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Binaural is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on May 16, 2000, through Epic Records. Following a full-scale tour in support of its previous album, Yield (1998), Pearl Jam took a short break. The band then reconvened toward the end of 1999 and commenced work on a new album. The music on the record featured an experimental sound, evidenced on songs that utilized binaural recording techniques.
Binaural debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. The album became the first Pearl Jam studio album to fail to reach platinum status. The album's 2000 tour spawned an enormous collection of official bootleg releases. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA in the United States.
Recording
For its sixth album, Pearl Jam brought in producer Tchad Blake, known for his use of binaural recording. Binaural recording techniques were utilized on several tracks. These tracks can usually be identified by a warm sound to the music, such as the acoustic "Of the Girl", as well as an asterisk next to the song names on the album packaging. This is the first Pearl Jam studio album following the departure of drummer Jack Irons, and features drummer Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden, who had previously drummed on Pearl Jam's U.S. Yield Tour. Binaural was recorded in late 1999 and early 2000 in Seattle, Washington at Studio Litho, which is owned by guitarist Stone Gossard.
Similar to the process for Yield, the band members worked on material individually before starting the recording sessions together. Lead vocalist Eddie Vedder called the making of the album "a construction job." Binaural was the first album since the band's debut that was not produced by Brendan O'Brien. Gossard stated that the band "felt like it was time to try something new" and that they "were ready for a change." Regarding Blake, Gossard said, "He was just there for us the whole time, wanting us to create different moods." The album was initially mixed at Sunset Sound Factory in Los Angeles, California with Blake, however the band proved to be dissatisfied with how the mixes turned out, wanting the songs to sound "heavier." The band then turned to its former producer O'Brien, who was called in to remix several tracks at his mixing facility at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia. It was with O'Brien when the band determined the final sequencing of the album.
During the making of the album the band ran into several problems. Vedder has admitted that while working on the album he suffered from writer's block, which made it difficult for him to come up with lyrics. This apparently inspired the hidden track "Writer's Block" that appears at the end of the album. Vedder had written music for several songs, including "Insignificance" and "Grievance", but was having trouble coming up with lyrics for the songs. He decided to not write any more music, and to focus only on lyrics, even banning himself from playing guitar. Unable to write more lyrics, Vedder said he saw a ukulele and thought "that's not a guitar" and wrote the song "Soon Forget" using the ukulele. Guitarist Mike McCready went into rehabilitation to receive treatment for an addiction to prescription drugs. Gossard said that "because Mike wasn't all there, and there was a 'get-to-know-you' thing with Matt, everyone wasn't on the same page."
Music and lyrics
"Light Years" Sample of "Light Years", the second single released from the album. The song is a mid-tempo ballad and features lyrics written by Vedder mourning the loss of someone close.
Problems playing these files? See media help.
Binaural found the band dabbling with experimental art rock. The album opens with three up-tempo songs before growing more diverse. Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone said, "Apparently as tired of grunge as everyone except Creed fans, Pearl Jam delve elsewhere: jumpy post-punk and somber meditations, tightly wound folk rock and turbulent, neopsychedelic rockers that sound like they boiled out of jam sessions. The album reflects both Pearl Jam's longstanding curse of self-importance and a renewed willingness to be experimental or just plain odd." Vedder explained, "We'd rather challenge our fans and make them listen to our songs than give them something that's easy to digest. There is a lot of music out there that is very easy to digest but we never wanted to be part of it."
A few songs on the album show classic rock influences. The intro to the opening track "Breakerfall" uses the guitar riff from The Who song "I Can See for Miles" (from the 1967 album, The Who Sell Out). The song "Nothing as It Seems" has been compared to the style of Pink Floyd. Additionally, "Soon Forget", which features Vedder playing a ukulele, is heavily influenced by The Who song "Blue, Red and Grey" (from the 1975 album, The Who by Numbers). Vedder thanks Pete Townshend on the lyric sheet.
Bassist Jeff Ament wrote the lyrics for two songs on the album ("Gods' Dice" and "Nothing as It Seems"), and Gossard for three ("Thin Air", "Of the Girl", and "Rival"). The album is lyrically darker than the band's previous album Yield, with Gossard describing the lyrics as "pretty sombre." Vedder addressed the social criticism contained in the album's lyrics by stating, "I think what everyone's looking for, y'know, is freedom...That's part of being comfortable in your own skin. I know I had a problem with being told what to do, and had a problem with being mentally and physically constricted. All of humanity is searching for freedom and I think its important to know when you have it, too." Ament stated that "Gods' Dice" is about "judging anybody who has any sort of belief system whether they believe in God or not." Vedder called "Evacuation" a "song about change." Ament said he wrote "Nothing as It Seems" about his childhood growing up in a rural area of Northern Montana. Vedder stated in an interview that the moral of "Insignificance" is "the ineffectiveness of political struggle." Vedder took inspiration from the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle when writing "Grievance", and said the song is about the dangers of technology. Gossard has said that the song "Rival" is his reflection upon the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. The album is the band's first to not contain any profanities in the lyrics, despite the ferocity of some of the music and subject matter.
