Good album from a great band | Binaural

Fantastic | Binaural | Pearl Jam

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	• Binaural Pearl Jam Sony, 2000 average customer review:based on 481 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Binaural

Its not there best work but worth buying if you get it for less then 10

Good album from a great band

This isn't Pearl Jam's best, but I still love this record. They have produced perhaps their best mix of power and atmosphere since Vitalogy, and this work really accentuates what the band is so good at: taking a simple dynamic (picture the riff of Tremor Christ, or the accented beat of gods' dice, found here) and weaving a subtle and complex platform around it. It's like riding a wave, taking that visible part of the song and letting it take you somewhere, while the rest of the band is the force below, just driving the wave along.

Not every song here is fantasic... I found Evacuation somewhat forgettable, but there are plenty of gems(gods' dice, of the girl, rival, grievance and more.) Beautiful rock music, nothing more or less. This album, and Pearl Jam in general, is the sound of driving down the highway with the stereo cranked. It's the soundtrack to personal freedom.

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Fantastic

So much better than you remember. I guess Binaural got lost among all the electronica albums that were ruling the airwaves at the time. Maybe it just got lost in that sea of other great records. I liked this album when it was out but I don't remember it being THIS good.

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Pearl Jam's most difficult and challenging album

After getting back to a more traditional rocking sound on `Yield', `Binaural' once again finds Pearl Jam experimenting. The result is quite a dark and challenging album, which can be a difficult listen at times. The album is lyrically more downbeat and also has a much thicker production than their other experimental works like `Vitalogy' and 'No Code'. This makes 'Binaural' their least immediately accessible album.

You wouldn't know it from the first two songs, though. `Binaural' opens with the fantastic one-two punch of `Breakerfall' and `God's Dice'; short, sharp rockers which make it seem like the album will be a throwback to the early 90's. From here, though, the album becomes increasingly darker and more experimental. `Evacuation' is another strong rocker, `Light Years' a great ballad, and the fantastic `Thin Air' is one of their most under-rated songs. But most of the other cuts find the band trying new arrangements and recording approaches, in particular the titular "Binaural" technique. It's fair to say that the results are mixed; the only song to truly benefit from the Binaural recording is the warm, encompassing `Of The Girl'. Other songs such as `Rival', `Parting Ways' and the unlikely single `Nothing As It Seems' feel very claustrophobic, requiring a dedicated listen to penetrate their thick murky shells. And `Soon Forget' is another `Bugs'-like diversion, with the accordion substituted for a ukulele.

Like `Vitalogy', the album is quite strongly front-loaded; the more upbeat and accessible tracks are mostly in the first half, with the biggest departures later on. And like `Vitalogy', it may have been better to mix the accessible and experimental tracks up a bit more, since the second half of `Binaural' is a very challenging listen. Personally, I think it's a bit too inconsistent to rank with Pearl Jam's very best, and some of the second-half experiments don't quite reward the effort you need to put into them. But about half the songs are classics, and they make the album worth it. If nothing else, it's good to see a band like Pearl Jam continue to broaden their sound, even if it doesn't always come off.

3.5 stars.

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Best Band in the verse

Great Album! Just needed to pick up a few cd's I didn't have. Amazon with Prime and great iPhone app made it a breeze to spend my money.

Pearl Jam lowered its profile after becoming a worldwide musical phenomenon in the early '90s, pulling back from the touring, radio, and press fronts. And this diverse 13-song outing, lacking another "Alive" or "Better Man," isn't the album to thrust Pearl Jam back into the limelight. Binaural kicks out the jams with a grandiosity worthy of the Who, as Pearl Jam roars through the loose, raucous two-minute-plus opener "Breakerfall" and into another brief rave-up, "God's Dice." Quickly, though, the loud MC5-style guitar outpourings that begin PJ's seventh album (and first to feature former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron) morph into the edgy, taut "Evacuation" and the midtempo "Light Years." The spare, mournful "Nothing as It Seems" (with lyrics and music by bassist Jeff Ament), "Thin Air," and the lilting "Parting Ways" all reflect romantic introspection. Eddie Vedder's poignant ukulele-accompanied "Soon Forget" is an affecting aside, and the rollicking "Insignificance" and Middle Eastern-tinged "Of the Girl" are all noteworthy. That's a strong lineup, but Binaural nevertheless falls short of the heights this talented group scaled in the past. --Katherine Turman

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