2002's Riot Act
Before I even begin this ranking, allow me to state for the record that I consider all eight of Pearl Jam's albums absolute classics. Each album is the pinnacle of music in the year it hit the stores and our doors. In terms of my personal life, I can attach at least half of the albums to significant, life-changing events. Ever since I dove head first into Pearl Jam, this music has been as much a part of my life as the people with whom I spent my time, the car I drove, the school I attended, the job at which I worked, etc. As I have changed in my life, Pearl Jam has reflected my evolution (baby), changing right along with me. The studio albums are the cornerstones of that evolution.
I thought about not ranking them at all due to the difficulty of the task, and instead listing them in alphabetical order and merely writing my thoughts about each of them. But I went ahead and stuck to my original plan, for fun if for no other reason. Some of you offered humbling praise for my tenacity in ranking the songs, but seem to have no problem yourselves ranking the albums. I consider this a much more daunting task, one with which I have wrestled repeatedly, struggling to find the spot that is just right for each L.P. I have settled on my list, and begin today with much resignation for the wonderful bottom half of the rankings.
8. Riot Act, 2002 - Pearl Jam's darkest album emerged in the Autumn of 2002 as the strongest musical statement produced since George W. Bush took office nearly two years prior, and certainly the boldest protest against Bush since the events of September 11, 2001. The other troubling theme that formed the album's foundation was death, specifically due to the tragedy at the 2000 Roskilde Festival in Denmark, in which nine audience members were trampled to death during Pearl Jam's performance. Due to the heavy subjects at hand, the music resounds in a similarly heavy fashion, nearly every song carrying ponderous emotional and spiritual weight, both musically and lyrically. Even the album's artwork is dark, nearly every single page largely carrying the color black. The result is a downtrodden, mournful and anti-pop recording, a document of the time and clairvoyant vision of the political future.
The music on Riot Act has been described as having "folk, art rock and experimental" (wikipedia, allmusic.com) influences, but the music Pearl Jam has always and forever based its sound around is the broad realm of Classic Rock, i.e. nearly every rock derivative under the sun. Riot Act features no more folk, art rock, or experimental flourishes than Vitalogy, and carries just as much of the less discussed punk and hard rock influences as any other Pearl Jam album. While the forms utilized on this album cannot aptly be described as fitting within the "progressive rock" realm, the songwriting is always a personal progression for PJ with each album.
There is a variety of music on Riot Act, but each of the 15 songs is underscored by a somber, pained tone. It seems as though whenever the music brightened up, Eddie Vedder felt the need to bring it back down with black lyrics or highly restrained singing and whenever the lyrics and singing climbed to anything resembling an uplifting or hopeful state, the band automatically brought the musical themes crashing back down to a murky, dank hole.
While the Bush administration takes the lead role in tracks such as "Green Disease," "1/2 Full" and obviously "Bushleaguer," the centerpiece of the album is the sense of loss, resignation, and the rare, cautious hope found in "Thumbing My Way," "I Am Mine," "Can't Keep," "All Or None" and "Love Boat Captain." These songs, in my opinion, form the backbone of the album due to their lyrics being more direct and potent than any of the rest of the album’s tracks, as well as their compositions carrying the greatest weight. They deliver the classic Pearl Jam sound while somehow simultaneously lifting the band to new places and introducing new angles into our vision of what PJ truly is. “Can’t Keep” opens the album as a release of lost souls ("I don't live forever, you can't keep me here"), while "Thumbing My Way" ("I turned my back, now there's no turning back") and "All Or None" ("I'm starting to believe that this hopeless situation is what I'm trying to achieve") feature a lonely, lost traveler bearing the weight of the heart-broken world. “I Am Mine" and “Love Boat Captain” are the most optimistic songs on the album, directly addressing the Roskilde tragedy through a brighter lens, the former a declaration from Eddie to himself, his band and the fan base that, "there's no need to hide...we're safe tonight," the latter a sincere devotion to the power of the human spirit over the horrible disease of death: "Once you hold the hand of love, it's all surmountable." (Side note: "Love Boat Captain" is even more special for a couple of reasons - A) The introduction of Boom Gaspar, and B) the obvious, beautiful influence of John Lennon)
"You Are," one of Pearl Jam's most unique songs, is a Matt Cameron composition featuring lyrics by Cameron and Vedder and trippy processed guitars envisioned and played by Cameron. The lyrics, like "Love Boat Captain," tackle the concept of love and its healing and empowering abilities in lines such as, "Love is a tower of strength to me." Another Cameron song, "Cropduster," mirrors the effective choppy chord progression and drum loops of a Cameron Lost Dog, "In the Moonlight," but improves the style due to a more fully developed sound and song and Vedder's insightful lyrics regarding the arrogance of mankind in the 21st century. "Save You" is a full group collaboration that rocks the house every time. While the band plays a sped up version live, the studio outing is powerful in its own right. Vedder's lyrics tackle the subject of watching a loved one disintegrate, likely due to the use of drugs. There is nothing quite like the indignantly angry Eddie Vedder, determined to set right some things in the world that have just gone off the correct path.
