Binaural (album)

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Good article {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: May 16, 2000 | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Yield1998Riot Act2002studioBinauralPearlJam-Binaural.jpgIn a black background is the image of a nebula, which resembles two orange rings of smoke, with an eye-like structure in their intersection. Below it is the title "BINAURAL" in white letters.Pearl JamMay 16, 2000September 1999 – January 2000Studio Litho (Seattle)* Post-punk

• folk rock
• Template:Nowrap52:05Epic* Tchad Blake
• Pearl Jamx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

Binaural is the sixth studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released May 16, 2000, through Epic Records. Following a full-scale tour in support of its previous album, Yield (1998), Pearl Jam took a short break before reconvening toward the end of 1999 to begin work on a new album. During the production of the album, the band encountered hindrances such as singer Eddie Vedder's writer's block, and guitarist Mike McCready's entrance into rehabilitation due to an addiction to prescription drugs. This is Pearl Jam's first album with former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, who joined during 1998's Yield Tour to replace Jack Irons.

The music on the album featured an experimental sound, evident on songs that used binaural recording techniques. The atmospheric tracks, mostly featuring somber lyrics dealing with social criticism, led the band to convey these themes with images of nebulas in the album artwork. Binaural received positive reviews, and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. Although the album was certified gold by the RIAA, it became the first Pearl Jam studio album to fail to reach Platinum status in the United States. The album's 2000 tour spawned a large collection of official bootleg releases.

Recording

Similar to the process for Yield, the band members worked on material individually before starting the recording sessions together.<ref name="rnn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lead vocalist Eddie Vedder called the making of the album "a construction job."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Binaural was the first album since the band's debut that was not produced by Brendan O'Brien. Gossard stated that the band "felt like it was time to try something new,"<ref name="rnn"/> and that they "were ready for a change."<ref name="totalguitar">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Instead the band hired producer Tchad Blake, known for his use of binaural recording. Binaural recording techniques, which employ two microphones to create a 3-D stereophonic sound, were used on several tracks, such as the acoustic "Of the Girl". Regarding Blake, Gossard said, "He was just there for us the whole time, wanting us to create different moods."<ref name="anti-career">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was the first Pearl Jam studio album following the departure of drummer Jack Irons, and features drummer Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, who had previously drummed on Pearl Jam's U.S. Yield Tour.<ref name="timeline">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Binaural was recorded in late 1999 and early 2000 in Seattle, Washington, at Studio Litho, which is owned by guitarist Stone Gossard.<ref name="timeline"/> The album was initially mixed at Sunset Sound Factory in Los Angeles, California, with Blake; however, the band proved to be dissatisfied with how the mixes turned out.<ref name="tenpast">Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to McCready, Blake's work complemented the slower tracks such as "Nothing as It Seems" well, but faced trouble with others, which the band wanted to sound heavier. For the heavier songs, the group brought in former producer O'Brien,<ref name=89rr>Template:Cite magazine</ref> who remixed the tracks at his mixing facility at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia.<ref name=credits>(2000) Album notes for Binaural by Pearl Jam, [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music.</ref> It was with O'Brien that the band determined the final sequencing of the album.<ref name="aural">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

During the writing and recording of the album, the band encountered several obstacles. Vedder has admitted that while working on the album he suffered from writer's block, which made it difficult for him to come up with lyrics.<ref name="nyrock">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This inspired the hidden track "Writer's Block" - which consists of the sounds of a typewriter - that appears at the end of the album, starting at 6 minutes and 50 seconds on the track "Parting Ways".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vedder had written music for several songs, including "Insignificance" and "Grievance", but was having trouble coming up with lyrics for the songs.<ref name="tenpast"/> He decided to not write any more music, and to focus only on lyrics, even banning himself from playing guitar. Unable to write more lyrics, Vedder said he saw a ukulele and thought "that's not a guitar," and wrote the song "Soon Forget" using the ukulele.<ref name=uke>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Guitarist Mike McCready went into rehabilitation to receive treatment for an addiction to prescription drugs.<ref name="tenpast"/><ref name="aural"/> Gossard recalled that "everyone wasn't on the same page" due to McCready's absence and the familiarization with Cameron.<ref name="totalguitar"/>

