Pearl Jam

Love Pendulum. Love it. Best song they've had since Yield.

Future Days is one of the worst studio tracks they've ever had. That's an Eddie and Brenden O'Brien collaboration, not a Pearl Jam song.

I actually like Sleeping by Myself a lot. Way more than uke only version. Swallowed Whole feels like another fleshed out Eddie solo track.

Yellow Moon and My Father's Son will probably be growers.

I hadn't listened to Mind Your Manners in month before getting the leak last week. I really like it upon revisit.

I think the album is a bit disjointed. But.... I really dig it. There's nothing drastically different on here, but it is totally representative of just about everything they've done post Vitalogy.

I like it significantly better than Backspacer and Avocado already. I'd also put it above Riot Act and Binaural even if audiophile PJ fans (e.g. those who frequent Red Mosquito message board) wouldn't agree.

Show #19 is coming up for me in a couple weeks!

 

When I was listening to Swallowed Whole last night, it occurred to me that it sounded like something you could've heard from REM back in the 1990s, not from Automatic for the People, but definitely Monster. I was glad the Rolling Stone reviewer picked up on that, too; made me feel like I wasn't insane.

I agree a couple of things come across more as Vedder solo songs and that the album feels disjointed. It's schizophrenic as hell, but that's not always bad. "Let the Records Play" doesn't sound like a traditional PJ song. It's just too blue-sy. The more I listen to it, the more I like it, but that and "Sleeping By Myself" are the two songs that sound the least like "Pearl Jam songs" to me, if that makes sense. Part of that's just how their writing process has changed, with each person doing their own thing or just a couple of them writing together and then everyone coming together and pulling together what they like best.

"Future Days" hits me a lot like "Just Breathe," a better song than "Future Days" but in the same vein. And those songs are both really Eddie Vedder songs. He seems a lot more comfortable doing ballads like that as he's gotten older. I'd bet we'll see one of these every album, something more touchy-feely than a lot of their other stuff.

The thing I don't like about this version of "Sleeping By Myself" is that with the organs and drums everything else, it loses most of the melancholy of the original version. It's too damn jaunty for what really is a downer of a song.

I love "Pendulum," too. They've opened concerts with it this tour, which makes sense. It has a great epic, haunting feel that would be a perfect way to start a show.

I dig "Yellow Moon," but I'm still not sure about "My Father's Son." There are parts I like but others not as much. I'm kinda the same way with "Lightning Bolt."

I like a lot of the guitar work on his album, too. McCready and Gossard doing some great stuff.

I'm seeing them in OKC in a month. Gonna be epic, I'm sure. Where are you seeing them?

 

This album felt more alt rock than rock, whatever that really means, but I enjoyed most of it. That said, I didn't hear a song, maybe Sirens and one other, that I really want to hear live.

 

After seeing them last night, there are a few songs off the new album that are pretty fucking awesome live. Mind Your Manners was great, esp. leading into Do the Evolution. And Sirens was pretty cool, too. Let the Records Play is kinda fun and funky live. Infallible and Yellow Moon weren't bad, but they weren't as great as some of the other songs last night, either.

 

Seeing them on Tuesday in Phoenix. Can't wait. It's been 10 years since I've seen them mostly because they've skipped over every place I've lived since then. Actually making this one part of a previously planned family vacation. Only way to get to see them this time around. Timing worked.

I've noticed the set lists of the current tour have a lot of new songs on there and I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm interested to see how it goes. I thought Lightning Bolt played very well when they did it on Jimmy Fallon.