I have posted a few reviews here in the past couple of days, but personally, none matter more to me than All Music Guide. I have been using AMG for years now and really, I trust their reviews more than any other. I work in newspapers and had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Erlewine at a convention. He is a great guy and has a real love for rock 'n' roll. He is also a pretty damn good writer. Enjoy.

By Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Nearly 15 years after Ten, Pearl Jam finally returned to the strengths of their debut with 2006's Pearl Jam, a sharply focused set of impassioned hard rock. Gone are the arty detours (some call them affectations) that alternately cluttered and enhanced their albums from 1993's sophomore effort, Vs., all the way to 2002's Riot Act, and what's left behind is nothing but the basics: muscular, mildly meandering rock & roll, enlivened by Eddie Vedder's bracing sincerity. Pearl Jam has never sounded as hard or direct as they do here -- even on Ten there was an elasticity to the music, due in large part to Jeff Ament's winding fretless bass, that kept the record from sounding like a direct hit to the gut, which Pearl Jam certainly does. Nowhere does it sound more forceful than it does in its first half, when the tightly controlled rockers "Life Wasted," "World Wide Suicide," "Comatose," "Severed Hand," and "Marker in the Sand" pile up on top of each other, giving the record a genuine feeling of urgency. That insistent quality and sense of purpose doesn't let up even as they slide into the quite beautiful, lightly psychedelic acoustic pop of "Parachutes," which is when the album begins to open up slightly. If the second half of the record does have a greater variety of tempos than the first, it's still heavy on rockers, ranging from the ironic easy swagger of "Unemployable" to the furious "Big Wave," which helps set the stage for the twin closers of "Come Back" and "Inside Job." The former is a slow-burning cousin to "Black" that finds Pearl Jam seamlessly incorporating soul into their sound, while the latter is a deliberately escalating epic that gracefully closes the album on a hopeful note -- and coming after an album filled with righteous anger and frustration, it is indeed welcome. But Pearl Jam's anger on this eponymous album is not only largely invigorating, it is the opposite of the tortured introspection of their first records. Here, Vedder turns his attention to the world at large, and while he certainly rages against the state of W's union in 2006, he's hardly myopic or strident; he's alternately evocative and specific, giving this album a resonance that has been lacking in most protest rock of the 2000s. But what makes Pearl Jam such an effective record is that it can be easily enjoyed as sheer music without ever digging into Vedder's lyrics. Song for song, this is their best set since Vitalogy, and the band has never sounded so purposeful on record as they do here, nor have they ever delivered a record as consistent as this. And the thing that makes the record work exceptionally well is that Pearl Jam has embraced everything they do well, whether it's their classicist hard rock or heart-on-sleeve humanitarianism. In doing so, they seem kind of old fashioned, reaffirming that they are now thoroughly outside of the mainstream -- spending well over a decade galloping away from any trace of popularity will inevitably make you an outsider -- but on their own terms, Pearl Jam hasn't sounded as alive or engaging as they do here since at least Vitalogy, if not longer.

best review yet and yeah he is an awesome music critic this review meant a lot to me.

Yeah, i've been watching out for the AMG review. They do a really good job over there. You can always rely on their reviews, actually...

I actually thought they'd give it 4 and a half after they gave Binaural and Riot Act 4...

Sweet, good job...

awesome review! one of the best ive read! along with this one:

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_3766515

Pearl Jam gets its mojo back
By ANDREW RAVENS, Sun Staff

You've read or are probably going to read a lot of reviews about the new Pearl Jam album that assert the latest self-titled effort is the band's best record in 12 years.

It's evolution, baby!

CD review

Pearl Jam is by far the band's best work since 1994's Vitalogy, which featured classic hits "Betterman" and the Grammy Award-winning single "Spin the Black Circle."

Note to Pearl Jam: Make sure you clear February 2007 on the calendar, because you are returning to the Grammys.

Lead singer Eddie Vedder's long locks are also back and so are the intensity, grit and energy that poured out of the band's first record, Ten, which sold nearly 10 million copies in 1991.

The new 13-track album, the band's eighth and first with J Records, gets off to a rocking start with the tightly constructed "Life Wasted," a classic PJ song in the mold of Yield's "Brain of JFK."

