You see, Pearl Jam ARE musical! (Yield - Pearl Jam)

Member Name: Going To California

Product:	Yield - Pearl Jam
Date:	21/09/00 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pearl Jam at their creative and musical best, a more accessible album than any before

Disadvantages: The band's grunge background may put some off and so Yield might be sadly ignored

Pearl Jam had always been regarded as the most musically gifted of all of the early 1990s grunge bands and their fifth studio album, Yield, confirmed such suspicions. Whereas previous bands of a similar nature have become famous or influential with nothing but reliance on the distorted power chords of a beaten up and stickered electric guitar, Pearl Jam have always balanced their grunge ethos with a musical maturity that eclipses even the great Nirvana in terms of all round accessibility to the average listener.

This variation has been evident throughout Pearl Jams long career; their first album Ten ( a grunge bible) has the stirring 'Black' on it, Vs (album #2) had the acoustic led 'Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town', Vitalogy (album #3) had the brilliant Nothingman, and No Code (the fourth effort) had a far more toned down feel to it than had any of Pearl Jam's earlier efforts. In Yield the trend continues with the majority of the tracks being of a softer, mellow nature - the result being the bands most widely popular and accessible album to date.

Yield kicks off with the deceptive Brain Of J. Crashing distortion and typical punk riffs the opening song is reminiscent of the early 90s recordings, with vocalist Eddie Vedder at his back-of-the-throat best and 'the mighty' Jack Irons driving the song with a powerful drum beat to the massive guitar sound of Mike McCready and Stone Gossard...whilst Jeff Ament's prominent bass playing stands out as well. Around half way through Brain Of J the song slows dramatically...and this is typical of the album thereafter.

Faithfull combines the best of both sides of Pearl Jam, and Given To Fly (Mike McCready's self-claimed take on the classic Going To California by Led Zeppelin) is another of Pearl Jam's recent classics. Wishlist sees Eddie Vedder at his songwriting best in one of the bands most successful commercial releases of recent years. D
o The Evolution brings the album back to its louder-feel with a sound even more grunge-punkesque than the early recordings...as brilliant as it is to hear the mellow side of Pearl Jam, it is also very enjoyable to hear Eddie screaming on a record again. The standout track, for me, is All Those Yesterdays by guitarist Stone Gossard...the song that closes the album. I am not one who takes too kindly to hypothesising about lyricism in songs, but in this song we hear the words "Don't you think you oughta rest? don't you think you oughta lay your head down?" - which perhaps relates directly to the changing style of the band as has already been mentioned (the title hints at that as well). Take the lyrics as you will, but that is how I perceive that song to be.

I find it hard to put into words all thirteen songs on the album, as Pearl Jam's style is unique so as not to be easily compared to other bands of similar times past and present. I can say though, that whilst Ten and Vs might be more popular critically, and might forever be seen as superior in the eyes of the grunge or rock world, Yield is certainly Pearl Jam's best album to sit back and listen to...and should they ever record an Unplugged album i would expect to find a lot of Yield's music on it.

If you are one of those people who see Pearl Jam as a commercially successful dinosaur from the early 1990s grunge period then I cannot recommend Yield highly enough. Nor can I recommend it highly enough to the already well established fan of Pearl Jam - it is an album all should hear and I cannot praise it enough in simple english. This is surely one of the best albums of recent years, and whilst the more recent Binuaral pushes in a similar direction Yield is still the best all round Pearl Jam album that is yet to be recorded. At the peak of their creative genius, and having ridden the storm that followed them through albums 3 and 4 (Vitalogy and No Code), Pearl
Jam have produced a modern day classic in Yield...and in a few years I would not be suprised if Ten were no longer Pearl Jam's most famous release.

Tracklist: Brain of J, Faithfull, No Way, Given To Fly, Wishlist, Pilate, Do The Evolution, (untitled), MFC, Low Light, In Hiding, Push Me Pull Me, All Those Yesterdays

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