Personal opinion is wonderful, because it means we can agree to disagree, which goes for pretty much any and every list you can think of. This list is based on my experience with the band and having listened to their discography extensively. This means that the list has been impacted with how I came across an album and how I engaged with it. I shall add some context of how I came across it and what my fav tracks are on each album, but I have to say up front, I’m extremely biased and if there’s a reason I love Pearl Jam, it’s because they rarely have throwaway tracks in their albums. Also, I love all of their albums so if there’s anything you particularly hate about the band, then my apologies, this is my band and I see far more that I love rather than anything else.
In addition, I will share my experience with the albums and how they’ve evolved over time. If you think Pearl Jam has not released anything good after Vs., then this blog post is not for you. If instead you’re a fan or are just curious to read what my relationship is with my favorite band, then read along. Get comfy though, this won’t be a short post.
11. Lightning Bolt:
In the last spot is Pearl Jam’s 10th album and only for the reason, that there needs to be an order to this list. Lightning Bolt is by no means a bad album although I shall always question the decision to not close the album with Yellow Moon, which might be this album’s BEST track. Production here has been questioned on occasion and I think more than anything, track selection and sequencing has this album on the lower spectrum because its high points are marvelous, whether it’s the gut-punching Mind your Manners or the straightforward ballad Sirens. But the fact is that there could have been some songs cut from the final track listing.
Top tracks: Yellow Moon, Mind Your Manners, Sirens, Lightning Bolt
10. Riot Act:
I think by far the most underappreciated album in PJ’s catalogue is Riot Act, and I get why it happens. With 15 songs, there was room to cut. That said, first three tracks are a one-two-three combo that rocks. Can’t Keep is beautifully pensive, Save You kicks it up several notches, and flowing into Loveboat Captain completes a sequence I absolutely love. but the following two tracks lose a bit of steam and direction until we go into the bar friendly I Am Mine followed by the beautifully subdued Thumbing My Way before shifting into a Peter Gabriel worthy track in You Are, among my favorite tracks on the album just because it’s so different. Then we have another cluster of tracks that are good enough, but pale in comparison with the blues heavy ½ Full that later switches to the very soulful Arc which serves as a gorgeous intro to one of their most beautiful and heartbreaking numbers, All or None.
Top tracks: All or None, Can’t Keep, You Are, Loveboat Captain, Save You, ½ Full
9. Gigaton:
Their most recent release polarized listeners in so many ways that it shows that administrating a Pearl Jam forum has to be one of the most thankless jobs in existence. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Gigaton except that they’ve made better albums. They experimented, they pushed the envelope, and they largely succeeded. Truth be told, some tracks on this album helped me a LOT in 2020 just to cope with what was happening worldwide. I was struggling to pick the next three albums and seeing the track listing is what led me to put Gigaton in the ninth spot, but it was by no means an easy choice because I do think that some of their all-time best tracks are on this album with every track at least getting on base if not hitting a home run. Of note are the anthemic punk rocker Superblood Wolfmoon, the grunge-ready Quick Escape, and the ultra-polarizing Dance of the Clairvoyants. You either love or hate that last track and for me, it’s a track that sticks with me and I dig Stone’s bass riff and the whole vibe. But in between these tracks is Alright, a track that made me cry the first time I heard it and that is very special to me. We can go deep into why it means so much, but that would merit its own blog post. Of note in the tracks that aren’t top shelf is the drumming on Take the Long Way. Just for Matt’s drumming alone, this track should be highlighted. But where the album possibly shines the brightest is in its two closing numbers. Retrograde soars and with good headphones or a kick ass sound system, even more so. It’s a gorgeous track that only comes behind the already mentioned Alright and the album closer, River Cross, which almost sings like a healing mantra or a prayer, or something in between. From a band that often knows how to close an album, this is among their best.
Top tracks: Superblood Wolfmoon, Dance of the Clairvoyants (for those who like it), Alright, Retrograde, River Cross
8. Back Spacer:
At just under 37 minutes, this is by far Pearl Jam’s leanest album and they truly did some editing here, presenting one of their tightest albums with some of their most beautiful tracks. No throwaways on this album, just tracks that will connect more with you and that’s the tendency on this list from here on out. I have trouble finding a track that doesn’t make sense and the sequence of tracks itself sings. Highest marks HAVE to go to Just Breathe and The End just on a lyrical level. Sure, they’re pretty much solo Eddie tracks, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t beautiful. What I love about this album is seeing where a track started and how it ended. The Fixer was originally over 5 minutes and Eddie trimmed it into a radio-ready track. I appreciate both versions though I can’t find that demo anymore. But between that and how Speed of Sound ended up, I love the evolution of those tracks. Then you have some classic PJ rockers like the Devo infused Got Some and the punkerrific Supersonic. All in all, super solid.
