Most of Vitalogy was written and recorded during the Vs. tour.
Sessions began in November 1993 and came to a close before May 15, 1994,
as Kelly Curtis stated in the Los Angeles Times on that day the album
was going to be released "as quietly as possible." However, this quote
excluded 'Stupid Mop' as it was recorded at a different session after
Dave was fired from the band in August 1994. The rough mix of the album
contains an outtake, some guitar, bass, and drum lines that were later
removed from the final versions of the songs, and is missing some guitar
lines that were later added to the final versions of the songs. 'Better
Man,' 'Hard To Imagine,' 'Last Exit,' 'Nothingman,' 'Tremor Christ,' and
'Whipping' were written by the time of the November 1993 session, but
'Nothingman' and 'Tremor Christ' are the only songs confirmed to have
been recorded there. 'Corduroy,' 'Not For You,' 'Satan's Bed,' and
'Spin The Black Circle' were debuted live in March 1994, so it's likely
they were recorded during the January - February 1994 session, but no
information is known for sure. 'Better Man' was recorded twice during
the /Vitalogy/ sessions before Ed was comfortable with releasing it.
The version found on the album is the second take. 'Hard To Imagine'
was released on the /Chicago Cab Soundtrack/ in 1998. The song was
always shelved after being recorded because nobody in the band felt it
fit any album. There were some versions with different lyrics but they
were just different vocal takes over the same instrumental.
'Immortality' was written and presumably recorded in late March and / or
early April 1994, but it featured alternate lyrics when it was debuted
live on April 11, 1994, so it's likely Pearl Jam entered the studio
sometime later in April or May finish the album. This theory is backed
up in the April 1995 edition of /Guitar World/ where Mike stated,
"[/Vitalogy/] was mostly recorded while we were on tour. We did a
little bit at Bad Animals Studios in Seattle at the end of our Vs.
tour." Stone stated in the May 1995 edition of /Musician/, "'Tremor
Christ' seemed to write itself. It was just a riff-and-a-half,
basically. On a muggy, beautiful New Orleans afternoon we came into a
very cool studio and it poured out. That and 'Nothingman,' which Jeff
wrote, were recorded a day apart," but according to the /Vitalogy/
linear notes, the lyrics for 'Nothingman' were written in February 1994,
so it's likely the instrumental was recorded in November 1993 and the
vocals were recorded in February 1994. An alternate recording of
'Yellow Ledbetter' exists that is different from the version recorded
during the /Ten/ sessions, so it may have been recorded, but no
information is known for sure. The drums on Satan's Bed was performed
by a drum tech and not Dave.
