Pearl Jam's 6th Greatest Album (Pearl Jam)

I didn't rank them.  I'm just passing the word on from Charles Peelle's Examiner posts.  Go check 'em out.  Harrass him.  It's good fun.

The album was self-titled because it needed to be. No other recording the band had made up to this point had simultaneously been such a conglomeration of the various styles of Pearl Jam, while being a fully collaborative effort between every member of the band, all the while introducing the band to a new generation and re-introducing the band to its own fan base after the tired, soft darkness of its previous two albums. Pearl Jam did exactly what it needed to do. Some claimed it was too easy and therefore a reach for commercialism, while others labeled it a return to form, vintage PJ. Others thought the songwriting to be dull and bland, and some of us believed it to be some of the group's finest. For the album to receive such a wide array of praise and criticism, I figure the band must be doing something right. In the wake of "Avocado," I am anxiously awaiting the future, if only to see where this endlessly imaginative band will take us next.

The discussion continues here.