Top tracks: Just Breathe, The End, Speed of Sound, Amongst the Waves, The Fixer, Got Some
7. S/T Avocado:
Another drastically underappreciated Pearl Jam album is their 2006 Self-Titled album. If you ask me, there are NO weak tracks on this album. The hard tracks hit HARD, which include the first four tracks. Life Wasted is a solid opener, World Wide Suicide is a hell of a follow-up, Comatose is one of their best punk rock songs, and ending that with the Evenflow-esque Severed Hand, you’ve got a hell of an opening. Marker in the Sand follows and I just love the whole flow of that song as well as Army Reserve further down in the album and how both those songs mark a shift in tone, with particular praise for Matt’s drums on these tracks and also on Unemployable. Gone is a love letter to the Who, Come Back is another heart-achingly beautiful track and finishing the album with Inside Job is a stroke of genius. I've always wondered if Mike had anything else for that ultra bright riff at the end of the album but so far, nothing. The only tracks I didn’t mention were Big Wave which makes me WANT to ride big waves and Parachutes, which is a curiously polarizing track. Very Beatles in feel, I think it is a fun addition to add variety to what is an all-around solid album.
Top Tracks: World Wide Suicide, Comatose, Severed Hand, Marker in the Sand, Come Back, Inside Job
6. Binaural:
PJ’s sixth album began the whole Matt Cameron Vs. Jack Irons debate, which is as silly as it is pointless. Matt has been the main drummer for Pearl Jam for 24 years and people STILL bring this up. I mention this because I feel Binaural is the first truly polarizing album they released, which is odd because more than playing to their strengths, this album explores some very interesting new territory for the band and it’s an album I’ve grown to love MUCH more as time has passed. The opening trio of Breakerfall-God’s Dice-Evacuation has the band opening up a can of whoop ass to show off Matt’s chops. I mean, Breakerfall just slams into you and the groove in Evacuation is definitely not something we’d heard from the band. But those three tracks seem like just an aperitif before the next trio of songs: Light Years and Thin Air are both from Stone and they are absolutely beautiful lyrically and musically. In between those tracks, you have Nothing as it Seems written by Jeff who also wrote Sleight of Hand. Both tracks are broody and dark in a very different way and some of my favorite tracks off the album. From Nothing as it seems, you have to highlight Mike's guitar. Grievance is a classic Eddie rocker and I truly appreciate the broad spectrum of feels on this album. Soon Forget is a silly little ukulele song and Parting Ways sounds like it could have been track #3 on their Merkin Ball single. It’s an album that explores new territory and one I’ve always felt a LOT of people slept on because they got off the PJ train two albums prior.
Top Tracks: Breakerfall, Light Years, Nothing as it Seems, Thin Air, Sleight of Hand, Parting Ways
5. Vitalogy:
Five on my list might surprise a lot of people, after all, it’s the only one that’s won them a Grammy for the music (their only other Grammy for the packaging on Lightning Bolt), but at this point in the list, all the albums on here are a deep part of my DNA. Vitalogy is the first album led by Eddie and it shows. You can feel the tension here and soon before the release, Dave Abbruzzese was fired and the power shift went from Stone to Ed. It’s a gritty album and has to me what sounds like a raw classic 70’s rock feel to it, especially on Last Exit and Not for You. Spin the Black Circle has absolutely no f***ks to give and rips your head off and has to be among the top 3 punk tracks by the band. Tremor Christ is broody and a song that’s grown on me big time, because lyrically it flexes some fascinating muscles and it just feels like a foggy hot evening where you’re trying to find your footing and hoping you don’t fall into an open manhole. Nothingman is a song that immediately connected with me and it’s curious that the music came from Jeff, because it feels so intimate. Whipping and Satan’s Bed are both dirty rockers and fun, but you can see that below the main lines there are some interesting guitar dynamics that are often overlooked. Corduroy is a stadium ready track that doesn’t sound like your typical anthem, but it is and you just need to be in ONE concert where they play it to see how much it rocks live. I also really like how Pry, to leads into it. The album does have its experimental moments, where some work like Bugs (quirky, random AF) and Aye Davanita which even inspired a short story I’ll be rereleasing in a future short story collection. Other experiments barely get recognized as a track, meaning that the de facto last track Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me might be considered by many as a waste of tape. Seriously, if I’ve heard that full track 6 times in my life, it’s a lot. But then you have instant classics like Better Man and the stunning Immortality. All in all, a hell of an album that shows a band fighting through things and still making magic.
