Published on Nov 14, 2005
Yield comes as a follow up to Pearl Jam’s shockingly
experimental
No Code, and is a radically different record from its
predecessor.
No Code was a record of various random ideas poured in an
album, without any care as to what the outcome would be like.
Yield, on the other hand, has a structure and a focused
sound, which is maintained throughout consistently.
Yield finds Pearl Jam in a tranquil mood; the band is least
angry on this record. The album has the benign sound of
late-eighties REM or The Tragically Hip. As a matter of fact, on a
couple of tracks — “Faithful” and “MFC” — Vedder’s mellowed-down
folky avatar has a distinct resemblance to The Tragically Hip’s
Gordon Downie.
In the records leading up to
Yield —
No Code and
Vitalogy — there were definite signs of the group’s gradual
departure from the grunge sound that defined the early period of
its career. With Yield, Pearl Jam, takes a complete exodus from the
aggression that seemed so natural to it, and converts it into more
poignant feelings, with the cuts here more simplistic and
touching.
“Wishlist” is probably the simplest track Vedder has ever
written, and it is only befitting that it should find its way into
Yield, of all the other records in the Pearl Jam catalog. It
is a track of seemingly random but pensive wishes sung by a very
different Vedder, a more helpless Vedder, whose intense anger is
all but locked up in a safe whose keys have been intentionally
lost.
Even on the aggressive pieces on the record, the group’s anger
seems to be more defensive than aggressive. Perhaps the only tune
on the album that has the rage and bitterness of a much younger
Pearl Jam is “Do The Evolution.” However, the frustration and
sarcasm of this “love peace, not war” number comes across more as a
result of helplessness and despair than a feeling of uncontrollable
rage.
In a way, it is somewhat disheartening to see a band like Pearl
Jam going mellow with its sound. However, on the other hand, it is
extremely impressive to see this legend of grunge produce such an
excellent folk-rock record. Pearl Jam is still as talented as it
ever was; only the style of music has changed.