Three instrumentals featured on the Touring Band 2000 DVD ("Thunderclap", "Foldback", and "Harmony") come from the early Binaural sessions.<ref name=touringband>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Several songs were rejected from the album that eventually found their way on to the 2003 Lost Dogs collection of rarities. These include "Sad", "Hitchhiker", "In the Moonlight", "Education", "Fatal", and "Sweet Lew".<ref name="lostdogs">(2003) Album notes for Lost Dogs by Pearl Jam, [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music.</ref> "Sad", originally called "Letter to the Dead", was called "a great pop song" by Ament, but he said the song did not fit the album because the band does not "really [write] very many pop records."<ref name="spreading">Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Sweet Lew", about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,<ref name="lostdogs"/> was cut from Binaural because it did not fit the album according to Ament.<ref name="spreading"/> "Fatal" was producer Tchad Blake's favorite song to come out of the recording sessions.<ref name="lostdogs"/> "Strangest Tribe" and "Drifting" were also recorded around the time of the album's recording sessions, and both songs were released on the band's 1999 fan club Christmas single as well as Lost Dogs.<ref name="lostdogs"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Music and lyrics

Template:Listen Binaural opens with three up-tempo songs before growing more diverse.<ref name="cfox">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vedder explained, "We'd rather challenge our fans and make them listen to our songs than give them something that's easy to digest. There is a lot of music out there that is very easy to digest but we never wanted to be part of it."<ref name="nyrock"/> As described by critic Jon Pareles on his review for Rolling Stone, Pearl Jam distances itself from the grunge that made them famous and "delve[s] elsewhere: jumpy post-punk and somber meditations, tightly wound folk rock and turbulent, neopsychedelic rockers that sound like they boiled out of jam sessions."<ref name="rollingstone"/>

A few songs on the album show classic rock influences. The intro to the opening track "Breakerfall" uses a guitar riff similar to The Who song "I Can See for Miles" (from the 1967 album, The Who Sell Out).<ref name="aural"/> Additionally, "Soon Forget", which features Vedder playing a ukulele, is heavily influenced by The Who song "Blue, Red and Grey" (from the 1975 album, The Who by Numbers), with Vedder describing it as "30 seconds of plagiarising" and thanking Pete Townshend on the lyric sheet.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The song "Nothing as It Seems" has been compared to the style of Pink Floyd.<ref name="rnn"/>

Bassist Jeff Ament wrote lyrics for two songs on the album ("Gods' Dice" and "Nothing as It Seems"), and Gossard for three ("Thin Air", "Of the Girl" and "Rival"). The album is lyrically darker than the band's previous album Yield, with Gossard describing the lyrics as "pretty somber."<ref name="Mulvey">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Vedder addressed the social criticism contained in the album's lyrics by stating, "I think what everyone's looking for, y'know, is freedom...That's part of being comfortable in your own skin. I know I had a problem with being told what to do, and had a problem with being mentally and physically constricted. All of humanity is searching for freedom and I think it's important to know when you have it, too."<ref name="Mulvey"/> Ament stated that "Gods' Dice" is about "judging anybody who has any sort of belief system whether they believe in God or not",<ref name="rnn"/> and that "Nothing as It Seems" is about his childhood growing up in a rural area of Northern Montana.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vedder called "Evacuation" a "song about change",<ref name="anti-career"/> and stated in an interview that the moral of "Insignificance" is "the ineffectiveness of political struggle."<ref name="Tannenbaum">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Vedder took inspiration from the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle when writing "Grievance",<ref name="Tannenbaum"/> and said the song is about the dangers of technology.<ref name="nyrock"/> Gossard has said that the song "Rival" is his reflection upon the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Packaging

The album's cover art is a modified Hubble Space Telescope photo of the planetary nebula MyCn 18, popularly known as the Hourglass Nebula. Hubble Space Telescope photos of the Helix Nebula and Eagle Nebula are also featured in the inside cover and liner notes for this album, respectively. The photos were used with the permission of NASA. Regarding the artwork, Ament said, "The reason that we went with Tchad [Blake] is because he provides an amazing atmosphere to songs....So, I think we wanted the artwork to represent that....One of the themes that we've been exploring...is just realizing that in the big scheme of things, even the music that we make when we come together, no matter how powerful it is, it's still pretty minuscule. I think for me the whole space theme has a lot to do with scale. You know, you look at some of those pictures, and there are thirteen light years in four inches in that picture."<ref name="cfox"/>

