Viva La Vinyl
Pearl Jam - Yield [Vinyl Me Please 25th Anniversary Edition]
The year is quickly coming to its conclusion, and I have quite a bit of records left to document. And a note to us music fans out there: If you don’t already have your 2023 Year End list put together, you’re late to the game.
Of course, I think it’s ridiculous that everyone vies to be the first1. Real Music Journalists do get advanced copies of albums sometimes, so they’re in a better position than us lowly consumers and fans, and have gotten a better opportunity to listen to everything that will come out before the year is even over. But again as I’ve written about before, that’s just status jockeying to get eyes on your list before it gets lost in the shuffle. I mean, does anyone even care about Best Of Lists the final week or two of the year?
Now, just because you’re the first, does that mean you’re the best or most thorough? Hell no! What happens when a surprise album drops in the wasteland that is the final days of the year? Can it really be a list that encapsulates the entire year if you’re not waiting until the year is actually over?
I’m still rocking Pearl Jam as my brand, so I just had to get this one. Even though Better Band is on pause — I fully plan on having the “Yellow Ledbetter” episode released before the end of the year2. And as it stands, Yield is my fourth favorite Pearl Jam album (I think), so let’s A/B this with the original pressing.
First, I gotta talk about the sticker... When I first bought the record, I didn’t know it was going to come with a little yield inside of it. I somehow got a second when I ordered something from the Ten Club, and I stuck that one on a guitar. So, I was able to keep the one with the record, with the record.
At first, I didn’t find the one that came with the reissue. Probably because it’s smaller. I had to pull everything out and shake the sleeve around a little bit until it fell out. It’s also kind of plastic-y reflective, not a paper sticker like the original. Shrinkflation fucking everywhere, am I right?
Since the original was just one record, there’s just the one inner sleeve. One side with the die-cut picture to show through, and the other with the lyric photos.
With two records in the reissue, there is a whole other sleeve to put pictures on, and I have no idea where they got some of these from. Do all of them have the hidden Yield Sign in them as well, or are they just random outtakes that might have been waiting around for the completely theoretical and much requested boxset?
The only ones that use the same picture are “Given To Fly,” “Pilate,” “In Hiding,” and “All Those Yesterdays.” There are six extra photos from the CD booklet that weren’t used to help pad out the grids, and of course, everyone would have prefered to have an oversized booklet of the photos and lyrics, but if they didn’t do it for the Vs. and Vitalogy anniversary reissues, there’s no way they would have done it for this one.
As far as how they sound compared to each other, they both sound really fucking good. I was anticipating the original to not sound that good, because it’s on a thin little guy3. But it’s very low noise, and while it’s a little quieter than the chonky new guy, I’d be hard pressed to really hear any difference between the two. I, of course, don’t have a super expensive setup, but I’m also not a war criminal rocking a Crosley suitcase abomination, so I could be completely off base.
-bcp
Pearl Jam - Yield [Apple Music]
Is this a dig at New Hampshire?...
Probably releasing it to coincide with the podcast community holiday party. If you aren’t already part of the group and are planning on attending.
There’s a video of Ed showing off the record when it came out in 1998, and he snaps it in half. But I can’t find it anymore.