POLL POLL The Lucky Ones: Pearl Jam's "No Code"

my fave PJ record. it is tough to think of a favorite song.

off he goes, maybe?

my favorite album by them. I love Sometimes, in My Tree, Smile, Off He Goes, Present Tense, even Around the Bend.

voted for off he goes - such a simple and beautiful song

Sometimes

Mankind is a great song too, though it would probably have even been better if Vedder had sung it.

"Hail Hail" is a terrific churn, isn't it?

That one or "Present Tense" or "Lukin" or "Off He Goes" (which sounds like he was listening to his beloved Neil Finn).

perhaps my most enthusiastic thread ever: Pearl Jam - No Code

always thought of "Off He Goes" as part of the mid-album trilogy of 'yeah maybe we've been hanging out with Neil Young a little too much lately' w/ "Smile" and "Red Mosquito," what Neil Finn stuff sounds like that?

fuck it, gotta rank the whole album: In My Tree > Lukin > Mankind > Who You Are > Red Mosquito > Present Tense > Smile > Habit > Hail Hail > Sometimes > Off He Goes > Around The Bend > I'm Open

always got this vibe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfjNRz-ZoBM

Red Mosquito because I'm a sucker for that waltz timing. Secondplace is either In My Tree or Lukin, but I dunno if there's a song on the album that I *wouldn't* rep for.

I love the drums on "In My Tree",

my fave PJ record. it is tough to think of a favorite song.

― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Saturday, November 3, 2012 3:00 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

off he goes, maybe?

― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Saturday, November 3, 2012 3:01 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

woah, this is exactly how i feel

the last time i saw them live, the big setlist surprise was "I'm Open," sans lol spoken word verses

Jack Irons was by far my favorite Pearl Jam drummer, bums me out that they only did 2 albums and not a whole lot of touring w/ him

this is a great record.

its between smile and off he goes. went for off he goes.

genuinely shocked at all the love for "Off He Goes," it has grown on my slightly over the years but i've always regarded it as probably their weakest '90s single

In My Tree, drums are tight but I love the chik-chik-chik-chrrrrrrr of the guitars ever more

Yeah Irons drumming on that album in particular was really great, but I feel like Cameron is a better fit overall, really happy with how he slotted in after Irons left.

I remember reading somewhere that Irons was bipolar, and that was part of what caused him to leave? I dunno where I read that though...

yeah i think the official reason was just he was a family man and decided the touring was too much but who knows really? one of the most disappointing things to me about the Pearl Jam Twenty doc was the way they literally sped through the entire sequence of drummers in their first 10 years in under 90 seconds.

Oh man, this is a really tough one. This album will always hold a really special place in my heart. This came out just a couple days before my junior year of college started. I had moved down early to get my new apartment set up, I was there before my roommates and was all alone. There was a midnight release sale that I was planning to go to at a local record shop. About an hour before I left, got a call from my mom that my grandfather had passed away, he had been battling Lou Gehrig's disease. Not exactly a shock, but was tough nonetheless. He had attended the same University I was attending, he was immensely proud that I was his first grandkid to go there. Anyway, I ended up still going to the midnight sale since being cooped up alone in a new apartment wasn't too enticing. So I went and bought this album, then went home and played it while I laid on my bed. "Off He Goes", corny as the lyrics seem in retrospect, hit me like a ton of bricks to the stomach. I'll always, always associated this record, and especially that song, with my grandpa.

Thanks for sharing, jvc - I'm glad I read that.

that's lovely, jon

Good stuff jvc.

Decent album by a band I don't spend much time with. The band sounds amazingly good on the record and the production is rich and clean without sounding "professional," but as is often the case with PJ, the songwriting just doesn't do a whole lot for me. "Mankind" and "Hail Hail" are the clear standouts for me; went with the former cause I just love the very 90s slacker punkiness of it.

Mankind is the one Stone Gossard sings, right? I did like the melody of that one. Smile is such a Neil Young rip it's insane, but goddamn if that chorus doesn't come in so huge. I MISS YOU ALREADDDDDDDDDY

Mankind is the one Stone Gossard sings, right?

is that the one that goes like:

Everythang is Everythang
It's all good
In my drop top Fleetwood
Rollin' through the hood

Went for Sometimes. Lovely little tune, ruined by the hoary alarm-clock bluster of Hail Hail.

But this is a really good weird record.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Smile" grew on me once i realized that it's kind of a nice, sweet song and not the bitterly ironic thing it sounded like to me at first. Pearl Jam are good at that, "Spin The Black Circle" also one of their most purely celebratory songs but sounds like one of their darkest and angriest.

listened to this on the way to work again yesterday, such a solid listen, in spite of its waywardness. 'Around the bend' ends the LP on such a sweet but uncertain note.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Interesting results and good discussion - thanks everyone!

Red Mosquito rules, ur all fired

I somehow knew I'd be the only "Mankind" voter.

don't really understand these results at all

wow, apparently "Off He Goes" is the fan favorite too? idgi

http://www.xtratime.org/forum/showthread.php?t=64709

haha n/m that's not a PJ board but still