This is my "in depth" look and official rankings of the eight studio albums released by PEARL JAM. I am not including "Lost Dogs", "Beneroya Hall", or "Live on Two Legs" in this discussion. Only the eight Studio albums.

1. Vs.~ Often overlooked (even by me), Vs. Rocks perfectly from start to finish. "Go" starts of the album in a flurry. Thrashing guitars and pent up energy flow directly into another equally intense song in "Animal". "Daughter" comes in with a dark, melodic purity that grips the listener. "Glorified G" is a pure pop rock track. Great energy and an excellent vocal. "Dissident" is a moster ballad, and a true classic rock jam. "W.M.A." is a highly underrated song. An amazing bass and drum groove drive "W.M.A." to a musical place PJ had not gone before. "Blood" is the only song on this reacord that I will never get. It thrashes hard but seems out of control and almost forced. It's a bit too much for my taste. "Rearviewmirror" is another classic track. Fantastic lyrically, and an undieing energy push "RVM" to it's limits and leave fans gasping for air. "Rats" is another bass and drum driven song. Musically outstanding, but lyrically it leaves a little to be desired. "Elderly Woman..." showcases Vedder's vocals perfectly. A brilliently simple song that draws up emotion with every baratone wale from Eddie's soul. This is simply a magical song. "Leash" is a ball of spit fire energy. A fan favorite and a favorite of mine as well. And then there is "Indifference". "Indifference folls "Release" in the long tradition of majestic album closers. Lyrically dynamic, "Indifference" closes out PJ's best album with a sparkle. GRADE: A

2. Pearl Jam~ Yes, the new record at #2. It's early, but this album could go down as PJ's most complete record from start to finish. "Big Wave" is the only real let down on the album. "World Wide Suicide" isn't really my personal cup of tea, but as a "poor song" on this record, things could definately be worse. One of my favorite aspects of Pearl Jam is the way the entire album sounds like a live performance. Veder's vocals are molodic when they should be, and gravely as a snarling dog when they should be. The band is in top form and things are looking better every day for PJ fans. GRADE: A-

3.Ten~ Pearl Jam's earth shattering debut album could be higher on the list but the over production drops TEN a spot or two. "Release" is my all time favorite PJ song and with classic after classic packed into an 11 song album, only the excess of the production of the early '90s can keep TEN down. All of these songs sound much better striped down and played live. That is my only problem with TEN. GRADE: A-

4. Vitalogy~ Vitalogy has it all. This is an album filled with Classics. Fast songs. Slow songs. Rocking songs, and mellow songs. "Corduroy", " Not For You", "Better Man", "Nothingman" & "Immortality" are complete strokes of genious. Even the "lesser" songs on Vitalogy are fantastic. "Last Exit" "Tremor Christ" & "Spin the Black Circle" could be considered top notch on many albums. So what is the promlem with Vitalogy? I guess it really comes down to a matter of taste. There are at minimum of four songs that can be considered "fillers" on Vitalogy. "Pry, To", "Bugs", "Aye Davanita" & "Stupid Mop". The other arguement is that these songs help the album become a whole as a work of art. I fall somewhere in between. I understand the value of making a coheisive album and I think "Pry, To", and "Aye Davanita" have their place. However, "Bugs" and "Stupid Mop" are just as their titles would emply. Bothersome and dumb (respectivly). Vitalogy is a true work of art and could have been a masterpiece. So close. GRADE: B+

5. No Code~ No Code may be the hardest PJ album to figure out. Loaded with genious, yet surrounded with mediocrity. No Code offers the listener with some of PJ's all time best work. "In My Tree", "Smile", "Red Mosquito", & "Present Tense" are incredibly songs. Compelling, emotional, hard rock. But sadly, there are some major duds in the midst of genious. "Habit", "I'm Open" & "Mankind" are bottom feeders. "Mankind" features Stone Gossard on vocals. I am a fan of Stone, but when you have Eddie Vedder in your band, he should be the singer. No Code could have easily been my #1 album if PJ had stoped after 10 songs and replaced "Habit" with "Around the Bend". ("Around the Bend" should stayed the album closer.) GRADE: B

6. Yield~ Yield is a fan favorite, and why shouldn't it be? With a classic like "Given to Fly" and favorites like "Do the Evolution", "In Hiding" & "Faithful", Yield is a strong album. A strong album, yes. A classic album, no. "Brain of J" lacks creativity. "Pilate" lacks any real emotion. "The Colour Red" is a complete filler that should have been left of the album entirely in favor of "Untitled" (the opener to "MFC" in concert). Then we come to "Wishlist". I will never understand the poularity of this song. To me, "Wishlist" is easily one of my least favorite PJ songs of all time. Granted, when "Whishlist" is played live it is a decent song, however, on the studio recording there is no life or energy at all. In my opinion it is a total let down song. All that being said, "All Those Yesterdays" is another in the history of great PJ album closers, and "No Way" and "Low Light" do their best to make up for the previously mentioned songs. GRADE: B

7. Riot Act~ Riot Act is an album that seems to have trouble finding its identity. There are a number of good songs on this album, and if nearly any other current rock band had released Riot Act, it may have been considered some of their best work. However, this is not another band. This is PJ. And PJ is held to a higher standerd. That being said, I think "You Are" and "Love Boat Captain" are incredible songs. Easily some of PJ's best work. "I Am Mine", "Cropduster", and "Thumbing My Way" are fairly strong, and "Can't Keep" and "Save You" are above average, but not up to the high standerds this band has set for itself. The remaining songs are discombobulated in feel, emotion and sound, and worst of all are simply not very good. GRADE: C+