The album's title is a reference to the binaural recording techniques that were utilized on several tracks. Binaural literally means "having or relating to two ears." Regarding the choice of the title, Gossard said, "When we looked up the word 'binaural,' it meant to listen with both ears. So it seemed like a fitting title for the album."<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore Alt URL</ref>

Release and reception

Commercial performance

Binaural sold 226,000 copies during its first week of release and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 album chart. It was held off the top spot by the Britney Spears album, Oops!... I Did It Again.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Binaural became the first Pearl Jam studio album to fail to reach Platinum status. Binaural has been certified gold by the RIAA,<ref name=RIAA>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and, as of 2013, has sold 850,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album topped the charts in New Zealand, where it was certified Platinum,<ref name=rianz>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Australia,<ref name="www.australian-charts.com">Peaks in Australia:

• All except noted: Pearl Jam in Australian Charts. Australian-Charts.com. Retrieved on May 28, 2008.
• "Light Years": Template:Cite book</ref> where it went Platinum<ref name=aria>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> and ended as the 36th best-selling record of the year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Two singles were released from Binaural. The lead single, "Nothing as It Seems", was issued on April 25, 2000,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 49, and reached number three on the Mainstream Rock charts. The album's other single, "Light Years", was released on July 10, 2000,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and did not chart on the Hot 100, but it did place on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts.<ref name="allmusic.com2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Critical reception

Binaural received generally favorable reviews from music critics according to Metacritic, where it holds a 69 after 16 reviews.<ref name=meta>Template:Metacritic album</ref> NME gave Binaural a nine out of 10. In the review, Binaural is called "a seething, furious album; a declamatory statement against cynicism and passivity and the simple injustices of everyday life" and that "even when the band slow the pace, the songs are coloured by a heartfelt intensity."<ref name="nme"/> AllMusic staff writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four out of five stars, saying, "The songs are sharper, the production is layered, and the performances are as compassionate as ever, resulting in their finest album since Vitalogy."<ref name="allmusic"/> Time reviewer Christopher John Farley noted that the album is "less impatient and rage filled than much of Pearl Jam's earlier work." Farley added that "Pearl Jam, rather quietly, is building a long-term career to rival the rock legends of the past."<ref name="time">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Jim Farber of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+, considering that the "weighty subjects [give] Pearl Jam's introspective lyrics and stone-faced rock a refreshing edge" and adding that "if PJ long ago lost the zeitgeist, at least they've kept a hold on their hearts."<ref name="entertainmentweekly"/> Critic Robert Christgau described the album as "Rock as inner struggle, eternally externalized."<ref name="Christgau"/>

Spin gave the album seven out of 10 stars, writing that "Everything you want is still there—goofy experimentalism, guitar frenzy, Eddie's self-abusive wail. It's just more solid, more clear."<ref name="spin"/> Q gave the album three out of five stars, commenting that "Grunge may have died, but Pearl Jam it seems will never be slayed."<ref name="q"/> Rolling Stone staff writer Jon Pareles gave the album three and a half out of five stars, feeling that the album "comes across as part of an extended conversation among the five band members...and fans loyal enough to check in for Pearl Jam's latest musings on love, death and social responsibility."<ref name="rollingstone"/> The Guardian also gave the album three out of five stars, stating that Pearl Jam "are dignified, musicianly, sincere... and a teensy bit dull" and observing that "Vedder's affecting vocal angst drowns in a sea of pessimistic riffola." The review called Binaural "a warts-and-all album; it has grabbers, songs that sink in slowly and a few absolute duds."<ref name="theguardian"/> At the 2001 Grammy Awards, "Grievance" received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Regarding Binaural, Ament stated that "we look back and think we didn't put some of the best songs on it", adding that "I think there are some beautiful things that came out of it, but we're never going to remember that record as one of the greats."<ref name=standard>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Tour

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Pearl Jam on stage. Eddie Vedder sings while playing a tambourine next to a spotlight, Mike McCready plays a guitar, and Matt Cameron on the drums is seen in the background.

