Pearl Jam

Binaural

Good, if a bit too even

Review Score:

(8/10)
I've seen a couple of reviews here that tackle the task of commenting on albums by breaking it down track by track. So here's my attempt to do the same with Binaural.

1) Breakerfall - one of the weaker tracks on the, in that, as another reviewer put it, it's your "riff-heavy standard opening song." A decent rocker, to be sure, but it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Brings to mind "Brain of J," the opener to Yield, while, for instance, No Code's "Sometimes" ignored PJ's own standard that the album opener must be a hard-driving rocker.
2) God's Dice - Initially, this track did nothing for me, but has since grown on me considerably. Not a great song, but a speedy, thought-provoking number, just the same.
3) Evacuation - My favorite on the album; seems to give the the album considerable punch. I love the Dave Grohl-like vocal intensity Ed Vedder imparts to the refrain, something you mighn't think he could duplicate onstage, but, amazingly, he's capable of coming really close.
4) Light Years - The track that first made me sit up and really start listening to the album. If Pearl Jam really wanted a hit from this album, this would've been it.
5) Nothing As It Seems - The first single, I believe, or at least the first song played off the album on radio. Not a track that immediately grabs you, but one that, like many of PJ's post Ten/Vs/Vitalogy songs, require time for appreciation. An intense, brooding, haunting anti-ballad (for lack of a better term).
6) Thin Air - Here's where my "bit too even" summary remark comes into play. For the next six songs, starting with this song, Ed and Stone Gossard alternate songs, which struck me as a little weird somehow. It points to a deliberate attempt to space everyone's songs out evenly on the album. In fact, I don't think two of any songwriter's songs are placed next to each other. This is kind of where my problem with the album is; it's not just that Ed and Stone alternate songs, it's that they also alternate mood. Except for Gossard's "Rival," EV's songs are the power numbers and SG's are the lush ballads. This kind of makes the album too even, perhaps that's why it's perhaps perceived as being a little flat. Anyway, enough kooky rambling, on to the song. Like I mentioned earlier, a lush ballad that invokes No Code's "Around the Bend.
7) Insignificance - A haunting rocker lamenting hopelessness and helplessness in the face of destructive powers.
8) Of the Girl - An even lusher, sexier ballad than Track 6. There's a very palpable Eastern influence present.
9) Grievance - Back the "evenness" comment, Vedder's two songs with similar suffixes. But that's about all I can find bad to say about it (and the album in general); this song simply rocks.
10) Rival - At last the pattern is broken, and the album finally turns up the volume on a song by Stone Gossard. It's not a fast number, but it is a loud and crunching and absolutely amazing one. The way the song opens, a dog growling, kind of tips you off that you're in for a rocking good time.
11) Sleight Of Hand - Here, PJ finally remembers that Jeff Ament is a pretty good song writer too and he contributes to the (the music halfsongwriting on this track ), which is yet another ballad. But it's a good one, and a hugely atmospheric one at that, so why complain.
12) Soon Forget - Nice little ditty playe on a ukelele. Perhaps it's a throwaway track, but it doesn't detract from the album. And after all the atmospherics of the previous track, it's a nice change of pace.
13) Parting Ways - Wouldn't you know it, yet ANOTHER ballad. This one seemed to take an age for me to really appreciate, but it was worth the wait. A great end to an, overall, very good album.

More Reviews: