In honor of Pearl Jam 20 coming out, I decided to pull this piece out of the past. It was originally written on May 7, 2006 as a reaction to the release of their self titled album (or, as you may know it, "Avocado." So sure, the review is a little old. But I like it because, at moments, it captures a huge catalyst of my adolescent life pretty well. Enjoy.
1993 saw the release of pearl jam's sophomore effort, Vs., and the resulting launch of the band's profile into the stratosphere. with the inevitable touring to follow, the band seemed scrappy and ready to take on the world. by the end of the tour, they had headlined the united states and opened for both U2 and Bob Dylan in europe. a learning experience to be sure.
as 1991 surely saw the floodgates open on a new demographic of music listeners, it was an exciting time to be a music lover and listener. even in albuquerque. touring behind Vs., pearl jam pulled into the albuquerque convention center in the fall of '93. while not my first concert ever, it was certainly the catalyst for something bigger in my life. washed out in hot red lighting, the band took to the stage and furiously bashed out their opening number, "animal." frenetic and furious, the band were a daunting proposition to watch. the whole hall seemed as if it could break out into a riot of catharsis amidst the guitars and screaming.
ultimately, this is what sealed my allegiance to music. realizing that lyrics could be poetry and music could be freedom, if only for three and a half minutes. as far as adolescent experiences go, this beats out losing my virginity by a long shot. while intimacy usually just gets better after your first time, this concert has seldomly been topped (but i am looking at you david byrne).
but pearl jam's career since then has been frequently messy, confounding and occasionally transcendental. always a brilliant live act(and one i'll never pass up), i've never seen them in this fighting form since. their albums have often opted for the difficult and unexplored way out; definitely a frustrating proposition for anyone expecting ten mk.II.
having followed them as a fan since their first appearance on saturday night live, however, i've come to appreciate this. i'm older. they're older. do we really need the same old song and dance that posers like scott stapp have so successfully co-opted? i think not. make mistakes. i'm sure they've got the money to. let the live wires dangle and make your dangerous pronouncements as you bully the pulpit of rock and roll.
the biggest frustration for fans, however, has got to be the overwhelming feeling that they stopped writing as a group about halfway through vitalogy. so what are we to make of their new eponymous cd?
quite a bit, methinks.
there's been quite a bit of noise over the fact that the band wrote, recorded and arranged this record together. immediately, there is an overwhelming feeling of greater cohesion to this record sonically. there is a lot of railing to be done by vedder here, whose voice is not nearly the rambled and bellowed creature it was on their first two records. instead, he seems to be reaching through emotions and melody in an attempt towards whatever his next destination is as a singer.
vedder, however, is not on his own here. the guitar work on the album is certainly sharper than the last few albums as stone gossard and mike mccready seem to be more in focus and more in step with their band. matt cameron's drums can only be described as being matt cameron-ish. if you don't know what that means, go listen to some soundgarden you hippy freaks. it's good for you. some of the most sublime moment's, however, belong to bassist jeff ament as he uses haunting but subtle basslines in the quieter moments of the record (mostly leaning towards the second half of the record).
there are songs (again, closer to the second half of the album) that almost sound like pearl jam aping the old stax records soul sounds before ripping the songs' arrangements open like only they can. in fact, the biggest surprise may not be how nice it is to hear such a ruckus from an older band. the real surprise here is how consistantly melodic vedder has become. in a manner not unlike a second coming, vedder (and the band by extension) reinvents himself as older, wiser, better but still vital. befitting the self title of this record, it's almost like a scrapbook of my favorite moments this band has had since vitalogy.
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