Unfinished Dad

Reliving Pearl Jam's Discography: Vive La Vitalogy

Jopie Joe,

I enjoyed your post on Vs thoroughly, and would like to follow up with a few thoughts of my own before moving on to Vitalogy.

• I still consider Rearviewmirror @ Jones Beach in 2000 the pinnacle of my concert experiences.  The combination of venue (best I have been too), kick ass song, and the great group of people we went with hasn’t been equaled for me before or since.
• Overall, I don’t believe any PJ album is superior to Vs. Perhaps Ten or Yield (or Backspacer) match it’s greatness, but nothing surpasses it.
• Thank goodness I didn’t listen to Def Leppard as much as you did.
• Finally, there is no reason that Guns N Roses shouldn’t still be in some kind of rotation for you.

I have come to believe that Vitalogy is the most distinctive album in Pearl Jam’s repertoire, even more so than Ten. Their first album is certainly one of a kind, but in large part because it was a first of its kind, and likely the best true grunge album ever recorded. There have been other grunge or grunge-like albums of course, but there has never been another Vitalogy - in many ways it is PJ’s one and only concept album.

The album also serves as a sort of marking stone among Pearl Jam fans. More often than not, fans of the band rank Vitalogy as either their best effort ever or somewhere in the middle of the pack. It is never 2nd or 3rd best, nor does it rank among the lowest, which makes for an interesting light version of “love it or hate it”.

In hindsight, there are valid reasons for its uniqueness or even weirdness. Not well known until years later, Pearl Jam was fighting through their low point as a band while the album was being recorded.  For the first and only time in their history, a member was fired; Eddie became the band’s true leader in terms of how and what they recorded; Mike McCready was struggling with drug addiction; and, perhaps most importantly, the band was simply not dealing with success very well. The spotlight wasn’t working for them.  They wanted to give away what ended up being one of their most popular radio songs.

I even did some research on this, and Stone Gossard once said, “Eighty percent of the songs were written 20 minutes before they were recorded,” and while I find this difficult to believe, the importance of the statement is clear – the band wasn’t clicking together. Despite the churn and uncertainty, the album was incredible.

As with every PJ album save two (and we’ll get to them eventually), I was fully immersed in every aspect of the album upon its release. In our typical insanity, we’re talking thinking of the tracks whenever we didn’t have a chance to listen, running upstairs to the room to click play as soon as we could, etc.  I still have not forgiven myself for losing the album booklet and lyrics after leaving it behind in an AT&T bathroom stall. It was a lot like a reading through a highly anticipated book that is actually living up to your expectations – every free moment was spent on the album.  The public thought so too and, shortly after its December 1994 release, Vitalogy became the second fastest selling album of all time (A vinyl version was released two weeks prior as well).

The album opens with Last Exit, one of my favorite opening tracks on any album, ever. It sets the pace for the entire album - punky, fast, and, with a track time of 2:50, over before its starts. As with most songs on the album, the lyrics are on the dark side, “Grasp and hold on…we’re dyin’ fast…soon be over…I will relent” ending with the perfect “Let my spirit pass…this is, this is…my…last exit”.

With a total track length of 14 there is bound to be filler songs on the album, and while “Spin the Black” circle isn’t exactly one of them, it isn’t one of the band’s best efforts. The lyrical idea rather than the music is what attracts people I think – “vinyl is good” – but I find myself skipping the track more often than not nowadays.  It doesn’t feel like a complete song anymore.

While we’re on the topic, the songs that are in fact fillers end up an injustice to the album, as in my opinion they break up the pace and feel of it too much.  Tracks seven (“Pry, To”), eight (“Bugs”), twelve (“Aye Davanita”), and fourteen ("Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me") aren’t songs but a few moments of musical hysteria joined together. I think this is the largest reason I seem to listen to Vitalogy tracks on compilation albums instead of putting the CD in the player (or clicking the album on my iPod).

It’s still a superb album of course and along with “Last Exit”, the balance of the album is what makes it among their finest.  Tacks 3 and 4 - “Not For You” and “Tremor Christ” go perfectly together. The former building up to a crescendo before pulling the rug out from under you with a sudden slowdown midway though the song, only to end with another battering of heavy guitars and Eddie’s famous wailing.  “Tremor Christ” slows things down and, while not an elite song by any means, it still fits well in the album providing a break in tone (not meaning) from the heart pounding tracks before it.

This leads into “Nothingman”, one of the band’s best efforts of all time. A beautiful ballad with perhaps Eddie’s best vocal performance as well. The lyrics are classic lost love:

She once believed...in every story he had to tell...

One day she stiffened...took the other side...

