Published on May 18, 2000
That vice of fame, that restrictive grip of fan and commercial
expectation is off of Pearl Jam, for now. Far too many people are
going to monitor whether Ms. Spears lastest album will catch up to
N*Sync this week.
As a band, Pearl Jam have become more and more expansive in
their sound since
Vitalogy. Their reliance on experimentism paid off in spades
with
Yield, perhaps their second-best album in their catalog.
Drummer Jack Irons opened up Pearl Jam’s sound and gave free reign
for guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready and bassist Jeff
Ament to fill up the gaps with some of their finest moments. Now,
armed with ex-Soundgarden drummer, Matt Cameron, Pearl Jam could
not be in better hands in the rhythm department.
But, as
Yield was a wide-eyed, expressive and open account of
Vedder’s want to communicate again with the outside world,
Binaural signals more of a traditional, and sometimes safer
path. With tracks like “Nothing As It Seems,” “Grievance” and
“Breakerfall,” Pearl Jam seem to be more concered with just rocking
out than developing any major song structures.
It shouldn’t startle that
Binaural is somewhat of a letdown. Don’t get me wrong, it is
worth the purchase, and I’m sure it will grow with repeated
listens. But on
Binaural, Pearl Jam didn’t have as much conflict as they are
typically accustomed to. Their best material has come out of
conflict. The anger of being pegged as “Seattle/grunge/angst
spokespersons” came bleeding out in
Vs. They lashed out at the commercial failure of
No Code with the glorious and humane
Yield.
With
Yield‘s success, sort of, the pressure was off on Pearl Jam.
It also didn’t hurt that they had their biggest hit in their career
last year when they covered “Last Kiss.” As a result, the members
were fairly free to noodle about and experiment with their own
sounds. As a band, this helps in the long run. Each member had
either a songwriting or music credit for each of the songs on
Binaural.
However, for every time this works, there’s bound to be some
ruts in the road. And
Binaural has some of those moments. “Rival” just seems to
collapse in on itself and lose steam. “Insignificance,” though a
pretty song unto itself, just doesn’t have that gorgous sweep of
“Wishlist” or “Betterman.” Pearl Jam fans are not looking for
sequels to these songs, but most expect that passion to be there in
each of Pearl Jam’s songs.
Still, lots of things work on
Binaural. “Thin Air” has to be one of the most beautiful
songs the band has ever recorded. And the fitting coda, “Parting
Ways,” shines with Vedder’s unmistakable aura. The lyrics are
fairly simplistic: “Behind her eyes there’s curtains/And they’ve
been closed to hide the flames.” And most of the album is fairly
simplistic, lyric wise. On “Light Years,” Vedder moans, “Every inch
between us becomes light years now.” But, Vedder is gifted enough
of a songwriter to make these words seem profound. And like a
typical Pearl Jam album, fast forward a little from the final track
and you’ll get a treasured oddity.
Like an ace sports team in a rebuilding year,
Binaural seems to come from a band that’s content with
hanging in the background while the bubblegum scene seems to devour
each other. It seems though that the band didn’t put the throttle
down and waited a bit for Matt Cameron to ease his way into the
band. He’ll be a welcome addition. And the highlights of
Binaural show that another classic album from their catalog
may be an album away. Until then,
Binaural is enough to tide fans over. It’s Pearl Jam. But
too often, that unbridled spark of energy seems a bit dulled.