Pearl Jam - No Code

I always thought "Ten" and "Vs" their worst albums. "Vitalogy" is where the fun really begins.

OTM Vegemite Grrl. I'm far from a fan, but I've seen'em live the last couple of tours. They're one of few acts who draw inspiration by their opening acts; when Sleater Kinney and Sonic Youth opened for them on the last couple of tours PJ were incredible.

yeah, Ten was my least favorite for a long time (up until Riot Act). Vs. has some really good songs, though.

Vs. is wretched for the most part, Ten has a few very good moments. Neither album has dated very well.

I think Binaural is their most underrated album - not a real dud track in the lot.

"No Code" was at least an attempt to do something different. The only Pearl Jam album where all of the songs don't sound alike. They may have failed, but should be honoured for the attempt.

VegemiteGrrl OTM

I remember selling Bi... back as soon as I heard a live record that had most of the songs on it and thinking "wow, maybe I'll just buy the live records as they come out, the songs sound better than on the studio records."

No Code is a great album.

Oh, wow, Vs. is very spotty. The music's OK, but Eddie gets in his own way lots of times (except on "Rearviewmirror", maybe) (and "Go"). Of course, you listen to local rock radio around my parts, and they play "Go" & something from Ten and wistfully ask listeners, "gee, remember when Pearl Jam used to ROCK?", which I guess is code for "gee, remember when Pearl Jam sounded totally full of themselves, pompous, and humorless?"

BRING ON THE DOPEY ONE-LINERS HATERS

yeah, Vs. is way spotty. but it's also maybe the only PJ album where I still like all the radio hits (of which there are many). plus some good thrashy moments like Leash and Blood.

Ha - those thrasy moments are exactly what I was thinking of re: Eddie getting in his own (& his band's) way. You don't need to SELL the anthem that hard, EV - the music's doing that bit for you! Just mewl and bellow a smidge, s'all.

I'm tempted to say part of the problem w/ Vs. is the sequencing. Starting w/ "Go", and THEN following w/ "Animal", it's a bit too much. And then jupming from GET OUT OF MY FUCKING FACE to "Indifference" ... meh. Still have a soft spot for "Rats", though, which quotes Michael Jackson's "Ben", doesn't it? Oh, Edward - so pointed, your social commentary.

GOT A GUN
FACT I GOT TWO
THAT'S OK MAN
CAUSE I LOVE GOD
GLORIFIED VERSION OF A PELLET GUN
FEEL SO MANLY
WHEN AAAAAAAAAAAAARMED

on first listen

"Sometimes": wow, it's been awhile since I've been this up close and personal with the veddster.

"Hail Hail": wow, we produce the fuck out of rock these days. we also don't sound this incomprehensible.

is "these days" = 2005, or 1996, or both?

"Up Close and Personal with the Veddster" is going to be the subtitle of my 33 1/3 book.

these days = 2005. i just listened to the radio on the way home. heard that one song (probably three days grace) where the guy is like YOU WILL HATE ME ARGH YOU WILL KILL YOUR LIFE ARGH.

"Who We Are": I haven't heard this track since it came out ("Smile" and "Hail, Hail" were the radio picks, really). Al was fuckin' right about the drums. WTF. this is so hippie.

man both this and "Hail Hail" were way more driftier than I remember them being as a kid. Pop really has made my alt-brain all bugaboo.

"In My Tree": more drums, jesus, wtf. This turn for the eastern really did leave the playing field open for the distinctly judeo-christian Creed. I really have no idea what Vedder is going on about so far. Shocker.

best part of "Hail Hail" for me is the gradually fading out chug of the drums and the lingering guitar line.

"Smile": and the A&R man thanked God that they were still nuts about Neil Young.

"In My Tree" and "Lukin" are their best songs evarr! Although "In My Tree" is really just Peral Jam channeling peak-era U2!!!!

The hippy drumming on this album is why this is my favorite Pearl Jam of all! "Release" should've been on this album!

I was wrong before, about what their best songs were, I forgot all about "Release"!

yeah good call, IMT is kinda U2 ish. in a good way.

(xp I am totally smelling what teh nick is cooking)

proof that pop-ism isn't good for you: I would turn "Smile" off the radio before I would turn off "Higher." "Higher" more fun.

"Smile" got radio spins in your neck of the woods, Anthony, really? that was kind of the album where I stopped hearing alt-rock DJs handpick non-single PJ tracks for heavy rotation, but if anything I heard "Red Mosquito" more.

"Higher" by who? Creed?

question - what was the real dropoff for pj's popularity and dominance in altradio? when i went overseas, a few months after vs. dropped, they were huge - the atlanta alt rock station had billboards with just 'PEARL JAM. 99x' on them (now they say 'COBAIN LIVES. 99x', no joke), at least 80% of that fucking album was on altradio, ALOT. when i came back, just before yield dropped, there was this since of 'ok, they're coming back, they've stopped fucking around, accepted their lot in life', the atlanta altradio station played ONLY pj the weekend before it came out, and there was this sense of 'ok, altrock's not gonna die, altrock's not gonna die, 94 forever', and then i only heard three traxx from it on the radio (and only within a year of it's release - i can't remember the last time i heard 'given to fly') and none of them anywhere near as much as even fucking 'glorified g'. so, um, was it vitalogy what did it? or no code?

well our alt-station was pretty die-hard back when this came out. Chavez's "The Guard Attacks" was a Buzz Track! I dunno if I've heard "Red Mosquito" before, will find out soon enough.

