Binaural

Binaural is a sleeper in the Pearl Jam canon, the start of their most stable and prolific era, where the band fully inhabited its arena-rocker status with ex-and-future-Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron while churning out albums that sometimes lacked a certain spark. But unlike certain of its successors, Binaural notches convincing wins in a variety of moods, from reflective, downtempo efforts like “Light Years” and “Thin Air” to complex, ornery art-punk workouts such as “Insignificance” and “Grievance,” which bear a striking resemblance to the contemporary output of noted Eddie Vedder favorites Fugazi. The album can feel a bit like a grab-bag, sprawling out to include a solo Vedder ukulele tune and the moody, Led Zeppelin III-esque “Of the Girl,” but overall it set Pearl Jam’s late career course as a band that was determined to keep its musical options open — an insistence on variety that would serve them exceedingly well when assembling the sprawling set lists that became their latter-day signature.