them grow and evolve, just stay grungey? Got it.

But they grew/evolved to something worse, in my opinion.

What really bothers me more than ANYTHING else is how STATIC binaural and riot act are.

I think Better Man is one of the greatest pop songs I've ever heard just in the way its formatted. It's a song that takes you on a journey. It never gets boring because it never does the same thing more than once, which is pretty incredible. Even the verses/choruses are different from each other, one soft, one driving forward with the full band. And then it builds to this incredible explosive climax and stays in that space with that great call and response part and then a great guitar solo with Eddie's awesome improv vocals. Its an incredible song to me. When it's over I feel like I went on a journey. Corduroy is another song that makes me feel like I listened to an experience. Elderly Woman, Release, Black...all some of my favorites by them for similar reasons.

Compare that to Binaural and Riot Act where to me all the songs are so...STATIC and boring. I hear half the songs and am saying "Is this song going to end already?" Its just the same thing over and over again. To me, songs like NAIS and Light Years are good but feel BRUTALLY long, their bridges aren't even interesting, and even a similar song like Not For You did SOMETHING interesting with the dynamics with the quiet verse but the Binaural songs just go on forever and never do anything different, and then they sound like each other too. (The rockers on Binaural to me practically sound the same to the point I dont get the point of putting insignificance and grievance on the same album).

And not only that but the MUSIC in the background gets boring too. There are very few interesting riffs. I don't know where the band is that wrote Once and Even Flow which are incredibly interesting and also have a lot of middle instrumental sections that are very cool as well. Instead they just bang on the same power chords over and over again. Its not even a moving riff like not for You or Do the Evolution, its literally DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN on the same exact chord banging in my ear without going anywhere.

Even songs that are interesting like Sleight of Hand bother me by how the chorus is so...slow...and...static in the guitars. I just feel them buzzing in my ear without moving and it actually annoys me. Its so plodding. I get that it fits the theme that its plodding, but its a plodding song on a plodding album

The albums aren't TOTALLY bad. I like some songs like Light years just think they are WAY too long and could have had some variation thrown in. But I do really like Thin Air, Rival, Love Boat Captain, All or None, and Thumbing My Way

Theres a couple other good ones but its just as a whole so different from the band I liked.

And the groove they had in their early days was also gone completely.

[Strat]

Oh my god shut up. Binaural is absurdly perfect and amazing.

also, never stop posting please.

[Monkey_Driven]

Oh my god shut up. Binaural is absurdly perfect and amazing.

also, never stop posting please.

[E.H. Ruddock]

If you... If you feel NAIS is static and boring and doesn't take you on a journey, I feel bad for you, son.

Spoiler: show

[wease]

mjd, I love your dedication to nostalgia. Indeed, those first three albums/ Dave A era is my favorite time for the band, as well. But to call Binaural static just isn't being objective. Even tho it contains my least favorite song, it is probably the best album they will ever do. I fucking love that album.

[LoathedVermin72]

If you... If you feel NAIS is static and boring and doesn't take you on a journey, I feel bad for you, son.

Spoiler: show

Um excuse you

Spoiler: show

[E.H. Ruddock]

If you... If you feel NAIS is static and boring and doesn't take you on a journey, I feel bad for you, son.

Spoiler: show

Um excuse you

Spoiler: show

I stand corrected

[mikejasond]

mjd, I love your dedication to nostalgia. Indeed, those first three albums/ Dave A era is my favorite time for the band, as well. But to call Binaural static just isn't being objective. Even tho it contains my least favorite song, it is probably the best album they will ever do. I fucking love that album.

Its not nostalgia, Ten came out before I was born.

[mikejasond]

I just feel like Binaural and Riot Act, more than ANY album before has to have the most of hitting the same chord over and over again. There are SO MANY TIMES where the band is just not moving, and the songs are just not nearly as dynamic as what came before. Like just musically. They don't go anywhere, they repeat themselves, and the chords are just the same same same.

Like God's Dice, Insignificance, Grievance, Light Years, Breakerfall....ALL OF THEM have these long long sections of just staying on the same chord and hitting it over and over and over again.

[Jorge]

"God's Dice" has a chord change like every two words. What the hell are you talking about?

[mikejasond]

If you... If you feel NAIS is static and boring and doesn't take you on a journey, I feel bad for you, son.

Spoiler: show

This is my reaction as I listen.

Starts out and Im intrigued. The chord progression is interesting (though again, how many times do they literally hit the exact same chord over and over and over again without moving?) , the mood is cool though with the lead guitar lines. Its nice. Eddie comes in and the melody is pretty nice....I love his delicate vocals Im digging it though it sounds very cool at this point.

Chorus comes in and its like...ok...this is pretty good. Again we are still on the exact same chords the entire time but it sounds pretty cool.

I like the pause into the guitar solo. Still liking it at this point.

Around 2:20 I start noticing these lyrics are pretty bad but the vibe is still pretty cool. Another chorus this time I think its maybe a little louder, it has a part at the end of the chorus now that's different.

Then we end up with this middle section which to me just sounds kind of aimless, and repeats over and over, and then we're back where we started. That little section rose the dynamics a bit but it was sort of underwhelming and now we're just going on and on and on and on, and by the last chorus, which is like the third chorus in a row, its kind of grating to me even though I liked it the first time. And Im like...okay already I get it.

Actually, now that I think about it....Its pretty much the EXACT same structure as Light Years I guess, where its said pretty much everything it needs to after the second chorus, and it goes into an aimless middle section that repeats over and over again, only to go back into the third chorus thats long overstayed its welcome, when the verses are the best/most interesting part anyways (in both songs), and we never get another one.

[Jorge]

The architecture of "Grievance" is entirely dependent on dynamics. That song has time and rhythm changes, like three or four riff patterns, a bunch of guitar interplay, it even ends with a coda that is distinct from the rest of the song

[LoathedVermin72]

I've never seen Jorge this upset

[mikejasond]

"God's Dice" has a chord change like every two words. What the hell are you talking about?

It does, for one measure, hovering around a note it finally settles on, and then it stays there just as long and keeps coming back to it. I feel like theres a magnet that keeps pulling me back to that middle note and wont let me leave it. The chorus essentially just hovers between two of them instead.

[Jorge]

(though again, how many times do they literally hit the exact same chord over and over and over again without moving?) ,

What a ridiculous thing to fixate on. "NAIS" has exactly as many chord changes as it needs.

[mikejasond]

The architecture of "Grievance" is entirely dependent on dynamics. That song has time and rhythm changes, like three or four riff patterns, a bunch of guitar interplay, it even ends with a coda that is distinct from the rest of the song

Its kind of the same as God's Dice for me....it does move around but it always ends up back banging on the same place.

[LoathedVermin72]

The architecture of "Grievance" is entirely dependent on dynamics. That song has time and rhythm changes, like three or four riff patterns, a bunch of guitar interplay, it even ends with a coda that is distinct from the rest of the song

Its kind of the same as God's Dice for me....it does move around but it always ends up back banging on the same place.

You mean like...a song?

[mikejasond]

(though again, how many times do they literally hit the exact same chord over and over and over again without moving?) ,

What a ridiculous thing to fixate on. "NAIS" has exactly as many chord changes as it needs.

Itd probably be fine if it wasnt the entire album doing this in almost every song.

Now Rival doesn't change it up but at least rival is doing something interesting and keeping doing it (reminding me of Not For You and Do the Evolution in that way....) At least its hovering around a cool and unique riff.

Thin Air I really like because it goes on a real journey and I feel it builds to the end