Yield: Official Album Thread

[stip]

One of pearl jams finest albums. The last great brendon obrien/pearl jam album.

Obriens work on tracks like faithful/no way/all those yesterday's are sublime IMHO

faithful (and In Hiding) have always struck me as songs that sound half finished.

It's taken me a long time to sort of "get" (and I hate that word in this context) Yield. It didn't click with me until last year. But I never felt like any of the songs (save Red Dot) felt half finished. What about those songs makes you feel that way?

I'm sure I have probably articulated this on the old board somewhere better than I will here. Even though they have the rich sound that the rest of Yield does, there is something about them that always seemed thin--like they were waiting to layer the really good parts on. Other mid tempo songs like GTF (which I love) and No Way (which I don't) still found much fuller than these do.

As was pretty astutely observed in that other thread, this is really the point where PJ started writing more subdued anthems (in a lot of ways GTF is the last of that old guard--or at least the hinge between these two periods) and I started to lose some interest in them (post vitalogy there are really only 4 PJ anthems that I love, for a certain definition of anthem). But still, No Way is hardly an old fashioned PJ anthem and it still feels like there is just more going on there musically than these songs. I think I miss the layering in them that are in most of the other really good ones.


I am also don't really like the verses (or the main riff, to be honest) in In Hiding and Faithful has, after a very promising first verse, sometimes seems a little too ham fisted for my tastes. Also not a tremendous fan of how Eddie sounds on either of these songs.

I feel like I tend to agree with your opinions more than most other people on the board, but I don't get this at all.

Well, maybe just this tiny bit. The lyrics for In Hiding feel a little ... first draft to me. I like them well enough and I get the idea, but they're a bit awkward and it feels like it all doesn't come together very well. Still like the song quite a bit despite that, and musically I think that song is wonderful.

fair enough--this is just my own idiosyncratic tastes.

I listened to yield on my way home from work. I think in both cases one of the things I meant by the songs feeling unfinished is that I want more stuff coloring in the main riff.

Also, I am not a huge fan of how eddie sounds on these songs.

[digster]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

[Fuzzcharger]

Reordering the songs according to the inner booklet was a pretty neat twist too. It made for quite a fresh perspective on the record.

[Hatfield]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

It had been a while since they had done promotion or interviews and for Yield they were much more visible. I liked how when asked about In Hiding, Ed changed the meaning or inspiration for the song in each interview. Similar to your thought, they seemed to put a lot of time and thought into making Yield special.

[stip]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

I just don't think there is enough of it in those two songs. I think the rest of the album is full of them. Even some of the songs I'm not crazy about like Lowlight I would never make that claim about.

[bodysnatcher]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

I just don't think there is enough of it in those two songs. I think the rest of the album is full of them. Even some of the songs I'm not crazy about like Lowlight I would never make that claim about.

wait, what about stone in GTF?

[Kevin Davis]

Guys, this album is going to be 15 years old in a few days.

[Norris]

God damn.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

I just don't think there is enough of it in those two songs. I think the rest of the album is full of them. Even some of the songs I'm not crazy about like Lowlight I would never make that claim about.

Are you talking about not enough as in more production stuff should be added in or the guitar parts should be a little bit different from each other to give it a more full kinda sound?

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Guys, this album is going to be 15 years old in a few days.

That's pretty crazy to think about, i still remember going to pick it up on my lunch break and my uncle getting mad at me for sitting in the car blasting it instead of getting back to work.

And we haven't yet gotten the 5th album since then

[stip]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

I just don't think there is enough of it in those two songs. I think the rest of the album is full of them. Even some of the songs I'm not crazy about like Lowlight I would never make that claim about.

Are you talking about not enough as in more production stuff should be added in or the guitar parts should be a little bit different from each other to give it a more full kinda sound?

either/both?

[digster]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

I just don't think there is enough of it in those two songs. I think the rest of the album is full of them. Even some of the songs I'm not crazy about like Lowlight I would never make that claim about.

I think even for those songs, there's a lot of really awesome stuff going on. I remember the way that acoustic pops up briefly in In Hiding and plays against the drum fills before the pre-chorus, the sound of the guitars falling from the bridge back into the chorus, etc. I'm sure there's more, I haven't listened to them in a while.

