Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

Vitalogy reaffirms the Seattle quintet's status as the principled, proudly confused voice of a generation. On their third album, they've found their footing as a raw, forward-looking '90s rock act that fearlessly tackles the Biggest Questions. Lead track "Spin the Black Circle" celebrates the healing power of Eddie Vedder's LP collection, but it is overshadowed by such masterstrokes as "Immortality" (which can be read, right or wrong, as a reaction to Kurt Cobain's suicide), the Lennonesque "Tremor Christ" and a thrilling anthem for the pro-choice movement, "Whipping." --Jeff Bateman Amazon.com essential recording

Vitalogy

If you are just discovering pearl jam, this album is not for you at first. It still has some rock tunes like SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE, CORDUROY, LAST EXIT, SATAN'S BED, NOT FOR YOU, BETTER MAN, WHIPPING. There is some experiemental stuff on here, like BUGS, AYE DAVAITA, PRY TO, and FOXYMOP HANDLE ITS ME. One other hit is TREMOR CHRIST, it charted at number 18 on the hot 100 but is now largely forgotten. But I do recomend buying this after you buy their first two records TEN and VS August 7, 2008

Vitalogy

Pearl Jam-Vitalogy ***1/2

Sorry but Vitalogy is far from being Pearl Jam's best album. I just can't for the life of me understand how this has developed the reputation it has. Of the first four albums from the band this is the weakest. Vedder's lyrics are nice here but fail to evoke anything. The band here sounds great but at the same time this album seriously feels like they are trying to be The Replacements. This sounds and feels a lot like The Replacements first album Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash.

'Last Exit' and 'Spin The Black Circle' are two of the best songs on the album, but they are also the two songs on the album that sound the most like The Replacements, which is fine with me as The Replacements are truly one of the greatest bands of all time. 'Not For You' and the erratic 'Tremor Christ' once again find the boys sounding like The 'Mats. But this time toward the end of The Replacements career rather than the start. 'Nothingman' might be the best song on the album, and it remarkably sounds nothing like anyone other than Pearl Jam, which is a good thing. 'Bugs' is nonsense an a serious misstep for Eddie Vedder, and the accordion is over-kill and down right annoying after the first three notes. 'Better Man' is the big single of the album and one of Pearl Jams greatest songs, and one that personally scares the junk out of me. The thought of being in a false relationship with someone who claims to love you but doesn't, that is scary. The rest of the album is hit or miss for me and mostly ends up being miss.

Now it was one thing when The Ramones became a parody of themselves in the 1980's but Pearl Jam didn't even do that, they became a parody of the original flannel wearing Replacements, and so early in their career. Sad. Vitalogy is an album worth owning as the good material is really good, but for the casual PJ fan your better of with Yeild, or their self titled, and Vs. April 26, 2008

An improvement but....

An improvement over VS but still not a very good album. One or two good tunes the rest is just stupid studio retardation with accordians and sound effects.....not Pearl Jam of the TEN era. April 4, 2008

A real oddity

This is an interesting record. Lot of experimentation, in fact more so than on any other Pearl Jam record. Now, there are "modern classic rock" songs that are the group's stock in trade and actually come off sounding quite excellent as far as resting on laurels go ("Last Exit"; "Spin the Black Circle"; "Not For You"; "Corduroy"; "Tremor Christ"), and the massive hit "Betterman", aptly described by the group's producer as a "Blatantly great pop song" - sure, it was annoyingly overplayed in its time, but it's much easier to appreciate now than it was back then, and I think it's my favorite of the group's songs (that ending is so perfect!): the similar sounding "Nothingman" is another strong point. Then there's some useless annoying stuff, like "Whipping" and "Pry, To" (which is short, thank god), as well as idiotic experiments like the polka "Bugs" (What the WTF is the point of that?), the bizarre "Satan's Bed" ("I want to suck Satan's dick" is a real lyric from that song! Now, that's just screwed, I'm sorry), the Latin-funk "Aye Davanita", and the sound collage "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Stupid" (note how I combined the song's two titles! Oh yes...) - sort of like an alt-rock "Revolution 9", and just as bad as that "song", too. The power-ballad "Immortality" is a keeper, though November 22, 2007

The third classic album in a row by Pearl Jam

Want singles and hits? You've got em.
Rockers: "Last Exit", "Spin the Black Circle", "Not For You", "Corduroy", and "Immortality"
Mid-tempo hits: "Nothingman" and "Better Man".
And even: "Tremor Christ"

This is an excellent album with everything you have come to expect from Pearl Jam. Really, their first three albums were a dynamic trilogy that will always be their best work. They have continued to make strong music, but have released more experimental stuff in recent years, and have sort of become the new Grateful Dead, in a way.

This is a must-own album for any fans of rock music, hard rock, and the Seattle sound of the 90s. August 9, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...