May 1, 2006, 8:24PM
Sick to death of war
Neil Young, Pearl Jam use music to vent their anger


By MICHAEL D. CLARK
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Eleven years have passed since grunge alumnus Pearl Jam and folk-rock enigma Neil Young — two acts from two generations — were linked by Mirror Ball, a collaborative album filled with furious guitar interplay and lyrics that tipped into social commentary. Today, each act releases a new album updating that combustible mix: Pearl Jam's Pearl Jam and Young's Living With War.

Though Pearl Jam and Young made these albums apart, the spirit of their new recordings reflects that of Mirror Ball. Both acts are war-weary, so they again turn up the amps and try to make a difference through music.


Young is 60 and coming off last year's somber Prairie Wind, a casual, country-tinged recording. Here his rage is uncontainable and direct, vented through songs such as Looking for a Leader.

Opener After the Garden starts the rant: "Won't need no shadow man," Young sneers, "running the government."

He then gets more pointed and personal on Let's Impeach the President and the garage-rock screecher Shock and Awe.

Living With War was recorded with a basic quartet, augmented by a 100-member choir that gives the title track a churchy feel. Young caps the set with an a cappella run through America the Beautiful.

This quickly produced protest album will undoubtedly make listeners angry. Whether that anger is directed at Young or the U.S. government, well, that depends on the listener.

Pearl Jam, Young's old running buddy of a band, was once a brash young group with a message. But Eddie Vedder and Co. use softer strokes on their new album, which, as the title suggests, is a back-to-basics affair.

Stripping away the experimental sounds that cluttered Riot Act four years ago, Pearl Jam returns to the riff-heavy stadium-rock sound of its 1991 debut, Ten. But unlike Ten, Pearl Jam finds Vedder having outgrown the internalized turmoil of his youth and turning his anger toward more worldly affairs.

The roar of desperation and loss in Vedder's voice on Comatose and Life Wasted represents Pearl Jam's angry lob from the trenches. But other songs opt for something closer to the "make love, not war" credo of the Summer of Love.

One such track, Unemployable, is built on an easy groove; it's a twirling girl and a Volkswagen bus away from genuine freedom rock.

Much like PJ's celebrated early work, Life Wasted and Marker in the Sand are built around scratchy, accessible guitar loops and memorable riffs. The first single, World Wide Suicide, has Vedder singing in a weathered preacher-man quiver. "I felt the earth on Monday," he sings. "It moved beneath my feet, in the form of a morning paper."

Pearl Jam's members are all in their 40s except guitarist Stone Gossard who turns 40 this summer. They've struck a prime combination of experience and energy that gives Pearl Jam the same renewed spirit that Young enjoyed at a similar age with his classic Freedom.