YIELD contains a hidden track.

Pearl Jam: Eddie Vedder (vocals, guitar); Stone Gossard, Mike McCready (guitar); Jeff Ament (bass); Jack Irons (drums).

Recorded at Studio Litho and Bad Animals, Seattle, Washington; Southern Tracks Recording and Doppler, Atlanta, Georgia.

"Do The Evolution" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Short Form Music Video. YIELD was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

Personnel: Eddie Vedder (vocals, guitar); Mike McCready, Stone Gossard (guitar); Jack Irons (drums).

Audio Mixers: Nick DiDia; Brendan O'Brien.

Recording information: Jack Irons Home; Southern Tracks Recording And Doppler, Atlanta, GA; Studio Litho, Seattle, WA; Studio X, Seattle, WA.

Photographers: J. Glacier; Jerry Gay; Greg Montijo; Jeff Ament.

Perhaps shaken up by the chilly reception to the adventurous No Code, Pearl Jam returned to straight-ahead hard rock on their fifth album, Yield. There remain a few weird flourishes scattered throughout the album, from the spoken word "Push Me, Pull Me" to the untitled Eastern instrumental bonus track, but overall, Yield is the most direct record the group has made since Ten. Pearl Jam sometimes have trouble coming up with truly undeniable hard rock hooks, and Eddie Vedder remains at his most compelling on folk-tinged, meditative numbers like "Low Light," "In Hiding," and "All Those Yesterdays." Yield is more consistent than Vitalogy and No Code, but it doesn't have songs that reach the highs of "Better Man," "Corduroy," or "Who You Are." "Do the Evolution" and "Brain of J" have garage potential, but there's more bite and distortion on Vedder's voice than there is on the guitars. Pearl Jam's conviction still rings true. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Perhaps shaken up by the chilly reception to the adventurous No Code, Pearl Jam returned to straight-ahead hard rock on their fifth album, Yield. There remain a few weird flourishes scattered throughout the album, from the spoken word "Push Me, Pull Me" to the untitled Eastern instrumental bonus track, but overall, Yield is the most direct record the group has made since Ten. That doesn't mean it's the best. Pearl Jam have trouble coming up with truly undeniable hard rock hooks, and Eddie Vedder remains at his most compelling on folk-tinged, meditative numbers like "Low Light," "In Hiding," and "All Those Yesterdays." They also fall prey to their habit of dividing the record into rock and ballad sides, which makes Yield a little exhausting, even at its concise length. It also emphasizes the relative lack of exceptional material. Yield is more consistent than Vitalogy and No Code, but it doesn't have songs that reach the highs of "Better Man," "Corduroy," or "Who You Are." Ironically, the album doesn't rock hard enough -- "Do the Evolution" and "Brain of J." have garage potential, but there's more bite and distortion on Vedder's voice than there is on the guitars. It's hard to view Yield as a disaster, since Pearl Jam's conviction still rings true, but it's frustrating that journeyman tendencies have replaced the desperate, searching confusion that was the most appealing element of the band's music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Nay-sayers and trends be damned. Pearl Jam's follow-up to 1996's NO CODE continues down the path of aggressive rock and roll, existential musings and musical experimentation. This isn't your older brother's grunge. Opening with the hard-driving "Brain Of J," YIELD goes from a punky swagger representing man's arrogance in asserting his lofty place on the food chain ("Do The Evolution") to a free jazz approach and a disembodied Vedder vocal questioning the meaning of life ("Push Me, Pull Me").

Most of YIELD continues to ply the standard Pearl Jam sound: Vedder's pained emoting, the interesting use of dynamics between McCready and Gossard's guitars and solid rhythm-work from the Ament/Irons rhythm section. Rather than falling into the creative rut many huge bands succumb to, Pearl Jam's music has instead developed its own identity while still walking the fringes of the unorthodox. Hence the inclusion of a weird, untitled percussive instrumental cut in Jack Irons' home studio and an Eastern-flavored hidden track pointing towards the influence of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Rolling Stone (2/19/98, pp.55-56) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...even the rockers have an uncommonly easy touch that's new to Pearl Jam....Vedder is singing more frankly about his life as an adult....shows that Pearl Jam have made the most out of growing up in public..."

Spin (3/98, p.129) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Part touchstone, part pariah, Pearl Jam have tried arty gestures; they've ostentatiously declined to rock; and now they've come back with an album full of gracefully ambivalent anthems. All commodities should be this unstable, and have this much blood pumping through them."

Entertainment Weekly (2/6/98, pp.58-59) - "...an intermittently affecting album that veers between fiery garage rock and rootsy, acoustic-based ruminations. Perhaps mindful of their position as the last alt-rock ambassadors with any degree of clout, they've come up with their most cohesive album since their 1991 debut, TEN..." - Rating: B

NME (Magazine) (1/31/98, p.44) - 7 (out of 10) - "...Here's where Pearl Jam put on their diverse boots and stomp across their bluesy roots, careering through various styles and pop-mongous strops..."