THE REVIEWS: MUSIC
War Stories Pearl Jam's serious-minded new album brings the big guns.
CHRIS WILLMAN

28 April 2006
Entertainment Weekly
136

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam (J) Rock

The announcement that Pearl Jam have a new single called "World Wide Suicide" is the sort of thing to inspire both hope and apprehension. Their last stab at topicality, 2002's nose-thumbing "Bushleaguer," didn't exactly establish Eddie Vedder as a go-to guy for geopolitical wisdom. On the other hand, his passionate howl seems more valuable now, pitted against the navel-gazing emo whine that's commandeered the landscape. Tell us about the war, Eddie! we might even nervously ask, knowing that, in a world full of boys sent to do a man's job of rocking, Pearl Jam can still pull off gravitas.

But what we really want--and what they've been stingy with for a decade--is fast, furious, breakneck gravitas. Surprise: They stand and deliver on this belatedly eponymous barnstormer, the seriously hopped-up effort fans have been pining for since Vitalogy. Not that it's a perfect Ten. Vedder's lyrics can still be as clumsy as heartfelt, and the album's probably shorter on band perennials than punky firepower. But a shocking late-career freneticism predominates, married to a seriousness of purpose that is no longer high on pesky moral superiority.

What's got them fired up? War collateral, naturally ("Army Reserve"); the impersonality of big business ("Unemployable"); separation due to divorce or death ("Come Back"). But mostly, with apologies to Dylan Thomas, they sound like a band successfully raging against the dying of their own relevance...as well as, you know, the machine. B+

DOWNLOAD THIS: "Comatose"

ART DISS

Pearl Jam fans might like avocado in their guacamole, but judging from online blasts, they sure don't like it on the band's new CD. Designer Eddie Vedder hasn't commented on why an avocado, but bassist (and usual CD artist) Jeff Ament digs it: "I love its pop- art element. We could go to a lot of dark places. Ed went the other way." Given Vedder's support of the Green Party, could the art refer to the party's Avocado Declaration manifesto?

heh, i still remember ew's review of yield saying something like "the wallflowers are more relevant"

Every article review seems to dig the new album. A good sign. Even though EW and Rolling Stone don't have the highest cred in my book, it's just their signs of showing excitment for it that pumps me up.

Interesting take on the question of the avacado. I guess we'll see once we get a look inside

What a piece of shit review.

The reviewer should spend more time talking about the music on the album and a little less perusing his thesaurus.

Althoug I did like the "navel-gazing emo whine" line

It's really a pretty positive review, all things considered. But EW is, and always has been, one of the lamest and least interesting mags in existence.

EW has all the relevance and weight of that new Robin Williams flick.

Entertainment Weekly is horseshit.

Thanks for posting.

B+ is a solid grade

there's a new robin williams movie??

This is a good point and probaby true.

their relevance is dying....you know they would still probably be the biggest band if they didn't decide to go they other way and avoid MTV for the last 15 years. EW should stick to what they do best and talk about what Angelina Jolie wore to whatever Red Carpet events there were that month

interesting...

yeah, dig the B+ but I kept waiting for him to actually talk about the music.

where are the song by song reviews? Damnit!

I will destroy you.

it's probably for the best, one should know about music before they critique it

HEY GARRETT!

How did you commandeer this review? I can't seem to find it in its original glory.

Entertainment Weekly?

He subscribes to it. Although if he is smart he will deny it and make-up some lame-ass story about how a friend of a friend works there. But seriously he reads it cover to cover every week. Entertainment Week and Tiger Beat.