Empty stares...from each corner of a shared prison cell...

One just escapes...one's left inside the well...

And he who forgets...will be destined to remember...

After two filler songs comes one of the greatest rock songs of all time – “Corduroy”.  The song kicks butt from beginning to end – it’s fast paced, unique, and the listener immediately feels a part of it.  I am perhaps quoting too many lyrics, but this grabs you form verse one, “The waiting drove me mad... you're finally here and I'm a mess”.  “Corduroy” is one of the songs often cited as PJ’s greatest and I tend to agree.  I have listened to it so many times it may no longer be #1 on my current playlist, but if I ever wanted to convince someone to listen to PJ I would play them this song first.

Two additional filler songs later and the emotional “Betterman” faces the listener.  The oft misunderstood pop radio hit, “Betterman” is upbeat and catchy musically, yet the lyrics are indeed dark and fit in with the album.  Originally meant for “Vs” the song was cut from the final track list because of its sound and I can’t argue with the choice.  Absorbing to the song in concert is also one of the best experiences a fan can have – the lyrics are clear, easy to understand, and because of it Eddie often has the crowd lead the song in most (all?) of their live shows now. 

Finally, sandwiched between two other fillers, is “Immortality” another all time great.  A ballad, dark and mysterious, it features some of the best guitar work on any of their tracks.  I don’t have an ear for the technical side of this, and I just mean the guitar work is poignant and stands out as the best part of an all around exquisite song.  My only complaint is that the album didn’t end with it, and we instead have to deal with this “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me”.

Overall, you cannot find a better collection of songs on a PJ album than Vitalogy.  Where the album ranks overall is ultimately a decision on how little attention you pay to the crazy and pointless filler songs spread throughout.

PS.  Unlike you I don’t necessarily put much stock in album artwork (or how fast or slow the color of an athlete’s cleats makes them appear for that matter) but a hat tip to the band for this one. It replicates material from a 1920’s medical book, so well in fact, that for a while there were copyright issues over it. Regardless, it’s top notch.

Me

Old School Kermit

The DVD player in our car is taking over my life.  What started out as a way to get through a long trip to Surfside Beach has become a crutch for driving five minutes to the grocery store.  I try and keep to the basics so that I don't go completely mad.  

Lately Sesame Street Old School has been on heavy rotation.  I can't get enough of the way the show used to be.  The DVD's even come with a disclaimer that the material may not be appropriate for today's children, as evidenced by an early clip in which the characters wonder weather or not the show should just be called "Hey, Stupid" because its intended audience won't be able to read.  But, by far, my favorite thing about the DVD's is Kermit the Frog.  He's a little subversive, a little New York (listen to that accent), and yet totally endearing to children.  Poor Don Music never stood a chance.

Phew, Billy Corgan Says My Kids Don't Need The Swine Flu Vaccine After All

Rest easy friends of Unfinished Dad.  I no longer need to worry about vaccinating Annie and Tilda.  Though swine flu is still a serious threat, a government created one no less, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame says this whole national emergency thing is just fear mongering to sell more pharmaceuticals.  You know what, I kind of agree with him.  Well, about the fear mongering part anyway.

"Our American President Obama has declared a national emergency about this virus, which he in his own words said was, at this point, a preventative measure. So, why declare an emergency if there isn’t one? ... I am more focused on the vibration that has us all so fearful: both for how the fear affects our thinking, and how, in our fear, we attract the worst, and, in conjunction with that, how those fears are used by others without integrity to try to create a power against Us to promote discomfort and dis-ease."

I feel better.  You?

Reliving Pearl Jam's Discography: Lou Tackles Ten

Jopie Joe,

 

I have a problem.  Over the past month have I’ve spent more time with my good friend Eddie Vedder* than that of my boss and children combined.  Well, that might be an exaggeration, but I am sure you feel the same way after our side project of rating and ranking every studio-album song that Pearl Jam ever put to compact disc.

 

*I have a pick of his and therefore consider him a friend; or rather I had a pick of his before our sister, Katie, filched it with some puppy dog eyes.  I know, as well as you, that Eddie tossed it to ME specifically during the Letterman show.(Editor’s note: The Letterman show, a private concert for 400 Tenclub members that took place in 2006, was attended by all four Poulas children who can be seen freaking out in the front row)

 

It was an exhausting task that I attacked as if it were my profession, which opened my eyes in two ways.  First, I wish I had a job I loved, and second, wow—did I fall in love with PJ all over again.  Such painstaking labor should never go unrecognized, and I thought I would take the first action of putting my thoughts down in html.