I think Yield's a great album for easter eggs built into the arrangements of the songs. I think it was said before in here, but a lot of thought seemed to go into the guitar arrangements and guitar tones. Sometimes the two (or three) guitarists in PJ are content to strum away at barre and open chords and call it a day. Yield seems to have a lot more thought put into what they're playing and why; it's an extremely well-arranged record.

[its_not_1974]

I don't know, I love the little easter eggs in the arrangements of Yield...for example, until someone pointed it out on here, I had never really listened to Stone's line in the second chorus of GTF; it's so fucking cool. I think there's little stuff like that all over the record.

The little octave run (I think)? Fucking incredible. When I first noticed it a few years ago, I replayed that bit at least 6 times. Same as when I first heard Wishlist with headphones/on vinyl. The bass and little fills make the song.

[verb_to_trust]

I stole Yield sign in college....

That really says it all about how I feel about Yield.

[Blenheim Augustine]

Listened to this yesterday after all the talk here and it went back to top spot - it is just so enjoyable as an album and the flow is perfect. I agree with the positive comments here, the arrangements are so good. Listening to In Hiding on some good headphones is incredible. The bass is just so nice, Jeff starts doing little runs in the second half which I had never really heard before - and considering how many times I have listened to that song that is pretty amazing. I love when Low Light breaks into the piano and the bridge of Pilate makes up for the chorus, which I always heard as "like pilot, I have radar".

I think this was last album that wasn't overly self conscious and therefore the songs aren't overworked (avocado), the track listing is perfect (binaural, riot act), and no songs were left off that should have been included (binaural, riot act).

[liebzz]

I just wanted to put a few little personal tidbits about this album into the conversation:

1) About halfway into Given to Fly, around where Ed sings "...strange spot in the sky, a human being that was given to fly" there's either a little mistake or added high pitched "wah". This sound is eerily similar to the last syllable in my name as my mother would call for my attention on something circa 1998. For years, whenever I heard this song with headphones, and that part of the song came up, I would whip my headphones off and listen expecting my mother to be telling me something.

2) If someone told me I had 15 seconds to convince them that Pearl Jam was the greatest band on the planet, I would play the bridge before the final chorus in Faithful.

3) Do the Evolution was so viscerally satisfying upon its release that my casual Pearl Jam fan friend immediately called it the best song the band ever wrote. This immediately lead me to hating the song for the first month until I too realized that it was among the best songs they ever wrote.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

I just wanted to put a few little personal tidbits about this album into the conversation:

1) About halfway into Given to Fly, around where Ed sings "...strange spot in the sky, a human being that was given to fly" there's either a little mistake or added high pitched "wah". This sound is eerily similar to the last syllable in my name as my mother would call for my attention on something circa 1998. For years, whenever I heard this song with headphones, and that part of the song came up, I would whip my headphones off and listen expecting my mother to be telling me something.

2) If someone told me I had 15 seconds to convince them that Pearl Jam was the greatest band on the planet, I would play the bridge before the final chorus in Faithful.

3) Do the Evolution was so viscerally satisfying upon its release that my casual Pearl Jam fan friend immediately called it the best song the band ever wrote. This immediately lead me to hating the song for the first month until I too realized that it was among the best songs they ever wrote.

there are some sounds in MFC i think that when i would play it loud in the car, always made me kinda freak out thinking there was an ambulance or fire truck behind me or somewhere close, and after a few months i got used to it and didnt look around for the rescue vehicle, and it was almost really bad because i was the first car at a stop light, and as soon as it turned green i went and looked in my rearview as i was passing under the green light and saw everyone else that was next to and behind me sitting still and and fire truck come flying through the intersection and would have hit me right in the drivers door if i was about 2 seconds slower getting through. so now when that song comes on i always look around for rescue vehicles again

[Chloe]

I stole Yield sign in college....

That really says it all about how I feel about Yield.

I FINALLY have a sign, and it just hangs out in our basement. heh
This is the most amazing piece of work PJ has put out, in my mind. I was a freshman in high school when it came out, though. Probably has something to do with my love for it; the struggles I went through that year with my family and how Ed's lyrics just made sense.

[epilogue]

I stole Yield sign in college....

That really says it all about how I feel about Yield.

My friend stole one for me. And I hung it on my wall for years. The best part...? For whatever reason there was a a "VS" printed on the bottom of the sign. Double your pleasure, double your fun.

[EJ]

There's little hidden flourishes all over this album. From start to finish, its just such a rewarding listen.

In fact, I'm going to reward myself now and listen to it with headphones.