Education is one of my favorite songs from those sessions. Prefer the Tchad Blake mix of it over the LD one.

What is it you like so much? I'm not saying I hate it -- it's nowhere near as bad as Supersonic or Just Breathe. But I just find it to be a little dumb -- that riff is so basic and uninteresting, the lyrics are kind of bloated...I do really like the harmonies, though.

Can't pinpoint specifics, since I like everything about it: Ed's vocals and delivery, the little middle-Eastern tinge, and the lyrics too. Dunno, just sounds refreshing to me.

The outro solo over the last 35 seconds is stellar and deserves to be properly played live in an extended fashion

Excellent work!

I love the rhythmic quality to that riff. It clicks and twitches without ever saying "here's what this song has to be." I really admire a track that creates a backdrop for a lyricist to accelerate through, rather than driving the damn car for them. Vitalogy had a lot of these types of riffs....and maybe Education is the closest they've ever come to creating a track that sounds like music the Vitalogy band could have made if they'd survived the 90's.

I also enjoy that the song represents a feeling that is both easy to relate to and kind of bullshit. On the one hand, there's that moment when you start to see "lies" in the things you just assumed were true because you were told they were true. While "I'm questioning my education" is kind of an inconsequential remark as you get older, it's incredibly freeing and deeply disturbing at the start.

On the other hand, it's really just another of those Pearl Jam songs filled with little "the thing that's wrong with my life is somebody else's fault" schticks. If you'd taught me from the beginning, I wouldn't be so scared. Brought to you by the guy who once used the phrase "I'm still alive" as a statement of victimhood.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised he didn't wrap it up with a statement about running away from your problems always being the best solution....just to stick to his usual theme. Anyway, fun song.

well...

I'm questioning my own equation
Is my own equation relevant somehow?

... kind of explains it

I think you just summed up in 7 words the divide in quality. Where the point is for most of us vary...for me Riot Act is where songs started to sound like
"Hey, we need a rocker"- Get Right, or "Tender Ballad Time!"- Thumbing My Way. The songs I enjoy most off Riot Act (I am Mine, Can't Keep, Cropduster and You Are) don't really seem to have such clear cut definitions. Unfortunately, every album (hell, damn near every song) seems like they're just trying to recreate an existing song, or make something to fill a specific role. Hey Guys, we havent done anything punky in awhile!

the tchad blake breakerfall mix is interesting. There's this spacious, rumbling feel to it that mutes the whole song

First listen, finally. It feels weird taking in the album in this order, but holy shit. This is their them at their best, guys. Sorry if you feel differently, but you're wrong.

Thanks again to ridleybradout and whoever else was involved.

About to give the original track list a listen

Why is gods dice such a boring song? It shouldn't be

I really like insignificance this early in the mix. This is a better placement

Evacuation works better following insignificance. Its a better follow up to a stormy piece like insignificance then the breakerfall/gods dice shrug. Sad sounds really good coming out of evacuation, too. Works better than light years.
Chorus is still awful

I don't like where Grievance is placed. I think it works better rolling out of a quieter song, where it feels more like a wake up/call to arms, then coming out of a stretch of more aggressive and intense songs. It neutered the song a bit. Light Years flows really nicely out of the end of Grievance, however.

Other than Education ending things, this was my least favorite part of the original tracklist. It's too early in the record for that massive a song.

Binaural so desperatley needs it. Breakerfall never really takes off like it should and God's Dice gives you nothing. The start of Binaural has always been something that needed to be endured to get to the better, more worthwhile songs. Hitting you with something big early on does a nice job raising the stakes of the record, and the insignificance-evacuation-Rival run of songs was quite nice. Evacuation in particular seemed elevated sandwiched in between those other two.

THE STAKES