 

I propose to spend some time reviewing each of their nine albums—do we both review all nine or take them turn in turn, maybe with comments on previous submission?—and follow it up with a grand finale including excel sheets, graphs, formulas, and scientific notations. (Editor’s note—Easy nerd, Unfinished Dad’s readers don’t know he spends his time doing things like that.)

 

First up, the Classic Ten

 

Track List

1-Once  

2-Even Flow  

3-Alive  

4-Why Go  

5-Black  

6-Jeremy  

7-Oceans  

8-Porch  

9-Garden  

10-Deep  

11-Release

 

I will forever be in your debt for introducing me to Pearl Jam* though I don’t recall when that was exactly.  The album debuted on August 27, 1991 but didn’t become popular until almost 8 months later, and didn’t peak on the charts until the fall of 1992.  Ten was still so popular, that in 1993, when their second album Vs. was released, it was still outselling it at years end.  I am guessing that fateful day of introduction occurred between the fall ’92 and winter of ’93.**

 

*And Stephen King’s Dark Tower series for that matter.  Quite amazing when you think about it—the two most import cultural loves in my life are due to my little bro!

 

**And as long as I’m dishing out the praise, I might as well continue with that thought and thank you for Weezer too.  I turned on the “Genius” functionality for my new iPod where it makes compilation playlists that “go great together” and Weezer and Pearl Jam are always linked.  At first, I didn’t understand—I was hearing good music that I couldn’t remember who the artist was.  Low and behold—Weezer four or 5 times now.(Ed’s note: Word)

 

Almost 450 words and still no review to speak of—I will keep this one relatively short then.  Ten is widely recognized as the band’s best album, and one of the most influential albums of our lifetimes.  For now, let’s say I agree with the latter and if we want to include cultural impact in our rankings Ten would easily be #1.

 

My power tracks on the album are Alive, Black, Porch, and Release.  The introductions to both Alive and Black are instantly recognizable to a wide variety of musical tastes, but Black is a hair better and may be the single greatest PJ song of all time.  The classic lyric, “all five horizons revolved around her soul” is a badge of wonder to all fans and as far as I know, the band has never come out and explicitly provided a meaning to the verse. 

 

I could listen to the 1:30 through 2:22 section of Porch over and over, and in fact, regularly do just that.  I love Matt Cameron, but my favorite drum riff in any PJ song came courtesy of Dave Krusen, ending at 2:22.

 

However, if I were beached on an island and could take only one track from Ten with me, it would be Release.  I can’t quite put into words why this song is so potent for me.  I guess you would call it a power ballad, and it slowly builds Eddie’s vocals and wonderful guitar work, and who among us has never exactly related to the line, “I’ll ride the wave where it takes me”?   It is the perfect track to listen to when in the mood to recall strong emotion—whether joyous or tearful, Release will recall it to memory.

 

Remember the Bear Share days?  We have a bootlegged live version of Release that perfectly states how PJ fans feel.  Listen to the first few moments of that song, for what I assume is the moment that Eddie, or maybe most of band walks out on stage—chills and waterworks.  It’s as simple as that.

Powered by Podbean.com

 

Once, Even Flow, and Oceans are also 4 out 5 star songs, and while I no longer have a taste for the most overplayed song in PJ history, I at least recognize that Jeremy is in fact a very good tune.  The beauty of Ten is that even their lesser known tracks—Why Go, Garden, and Deep—are all good, making Ten the band’s deepest album.

 

Hopefully this gets the ball rolling!,

Lou

Feel like sharing your thoughts about Pearl Jam's original album?  Let 'er rip in the comments below.  We'd love to here your memories.

Sufjan Stevens Shows Some Love For The BQE

Feel like it's time you devoted yourself to a highway for a little while?  Wish that you had the chops to write an orchestral ode to a favorite stretch of pavement that runs through your hometown?  Wait, no?  Hmmm, I think your love of home can be called into question.  And that doesn't even take into account the accompanying movie that you're afraid to make.

Powered by Podbean.com

Pitchfork's Top 20 Albums of The Decade

Great read, if you like this sort of thing.  It's also worth checking out the article about "indie" music as a whole.  Let me also take this moment to make one last pitch for you to listen to Arcade Fire's Funeral before the decade ends and you lose out on the opportunity to understand.

Backspacer

Way back in 1994, when I was a young man with more hair and less belly, I had three loves that consumed me: a girl, tennis, and Pearl Jam in oft-changing order.  Like all 17 year-olds, my opinions on these passions were both myriad and definitive.  I soon discovered early in my 20’s that two of these loves were nothing more than childhood fantasies, but one has held on through multiple decades, cities, and children.

