New cd worthy to the famous predecessors? or for that matter worth buying at all? I'm considering buying it tommorow after ultimate frisbee

I've only heard a couple songs from it, but I was definitely not impressed. Boring, boring, boring.

From all the customer reviews on Metacritic, I would guess that if you like PJ, you'll love the new one. I couldn't tell you myself though as I've only heard the single. I know Pitchfork wasn't impressed, but they've never cared for them anyways (too mainstream).

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I'm considering buying it tommorow after ultimate frisbee

You will probably like it.

Actually, I bought it, and I thought it sounded pretty good. I've always had a great deal of admiration for Vedder.

I don't get the high scores for this album. I think it's truly mediocre. I was a huge PJ fan back in their hayday, and I still think their first four albums are very good. But from "Yield" on, I just haven't found any of their music particularly interesting.

Note to pining Gen Xers: There is only one Ten. It, like flannel in the summer, is just a memory. It's gone.

Build a bridge. Get over it. Have closure. Et al.

For the rest of us, here's another fantastic Pearl Jam album -- one the does NOT sounds like the early albums. This collection of songs IS, however, stronger than any album since Vitalogy.

I'm a Pearl Jam fan, not a sycophant. There are songs on almost every album that I don't consider among their best performances. "Pearl Jam" is post-Vitalogy PJ at its best.

I find it hard to believe that almost a single negative review of this album was penned by someone who'd listened to it in its entirety, muchless more than once.

But please, don't take our words at face value. Get it yourself.

I am a fan of Pearl Jam, so my expectations were typically high for the new one, as they were for the previous albums. There are a couple of reasons, I believe, why critics are calling this a return to form.
1. The songs are louder and heavier, with immediate choruses and screaming vocals. That is what people remember from Ten, and that is why there is a comparison (though it is false.)

2. The band are doing a lot of press. Saturday Night Live, Letterman, etc. There is even talk of a new video.

3. The sad state of Rock Radio. Nickelback, Godsmack, Trapt, Puddle of Mudd, etc. People are tired of hearing immitators.

Pearl Jam as an album, is a good album. I love it, but again I am a fan. But looking at it critically, it sounds like a step backward. I mean I love Riot Act (could be my favorite) and I thought the sonics, and the songwriting was excellant.

I would compare the release of Pearl Jam, to that of U2 releasing All That You Can't Leave Behind. U2 spent the 90's expanding their sound, and then almost turned their back on their inventiveness. Pearl Jam reflects that to a lesser degree, simply because Pear Jam is a better record.

I would, to answer your question, highly reccomend this record to anyone.

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Originally posted by Potsos:
For the rest of us, here's another fantastic Pearl Jam album -- one the does NOT sounds like the early albums. This collection of songs IS, however, stronger than any album since Vitalogy.

Well, I was born in the 70s, but I happen to agree with you. A lot of great alternative acts from my high school years are anything but great now, and it's nice to know Pearl Jam still has a little left in the tank.

This is their best album since Vitalogy.
Maybe there aren't standouts.
Maybe no song will grab you like "Daughter" or "Betterman" or Pearl Jam's other pop ventures.
But this is straightforward grunge, done very well, grunge byh one of the best grunge bands if not the best

I'm not really impressed with the new album. I was hoping for something a bit more original and inspired than what this album offers. I feel pretty 'blah' about the whole thing. It's best to just go see them live, they rock!

VS. and Riot Act were the best albums released by the band since Ten,imo. Riot Act is the real standout in my mind, as far as post-Ten albums go. Personally, I favor listening to their greatest hits and live cd's to get a mix of all their best tunes from all the albums.

I really enjoy the new Pearl Jam album. Among my favorite tracks are "Unemployable", "Big Wave", "Army Reserve", "Come Back", "Inside Job" and "World Wide Suicide". I'm liking the songs more with repeated listens. Great stuff.

This album is certainly...a respectable effort.

I like the new album. I don't love it. It's good Pearl Jam but not their best. Worth buying though.

I agree it's worth buying the album. I enjoyed most of the songs.

Its good, nothing special though. A few bad bits, fourtunately more outwighed with good bits. But after listening the whole way through, no stand out songs, the albumbs a flow of songs that you dont really notice, slightly boring...

I wouldnt say back to form either, id say they've gone back to the sounds of the early 90s, but the songs they write arnt as good as old, that would be back to form, writing more classics.

Im rocking it and loving it. Anyone? 2 cents? (and no change)

I think that Pearl Jam is a really good, consistant album with almost no filler (Wasted Reprise and Big Wave seem like filler to me). This album showcases a confidence that has been steadily building since No Code. Someone above had it right - Grunge is over, Ten is way back in the past. I think that it does this music a disservice to compare to an album recorded in a different time under very different circumstances. What the new PJ does show is that Pearl Jam is a band that pays attention to their strengths and is not afraid to directly reference current events. I've read/heard all the pretentious complaints about Pearl Jam being sell-outs or corporate ever since the Alive video hit MTV - a complaint generally registered by self-important elitists about (a) any band that people actually listen to, or (b) any band that writes music that is acessible in any way. I'm also slightly bemused by the right wing vitriol spewed the band's way over their political views (some complain that Pearl Jam actually - GASP - has political views). At least this album SAYS something with some substance. And PJ has always hit me in a personal way, but this album does so in a way that I haven't felt since Vs. Coincidentally, I thought my father was going to lose his job of 20+ years when this one came out - a new level of resonance with Unemployable. ("If he can't sleep how will he ever dream?" - just terrific and heartbreaking). Bottom Line: a fine cd that ranks up there with their best. And it keeps getting better with repeated listens. Definitely worth the money and time.

I love the new album. Pearl Jam has been fairly consistant. I mean a couple worse than other but I can out any album of their sin and enojy it. In 15 -20 years pepole will be mentioning PJ in the same breath as some of the greatest bands in rock n' roll history. THey are only getting better with time too.

Long live Eddie Vedder...

Still though, nothing will beat Ten.