8. Binaural~ "Sleight of Hand" a true masterpiece. A dark and haunting track that exudes the best of PJ. It is unlike anything PJ had released before it. And only "You Are" has a similar sound since. This is easily a top five PJ song in my opinion. The problem with Binaural is that "Sleight of Hand" is the only song of its caliber on this album. "Breakerfall" is a decent opener. "Gods' Dice" and "Evacuation" are simply pretty poor. "Light Years" is above average but not special. "Nothing as it Seems" showcases Mike McCready's amazing talents on guitar, but again there is something missing. "Thin Air" is an okay song, but it is fairly boring. "Insignificance" is a plus tune, not a PJ classic but still very good. "Of the Girl" is probobly my second favorite song on Binaural. And although "Of the Girl" is an exceptional song, that really is an inditement on the utter averageness of this album. On no other PJ album would "Of the Girl" even rank in my top five songs. "Grievance" is sleightly above average. "Rival" has energy live, but lacks it in the studio. "Soon Forget" is a cute song, and "Parting Ways" ranks near the bottom of PJ closers. Sadly many excellent songs from the Binaural recording sessions were inexplicably left off of the album. Songs like "Sad", "Down", "Hitchhiker", "In the Moonlight", "Education" and "Fatal", are all great songs that could have made Binaural infinately better. When all of this comes together Binaural comes up short. In comparison to a lot of popular music on the air waves today, this album may seem pretty good, but when compared to the extensive catalogue of amazing PJ albums, Binaural brings up the rear. GRADE: C-

Spellcheck.

	macphisto wrote:
	Spellcheck.

Dick

Its a really good breakdown Dude. I agree with almost everything you say. I probably told you that when this was on Kfan. I just happen to like Binuaral a liitle more, although i have no idea why they wouldd leave off all those classics like "sad', "fatal" and "down"

I'll have to put a ranking out there. i still need to get my friends on here. Your site is really fucking good man. All the topics are awesome. I almost pissed myself reading the "Gay" self exam. I actually find myself coming here more than Kfan now and there is hardly anyone to talk to here. Does anybody else post that regularily beside Mac and van??

No other regular posters yet. We are getting there though. 2 months ago it was just macphisto and me. Having you and Van makes it a lot cooler. My ultimate "goal" or "vision" of this place is just to have 10 -15 regular posters that are for the most part into the same stuff. You should definately let your friends know about LastEXIT. Hopefully they will find it entertaining too.

I am trying to keep up with what is working well and tweek the stuff that has been pretty dormant. What do you think of the new "Video of the Day" forum? Did you notice that I combined the "Cartoons" and "Movies" forum into one forum called "Movies & Television"? I also added a new forum today for "Stand Up Comedy / Comedians" (another love of mine).

Anyhow, I am trying too keep it cool and fresh. I do appreciate the compliments and I am glad to have ya around.

I have told them about the site. I am actually emailing them the link right now. They don't work at a computer all day like i do, but they will at least check it out. Not sure if they are into message boards or not, but i'll try and recruit as many as i can. I do know they have opinions and love music. I mean, which guys don't like sports, booze, music, Tv, and "Yeah Baby's"

Do you ever chat at Ten Club or any thing else, or just here and KFAN??

Yeah, this site rocks. It's my PJ video fix, old and new. I can't stop watching Little Wing. Seriously, Mike rocks. Glad you're here now too Hags. I was beginning to the think Lebo and Macphisto were trying to lure me into their basement and turn me into the gimp.

The other Music board is also kick ass, I don't hit that nearly as often as I should. One of these days, I'm going to post a shitload of stupid movie and TV clips...

Van Wilder wrote:

Yeah, this site rocks. It's my PJ video fix, old and new. I can't stop watching Little Wing. Seriously, Mike rocks. Glad you're here now too Hags. I was beginning to the think Lebo and Macphisto were trying to lure me into their basement and turn me into the gimp. The other Music board is also kick ass, I don't hit that nearly as often as I should. One of these days, I'm going to post a shitload of stupid movie and TV clips...

Hagigun wrote:

I have told them about the site. I am actually emailing them the link right now. They don't work at a computer all day like i do, but they will at least check it out. Not sure if they are into message boards or not, but i'll try and recruit as many as i can. I do know they have opinions and love music. I mean, which guys don't like sports, booze, music, Tv, and "Yeah Baby's" Do you ever chat at Ten Club or any thing else, or just here and KFAN??

I have 1,200+ posts in the PJ Message Pit but I haven't posted there regularily in at least six months to a year. I frequent the Red Mosquito message boards and post there on a semi-regular basis. Obviously this site (since I started it) takes up most of my computer time. I do (as you know) post in Rube Chat and another favorite of mine is uselessjunk.net. My name on every other site that I post on is PHATJ. LastEXIT is the only place I use JeffreyLebowski as my name. That's about it!

Van Wilder wrote:

Yeah, this site rocks. It's my PJ video fix, old and new. I can't stop watching Little Wing. Seriously, Mike rocks. Glad you're here now too Hags. I was beginning to the think Lebo and Macphisto were trying to lure me into their basement and turn me into the gimp. The other Music board is also kick ass, I don't hit that nearly as often as I should. One of these days, I'm going to post a shitload of stupid movie and TV clips...

Uhhh, That kinda scares me. I'm just not that good with a sword. So my chances of escape would be slim. I'm pretty sure they would play better music though than that old creepy record.

"I wouldn't exactly call the brother fat, mother fuckers simoan."