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Rating: After the so-called "first trilogy" - consisting of "Ten," "Vs," and "Vitalogy" - Pearl Jam had definitively established themselves as one of the greatest rock bands of the nineties. After three such masterpieces, one could legitimately be curious about the future: what will Eddie Vedder and his bandmates produce next? In 1996, two years after "Vitalogy," Pearl Jam gave their answer: "No Code."
This album is not like the previous ones; it's something... different. In my opinion, it's a culmination, both because, by listening to the voice of experimentation, Pearl Jam achieves artistic results of notable level, and because from here onwards, the Seattle band would know their decline (while continuing to produce quality work). The atmospheres of the early records are softened, muted; the group opens up to new instruments, such as the sitar in "Who You Are" and the accordion in "Smile". In short, there is a desire to surprise once again, at the cost of leaving the most uncompromising fans anchored to the past unsatisfied.
"No Code" opens with "Sometimes," which, after dampening the listener with Jeff Ament's bass, leads to an old-style track, "Hail Hail." It continues with the aforementioned "Who You Are," which is sustained by a few relaxing chords that calm the fury of the previous song; "In My Tree", then, allows the new drummer Jack Irons to showcase all his talent. After "Smile," where the electric guitar blends with the accordion, one arrives at one of the masterpieces of the album: "Off He Goes", a splendid acoustic ballad with a slow rhythm, enriched by Eddie's voice (but which song isn't?). The time of three more tracks - the wild "Habit," "Red Mosquito", where Neil Young's influence is felt, and the very fast "Lukin" - and one arrives at "Present Tense": in my humble opinion, an absolute masterpiece. Music, lyrics, structure... spine-tingling. Guitarist Stone Gossard warms up his vocal cords - just passably, to my taste - in the subsequent "Mankind"; "I'm Open" begins darkly with Eddie's spoken words, only to be permeated by a "solemn" atmosphere. The album concludes with the delightful lullaby "Around The Bend", dedicated to Irons' daughter.
Being a turning point in Pearl Jam's musical exploration, "No Code" probably requires being listened to multiple times to be appreciated: the first time I heard it, I thought it was trash, now it's one of my favorite albums. The quality remains high: Pearl Jam has simply channeled it through new pathways. To be discovered.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Sometimes (02:40)
Large fingers pushing paint...
You're God and you got big hands.
Colors blend... the challenges you give, man.
Seek my part, devote myself.
My small self like a book amongst the many on a shelf.
Sometimes I know, sometimes I rise.
Sometimes I fall, sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I cringe, sometimes I live.
Sometimes I walk, sometimes I kneel.
Sometimes I speak of nothing at all.
Sometimes I reach to myself, dear God.
02 Hail, Hail (03:41)
Ah, is there room for both of us?
Both of us apart?
Are we bound out of obligation?
Is that all we've got?
I get the words and then I get to thinking.
I don't wanna think, I wanna feel.
How do I feel?
How do I?
If you're the only one, will I never be enough, yeah.
Hail, hail the lucky ones.
I refer to those in love, yeah.
Oh, how I'd love you till the day I die... and beyond.
Are we going to the same place?
If so, can I come?
It's egg rolling, thick and heavy.
All the past we carry.
Oh, I could be new.
You under-estimate me.
If you're the only one, will I never be enough, yeah.
Hail, hail the lucky ones.
I refer to those in love, yeah.
I sometimes realize I could only be as good as you'll let me.
Are you woman enough to be my man?
Bandaged hand in hand.
Black lining,
On the run in a race that can't be won, yeah.
Oh, hail, hail the lucky ones.
I refer to those in love, yeah.
If you're my only one...
So good, you, only one...
I want to be your one...
Enough, you won, your one, your one...
04 In My Tree (03:59)
Up here in my tree, yeah.
Newspapers matter not to me, yeah.
No more crowbars to my head, yeah.
I'm trading stories with the leaves instead, yeah.
Wave to all my friends, yeah.
They don't seem to notice me, no.
All their eyes trained on the street, yo, oh.
Sidewalks, cigarettes, and scenes... tempted.
Up here so high I start to shake.
Up here so high the sky I scrape.
I'm so high I hold just one breath here within my chest, just like innocence.
Eddie's down in his home.
Oh, the blue sky, it's his home.
Eddie's blue sky home.
Oh, the blue sky, it's his home.
I remember when, yeah,
I swore I knew everything, oh yeah.
Let's say knowledge is a tree, yeah.
It's growing up just like me, yeah.
I'm so light, the wind he shakes.
I'm so high, the sky I scrape.
I'm so light I hold just one breath and go back to my nest, sleep with innocence.
