This came out in 2000 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
For the last few years, Pearl Jam have been a better band in theory than in reality.
Let’s face it: While most folks are only willing to talk the talk, Eddie Vedder and co. have no problem walking the walk. In a business fuelled by worldwide fame, they continue to remain relatively anonymous. In a world addicted to mass media, they refuse to make videos. In an age of cross-promotion and corporate synergy, they tilt at the windmills of monopolistic ticket agencies. While everyone is worried about their mutual funds, they’re worried about our collective existence. And quite frankly, I applaud them for it.
Too bad the one thing they haven’t been able to manage lately is to make a truly killer album. Oh sure, their last few discs — 1996’s experimental Code, 1998’s rockier Yield and the energetic Live On Two Legs collection — had their moments. But honestly, how often do you listen to them? And how many of those tracks are going to go down in history next to Even Flow and Better Man? Not many. It’s not an accident that PJ’s last hit was their moody remake of the classic ’60s teen ballad Last Kiss.
Not surprisingly, their sixth studio album Binaural — the first with new drummer Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden — isn’t exactly a calculated move to storm the pop charts. Once again, the lads have their eyes on more important issues — specifically, life and death, destiny and free will, materialism and spirituality and God’s role in the universe. Yep, from the nebulae pictured on the CD cover and throughout the booklet to the homage to The Who’s I Can See For Miles that kick-starts opening track Breakerfall, Binaural is all about looking at the big, cosmic picture. Heavy, man.
Unfortunately, the musical content doesn’t have the same heft as its lyrics. While the band comes out swinging on the opening three tracks — the propulsive guitar-rock Breakerfall and Gods’ Dice, the edgy new-wave paranoia of Evacuation — guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament and skinman Cameron quickly drift into a more sombre, spacy midtempo groove that carries them through most of this 13-track affair’s 50-minute running time. Few of the tunes are exceptional; even fewer have choruses you can recall after several listenings. At times, even Vedder seems to realize he’s taking things too seriously — “too much thought, it’s overwrought” he sings at one point — but he seems as helpless to do anything about it as the corporate drone of Sleight of Hand for whom “routine was the norm.”
Bottom line: On Binaural, Pearl Jam are still better in theory than reality. But still, having them is better than not.