Top Tracks: Nothing Man, Better Man, Corduroy, Spin the Black Circle, Last Exit, Not For You Immortality
4. Yield:
Number four is what is probably my favorite Pearl Jam album cover and some of my favorite songs by the band, but as a whole, other albums rank higher. Yield sparks a moment where it’s not that my love for Pearl Jam was rekindled, more so that it reached critical mass. The album released with the Single Video Theory VHS documentary where they walk you through the process of the album and where I was able to truly appreciate the band’s process more, including moments of creative tension that resolve into beautiful solutions (just see Ed and Stone arguing about what to do coming out of a solo with the eBow on Wishlist. Ed is the singer but has his own guitar tricks, which was pretty cool to see.) How I can describe this album is that you feel Pearl Jam truly gelling. Opening with Brain of J, rather than go for a typical 1-2 punch, they shift gears constantly but in a way where it flows. Brain of J rocks, Faithful bides it’s time and Ed reaches for the sky with his vocals, No Way is a broody track, and then we lift off with my favorite Pearl Jam song, Given to Fly. As soon as I heard Mike’s riff and Jack’s drums I knew this would be one of my favorite songs in my life and Mike describes it perfectly, the song building and building like a wave until it crashes. It’s a variation of Led Zeppelin’s Going to California but feels completely different and for me, much more elevated on the vocal melodies. Then again, I’m a fan and biased, so pardon me for any superlatives. Do the Evolution keeps that grit seen on Vitalogy and seeing that song live in Cleveland was next level. When there’s a church chorus part, the entire crowd went apeshit and they turned on the lights. I get giddy thinking about it. MFC is a super fun track that always takes me by surprise when it comes on. Maybe it’s Jack intro on the previous intro track but it just settles in and fits like a glove. Low Light is a beautiful song with a riff that’s trickier than you think. If you try and learn it on guitar, you’ll stumble more than once because quite a few times you want to play an extra chord that’s not there. How the hell the band doesn’t mess that song up more often, I don’t know. Then you have In Hiding with beautiful music from Stone and soaring vocals by Ed. As for All Those Yesterdays, it’s another in a LONG list of epic album closers. It rounds everything up and wraps it in a nice bow, albeit a more unconventional one than their previous four albums.
As for Wishlist, it's a gentle and beautiful track with lyrics from the heart.
Top Tracks: Given to Fly, In Hiding, Wishlist, Faithful, Brain of J., Do the Evolution, Low Light, All Those Yesterdays
3. Vs.:
Pearl Jam’s second album is a hugggggggee F U to popular demand, MTV, studios, and critics. It is raw, aggressive, and goes for the throat as often as it comes in for a caress. As far as album openers go, this to me is the best on any Pearl Jam album and I don’t say that lightly. Go does not mess around and it will get you in the mood for a fight after that crazy intro and first riff. If you omit the words that repeat, the lyrics for Animal includes all of 36 words. It is an angry song and it is animalistic in its assault even if it minimalistic in its lyrics, which is the perfect setup for an album that then decides to keep you guessing. There is no other Jeremy, no other Evenflow, no Alive. This is NOT Ten and they will remind you with track after track. The acoustic driven Daughter has become a concert favorite for the way they interlace other songs into it, but by itself, the track is beautiful until you pay attention to the lyrics, because it tells the tale of misunderstood kids that endure abuse in the hopes of disciplining them. It’s a deep song that people sing because it’s catchy but that includes a whole lot of layers. Glorified G has to be one of the most upbeat anti-gun songs you’ll ever hear and I love the song AND the message. Next up is Dissident which is a classic Pearl Jam rocker. Deep lyrics and a complex story behind it. It’s a stunner and it’s heartbreaking on several levels while still being a rocker. Then you have W.M.A which has some groovy tribal rhythms going and Dave flexing some big ole drummer muscles. It’s a fascinating song to follow the rhythm to. Then comes one of Pearl Jam’s heaviest songs if not the heaviest in their entire catalogue, Blood. Ed absolutely shreds his vocal chords and the song is pure adrenaline before settling into a little funk before coming back again with the sledgehammer. Rearviewmirror is what paves the way for anthemic Pearl Jam rockers akin to Leash a bit further in the album. The guitars on BOTH those tracks hit hard and show that Vs. was definitely their heavy album. In between these tracks, you have the dark broody Rats, the smile-inducing and rather long-titled Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, before closing out the album with the stunning Indifference, a song that is haunting and comes back to me in days when I’m not feeling particularly high but still figure it’s best to push through. Lyrically it’s a song that hits hard and one that’s very special to me. As an album, it cemented their path forward.
