No Code / Merkinball -- Rewriting History

[Delight in our Youth]

I was reading letmesleep's back-to-back catalog recap, and the thought occurred to me... Rather than No Code as double album, what if the two weakest tracks on No Code (for the sake of argument, I'll say Mankind and I'm Open--apologies to the affinity'd) were replaced with I Got Id and Long Road.

1) Where would No Code rank in your fav's list, how far from it's current position would it move and in what direction?
2) In what order should the new track listening be arranged?


Apologies if this has already been talked about at great length, or if any portion of this smacks of n00b.

[epilogue]

Replacing just those two would probably make No Code my #3 or #4 album. Replacing Habit w/ All Night as well would make it #2.

As far as tracklist, I'd just do an even swap. Leave everything else the same.

[verb_to_trust]

I think Long Road could be a great album closer.

[BurtReynolds]

It would go from number 1 to number 1.

[epilogue]

I think Long Road could be a great album closer.

I agree. But not after Around the Bend, in my mind. You'd have to move that somewhere else, and I think that one makes the most sense at the close.

[Blenheim Augustine]

All Night
Hail Hail
Who You Are
In My Tree
Smile
Habit
I Got I.D.
Off He Goes
Red Mosquito
Lukin
Present Tense
Long Road

[bodysnatcher]

I can't see either song on Merkinball on No Code. The mood of each song is so much different than anything on that album.

[BurtReynolds]

Sometimes into Hail Hail is untouchable. All Night is a side B opener at best.

[Jorge]

I Got I.D.

The new hit, by Eddie & The Pearl Jams.

[McParadigm]

I can't see either song on Merkinball on No Code. The mood of each song is so much different than anything on that album.

Yeah. It seems like a pretty terrible idea, to be honest.

[Lament]

I can't see either song on Merkinball on No Code. The mood of each song is so much different than anything on that album.

I agree. No Code is probably my second favorite Pearl Jam record, and the two songs on Merkinball are both in my top five Pearl Jam songs, but I don't see them going together. Long Road and I Got Id/Shit are both probably bigger/grander than any songs on No Code. In order to make them fit on the record you'd have to change it so much that it wouldn't be anything like the No Code we know (or just wouldn't work as a cohesive listening experience).

[Kevin Davis]

Merkinball feels much more like a dusting off of Vitalogy's workbench than it feels like the preliminary foundations for No Code.

[epilogue]

Merkinball feels much more like a dusting off of Vitalogy's workbench than it feels like the preliminary foundations for No Code.

I don't disagree.

But I Got Shit makes a lot more sense in Vitalogy terms than Long Road. Long Road really feels like it's own thing.

[Lament]

Merkinball feels much more like a dusting off of Vitalogy's workbench than it feels like the preliminary foundations for No Code.

I kinda think Merkinball feels like the seeds of the album #4 they decided not to make. I Got Shit, Long Road, Falling Down, Open Road, Red Mosquito, Lukin, Habit, Brain of J...the stuff that appeared in 1995 suggests that there may have initially been a very different direction they had in mind for the next record. There's probably a great alternate album to be put together there.

[epilogue]

I don't think I've ever heard Open Road. I'll have to look it up.

[Lament]

I don't think I've ever heard Open Road. I'll have to look it up.

It's probably more of a very structured "jam," but it seems to be an idea that they'd been kicking around (or at least worked on before playing it), and sonically it fits in very well with I Got Shit/Falling Down/Red Mosquito and the other summer of 95 songs.

[epilogue]

I don't think I've ever heard Open Road. I'll have to look it up.

It's probably more of a very structured "jam," but it seems to be an idea that they'd been kicking around (or at least worked on before playing it), and sonically it fits in very well with I Got Shit/Falling Down/Red Mosquito and the other summer of 95 songs.

Are there lyrics and/or vocals?

[Lament]

I don't think I've ever heard Open Road. I'll have to look it up.

It's probably more of a very structured "jam," but it seems to be an idea that they'd been kicking around (or at least worked on before playing it), and sonically it fits in very well with I Got Shit/Falling Down/Red Mosquito and the other summer of 95 songs.

Are there lyrics and/or vocals?

Yeah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asBmQXEsm5M

It's a slow burner, but it feels like it had the potential to really become something special.

[bodysnatcher]

always loved that song

[matt reeder]

If we're rewriting history, why not include "Dead Man"? They themselves have said that it probably should have been on the album.