Okay I won't bother going into detail on the history of Pearl Jam since you'll either know, and if you don't there's plenty of information on the net, this album is Pearl Jam's fifth release after the ill received No Code, this album see's Pearl Jam reurn to some of the hard rock aesthetics of their first two releases while still retaining some of more experimental stuff picked up from No Code and Vitalogy.
1. Brain Of J: The album opens with one of the best tracks of their career. Seriously you'd be hard pressed to find a more rousing hard rocker than this song. Vedder's on top form as he wails like a banshee before he goes all quiet then bursts back into life again. Great riff too. 5/5
2. Faithfull: This is a slower number and gives off a really strange atmosphere, took a while for me to get into but its become another fave of mine. The chorus is worth an honourary mention with Eddie singing "We're faithfull, we all believe, we all believe it", the way this is sung truly needs to be heard. 5/5
3. No Way: No Way actually reminds me a lot of later Pearl Jam albums, kind of a signifier to where they were going. To be honest I've tried to like this song, it's got quite a cool riff but it just seems to trundle along forever and is one I skip quite a bit. 2/5
4. Given To Fly: Now this is where the album picks back up, its easily the best ballad since Nothingman on Vitalogy, better even, it's about a guy who learns to fly, then tries to teach humanity but ends up getting stabbed by the first people he meets (a reference to christ perhaps?), the song just builds and never lets up with the beauty. 5/5
5. Wishlist: Another brilliant ballad, just a basic repeated riff with Eddie singing about wishing he was different things, but oh so nice. 4/5
6. Pilate: When this song starts it seems as if its going to be another ballad (no bad thing) but exactly 40 seconds into it it picks up into a pretty cool hard rocker. 3/5
7. Do The Evolution: A lot of peoples fave PJ song, and its easy to see why, probably the absolute heaviest thing they've done and easily one of their greatest. Hard not to scream along to this the whole way through, the video is also class. 5/5
8. Untitled (Red Dot): This is basically just one of those little skits PJ do so often (like Bugs), its actually a lot like the Commando theme but since it's not a proper song I won't rate it.
9. MFC: After the slight strangeness of the previous track the absolutley brilliant opening riff to MFC begins and you know this songs going to be good, and it doesn't dissapoint. All round great song. 5/5
10. Low Light: This is another ballad, great as per usual, its also probably the most heart-felt of the album. 4/5
11. In Hiding: Yet another ballady type song, definitely good but not as good as the previous ballads. 3/5
12. Push Me, Pull Me: The experimental stuff returns with a force here, a really wierd tune, with Vedder just talking the lyrics while the rest of the band chime in at the chorus in a really wierd voice, but since I love their experimental stuff...4/5
13. All Those Yesterdays: The album ends with another experimental song, not as strange as the previous but still quite strange, not that great though. (There's also a hidden track, but its short and not really worth mention) 3/5.
All in all this is an absolute belter of an album, every Pearl Jam fan should own it, and I also reckon that it's this and not Ten that would make for a good starter album. (Just my opinion though).
