[acs236]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeB06 Are you serious? There are reasons why bands release self-titled albums, and normally it's not because they were too lazy to spend "5 minutes" thinking up a name . There's a lot of speculation as to why this is a self-titled album, and maybe a lot of it has to do with their dropping from the Sony/Epic label and going under J-Records. Starting fresh maybe? Who knows, but I do know its not because they felt 5-minutes was too long to spend slapping an album title on their CD. I also think the song-writing on this album is top-notch as well. I do agree with you to an extent about Eddie's voice, 15 years singing PJ songs can't have positive effects on one's vocal chords .

Meh... We can assume they had a reason or assume they didn't. I'm only half serious about it, but serious enough.


I'm not sure if Eddie's voice has gotten worse. I wonder if it's more that he's going outside of his comfort zone on this album. I guess the vocals stand out to me because the music is pretty tight -- not very innovative or unique, but solid. This is the first Pearl Jam album though where I feel like the vocals could be a lot better.

 

[GlendaleViper]

You can just call it Pearljamselftitled. Kind of like CarRamRod.

CarRamRod.

 

[sno1man]

I bought it Tuesday and have been listening to it quite a bit alternating with 10000 days.

I may be in the minority, but I think it's their best album since Vitalogy.

It rocks pretty hard. Life Wasted, World Wide Suicide and Inside Job are the standouts for me.

As to Vedder's voice, it is what it is. I would not call it bad or good just his.

 

[swmtnbiker]

I've listened to it twice now and pretty much like it. Strangely enough I find myself drawn to the slower, bluesier stuff. Pretty damned good. And Vedder's voice is as good as it's always been - powerful, emotive, and ragged.

 

[GlendaleViper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sno1man I may be in the minority, but I think it's their best album since Vitalogy.

That was the album that put me off Pearl Jam until this new one. Nothing touches Ten in terms of skill or emotion.

 

[shplorgh]

Allmusic gave it 5 stars!

 

[alexs]

The album is good...no doubt about it. I agree with the comment that if you liked "Yield" you will like this (The artwork is even similar

)

Disagree with the statement that Vedder is a bad vocalist. I know there are many people here that enjoy jazz/classical, etc, and obviously he wouldn't have the kind of range that some of those singers have, but this is different. I think he is amazing at what he does, and his voice is powerfull and unique.

As for the album, I really like Life Wasted, World wide suicide, severed hand, comatose, marker in the sand...

basically the first 5 tracks are freaking awesome! Marker in the sand probably being the best...the chorus is fantastic. Inside job is awesome too..love the intro - when the piano comes in

 

[acs236]

I agree about Marker in the Sand -- it's my favorite so far too.

Interestingly enough, I didn't really like Yield and have similar criticisms of Avcocado. Yield sounded a bit derivative to me. That being said, overall, it seemed to have more uniquely Pearl Jam songs than the new one. It just seems like it could be any band. An uncharacteristicly safe album -- sort of what Yield tried to be.

And Vedder's voice just seems a bit thin on this one. I've heard him sound bigger, more powerful -- I feel like that's missing here.

On a plus, the lyrics seem to up to PJ's usual standard, which is usually pretty high.

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hungrych Allmusic gave it 5 stars!

Try again fun boy.

Biggie.

 

[shplorgh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotoriousBIG_PJ Try again fun boy. Biggie.

What? They did!

 

[lloyd braun]

what do you guys mean by"clips". it sounds fine to me.

i'm kind of indifferent, about half of it i can get into. the cd cut of parachutes really blew me away with my e4's compared to the leaked version. the guitars have so much more depth.

 

[MikeB06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lloyd braun what do you guys mean by"clips". it sounds fine to me. i'm kind of indifferent, about half of it i can get into. the cd cut of parachutes really blew me away with my e4's compared to the leaked version. the guitars have so much more depth.

Yeah, the leaked version sounded horrible. I couldn't bear to listen to it after a few times, I just wanted to hear the songs. Needles to say, I am loving the CD quality versions of the songs. I am not noticing the clipping either, I dunno?

Parachutes is a wonderful song by the way. It took me several listenings to really get into it, but I would put it as one of the top tracks on the album now.

 

[MikeB06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hungrych What? They did!

It's 5 stars if you round up. They actually gave it 4.5 stars. Here is the link to the review.

 

[mdjenders]

Turn up "World Wide Suicide" on a decent set of headphones and behold, the very definition of clipping (ugly sounding distortion galore)!

 

[acs236]

Alright -- gave it a few more listens.

This is a good album. Very listenable. I enjoy listening it to it all the way through.

I don't consider myself a "fan" of Pearl Jam. I don't own any of their live album except one. I don't like all of their studio albums. But I think they are capable of making great music. And this album doesn't qualify. It's good, very good in parts. But it fails to reach the emotion, interest, and relevance that I know they're capable of. But still, it's a good album.


One other thing -- the recording quality is inexcusable. Mjenders example is good illustrated. YUCK.