Oh yeah like anyone is gonna read french

i thought maybe... rm is a pretty resourceful crowd!

still like the pic...

hi - first post here - i did look up those french articles.. although i'm french-speaking (from quebec city) i utterly dislike french rock critics -either they take under hyped bands like pearl jam to a "let me get back" status or they push for over-hyped bands just because they're granted an interview - anyway i think they're mostly biaised - trying to do good street litterature instead of being objective...
but this was a good review so there it is (the last page):

PEARL JAM
"Pearl Jam"

Among all the major early-nineties grunge bands, Pearl Jam is the last since a while. Paying the price of a frenzied medatic retreat, Eddie Vedder's band managed to not explode. Even if they most likely don't give a fuck, their place in the rock world, often renewed by many underground acts takes its answer in their eponymous eighth album, their first in four years. The first tracks tell us: no compromise. None of Pearl Jam albums had known such an abrasive and radical opening. Blame it on George Bush to have assured this band's inspiration for years. "Life Wasted", "Worldwide Suicide" - titles are eloquent and the guitars raging. Stone Gossard, by the amazing pounding of Matt Cameron, throws revolted riffs - 15 years of neglection behind - we now catch its originality. Excellent news: Mike Mcready is again the secret weapon of their first two albums - full with flaming wah-wah solos everywhere. On the first five tracks, they manage to keep an awesome equilibrum; 70's structures and punk energy with a bit of melodies. In the midst of the album, accoustic guitars come in (except for the ravaging "Big Wave"). But Pearl Jam ends it with strenght and finesse: "Come Back", a slow song that swells with joy and "Inside Job", a crepuscular roaming suddenly unnerved with electric discharges. Even tussed in their corner - they were right to go on.
4 stars (out of 5)

that was my best translation of the proper review in those 5 pages about PJ but the rest was pretty interresting though - i can't, without being paid for it, translate the whole article heheh - just keep in mind that you should have been on french class instead of toking in the backyard listening to blind melon - it was a great interview but i still like the proper (english) versions instead

here is the translation of the line under the 92' photo on page 2 : "pearl jam : some difficult (clothing) debut"

The problem with groups who become succesfull so quickly, is that while they sell millions of records at the begining of their career , the following records carry a sort of « natural bad-luck » syndrome in them, even if the public’s boredom is more in cause than the actual artistic inspirations of the bands. Whatever if your name is Oasis (for example) or Pearl Jam (as we’re concerned). In a few weeks, ex-grunge-icon-from-the-90’s Eddie Vedder and his mates will release « Pearl Jam », their 8th studio album to date (the 184th if we count every concert the group has released in CD). So is it good Pearl Jam ? Well… It’s Pearl Jam.

Despite millions of album sold, and the first 4 records that has made Pearl Jam the bigger « new-classic-rock band » in the world in the wake of Cobain’s suicide, the seattle-based band gave us the impression to rest on his laurels, playing a music that has become repetitive instead of improving itself. While we can have faith on Ten, Vs and Vitalogy, today it’s harder to find Pearl Jam fans to compare the merits of Yield (1998) and Riot Act (2002). Since the second half of the 90’s, it was too late for Pearl Jam : Goths, Rap-Metal or Néo-Punk made the canadian shirt (the symbol of Seattle scene’s golden years) looks odd. So little by little we got bored of this « lumberjack-grunge » , being so decomplexed on his americana influences that it became a sort of boy scout song that we can sing near a camp fire.

Then the groupe became the victim of his own pretention : First Pearl Jam sued Tickemaster (leaving the group diminished), then they had the idea that it would be great to record and sell each of their live shows. Nowadays it is as easy to buy a live CD from Pearl Jam as it is to buy a piece of wood or a tire.

Today, fully aware that their career has known « a sort of blackout » (as bassist Jeff Ament speaks) , the guys are now back in full form, thanks to their freshly-recorded « Pearl Jam » with producer Adam Kasper (the man behind PJ’s sound since Vs), wich puts an end to a 5 years creative abstinence.
« This is the first time that we got in the studio with such a motivation, despite the few song we had written at this point, jokes Eddie Vedder, we had nothing, exept the will to play together, to create together. Then the writting process went quite naturally, and the quality of the songs revealed that our artistic purposes were still pertinent. From the start it was reconforting to know that we were still able to write good songs. »

Dosed like all of his predecessors, « Pearl Jam » offers his bunch of angry and blindly engaged songs (comatose, army reserve) as well as folky ballads (severed hand, gone) ----believe it « folky » is the real term used here---- . The such nervous first single WWS is reminiscent of the 94’ classic « spin the black circle ». But globaly the sound and the mood of Pearl Jam remains the same, tainted with a certain pessimism. « I don’t know either if its more challenging to write songs today than 10 years ago with Pearl Jam, but what I know is that it is more challenging to live in this world than 10 years ago. Understand who we are in this world now is the real challenge. As the whole group is concerned, it deals with keeping on doing things that makes sense, and writing pertinent songs, like an echoe of the way we look at the world. And when i think about the broken lives of the american soldiers or civilians in Irak, when i think of the worldwide unbalance, or things that scandalizes me, it’s difficult not to be negative. I like to say that our songs lacks a little hope. We realized that during the recording process of the album. We are aware that our music won’t change the world, so if we succeed in making our own vision of the world evolve inside our music, it give us the strenght to go on… »

here is the translation for page one, have a good reading, next page is for tonight (now i REALLY must go to work ). And xcuse for my bad english, but i think it all makes sense....
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Nowadays it is as easy to buy a live CD from Pearl Jam as it is to buy a piece of wood or a tire.