Top Tracks: Go, Daughter, Glorified G, Blood, Rearviewmirror, Elderly woman, Indifference, Dissident
2. Ten:
If you know me, you’ll know why Ten is #2. As it stands, it’s still their best album and I’m not saying it as a putdown to a stellar discography, I’m simply stating facts. The Doors never did better than their debut, neither did Guns N’ Roses, neither did a bunch of bands, but Pearl Jam has never set out to do a sequel to Ten or repeat themselves in any way. They set a crazy high water mark and then decided to stray from formulas, guarantees, and instead have pushed themselves to create a catalogue that is deep, rich, and endlessly rewarding. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s one of the greatest debut albums of all time. What is amazing about Ten and Pearl Jam as a band is the emotional range in their music. Ed might have a deep baritone and a hell of a yell, but the emotional vulnerability either lyrically on songs like Release and Black is one aspect, but so are his falsettos on songs like Oceans. As a story, Ten is a delight to play through and it’s not a particularly short album, clocking at over 50 minutes thanks to the end segue from Release to Master Slave. But there is no throwaway track or even a track that isn’t top shelf. This album starts and doesn’t relent. It is intense (Deep-Porch), anthemic (Alive-Even Flow), rocking (Once-Why Go-Garden), beautiful (Oceans-Release), heart breaking (Black), political + angry (Jeremy). It came out to compete with Nevermind, Facelift, and Badmotorfinger and helped take down a musical genre. It is gigantic, an instant classic, and came about because the drummer of one band gave a tape to the surviving members of another band, magic happened, and the rest is history. Although it has eleven tracks and a secret track, the title is appropriate because in a phrase, it is a perfect ten.
Top Tracks: the Whole Damn Thing
1. No Code:
If you know me, you know this is my favorite album and it’s for several reasons. I’ll start with the least obvious reason first: it’s the Pearl Jam album I can listen to the most times on Repeat All in a row. There are no hidden tracks. No gimmicks. No intros. There are 13 songs, it is almost 50 minutes long, and it never drags, never skips, never hits a bleep, all while exploring a vast musical and emotional field. I compare No Code to Led Zeppelin 3, also a misunderstood gem that is better than people give it credit for. The album opens with the contemplative Sometimes. It’s tender, gentle, and intimate, lulling you into a false sense of security before hitting you with the uppercut of Hail, Hail. No one makes rockers like this. It’s unconventional and only something Pearl Jam can do and not only do I love it, I love that it leads to two of Jack Irons’s best drum songs. Who You Are is existential and the beat just flows and swells, grooves, grows, and keeps you on your toes. It’s a small masterpiece for me and a song that REALLY invited me to pay attention to what’s going on below the obvious and on the drums. In My Tree is probably in my top 20 PJ songs and top 5 drums on any of their songs and only Jack could play it like it’s meant to be played from what I’ve heard. I’ve seen alt versions of it but nothing tops the original and it shows it’s a tricky bastard of a song, which makes me love it more. Smile follows and it’s a song about bromance and quirky in a way only Jeff Ament can bring to life, him playing lead guitar on it, which is another reason I love this album. Stone sings lead vocals on Mankind, Ed plays a sitar and harmonica, Mike plays piano, and it feels like an organic jam session. Off He Goes is a gorgeous although self-deprecating track where the lyrics talk about the challenges of being friends with someone who is difficult. Habit is a punk rock nod to their previous album while Red Mosquito is one of their oddest songs, and one I love so much that I included a red mosquito as a tribute in my first novel. Going for a gritty 1 minute punk rock number, Lukin only exceeds the minute mark by two seconds. That said, for a punk song, Lukin has a LOT of groove in it. After that 1 minute rocker, Pearl Jam offer one of their finest tracks ever in Present Tense. This song has always hit home but the more I live, the more it resonates. Probably top 10 PJ tracks for me and it got some traction thanks to the Last Dance documentary. After a pretty deep look into life and everything in it, we switch to Stone Gossard singing lead vocals in a straight forward garage rock track that I wish they would do more of. But the little blip of sunshine from Mankind then shifts to a very meditative, spoken word, dream-state track of I’m Open, which I think it’s the first time ever that you’re invited to let the lyrics lead the way throughout the mantra. Finally, the album finishes with the beautiful Around the Bend and I’ll just sum it up by saying that it’s one of the songs I want played at my funeral. This album is special for so many reasons, including how I came across it. I was 16 and at the mall when being at the mall was a joyful experience. I was at a record store, browsing, perusing, and suddenly in the New Release track I see this weird album with pictures on it. I pick it up, no track listing, no title, nothing. When I flip it around, I see a sticker that says NEW ALBUM BY PEARL JAM. Needless to say, I almost lost my mind and they had put the album out to sell the next day and I had to beg the clerk to sell me the album. After my best puppy dog eyes, he acquiesced and I went from just killing some time to finding what is one of the most important albums in my life and one I listened to hours before most of the world had the chance to. And that my friends, is just a slice of the magic that is Pearl Jam in my life.
Top Tracks: The whole thing, but notably In My Tree, Who you Are, Sometimes, Red Mosquito, Present Tense, Around the Bend
Now all that’s left is to listen to the new album. Where will it rank? Can't wait to see.
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