release date: May 2, 2006
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,48]
producer: Adam Kasper, Pearl Jam
label: BMG Japan - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "World Wide Suicide" - 5. "Marker in the Sand" - 12. "Come Back"
8th studio album by Pearl Jam org. released as the band's first and only on J Records is the second consecutive album produced with Adam Kasper. The album comes after a long hiatus and four years after its predecessor Riot Act from 2002. It's also known as "The Avocado Album", and it was promoted as the band's return to basics. The title obviously reflects an idea of being able to create something fresh, as a new start, since the band's long contract with Epic Records had come to an end in 2003.
Yes, the album is full of grit and aggressiveness, Pearl Jam classic, or to put it simple: grunge rock by Pearl Jam. But more than a decade after the initial grunge rock releases this seems... obsolete, imho. I never was a great fan but still had to turn to this, because the band always seemed to elude me, and ain't that just the same here?! I... don't get it. I always find it difficult to listen through an entire album by Pearl Jam, 'cause there's too much fuss, too much screaming, howling, shouting, but more so: too many things that don't attract me about the compositions - the progressiveness and the electric guitars that sound like Led Zeppelin-jam sessions.
The album is much like Riot Act - also in terms of not being very good - this is just less art rock-shaped and with more focus on a hard rock edge. Vedder's vocal is best when he's at his most sincere and vulnerable. There are few good spots on this, but it sold more than well and was generally well-received by critics - very much as usual. The album went as high as number #2 on the national albums chart list, and music critics lauded it as a true come-back album.
The band always was a darling of the press. I have tried to listen to it several times and still don't get it, and even find it less than mediocre, which is why I really can't recommend it. Ultimately, I find it on par with their so far least favourable studio album, Yield from 1998.
Best thing about the album is clearly the cover.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Spin 3 / 5 stars ]
