Na, they do sound generic....to me anyway. Most of their songs from their more recent albums sound very, very, bland - it's like they recycled stuff from their past songs.

Matt Cameron is still a great drummer though - still one of the best out there in my opinion.

Yeah, Nirvana while there's no doubt about them being hugely influential haven't held up with their material nearly as much. When you take the Seattle grunge scene bands and really look at them, Nirvana is more popular and has a more mainstream appeal than Pearl Jam but Pearl Jam has always been the better band. I do a lot of times wonder what would have become of Nirvana if Cobain hadn't killed himself. For some reason I've always thought that he eventually would have just gone reclusive or something and given up on music for the most part. I suppose no one really knows that for sure but he was sick of his fame and was trying so hard to make the anti-Nevermind album and I think that would have backfired with the fans not accepting it and thus him just quitting music.

I know it's probably been said but it's pretty true I think that a lot of people got so hung up on Cobain's early death and the band got put into a more iconic stance than they actually deserve. They were a decent band at best really and had a tragic story that sold people on thinking they're more legendary than they really are. Sure they were influential on the nineties scene and there were definitely a lot of copy cats and Cobain had some talent but he's not nearly what everyone thinks he was if you ask me.

The best thing to come from Nirvana in my opinion at least was Dave Grohl who I think has more talent than Cobain ever did honestly. I know that's probably something not a lot of people will agree with but he's done a lot with his career and in my opinion created a band out of the ashes of Nirvana that is better by and large with Foo Fighters. It might not be entirely fair to compare Cobain vs. Grohl or even Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam since Cobain died early and effectively killed Nirvana with himself so who's to say what might have come later but judging off what there is I stand by my opinion.

Perhaps a poor choice of word, but I say backwards, as it sounded to me more like what they were doing with Binural and Riot Act.

With Backspacer, to me, that album was them trying something a bit new, as for likely the first time ever, they were making music coming from a more happy place. Everyone in the band were in a good place, the country in a political sense, seemed to be going in the right direction - there was nothing for them to be angry about. You could feel that in the music, and I, for one, found it quite refreshing. While some of their other albums did need to grow on me, Backspacer was immediately likeable. As such, it's one of my favorite Pearl Jam albums.

Oh course, all that's changed now, which is also reflected a bit in Lightning Bolt. I don't dislike the album. It's getting better for me with every listen.

100 % agree! Couldn't have said that much better, myself. And in fact, have pretty much said the same thing to others.

Absolutely loving this album(including Sirens). Packaging is cool too.

I do, too. It's not as good as Nirvana, but still pretty cool.

I've finished my round of listening with this album. If I like an album I use several methods to listen to it: in my car, in my headphones, and finally in my home theater. I can hear different things in those three methods. What I thought yesterday when I listened to it in my home theater is that some songs doesn't sound like Pearl Jam. That's if you remove Eddie's voice of course. They took several risks with the music, they tried new sounds, pretty interesting to me.

Right now this album is fighting for second place, with Riot Act, in the list of best album since Yield. Binaural is still a solid #1.

My list would be something like:
- Binaural
- Riot Act/Lightning Bolt
- Backspacer
- Self titled (avocado)

This is very close to how I feel, except that I like Backspacer a lot. A whole lot. About as much as I like Yield.

My list would be:

- Backspacer (upbeat and musical, at least 8 really solid songs)
- Binaural (shocked at how well this has aged, wasn't crazy about it at the time)
- Lightning Bolt (subject to moving up but not down over time)
- Riot Act (hasn't aged well but beats out Avocado on the strength of 2-3 songs)
- Self Titled (hasn't aged well at all, even though I liked it at the time)

Lightning Bolt is definitely a grower. I've loved the album more each time I've listed to it and find a lot of the songs sticking in my head. At first I was putting it below Pearl Jam and Backspacer, but I think I like more than Backspacer at the moment.

I still like Backspacer more, but I will say I'm finding Lightning Bolt better with ever listen.

You're right about Binaural, I took the time to listen to it all the way through a couple days ago and it is a lot better than I remember it being. It definitely picks up with Light Years and the rest of the album is golden.

Pearl Jam Earns Fifth No. 1 Album On Billboard 200

Pearl Jam captures its fifth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as "Lightning Bolt" strikes atop the chart, selling 166,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Pearl Jam also previously topped the Billboard 200 with "Backspacer" (2009), "No Code" (1996), "Vitalogy" (1994) and "Vs." (1993). It's also notched four No. 2-peaking albums with "Ten" (1992), "Yield" (1998), "Binaural" (2000) and "Pearl Jam" (2006).

The band's last studio effort, 2009's "Backspacer," sold 189,000 in its first frame. The new album's launch is the smallest debut frame for any of Pearl Jam's studio releases. Still, it's the largest debut week for any rock album since last November, when Phillip Phillips' "The World From the Side of the Moon" bowed with 169,000.

Pearl Jam's "Lightning Bolt" is also the 11th top 10 set for the act; all 10 of its studio efforts have reached the region. It also claimed a top 10 set with the soundtrack to the documentary "Pearl Jam Twenty" in 2011.

Full Article
http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...-billboard-200

Listening to it again now. It is really solid. The band is just so consistent.

Sucks it was $9.99 at Amazon last week and everywhere else it was $14.99 or higher and it was still pricy at Itunes.

Did not want to buy $35 worth of stuff just to get the CD at Amazon.

Umm, wouldn't it make sense to just get the CD and pay the $2.99 to have it shipped? Am I missing something?

It was 9.99 at Target too

Glad you found your way back to it, and yeah, I always start it at Light Years. I also find that it's an album that really benefits from being listened to on headphones because it has a really interesting soundscape.

For whatever reason, I've always found the first 3 songs really offputting, and I was still listening to music on CDs back then, so the CD didn't make it into rotation very often. But with MP3s, I listen to it all the time.

Definitely agree with Binaural - it has aged well - my username is from the song Rival as well.

Listened to Lightning Bolt again last night. It gets better with each listen.