Red Mosquito

Faithful vs. Present Tense vs. Sleight of Hand

I am really looking forward to the hand wringing in this one

Vote for Present Tense

M-Y-T-H

I'm voting for Faithful and I intend to do so for the rest of the month (unless it comes up against Animal, maybe)

Daaaaaang

It's between SoH and Present Tense for me. I'm going to have to think about this one.

SoH but this may need a listen to all 3.

Faithful I think?

Each of my favorites from their respective albums. FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

Sleight of Hand

Present Tense for me.

Hardest matchup so far - Present Tense by a hair.

Geezes. No way i can choose in this round

Faithful is gonna win. But the correct answer is Sleight of Hand

"Sleight of Hand" is my song. The very apotheosis of Pearl Jam's music. The haunting atmosphere, the world-weary lyrics; I can never vote against it. But, goddamn, is it a punch in the gut having to vote against "Faithfull." I love its palindromic structure and the way it soars so majestically. I like "Present Tense," though it ends up a distant third in this match.

epilogue wrote:Faithful is gonna win. But the correct answer is Sleight of Hand

I’m really hoping Sleight of Hand can pull this off.

Super easy vote for Faithfull. Present Tense had a big resurgence for me a few years back and has settled back down. Sleight of Hand is a key pillar of Binaural, but has always felt overwrought and boring to me.

Faithfull and Present Tense met in 2016, with Faithfull getting the W at 31 - 17.

Faithfull has made the top 32 9 times out of 15 appearances, but has never made it past the semi finals. Songs that have knocked it out: Light Years, Release (thrice!), Porch, Last Exit, Tremor Christ, Do the Evolution (twice), Hail, Hail, Brain of J., Even Flow.

Present Tense also has 9 top 32 placements, though it's never made it past the top 16. Songs that have knocked it out: In My Tree (twice), Release (twice), Dissident, Porch, Given To Fly, Alive, Go, Long Road, Faithfull, Red Mosquito, Brain of J., I Got Shit.

Sleight of Hand has made 2 quarter finals, but only 4 top 32s. It's been knocked out by Grievance, Red Mosquito, WWS, Society, Come Back, I Am Mine, Immortality, Porch, Rearviewmirror (twice), Brain of J., Tremor Christ, Even Flow and Hail, Hail.

some of those SoH results are pretty shocking, given how much the board loves this song. I'm guessing Society was the year Into the Wild came out?

Sleight of Hand and Faithfull are at the very top of my 'overrated by RM' list of Pearl Jam songs. Sleight of Hand, to be fair, I kind of get. It's doing what it does well, but what it does is not for me. Faithfull has always baffled me a little bit. It's not a bad song, by any stretch, but it's the kind of big sweeping pearl jam song I normally sign up for, and after the Yield honeymoon was over I left it behind. It's been years and years since I've sat down with it carefully, in fairness

stip wrote:some of those SoH results are pretty shocking, given how much the board loves this song. I'm guessing Society was the year Into the Wild came out?

Sleight of Hand and Faithfull are at the very top of my 'overrated by RM' list of Pearl Jam songs. Sleight of Hand, to be fair, I kind of get. It's doing what it does well, but what it does is not for me. Faithfull has always baffled me a little bit. It's not a bad song, by any stretch, but it's the kind of big sweeping pearl jam song I normally sign up for, and after the Yield honeymoon was over I left it behind. It's been years and years since I've sat down with it carefully, in fairness

The RM and WWS wins are from the TSIS years, so not unexpected that the wider Pearl Jam fanbase swung that way. Society won in 2008, so it had just come out. Come Back and I Am Mine are the really surprising ones.

stip wrote:some of those SoH results are pretty shocking, given how much the board loves this song. I'm guessing Society was the year Into the Wild came out?

The RM and WWS wins are from the TSIS years, so not unexpected that the wider Pearl Jam fanbase swung that way. Society won in 2008, so it had just come out. Come Back and I Am Mine are the really surprising ones.