I think there is a certain brand of PJ fan that doesn't like when they go full light-weight. A lot o fans related to the angst and complexity of songs like Alive and Even Flow and Jeremy and Animal and Rearview Mirror. And so when PJ flexes there other muscles they get weird about it. That's not everyone, certainly. But it does reflect some fans.

Songs like Black Red Yellow, Dirty Frank, Hitchhiker, Happy When I'm Crying, Push Me, Pull Me, etc... represent a color of Pearl Jam that I adore. And it's been there from the very beginning. I love that success allowed them to mine that stuff even more over the years. To me, Ole is the heir apparent to that particular line.

It's got funk and groove and a looseness that I think is indicative of what I like most about the band as a live act. But I totally understand why that kind of thing is uninteresting or off-putting or uninteresting to fans that gravitate to other colors of the band's extensive palate.

I love "Push Me Pull Me" because that humour is balanced with a dark heaviness, and I think that juxtaposition is there on every "fun" PJ song I enjoy; I haven't got a problem with music that does nothing but pure fun, I just don't think PJ is very good at it; I go to other bands for that

Oh totally fair! I think if it's all PJ did, I'd be more off-put by it. They certainly wouldn't have become my favorite band of all time. But as a shade of what they do, I really appreciate it. And I think Ole really hits the sweet spot. It has more in common with Push Me, Pull Me and Big Wave and Hitchhiker than it does Olympic Platinum or Gremmie Out of Control, etc. It's not a heavy song by any means but there is some weight to it. "I still can't help but wonder why / I'm feeling laughed at by the sky" for example. Great line that carries something a tad heavier in implication on its breeziness.

Oh totally fair! I think if it's all PJ did, I'd be more off-put by it. They certainly wouldn't have become my favorite band of all time. But as a shade of what they do, I really appreciate it. And I think Ole really hits the sweet spot. It has more in common with Push Me, Pull Me and Big Wave and Hitchhiker than it does Olympic Platinum or Gremmie Out of Control, etc. It's not a heavy song by any means but there is some weight to it. "I still can't help but wonder why / I'm feeling laughed at by the sky" for example. Great line that carries something a tad heavier in implication on its breeziness.

I totally agree with those thoughts about Olé and what makes it work for me is that you just know "Olé" is like a *bleep* / nonsense word for something like "fuck it!"

of the songs you listed, I don't like "Big Wave" much but I love Gremmie and Hitchhiker; there's not much darkness in Gremmie but there *is* history; it's the most faithfully "surf rock" song in their catalogue so as a genre experiment and what we know of Ed it's a stunner, and I am stunned

I was pretty indifferent to Big Wave until I caught it live a few years ago. For a rarely played track, they really nailed it.