I hate avocados. But not records with avocados on their cover.

I know I’m biased.

I am one of those obsessive Pearl Jam fans who buys their new records at midnight and buys their bootlegs and travels to neighboring states to see them play live.

But the thing is I’m a realistic obsessive Pearl Jam fan. I never would have tried to convince anyone that Binaural or Riot Act (their two most recent efforts) were albums worthy of praise or even purchase by an average music fan. So try to take me at face value when I tell you that you should really at the very least strongly consider buying Pearl Jam’s new self-titled record when it comes out tomorrow.

It’s their best album in 12 years. Actually, maybe longer.

There’s a little bit of everything on offer here. The album kicks off with five of the strongest straight-ahead punch-you-in-the-face rock songs that the band has come up with in years.

“Life Wasted” is all power chords and a positive Eddie Vedder who sings: “I have faced it, a life waster. I am never going back again.” It’s actually one of the few personal songs on the album. This is one of the strengths. Eddie seems to have finally learned that whe it comes to telling stories showing is better than telling.

This is Pearl Jam so there are political tracks and those will be talked about, but it’s not as political as I would have expected.

There are typically almost-punk Pearl Jam rock tracks in the tradition of “Animal” or “Even Flow”: World Wide Suicide, Comatose, Severed Hand, Big Wave. There are songs with huge soaring melodies in the vein of “Alive”: Life Wasted and Marker In the Sand, an open letter to God that may be the album’s best track.

But after the jolting first five songs, the album gets significantly softer in tone. And – this is what really makes the album stand out from their lesser efforts over the past decade plus – the second half of the album is as strong or stronger than the first half. “Parachutes” features a drifting melody that’s reminiscent of Lennon. “Gone” sounds like a classic Bruce Springsteen track. And the seven-minute closing track “Inside Job” heeds the well known truth that rock music is always just a little better with piano.

But all of those tracks pale in comparison to “Come Back,” which is the most unique song Pearl Jam has ever written. The song feels a little like an old Elvis lounge song, as if the band took inspiration from the feeling of their last hit, their cover of J Frank Wilson’s “Last Kiss.” It’s the best vocal Vedder has put down in I don’t know how long. Some sad songs are pretty. Some are just sad. This one is both and yet is also redemptive – it’s the kind of sad song that pays tribute to how good the good times must have been. Can you tell? I’m obsessed with this song.

I’d almost say that “Come Back” by itself is worth you dropping $10 to get the album while it’s on sale this week, or from iTunes at some point. Even if not, then Come Back and Marker In The Sand together are worth it. But the whole thing shines.

I’m serious. If you like rock music, do yourself a favor and buy this record. Pearl Jam, finally, is back.