Pearl Jam in Columbia, Maryland on September 4, 2000.

Pearl Jam promoted the album with tours in Europe and North America.<ref name=setlists>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The tour started along with the album release on May 23, with a show in Lisbon, Portugal. The European tour had 26 dates.<ref name=goes>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The final concert of the European tour ended in tragedy, where an accident at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark on June 30 led nine fans to be crushed underfoot and suffocated to death as the crowd rushed to the front.<ref name="darkest hour">Template:Cite news</ref> This led two additional concerts through July to be cancelled.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A month after the European tour concluded, the band embarked on a two-leg North American tour, starting on Virginia Beach, Virginia on August 3.<ref name=goes/> The first leg of the tour focused on the East Coast of the United States, and then the band moved to the Midwest and the West Coast for the tour's second leg.<ref name=setlists/> The band considered disbanding after the Roskilde tragedy,<ref name="darkest hour"/> but Vedder stated that "playing, facing crowds, being together" in the North American tour "enabled us to start processing it."<ref name="tenpast"/>

On October 22, 2000, the band played the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, celebrating the 10th anniversary of its first live performance as a band. The tour's final night took place on November 6, 2000, in Seattle, Washington at KeyArena where the band performed for more than three hours. The European and North American tours were documented by a long series of official bootlegs, all of which were available in record stores as well as through the band's fan club.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The band released 72 live albums in 2000 and 2001, and set a record for most albums to debut in the Billboard 200 at the same time.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following the conclusion of the 2000 tour, the band released Touring Band 2000, a DVD which featured select performances from the North American legs of the tour.<ref name=touringband/>

Binaural was played in its entirety at the May 10, 2016 show in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre, as a block and in sequence, during the first set of a longer performance.<ref name="order">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Track listing

Template:Track listing ^{{#if:| }} I "Parting Ways" contains the hidden track "Writer's Block" at 6:49.

^{{#if:| }} * Asterisks denote the use of binaural recording techniques.

Template:Track listing ^{{#if:| }} * Live tracks recorded at the 1999 Bridge School Benefit.

Original track listing

When the track listing for Binaural was first released in late March 2000, it was quite different from the final version.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some tracks that were originally on the album were dropped and not released until the 2003 rarities compilation, Lost Dogs,<ref name=standard/> and "Gods' Dice" was added to the final version. The original version is as follows:

1. "Breakerfall"
2. "Insignificance"
3. "Evacuation"
4. "Letter to the Dead"
   • Later renamed to "Sad"
5. "Rival"
6. "Grievance"
7. "Light Years"
8. "Of the Girl"
9. "Thin Air"
10. "Nothing as It Seems"
11. "Fatal"
12. "Sleight of Hand"
13. "Soon Forget"
14. "In the Moonlight"
15. "Parting Ways"
16. "Education"

Personnel

Personnel taken from Binaural liner notes,<ref name=credits/> except where noted. Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Pearl Jam

• Eddie Vedder – vocals, guitar, ukulele on "Soon Forget";<ref name=uke>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> credited as "Jerome Turner" for album concept

• Stone Gossard – guitar
• Jeff Ament – bass, inside photography
• Mike McCready – guitar
• Matt Cameron – drums

Additional musicians

• April Cameron – viola
• Justine Foy – cello
• Mitchell Froom – keyboards, harmonium
• Wendy Melvoin – percussion
• Pete Thomas – percussion
• Dakota – canine vocal

Template:Col-2 Production

• Matt Bayles – engineering
• Tchad Blake – production, mixing (tracks 5, 6, 9, 11–13), portraits
• Liz Burns – assistance with NASA photos
• K.P. Handron, R. O'Dell, NASA – inside cover
• J. Hester, P. Scowen, NASA – booklet cover
• Brendan O'Brien – mixing (tracks 1–4, 7, 8, 10)
• Pearl Jam – production
• R. Sahai, J. Trauger, WFPC2 science team, NASA – front cover
• Adam Samuels, Ashley Stubbert – second engineers

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for Binaural

Chart (2000)	Peak position
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)<ref name="Listen">Template:Cite news</ref>	20
Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	18
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	11

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Binaural

Chart (2000)	Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	36
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	95
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	88
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	99
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	152

External links

• Binaural information and lyrics at pearljam.com