Vitalogy Edition Remastered

This is a review of the Vitalogy vinyl release available on Amazon.com. As a huge fan of music generally, and Pearl Jam particularly, I love this release, and strongly recommend it to music lovers, especially PJ lovers. First, a bit about myself: I am not, per se, an "audiophile." or an audio "snob". I do not own a ton of high-end equipment, nor do I claim to be able to hear things that 99% of the human race is physically incapable of hearing :-) I am simply a person who really enjoys excellent music, especially live music, and who loves to hear my favorite music faithfully reproduced for my enjoyment. My home audio set-up (in my living room) consists of a Pioneer AV-1020K receiver, four wall-mounted Infinity speakers (forgive me, I don't remember the exact model #), a Samsung BD-H6500 blu-ray player for CDs, and an Audio-Technica AT-LP60RD (red) automatic turntable for vinyl records. The turntable is a recent purchase. I was skeptical for a long-time about the relative value of vinyle records as compared to other audio media. Skepticism cured. When I put Vitalogy on the turntable, it immediately comes alive and gives me an experience I've never had before. It's the kind of experience that makes me say, "Why the hell did I wait so long to buy a record player?" Let me see if I can describe why. First, with my pedestrian ears, the sound seems "wider" to me -- there just appears to be a wider "soundscape" -- meaning, you can hear instruments on the right and left channels more obviously than I have heard on any other media (largely CDs and other digital media) via which I've listened to Vitalogy. Second, I hear other instruments come through that I have never heard on another presentation of this album -- and I've been listening to this album for a long time. All of this adds up to a more "urgent" and "lively" experience for the listener -- at least this listener. Vitalogy was a deeply emotional album, coming as it did as the members of Pearl Jam were grappling with an onslaught of fame and finding their own public voices, culminating in their fight against the Ticketmaster monopoly. To the extent that a release of Vitalogy captures and reflects that emotion, it is a credit to that release. This release does just that. If you are a Pearl Jam fan, and/or a fan of great rock music, go get this. I know I'm years late to the vinyl party, but I'll now lend my voice to the chorus. Go.

Vitalogy is one of those albums that, when taken as a whole, absolutely blows you away. Yes, there are some odd tracks here that don't quite serve as much of an artistic purpose as one would hope. But it's hard to say they don't fit on the album - in fact, I'd say the only track that truly doesn't fit on Vitalogy is "Better Man," which, on an album filled with rage and paranoia, doesn't musically gel with the other songs. It's a great song in its own right, but despite the dark lyrics the melody is too soft to be perfectly at peace on this set. Take out "Better Man," and what you're left with is an album bursting with energy, anger, and artistic ambition. On the surface, the album lashes out against fame and record companies. In more unskilled hands, these themes would leave the listener feeling unable to relate to the music and therefore quite distant from it. But, as with most Pearl Jam recordings, Vedder & Co. lend the songs a universal character with lyrics that can be interpreted in many different ways. In short, anyone who has ever felt anger at a world seemingly stacked up against them will be able to not just hear, but *feel* Vedder's primal and wholly satisfying screams in "Last Exit," "Tremor Christ," "Whipping," and many more - and will more than likely have an unsupressable urge to scream along. Vedder's vocals are quite possibly the strongest of his career, thankfully beyond the "yarling" stage of Ten and before the period where his voice started to subtly weaken. The genuine anger and desperation throughout the album is absolutely tangible, and matched only in glimpses on other Pearl Jam albums. Very rarely in music is such passionate energy bottled and translated onto a recording so transparently. If your life is perfect, then perhaps you should look elsewhere for your musical needs. For the rest of us, Vitalogy is likely to tap into and bring out your deepest emotions that have been dying for a piece of music to represent them. Pearl Jam fan or otherwise, it's an experience not to be missed.

I recently decided to go the vinyl route for new music purchases and one of the first LPs that I bought were the Pearl Jam reissues on vinyl, basically because the PJ guys are vinyl freaks (in a good way) so I knew that this release would not disappoint. I had purchased Vitalogy years ago on CD, but the vinyl version sounds SOOOOO much better! Of course, this can be interpreted as a case of what I like to call "Vinyl Ears", the music-listening equivalent of "Beer Goggles" in which one thinks that everything sounds better on vinyl just because... Anyway, if you already own Vitalogy on CD or MP3 and are considering upgrading to vinyl, DO IT! You will not regret it. The music is (mostly) amazing and the packaging is absolutely beautiful. The only con I can think of is that this is a double LP, when it should have been just one record. All they needed to do was cut "Aye Davanita" and " Stupid Mop" and the record would have clocked in at 45 mins. Viva La Vinyl!

Everything is great. Hard paper/light cardboard case for the cd that isn’t cracked. Hilarious and informative insert with lyrics. Great songs. “Vitalogy” has more varied songs than the first two albums, which are mainly hard rock throughout. The softer songs are a welcome change and add depth to the album. Bonus tracks add fun. Well worth the $6.99 that I paid on Amazon.

Vinyl review Has some light noise in spots. Pretty much all new vinyl does. Idk why they can’t make a record anymore. It does sound great though

A couple of songs I'm not wild about, but overall a good album. This is the first Pearl Jam album I've ever purchased, but more will be forthcoming.

I am only writing one review, well more like a bash. This is for the kids who complain that all the PJ records don't resemble TEN...let me ask a question, if all the Metallica albums sounded like Kill em all, if all the Slayer records sounded like Hell Awaits, if all the Alice in Chains records sounded like Facelift, if all the Pantera albums sounded like Cowboys from Hell, would you buy them? It is a little thing called evolution, and for the most part I'll bet most of you still think the way you did when you were 6...wake up children, we all age, our tastes progress, and the artists are the same way. If you were a painter, would all your works look like the first..i doubt it, if you were a guitarist would all your riffs and solos sound the way they used to, most likely not, and if they did, you would have a very small, backwoods group of fans. As for this record and all the PJ works I hear, it rocks, and the fact that they basically left mainstream makes me enjoy their work even more, ...

This item is of good quality and was beautifully packaged. My daughter was excited to receive it to add to her vinyl collection.