Release and reception
Binaural sold 226,000 copies during its first week of release and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 album chart. It was held off the top spot by the Britney Spears album, Oops!... I Did It Again. Binaural became the first Pearl Jam studio album to fail to reach platinum status. Binaural has been certified gold by the RIAA, and, as of December 2002, has sold 718,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Binaural received generally favorable reviews from music critics. NME gave Binaural a nine out of ten. In the review, Binaural is called "a seething, furious album; a declamatory statement against cynicism and passivity and the simple injustices of everyday life." It’s also said that "even when the band slow the pace, the songs are coloured by a heartfelt intensity." Allmusic staff writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four out of five stars, saying, "The songs are sharper, the production is layered, and the performances are as compassionate as ever, resulting in their finest album since Vitalogy." Critic Robert Christgau described the album as "Rock as inner struggle, eternally externalized." Rolling Stone staff writer Jon Pareles gave the album three out of five stars, saying that the album "comes across as part of an extended conversation among the five band members...and fans loyal enough to check in for Pearl Jam's latest musings on love, death and social responsibility." The Guardian also gave the album three out of five stars. In the review it’s stated that Pearl Jam "are dignified, musicianly, sincere... and a teensy bit dull." The review observed that "Vedder's affecting vocal angst drowns in a sea of pessimistic riffola." The review called Binaural "a warts-and-all album; it has grabbers, songs that sink in slowly and a few absolute duds."
Two singles were released from Binaural. The lead single "Nothing as It Seems" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 49, and reached number three on the Mainstream Rock charts. The album's other commercially released single, "Light Years", did not chart on the Hot 100, but it did place on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. At the 2001 Grammy Awards, "Grievance" received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Packaging
The album's cover art is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of the Hourglass Nebula. Hubble Space Telescope photos of the Helix Nebula and Eagle Nebula are also featured in the inside cover and liner notes for this album, respectively. The photos were used with the permission of NASA. Regarding the artwork, Ament said, "The reason that we went with Tchad is because he provides an amazing atmosphere to songs....So, I think we wanted the artwork to represent that....One of the themes that we've been exploring...is just realizing that in the big scheme of things, even the music that we make when we come together, no matter how powerful it is, it's still pretty minuscule. I think for me the whole space theme has a lot to do with scale. You know, you look at some of those pictures, and there are thirteen light years in four inches in that picture."
The album's title is a reference to the binaural recording techniques that were utilized on several tracks. Binaural literally means "having or relating to two ears." Regarding the choice of the title, Gossard said, "When we looked up the word 'binaural,' it meant to listen with both ears. So it seemed like a fitting title for the album."
Tour
Main article: Binaural Tour
Pearl Jam promoted the album with tours in Europe and North America. Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour ended in tragedy on June 30, 2000, with an accident at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Nine fans were crushed underfoot and suffocated to death as the crowd rushed to the front. The band stopped playing and tried to calm the crowd when the musicians realized what was happening, but it was already too late. The two remaining dates of the tour were cancelled, and the band seriously considered retiring after this event. Pearl Jam was initially blamed for the accident, but the band was later cleared of responsibility.
A month after the European tour concluded, the band embarked on a two-leg North American tour. The first leg of the tour focused on the East Coast of the United States, and then the band moved to the Midwest and the West Coast for the tour's second leg. On performing after the Roskilde tragedy, Vedder said that "playing, facing crowds, being together — it enabled us to start processing it." On October 22, 2000, the band played the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, celebrating the tenth anniversary of its first live performance as a band. Vedder took the opportunity to thank the many people who had helped the band come together and make it to ten years. He noted that "I would never do this accepting a Grammy or something." The tour's final night took place on November 6, 2000, in Seattle, Washington at KeyArena where the band performed for over three hours. The European and North American tours were documented by a long series of official bootlegs, all of which were available in record stores as well as through the band's fan club. The band released 72 live albums in 2000 and 2001, and set a record for most albums to debut in the Billboard 200 at the same time. Following the conclusion of the 2000 tour, the band released Touring Band 2000, a DVD which featured select performances from the North American legs of the tour.
Track listing
- "Breakerfall" (Eddie Vedder) – 2:19
- "Gods' Dice" (Jeff Ament) – 2:26
- "Evacuation" (Matt Cameron, Vedder) – 2:56
- "Light Years" (Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Vedder) – 5:06
- "Nothing as It Seems" (Ament) – 5:22 *
- "Thin Air" (Gossard) – 3:32
- "Insignificance" (Vedder) – 4:28
- "Of the Girl" (Gossard) – 5:07 *
- "Grievance" (Vedder) – 3:14
- "Rival" (Gossard) – 3:38 *
- "Sleight of Hand" (Ament, Vedder) – 4:47 *
- "Soon Forget" (Vedder) – 1:46 *
- "Parting Ways" (Vedder) – 7:17
- "Parting Ways" contains the hidden track "Writer's Block" at 6:49.