Most of the rest of the album is scattershot and features some of Pearl Jam's weakest recordings to date, specifically in the form of "Ghost," "Get Right," and "Help Help." Let us just say that as a composer, Riot Act was not bassist Jeff Ament's finest moment. These three songs are not bad, per se; they just fail to live up to the rest of the brilliance of the rest of the album's tracks. The true realization of Pearl Jam's genius arrives when considering that these three songs still feature moments of awe, i.e. the chorus of "Ghost," the outro and guitar work in "Get Right" and the middle eight and outro of "Help Help." However, while b-sides "Down" and "Undone" certainly would not have fit the tone of the album with their shimmering, up-tempo pop/rock qualities, they easily stand as superior songs to the bottom rung of the L.P.
The only track left to mention is "Arc," Eddie Vedder's wordless, moaning chant. It features nine "arcs" for each of the nine victims of the Roskilde tragedy. A beautiful tribute from Vedder, the track often goes overlooked and under appreciated, even by the most devoted of Pearl Jam fans. Due to its significance, meaning and Vedder's incredible, layered vocals, it stands as a masterful achievement in Pearl Jam's career.
While Riot Act is dead last in my Pearl Jam album rankings, it still has a special spot of its own in my heart. After all, it was Riot Act that carried me through college, teaching me how ballsy this group is and demonstrating the band's depth. Vedder's lyrics proved to be unfortunately accurate in predicting the future, as most of them pre-dated the U.S.'s invasion of Iraq by at least a half a year, some of them longer. The Riot Act tour was when I got to see my first PJ show, and still ranks as one of my all-time favorite years of the band, both personally and professionally. By year's end, I had bought a huge stack of the tour's bootlegs, including the daring and lengthy State College, Mansfield and Madison Square Garden shows. While the band's instruments and Mr. Vedder's voice may have sounded tired and distressed on Riot Act, everyone was wide awake to play the songs live, instilling every track with new life and an inviting, vital force.
Riot Act YouTube playlist: www.youtube.com/view_play_list
For all things Pearl Jam, visit my home page here: www.examiner.com/x-3940-Indianapolis-Pop-Culture-Examiner
Questions, comments, complaints, ideas? E-mail me any time at cpeelle83@yahoo.com
Comments
As always, a great review to an album that is tough to live up to classics like TEN, VS, VITALOGY, NO CODE, and YIELD.
It was very tough to see Riot Act on last...because its my favorite album by them...I think Eddie Vedder's vocals shines on this album...he is so smooth and polished on his vocals...and way more passionate than any other album. Music, man! can you get any better variety of songs..."You Are" is the greatest song ever. Cant Keep is a great song. "Save You" is one of the greatest PJ songs ever without doubt! ...oh,and how can we forget 1/2 full....thats Pearl Jam at its best for sure..Lyrically, I dont even have to speak about I am mine, Love boat Captain,All or None, You Are, Bushleaguer..RIOT ACT is the strongest PJ album in my opinion....Yield should have been the last...that album never seemed too great for me.
I'm not sure what it is about Help Help, but I really like this song.
Nice review today. I had always thought Binaural was darker musically, but Riot Act certainly takes the cake lyrically.
Songs like "All or None," "1/2 Full" and "You Are" always move me (I can't listen to "1/2 Full" without thinking about Eddie shining that mirror into the crowd during 2003 shows!), and "Save You" might be one of their finest rockers ever. I've always been very fond of Cameron's tracks, and "Cropduster" is probably his best. I wish they'd play that one more live. The punky "Green Disease" and "Get Right" are solid tracks.
"I Am Mine" has personal significance because Eddie wrote it the night before their 2000 Virginia Beach show (my first PJ show!) in response to the Roskilde incident. Great pickup on that.
I can see why this one is ranked last due to inconsistency. "Help Help" sucks. "Ghost" is forgettable. I'm not a Beatles fan, so I've always found "Love Boat Captain" a bit hokey. This CD is exhibit A for why they should only have 11-track CDs like Backspa
I'm really surprised Binaural was not last to be honest.
Love Boat Captain....what a beautiful song!
Do we (even) need countdown for album category? I'm ready to place a bet for "what's on top 3" odd...
Yes! We need a countdown! I agree - LOVE every album. Riot Act is my 'least favorite' as well. After that....it gets hairy. I expect some real soul searching went on for the next seven. [Prediction for Mr Charles: Riot Act, Pearl Jam, Binaural, Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, Ten, Vs]. Not my order..but a guess.
Love the countdown! Keep 'em coming. Lets count down best lyric lines next!
I agree 100% with your Chris. Riot Act is my least favorite album...
It has moments of greatness, and moments of "what am I listening to".
I Know you will put either Binaural or Pearl Jam Next.. but man the next 5 are tough for the average Pearl jam fan to place... Btw Binaural is my second Favorite album behind Vs. Thin Air and Light Years are the songs that made me discover Pearl Jam. Glorified G and Leash are the songs that Made me a diehard fan.. my guess is that 7. Pearl Jam 6. Binaural 5. Yield 4. No Code 3. Vitalogy 2. Ten 1. Vs. lets see how close or far away I am.
I actually think 'Riot Act' is my favourite Pearl Jam album in terms of production - I think the production adds alot of warmth to the album, reminds me of a logfire on an damp Auturn night.
8.Riot Act
7.PJ
6.Vitalogy
5.Ten
4.No Code
3.Bianural
2.Vs.
1.Yield
Yield, specifically b/c of the brilliant drumming from J. Irons, is the strongest album from top to bottom.
Great review, BTW. Keep up the good work!
I'd definitely have Riot Act as top 3 on my list of favorites. I'm a huge fan of Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, and Yield. But for production and the ability to just listen for hours on end, I find myself drawn to Riot Act and it's depth more and more every year.
Hey, as always, love your work... the only downer is that you omitted Mirrorball from the pre-countdown with Lost Dogs. I suppose we can't have everything!
Well, you're brave! I half thought you'd just go for straight reviews and not rank them, well done! It's a great review, and I know it must have been a struggle to rank them but hey something's gotta come last, right? At this exact moment (but it could change in an hour or so!) mine would be:
8 - Vs (sorry!)
7 - Binaural
6 - Riot Act
5 - Pearl Jam
4 - Ten
3 - Vitalogy
2 - No Code
1 - Yield
The top three never change and neither do the bottom two. 4, 5 and 6 are interchangeable depending on my mood - can they all be joint 4th?!?
I didn't have any problems with the places you ranked your songs because everyone is going to place them differently but placing "Riot Act" last! Come on man, "Riot Act" is obviously leaps and bounds way ahead of anything else the band has done. I would not be writing anything to you over the past month or so if it wasn't for "Riot Act" and I probably not be a Pearl Jam fan either. I also agree with what Dipesh wrote and would like to add this question to anyone who does not think "Riot Act" is the greatest album of Pearl Jam's catalog. Isn't rock 'n' roll supposed to be about stickin' it to the man? I mean Pearl Jam really found the heart of rock 'n' roll when recording "Riot Act" and I think "Riot Act" is without a doubt the best album from any act in the 21st century.