Up here so high, the boughs they break.
Up here so high, the sky I scrape.
Had my eyes peeled both wide open,
And I got a glimpse of my innocence.
Got back my inner sense.
Baby, got it, still got it.
05 Smile (03:52)
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make you smile?
When the sun don't shine? (Shine at all...)
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make me smile?
When the sun don't shine, it don't shine at all.
Don't it make me smile?
I miss you already... I miss you always.
I miss you already... I miss you all day.
This is how I feel..
I miss you already... I miss you always.
Three crooked hearts and swirls all around... I miss you all day.
Three crooked hearts and swirls all around, yeah.
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make you smile?
Three crooked hearts and swirls all around.
07 Habit (03:35)
Seen it happen to a couple of friends.
See it happen and the message it sends.
Taking off for what's an obvious fall.
Just to see what all the fuss is about.
It's not your way.
Not your way.
It's not your way.
Another habit says it's in love with you.
Another habit says it's love's overdue.
Another habit like an unwanted friend.
I'm so happy with my righteous self.
It's not your way.
Not your way.
It's not your way.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you'd... never thought you'd...
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you'd... never never thought you'd...
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Speaking as a child of the 90's...
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you... Never thought you.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you... Never never thought you.
Never... Never me. Never you. Never me.
08 Red Mosquito (04:03)
Watched from the window with a red mosquito,
I was not allowed to leave the room.
I saw the sun go down, and now it's comin' up,
Somewhere in the time between.
I was bitten, must have been the devil,
He was just payin' me a little visit,
A-reminding me of his presence,
Lettin' me know he's a-waitin' for me...
Red man's your neighbor, call it behavior,
While you're climbing up slippery hills,
Two steps ahead of him, punctures in your neck,
Hoverin' just above your bed...
Hoverin' just above your bed...
I was bitten, must have been the devil,
He was just payin' me a little visit,
A-reminding me of his presence,
Lettin' me know he's a-waitin', he's a-waitin' for me.
If I had known then what I know now...
09 Lukin (01:02)
Drive down the street can't find the keys to my own fucking home.
I'll take a walk so I could curse my ass for being dumb.
I'll make a right, after the arches, stinking grease and bone.
Stopped at the supermarket people stare like I'm a dog.
I'm going to Lukin's.
I've got a spot at Lukin's.
I knocked the door at Lukin's.
Open the fridge. Now I know life is worth.
I found the key but I return to find an open door.
Some fucking freak who claims I fathered, by rape, her own son.
I find my wife, I call the cops, this days work's never done.
The last I heard that freak was purchasing a fucking gun.
10 Present Tense (05:46)
Do you see the way that tree bends?
Does it inspire?
Leaning out to catch the sun's rays.
A lesson to be applied.
Are you getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, oh.
Or you can come to terms and realize,
You're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh.
Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.
Have you ideas on how this life ends?
Checked your hands and studied the lines.
Have you ever believed that the road ahead ascends off into the light?
Seems that needlessly it's getting harder
To find an approach and a way to live.
Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, oh.
Or you can come to terms and realize,
You're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh.
Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.
11 Mankind (03:28)
You'll be...
Going out with radio.
Going out with disco.
Going out like bacchanal.
I'll be...
Going out with telephone
Going out alone.
To the radar zone.
It's all just inadvertent imitation,
And I don't mean mine.
It's all across this nation.
If it's just inadverdent simulation,
A pattern in all mankind,
What's got the whole world fakin' it?
I'll be...
Playing with my magazine.
Using up my Listerine.
Like Ovaltine.
And you'll be...
Dipping in your battleship.
For the latest tip.
For the latest dream.
It's all just inadvertent imitation,
And I don't mean mine.
It's all across this nation.
If it's just inadverdent simulation,
A pattern in all mankind,
What's got the whole world fakin' it?
If it's just inadvertent imitation,
A pattern in all mankind,
What's got the whole world fakin' it?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin' it, yeah?
12 I'm Open (02:57)
A man lies in his bed in a room with no door.
He waits hoping for a presence, something, anything, to enter.
After spending half his life searching, he still felt as blank as the ceiling at which he stared.
He is alive, but feels absolutely nothing.
So is he?
When he was six, he believed that the moon over head followed him.
By nine, he had deciphered the allusion, trading magic for fact.
No trade backs.
So this is what it's like to be an adult.
If he only knew now what he knew then.
I'm open.
I'm open.
Come on in, come on in.
Come on in, come on in.
I'm open.
I'm open.
Come on in, come on in.
Come on in, come on in.
Lying sideways atop crumpled sheets with no covers.
He decides to dream, dream up a new self for himself.
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