Yes, "Higher" by Creed. Mushmouth liberal slack just isn't as amusing on the radio as the anthem of the jesus donkey (neener neener neer).

"Off He Goes": pleasant alt-country, can't focus on the lyrics on first listen but I like it.

(x-post Vitalogy was the one people bought and No Code gave them no reason to bother again - see Monster and New Adventures)

the pacing off this album is kinda goofy from a mainstream rock standpoint. drum circles followed by a turgid Neil number followed by six minutes of alt-country. this is not how you keep your arena authority (the point, I know).

"Had It": low-mic'd little rocker. i'd have to be a fan to care.

"Red Mosquito": I think part of the reason misanthropic rock made a comeback is that Vedder stopped SAYING anything. I don't like this song. hippie RAWK, no...

was "better man" pj's biggest hit (merkin ball doesn't count as it skews) pre-"last kiss"? i know reading pj chart standing in the nineties is tricky. what pj songs broke out of the alt ghetto?

post-Ten, "Better Man" is definitely their biggest number. Deserves the title, too. Not sure if it was bigger than "Jeremy" though.

seriously, if I don't focus really hard he might as well be the male Liz Fraser on some of this shit.

how big did mirrorball actually get anyhow? what made it to altradio, how much did it get played? was it as big in the larger culture as harvest moon? i remember hearing "sleeps with angels" a little bit on altradio just before i shipped out but it had just hit radio - was it a altradio hit?

I was under the impression Mirror Ball was just a first week deal. Harvest Moon sold like twice as much.

"Lukin": uptempo gibberish

"Present Tense": downtempo LIVE IN THE NOW. oh man. a nation of children were waiting for something to believe, and Vedder's going hominahominahominahomina. no wonder Fuck The Bitch and Jesus Saves won big.

Mirror Ball had a couple songs that did ok on radio, one with a video (PJ weren't in it, but they taped "Jam" underneath the Pearl logo on the kick drum) and predictably the one that had audible Vedder vocals.

yeah see i don't remember hearing anything from ten on alt (or aor making begrudging concessions to grunge) radio, it seems like maybe i heard "daughter" or "elderly woman looking for some mayo in aisle three" on ac radio, maaaaybe even top 40.

xpost - that makes sense. harvest moon got ac AND some country radio, even at alt's height those are bigger ponds (and older audiences that don't mind older artists/wonder who the fuck neil young is).

OPEN THE FRIDGE, Anthony.

anything from ten on anything other than alt... is what i meant

Checked allmusic. "Downtown" was a top ten mainstream rock hit. but so was, wtf, "War Of Man." "Change Your Mind" scraped the mainstream top 20. No modrock chart listings.

Jeremy was a top ten pop hit.

actually it occurs to me - their ticketmaster battle/lack of touring is probably what knocked them down as much as 'more difficult records', yeah?

it sure didn't help. they were the biggest example of how self-crippling alt-arena was. Hard to be small and big at the same time.

"I'm the Ocean" was the Mirrorball tune that justified the $13 (not a bad song either)

"Mankind": OMG this song has a hook! who let that in?

OTM re: "I'm The Ocean."

"I'm Open": OH JESUS.

yeah miccio that 'jeremy' topten listing is a soundscan blip, they released (rereleased?) their 'ten' singles mid-nineties, pj fans (which were legion at the time) gotta gotta have whatever that b-side is (a dime sez it's "yellow ledbetter"), buy it that week, next week it drops like a stone. i very much doubt 'jeremy' fails to chart pop in 92 (when they were even bigger and the video was HUGE), but is a much bigger hit in 95. they're not billy vera.

It was probably a combination of factors: the Ticketmaster fracas, "No Code," their overexposure. The tide was changing in '98 too. "Vitalogy" did ok and is probably their most consistent album song for song, but it didn't hit number one, the "Titanic" soundtrack was hot, and Backstreet Boys were huge and recording more memorable music than PJ at this point.

"Mankind"! Is that the one that uses "enigmatic" in a lyric?

yeah I wondered about that '95 thing, gotcha. thought it might have been a misprint or something.

lest I sound too dismissive, I totally understand the appeal of this album for people fascinated by the band. The Durst/Vedder thing totally makes sense, this is totally their Results May Vary. I'd say "Last Kiss" was their "Behind Blue Eyes" but I forget if "Last Kiss" came before or after Yield.

"Around The Bend": wow, my favorite songs on this album are the tender little side alt-country side-closers! i never would have known. I totally would prefer an album of this type stuff to Son Volt.

haha i'n decidedly NOT fascinated by the band

In my post I meant "Yield" instead of "Vitalogy."