Review by LarryG
2½ stars out of 4
While their sales have steadily slipped from the high to the low single
digits of millions, Pearl Jam's quality has, if anything, improved. Their
1st album was pretty rigidly in the classic rock mode and the quality
dropped off dramatically after the singles. Yield, like its wrongly
overlooked predecessor No Code, shows variety and this one knows how
to rock. The record starts with the band sounding like they still have
something to prove on the nonstop headbanger, Brain of J and they also
give the punks Do The Evolution. Given To Fly and Wishlist are more
palatable to their classic rock fans but the lyrics can justifiable be
called good poetry rather than Eddie Vedder's early more pretentious
work. He seems to be more relaxed in his singing too. In all, a consistent
work from a good rock band. Even with their Seattle grunge contemporaries
gone, Pearl Jam shows every sign of sticking around.
Here's what others reviewers have to say:
"...Part touchstone, part pariah, Pearl Jam have tried arty gestures;
they've ostentatiously declined to rock; and now they've come back with
an album full of gracefully ambivalent anthems. All commodities should
be this unstable, and have this much blood pumping through them."
8 (out of 10) Spin 3/98, p.129
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