Light Years: This is gonna come up a lot--where I get what they were going for, and feel that they were successful, and don't enjoy the final product. I'm not a fan of the discordant, wobbly guitars, even thought I know they're mirroring the confusion and uncertainty in the lyrics. part of it is not just the effect. I just don't really like the part that they're playing. It's not particularly beautiful, nor is it puzzling enough to truly reflect the state of mind of the singer. The overall effect just drags the song down.

Don't like the stilted vocal melody in the chorus.

I do like the chorus lyrics, especially the last pairing

Not an especially big fan of Eddie's overall performance on this one. he's selling each line, but there still feels like there's not something there to buy.

The guitars in the bridge are good. So is the outro. The spacey way so many of these songs drift off is well done.

This could be a case of pearl jam not writing the song I wanted them to write, which is on me, but even with that I feel like I get what they wanted to do and don't think they executed it particularly well.

I think this song gets something of a pass due to the subject matter. Kind of like movies about the holocaust.

I think they do it much better on those first 3 albums than Pearl Jam does here. Again with the caveat that some of this resistance may be because I just don't particularly WANT pearl jam to sound this way. But I also think that the intensity is lacking, and that's the bridge that spans the distance.

REM's firs few records do sound immensely better than Binaural does. REM really knew how to use that technique. The backing vocals on Reckoning are so loud but still feel 30 feet behind you. They fucking nailed it.

I don't see this at all.

I love the gutiar tones . They are restrained and just boiling under the surface. The band isn't hid behind a wall of noise. The guitars aren't ranked up. There are subtilites that can be picked up in the playing. The songs speak for themselves. The songs are itnense and create a certain feeling that isn't forced by just loud guitars.

I love this album so much.

For me, there's a bigger comparison in terms of feel, or the emotion those records generate, rather than a similarity in sound. They sound different, but evoke similar feelings to me.

Nothing As It Seems: This is the first song in Binaural I really like. It's vast in a way that no other pearl jam song really is, and manages to convey all the stuff that Chud was just describing without being so distant as to undermine its own emotional energy.

Everything Mike does on this song is fantastic, so is jeff's groaning bass, and stone's weary guitar. The contrast between Eddie's one note performance and Mike's evocative guitar is fantastic--the way in which it expresses everything the singer feels, but has lost the power say. It makes the song tragic.

Not a huge fan of all the lyrics (when a song is really trying to sound DEEP, like this one is, weaker lyrics stand out more) but there is some nice stuff here.

The dun dun dun dun part right after the bridge and before the dissipating guitar leading into the final chorus is really cool.

It's amazing how great guitar wankery sounds against an evocative backdrop.

that rattling at the end of the song is neat

I knew what you meant, even if that wasn't clear in my post, and I agree.

Thin Air: This can be filed under off he goes--a song where I really love the music but don't like the song. I like the barroom piano notes in the main acoustic guitar. I don't like these lyrics (see NAIS--when you're trying to be clever you need to be clever or you fall on your face), and don't particularly think Eddie sounds like he cares all that much about this person. He does at the end during the final few lyrics, but at that point the song is over.

Don't like the little ditty between the first chorus and the second verse.

Don't like the bridge either.

I guess it's just the main guitar line that I'm a big fan of.


We're six songs into Binaural and there' really just one I really like.

Insignificance: This is a monster song. One of the most atmospheric things they've ever done, where the music just perfectly parallels the story--the way the music mimics the bombs and the wall of noise obliterates the singer so desperately trying to be heard. There's a tiredness to many of the vocals that reflect exhaustion, but haven't given up. Nice urgent build in the chorus that you experience without it directly drawing attention to itself.

The set piece songs on this album often deliver. It's just the stuff that surrounds it that falls flat. these songs feel like beginnings when they are supposed to be culminations.

"I was alone and far away when I heard the band start playing" is a great lyric. And the writing here is as ambitious as elsewhere on Binaural, and generally much more effective. The words that are meant to be grave or mysterious actually are. The lines that are supposed to be clever are.


Good bridge with lots of muted fireworks, ominous vocals, and a wonderful transition into the final chorus.


This is not one of my favorite songs, but it is a great song. I usually don't feel like listening to it, but every time I do I am reminded how good it is.

Hey stip, let me know if you ever want to take control of your twitter account.

https://twitter.com/stipfromrm

Of the Girl: you can just look at Platy's sig for my feelings about this song. The music is cool--the muted galloping in the drums, the wind chime guitars and the dull knife cutting through them. Eddie sounds good. But I feel like this song just lingers forever in the same space, and I really want it to go somewhere, or tell a better story. Actually I suppose that's really what the issue is for me. If the music is going to stay trapped in this moment (which is the point) I want the words to do a better job exploring it.

I actually don't like the chorus. The guitar wash is kinda grating against how smooth the rest of the song is. I think if I liked it more it would really redeem the song.

The guitar coming out of the first chorus is really cool.


I feel like you can hear everything much more clearly after the first three songs. This song FEELS good. It's one of the more tactile songs in the catalog.

I wish the end was a bit more interesting.

are those all things I actually said, or are some of them things that sound like things I would have said?

Some of the first few tweets are summations of things you were posting on the board at the time, the rest is all made up.

Grievance: I wish the intro drum roll didn't sound so hollow and echoey. I like the sarcasm in the music in the first verse--really running through the whole song. For such an angry song there is a wry sense of humor about the whole thing. Like a bomb is about to go off, but you know it's full of red paint instead of explosives.

Still, I kinda wish the whole thing was tighter--more compact. Like Satan's Bed, I think this may be a song whose studio version will always be fighting with the connection I made to the first live version.

Nevertheless, this is a great song. Probably my favorite on here. Not sure if I think Insignificance is better.

Rival: Such a hostile song, in a good way. There's something of a sense of humor in this one too, but it's darker. If Grievance is gallows humor, this is someone laughing right before they pull the trigger. The piano is a nice touch, and the backing vocals are really well done.

Such a great bridge, too. Like you're in a ship bobbing along in a sea full of razors, wondering if you should let your hand trail in the water.

How's our father supposed to be told is one of their best closing lyrics.

I like that they went back into the bridge for the fade.


man, there are some moments on this record they just get soooo right. It makes the misfires all the more disappointing.

Sleight of Hand: Probably their most alienated song. I have never enjoyed listening to this song, and I've never even been that moved by it. I don't think Eddie really captures people who give up. Even though I know this record was coming from a dark and frustrating place this song feels like affect to me. Very well crafted, especially with the way it captures space and distance and drifting while standing still, but calculated and ultimately even a little inauthentic. I can't really explain why. I do understand why it would be so powerful if you believe it. I just don't.

The music does get tiresome to me. That's not helping.

The guitar noodling before the final verse is pretty cool, though.

Soon Forget: While I like the idea of throwing a ukelele song on the album, some of these lyrics are some of the only ones in the catalog I actually would call cringe worthy (which is not the same thing as bad). there's something snotty and immature and a little trite about this song that doesn't really fit the record.

I also don't think we need a breather before parting ways. If you're building something intense don't let the air out right before the end.

Parting Ways: the music here is really wonderful--the way you can touch its fuzzy sadness and its cold warmth--like a blanket of regret. Possibly Eddie's best vocal melody on an album that doesn't have that many great ones, and the vocals are nicely understated. Like NAIS, he does a really nice job stepping out of the way and let the music do the talking, but unlike Of the Girl, I feel like the words we do have flesh out exactly what's going on, even if we experience it through the music.

Stip, you're too much.