- Asterisk (*) denote the use of binaural recording techniques
Japanese bonus disc
- "Footsteps" (live) (Gossard, Vedder) – 5:24
- "Better Man" (live) (Vedder) – 4:37
- Live tracks recorded at the 1999 Bridge School Benefit.
Original track listing
When the tracklisting for Binaural was first released in late March 2000, it was quite different from the final version. Some tracks that were originally on the album were dropped and not released until the 2003 rarities compilation, Lost Dogs, and "Gods' Dice" was added to the final version. The original version is as follows:
- "Breakherfall"
- "Insignificance"
- "Evacuation"
- "Letter to the Dead"
- Later renamed to "Sad"
- "Rival"
- "Grievance"
- "Light Years"
- "Of the Girl"
- "Thin Air"
- "Nothing as It Seems"
- "Fatal"
- "Sleight of Hand"
- "Soon Forget"
- "In the Moonlight"
- "Parting Ways"
- "Education"
Outtakes
Three instrumentals featured on the Touring Band 2000 DVD ("Thunderclap", "Foldback", and "Harmony") come from the early Binaural sessions. Several songs were rejected from the album that eventually found their way on to the 2003 Lost Dogs collection of rarities. These include "Sad", "Hitchhiker", "In the Moonlight", "Education", "Fatal", and "Sweet Lew". "Sad", originally called "Letter to the Dead", was called "a great pop song" by Ament, but he said the song didn't fit the album because the band doesn't "really very many pop records." "Sweet Lew", about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was cut from Binaural because it didn't fit the album according to Ament. "Fatal" was producer Tchad Blake's favorite song to come out of the recording sessions. "Strangest Tribe" and "Drifting" were also recorded around the time of the album's recording sessions, and both songs were released on the band's 1999 fan club Christmas single as well as Lost Dogs.
Personnel
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Sales chart positions
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References
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "allmusic ((( Binaural > Review )))". Allmusic. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
- ^ Christgau, Robert. "Pearl Jam". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved on May 20, 2009.
- Farber, Jim (2000-05-19). "Binaural". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Other pop releases". The Guardian. May 12, 2000. Retrieved on May 20, 2009.
- ^ "Pearl Jam: Binaural". NME. May 11, 2000. Retrieved on May 20, 2009.
- (July 2000). "Review: Binaural". Q (p. 121).
- ^ Pareles, Jon (2000-06-08). "Pearl Jam: Binaural". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - (July 2000). "Review: Binaural". Spin (p. 149).
- Farley, Christopher John. "Binaural Pearl Jam; Lifehouse: Elements Pete Townshend" (Binaural review). Time. June 12, 2000. Retrieved on May 20, 2009.
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- ^ "Jeff Woods with Pearl Jam for Radio Rock Network". Radio Rock Network. May 15, 2000.
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- ^ Weisbard, Eric, et al. "Ten Past Ten". Spin. August 2001.
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- ^ Aledort, Andy. "Aural Exam". Guitar World. July 2000.
- ^ Gabriella. "Interview with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam". NYRock.com. August 2000.
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- ^ Ament, Jeff. "CFOX radio's Jeff O'Neil with Jeff Ament and Mike McCready". CFOX-FM, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. May 11, 2000.
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- ^ Tannenbaum, Rob. "Rebels Without a Pause". George. July 2000.
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{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Pearl Jam: Set Lists. pearljam.com.
- ^ Stout, Gene (2000-09-01). "Pearl Jam's darkest hour: Seattle band thought about quitting after concert deaths". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Pearl Jam Rumor Pit (2000-08-02). "Pearl Jam Releases Full Text of Letter Written By Roskilde Police Department Commissioner Kornerup". SonyMusic.com. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
- "Pearl Jam: 2000 Concert Chronology Part 3"". Fivehorizons.com. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
- Gundersen, Edna (2000-08-31). "Pearl Jam's Bootlegs Give Others the Boot". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Davis, Darren (2001-03-07). "Pearl Jam Breaks Its Own Chart Record". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
- "Binaural Tracklisting!". fivehorizons.com. March 29, 2000.
- "Pearl Jam: Touring Band 2000". SonyMusic.com.
- ^ (2003) Album notes for Lost Dogs by Pearl Jam, . New York: Sony Music.
- ^ Cohen, Jonathan. "Pearl Jam: Spreading The Jam". Billboard. March 30, 2001.
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{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Pearl Jam - Binaural (Album)". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
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- ^ "EveryHit.com". Retrieved 2007-02-16.
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- ^ "Pearl Jam – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
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External links
| Preceded byBardot by Bardot | Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album May 22–28, 2000 |
Succeeded byMad Season by Matchbox Twenty |
| Preceded byBardot by Bardot | RIANZ number-one album May 28 – June 3, 2000 |
Succeeded byThe Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem |
