Yield (album) - WikiHQ

Yield is the fifth studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released on February 3, 1998. Following a short promotional tour for its previous album, No Code (1996), Pearl Jam recorded Yield throughout 1997 at Studio Litho and Studio X in Seattle, Washington. The album was hailed as a return to the band's early, straightforward rock sound, and marked a more collaborative effort, as opposed to relying on frontman Eddie Vedder to compose the song lyrics as on the first four studio albums.

Yield received positive reviews and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. While like No Code, the album soon began falling in the charts, Yield eventually outsold its predecessor. The band did more promotion for the album compared to No Code, including a return to full-scale touring and the release of a music video for the song "Do the Evolution". The record has been certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States. The album is Pearl Jam's last release with drummer Jack Irons, who left the band during the album's promotional tour. He was replaced by Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron.

Recording

For its fifth album, Pearl Jam again worked with producer Brendan O'Brien, whom the band had worked with on its previous three records. Yield was recorded throughout 1997 in Seattle, Washington at Studio X and Studio Litho, the latter of which is owned by guitarist Stone Gossard. They weren't able to record it entirely at Studio Litho since it was booked by Deftones, who recorded their album Around the Fur at the studio between April and June 1997. The album was then mixed by O'Brien at his mixing facility at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia. The album would be the last collaboration with O'Brien for several years, until he was brought on board in 2008 to remix the band's debut album Ten and produce 2009's Backspacer.

Compared with Vitalogy and No Code, Yield represented more of a team effort among all members of the group. Lead vocalist Eddie Vedder had made the final decisions for Vitalogy and No Code; however, at the end of the No Code recording sessions, Vedder suggested to bassist Jeff Ament that it would be better for the other members to write and bring in more complete songs so Vedder would be under less pressure to finish the songs. Ament said that "everybody took that to heart", Ament also said that Vedder's reaction to the rest of the band's new material kept "everybody energized about their place in the band". Vedder worked with the other band members on their own material before work was started on his. Guitarist Mike McCready noticed a change in Vedder's attitude during the recording of Yield, stating, "I used to be afraid of him and not want to confront him on things ... We talk more now, and hang out ... He seems very, very centered now."

Vedder said that the band was able to "team up" and have a "partnership" while the album was being recorded. Ament stated that "Yield was a superfun record to make. And so much of it was Ed kind of sitting back."

In a June 1997 interview, Vedder said the band had "just about finished" recording the album. However, Gossard would spend the next period of time focusing on his side project Brad, who had just released their second Epic Records album Interiors late that same month. No work on Yield occurred during July 1997, with the band commencing recording in August. In October 1997, it was confirmed that the album was completed, with a rumored Christmas release date. O'Brien noted that during the Yield sessions, the band made a conscious effort to create more accessible songs. Vedder said that while "in the past we got really angry and we cried out against many things in our songs," he considered that when "you become an adult you have to express your energy in a different way, more calm." This led to songs that, while not eschewing "the bad side of life", ended up "facing it from a more positive point of view, looking for a way to solve it. In the past we said: what a shit, this stinks, that sucks, everything sucks... Now it's time to say: stop, let's look for a solution, let's be positive." Several songs on the album were inspired by literary works, including Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita ("Pilate"), and the writings of Charles Bukowski ("In Hiding"). Gossard wrote the lyrics for the songs "No Way" and "All Those Yesterdays", and Ament, making his first lyrical contributions to a Pearl Jam album, wrote the lyrics for "Pilate" and "Low Light". Ament said, "[to] watch Eddie put his heart into singing lyrics that I wrote was an experience I can't put into words." and "In Hiding" is about "taking a fast from life".

Packaging and title

The album's cover art shows an empty road underneath a bright blue sky with a yield sign on the right-hand side of the road. The front cover art image was taken from a photograph of Montana Highway 200 between Lincoln and Great Falls, Montana, while the inside cover depicts the yield sign in the middle of the ocean. The cover of the cassette version mirrored the image. A yield sign is hidden in every picture of the liner notes booklet. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, Yield received a nomination for Best Recording Package. Ament said that the cover came from the idea on "how cool to have a yield sign where there's nothing to yield to", and the place was a road on the way to his Montana home which he considered perfect for the photo.