During that senior year of high school, Pearl Jam issued their third and greatest album, Vitalogy.  The first album that didn’t rely solely on the raw emotion of Eddie Vedder’s vocals, Vitalogy had a mature, more progressive sound that vaulted them beyond an already aging “grunge” scene.  By this time many bands had copied their sound from Ten era Pearl Jam—did you not think that Stone Temple Pilot’s Plush was a new PJ song?—and the lower-fi sound of Vitalogy combined with its zaniness permanently altered the band’s direction.

Fast forward to Pearl Jam’s ninth album, Backspacer, and you have a band in dire need of another sea change.  If Vitalogy launched them on their post “grunge” path, then two albums later, Yield—with the emotion of In Hiding and the whimsy of Wishlist—brought them to that path’s summit.  The four albums since have been a steady decline into prosaic rock with less and less of the brilliance that marked much of the 90’s.  Each successive album has seen the balance shift just a bit more to the former.

Pearl Jam albums usually begin with a bang.  Go, Last Exit, Brain of J, Breakerfall, and Life Wasted all ignited their albums with their own version of musical combustion.  When Pearl Jam albums don’t start with a bang, they seduce you with textured subtlety before kicking your ass with track two à la Sometimes into Hail, Hail.  On Backspacer we are given Gonna See My Friend, a mailed in rock song with archaic Axl Rose style doubling vocals and endless guitar riffs.

Track four, Johnny Guitar, is completely lost on me.  I notice the double entendre in the opening stanza and I’ve read that it’s Thin Lizzy-esque (that’s good?), but it may be the only Pearl Jam song that makes me angry.  Now Johnny He Be Havin Lots of Women/The Reason He Be Smiling Known To Him.  Ouch.  Later in the album we get four tracks to close it out that all evoke, well, nothing.  Past albums had one or two throw-away tracks like these (Sleight Of Hand, Help Help, Army Reserve) but like I said, the balance is shifting.

Backspacer has occupied my headphones for over a week now and I haven’t even touched on why.  If you take away Gonna See My Friend, the unexplainable Johnny G, and the four bland closing tracks, you are left with five songs that are all very good.  That’s five of eleven songs that I plan on listening to a lot.  In my head I pretend that they are an EP of a wholly different issue.

Got Some sounded strong on Conan’s first Tonight Show.  The album version is worthy of its esteemed number two position, with Eddie breathlessly hammering out quick verses about shitting or getting off the pot.  I touched on the album’s first single, The Fixer, in an earlier post.  I still can’t get enough of it.  So simple and uplifting, this is the only “pop” song on the album and Pearl Jam would do well to take a turn in this direction.

If The Fixer represents one possible solution to what ails Pearl Jam, then Just Breathe represents another.  It could easily nestle in alongside the songs from Eddie Vedder’s brilliant solo work for Into The Wild.  A folkier, softer sound has been a Pearl Jam dream of mine since hearing the perfect combination of I Am Mine and Down from the Riot Act Sessions.  That was seven years ago and Just Breathe is the band’s first return here.

My Backspacer EP closes with Unthought Known, Unfinished Dad’s song of the week and the strongest song on the album.  It takes nearly 20 minutes and seven tracks for us to get to a genuine “Eddie” moment.  When he you hear the vocals Feel the sky blanket you…with gems & rhinestones scraping off of his vocal chords, you get your first and only chills of the album.  Somehow it is worth it.

You may say that an album on which half of the material is memorable is a good one.  For most bands I would agree.  For the band that gave us Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, and Yield I just can’t.  So I find myself at the same crossroads the band occupies.  On my left is the road towards “indie” rock and new loves like Andrew Bird and Sufjan Stevens.  On my right is Pearl Jam’s road and they are the last “rock” band on it.  Sadly, in my heart I know I’m going left.

Ma Ma Shoogic

A few months ago Annie went though a particularly rough tantrum phase in which she would constantly ask for "shoogic."  It lasted for over a week and at its worst she would lay on the floor crying, screaming "shooooogic, shooooogic."  As often happens, one day she gave me the answer to this mystery purely by accident.  I was in the living room and turned on some Death Cab For Cutie and she happily looked up, smiled, and said "shoogic."  Somehow when her brain hears the word music her mouth processes the word "shoogic."  Annie is a relatively strong speaker, but to this day "shoogic" stands firmly in her lexicon.  Even when you try and coax the correct pronunciation out of her.

Still In Hiding

Still In Hiding, originally uploaded by unfinished dad.

I'm In Hiding Listening To Backspacer

I'm In Hiding Listening To Backspacer, originally uploaded by unfinished dad.

A full review to follow on Monday for the official release of Pearl Jam's newest.