I like all albuns, but Riot Act and Binaural are not that good... In my opinion it had to be:
8- Riot Act
7- Binaural
6- No Code
5- Vitalogy
4- Vs.
3- Yield
2- Pearl Jam(Avocado)
1- Ten.
There is not a doubt about Ten, call me a bad fan, but Ten is Supreme.
Oh, and if No Code is not next, I'll chew my own knee off. For much the same reason as Riot Act was last, in that the worst songs on it are just not PJ quality. Binaural is a far better album and so it Avocado. Binaural is, in fact, a masterpiece.
Ok, Thumbing My Way is a gorgeous song. I love All or None, especially Mike's solos live. They're just as emotional as the lyrics. 1/2 Full as progressively grown on me. Beyond that I can take or leave many of the tracks and flat out leave some of them. I'm really not a fan at all of Cropduster. Although the ending of Help Help is good I agree with Charles and most people that the combination of Help Help, Get Right, and Ghost don't help Riot Act's cause. Given the right mood I can be into any of these songs (as is the power of Pearl Jam) and even into listening to Riot Act from beginning to end, but over all a lot of the song writting doesn't live up to Pearl Jame's best. Now for over the top ranking, songs on Riot Act!:
1. All or None
2. Thumbing My Way
3. 1/2 Full
4. I Am Mine
5. Can't Keep
6. Bushleauger
7. Save You
8. You Are
9. Help Help
10. Green Disease
11. Love Boat Captain
12. Get Right
13. Arc
14. Ghost
15. Cropduster
"Each album is the pinnacle of music in the year it hit the stores and our doors."
Pearl Jam is also my favorite band, else I wouldn't have read all of your posts, but there's no way, if you're considering music objectively, you can honestly believe that. Just to name a few artists that came out with superior albums in 2002--Wilco, Iron & Wine, The Flaming Lips.
Riot Act is easily their worst album. Eddie sounds tired rather than angry, there are too many lyrical cliches, the melodies and song structures are lacking, and the attempts at experimentation fall mostly flat. "Get Right" is barely a song. Eddie sounds like he's half-asleep in "Cropduster" and "Ghost."
That said, "I am Mine," "Can't Keep," and "Save You" are definitely winners. Why they didn't include "Down," "Undone," and "Other Side," I'll never understand, since those three are superior to at least half of the album.
YOU ARE.. a f'ing idiot
Riot Act is a great band at its' finest
go french a shotgun and end it you spare
My ranking:
8. Riot Act
7. Binaural
6. Yield
5. No Code
4. Vitalogy
3. Pearl Jam
2. Ten
1. Vs.
I agreed with alot of what was said in the article. Riot Act is PJ's worst album, although I'm starting to warm up to it. Help, Help, You Are, and Get Right are just simply not that good. I find Green Disease and Can't Keep to be highly underrated songs though.
Tim Bierman--I hate to assume that you're insulting me, but regardless, your comments reflect poorly on you. Especially if you're the same Tim Bierman who runs the Ten Club.
Pearl Jam's been my favorite band since I was 15, and I've purchased each album, as I will Backspacer soon, so it'd be a mistake to think I don't have the perspective necessary to offer educated opinions.
But calling someone an "f'ing idiot" and telling him to kill himself because he offers an opinion that PJ hasn't always been at the top of its game, is, putting it lightly, an unfortunate and petty thing to do.
I agree that "Riot Act" is #8. I still love it, and still put it in from time to time. But it has more throw away tracks than the other discs. I never really listen to the last 1/3 of the album any more. But, "Love Boat Captain," "I Am Mine," and "Save You" are among my favorite Pearl Jam songs.
8. Riot Act
7. Binaural
6. Ten
5. Vs.
4. Pearl Jam
3. Vitalogy
2. No Code
1. Yield
I can't wait for all of you to hear Unthought Known from Backspacer....it's killer
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!