The album title is rooted in the idea of "yielding to nature", a theme central to Daniel Quinn's novel Ishmael. The band members read the book while working on the album. Regarding the title, McCready said, "I think the title Yield has to do with maybe being more comfortable within ourselves, with this band....we're all a little bit older and a little more relaxed and maybe just kind of yielding to those anxieties and not trying to fight it so much...That's what it kind of feels to me – yielding, letting something else happen and going with it." Vedder said, "Let's say that hypothetically speaking, the title does mean something...You can fight so much, and then you have to think, 'What are the real battles?' 'What's really important?' You get to a certain point, and it's really hard to remember what music is and to remember what drives you." Two singles were released from Yield. The lead single "Given to Fly" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 21, reached number three on the Modern Rock charts, and spent a total of six weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock charts. The album's other commercially released single, "Wishlist", charted on the Hot 100 at number 47. Album tracks "In Hiding" and "Do the Evolution" also charted on the rock charts. The band hired comic book artist Todd McFarlane to create an animated video for "Do the Evolution". It was the band's first music video since 1992. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, "Do the Evolution" received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance and its music video received a nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form.

Yield sold 358,000<nowiki> </nowiki>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 Titanic soundtrack. Yield became Pearl Jam's first album not to peak at number one on the Billboard charts since Ten in 1991. However, Yield has been certified platinum by the RIAA, and eventually outsold its predecessor No Code with 1.9 million<nowiki> </nowiki>copies in the United States as of 2008 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Critical reception

Yield received generally favourable reviews from music critics. Rolling Stone staff writer Rob Sheffield wrote that while "before, the band's best songs were the change-of-pace ballads", Yield "marks the first time Pearl Jam have managed to sustain that mood for a whole album." He added that "Vedder is singing more frankly than ever about his life as an adult," and that the album "shows that Pearl Jam have made the most out of growing up in public." Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly said that "the overall tone is less pretentious than in the past, reflecting a looser, even marginally whimsical, worldview."

Tour

Pearl Jam promoted the album with tours in Oceania and North America in 1998. Both were met with financial success, Pearl Jam's sound engineer Brett Eliason stated, "We went and did Hawaii and Australia with Jack. When we came back, Jack wasn't in a position to carry on. He made that decision more or less by himself. He can be a really great drummer but he had difficulty on tour putting out the energy for the length of shows they were doing. I don't know if he thought they'd put things on hold for him." Regarding his entrance, Cameron stated that "The guys made me feel real welcome and it wasn't a struggle to get it musically, but my style was a little bit different, I think, than what they were used to. And they've been through so many different drummers, I don't even know if they knew what they wanted. So, I just kind of played the way I played and then eventually we kind of figured out what worked best for the band."

Pearl Jam's summer tour of North America marked the band's return to full-scale touring and the use of Ticketmaster, to which the band had previously protested. Pearl Jam once again began using it in order to "better accommodate concertgoers". and after it was completed the band released its first live album, Live on Two Legs, which featured select performances from the tour. McCready stated that the band released the live album due to the strength of Pearl Jam's shows on the tour.

On October 20, 2014, at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, during the Lightning Bolt Tour, Pearl Jam played the entire album in order as part of their set.

Track listing

;Notes

Outtakes

The album's singles featured two B-sides from the Yield recording sessions that were not included on the album: "Leatherman", about the eponymous 19th century vagabond was a B-side on the "Given to Fly" single, and "U" was featured on the "Wishlist" single, being later re-recorded for the 2003 Lost Dogs collection of rarities.

Personnel

Pearl Jam

Eddie Vedder – vocals, guitar
Jeff Ament – bass guitar, photography, layout
Stone Gossard – guitar, bass guitar on "No Way" and "Do the Evolution"; credited as "Carpenter Newton" for album concept
Mike McCready – guitar
Jack Irons – drums, vocals on track 8

Production

Barry Ament, George Estrada, Coby Schultz – layout
Matt Bayles – sound engineering (at Studio Litho), additional engineering
Nick DiDia – mixing on "Push Me, Pull Me", recording
Jerry Gay, Greg Montijo – photography
Sam Hofstedt at Studio X, Ryan Williams at Southern Tracks – sound engineering
Rodney Mills' Masterhouse – mastering
Brendan O'Brien – production, mixing
P. – Jeff Ament glacier photo
Pearl Jam – production

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+Weekly chart performance for Yield

! Chart (1998)

! Peak<br />position

! scope="row"| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)

| style="text-align:center;"| 9

! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| style="text-align:center;"| 2

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+Year-end chart performance for Yield

!Chart (1998)

!Position

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)

|align="center"|28

!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

|align="center"|61

!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

|align="center"|78

!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|align="center"|69

!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

|align="center"|44

!scope="row"|US Billboard 200

|align="center"|53

Certifications

References

External links

Yield information and lyrics at pearljam.com