"World Wide Suicide," the album's first single, follows and you can bet the song doesn't get many plays on President Bush's iPod. Vedder gnarls about the war in Iraq and even calls out the president for taking soldiers' lives for granted. "Writing checks that others pay," he says of Bush.

Most of Pearl Jam, the band's first album since 2002's Riot Act, is aggressive, loud, punky and full of politics. Vedder hits on the plight of the working class in the groovy "Unemployable," speaks about the war again in "Army Reserve," and love/redemption in the soft "Come Back."

Another kinder, gentler offering is "Parachutes," which is basically band mates Mike McCready and Stone Gossard strumming their guitars to Vedder's beautiful vocals. Internet fan sites have aptly nicknamed the tune "Pearl Jam Covers the Beatles," because it echoes the legendary band's sound to perfection.

It's also great to see the band effectively harmonizing again. "Marker in the Sand," arguably the best song on the record, sports the catchiest chorus since Vedder bellowed, "Can't find a betterman."

Songs from the record already get considerable play on radio and Gossard even admitted in one interview that he thought the sharp tunes would do better commercially. Not that Pearl Jam needs the money. They want to matter again and they have something to say, whether it's about the government, the environment or the economy.

Make no mistake: The best band on the planet is not U2, it's Pearl Jam.

After purposely straying so far from the mainstream, the Seattle rockers have done the unthinkable: created an album with mainstream appeal without compromising their trademark sound.

A great example here is "Severed Hand," a tune Vedder says he's had in his head for the last two or three years. "Hand" starts off slow and then slams into a riff reminiscent of Ten's mosh masterpiece "Porch." It's relentless, pure rock-and-roll at its best. So is "Comatose," a punk-riddled anthem where Vedder literally strangles his voice to get out the angry lyrics. Your car stereo speakers will beg for mercy.

Pearl Jam closes with the 7-minute-long "Inside Job," the first PJ for which song McCready has ever contributed lyrics. Take a bow, Mr. McCready. "Job" is a beautiful number that begins slowly and picks up with an explosive middle your co-workers will hum for months.

Mine have already gotten an earful.

sorry....just saw this article was posted elsewhere

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a fan club member and a massive pearl jam shill. Kat has bumped his member number from what i've heard and seen and also takes it in the naughty place from him....all for favorable reviews.
his reviews are offered at Windows Media player when you click on "review".
Read his review of Yield ....can you say "around the world"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Thomas_Erlewine

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... 5x4msqj~T1

http://www.bargaintix.com/guide/concert ... kets.shtml

Wow... Now thats weird...

Didn't expect that. He must have sold PJ a shit load of albums. Did he review Binaural and Riot Act for AMG? They both got 4/5...

That's quite bad... Inside Job for ya...

I always did enjoy Stephen Thomas Erlewine's album reviews - most of them are very well written and reflect a good bit of understanding of an album that is required of a reviewer.
Although any reviewer is entirely entitled to his or her own opinion on any given album, I can safely say (while casting aside my PJ fandom for a moment) that I can't understand the review of Yield. It just doesn't add up.

Either way, a nice review of PJ - PJ.

he is a very good critic. He always gives a very good explanation of why he likes or dislikes an album without resorting to just insulting the band and their fanbase.

according to him the best pearl jam albums are in this order:
ten, vitalogy and pearl jam, vs and binaural and riot act, no code, yield.

while i definitely don't agree with all his reviews of pearl jam i do find them interesting and they have an argument and point to them that is missing from some crtics work.

never been a big fan of his reviews myself, but not a bad review

AMG is usually pretty good with their reviews. I'm glad to see they liked it.

yeah, but their star ratings are often way outta wack for artists entire catalogs imo

I have to agree with this. I like a lot of that guy's reviews too but he's had his inconsisten moments. Go read his QOTSA reviews and you'll see what I'm talking about.

AMG is the Bible of music guides. Imho, of course.

before i take any of that as gospel, i'd like a little more confirmation than "from what i've heard". i enjoy his reviews and respect what he has to say. he has turned me on to a lot of artists/albums.

welll he went from sitting behind me to sitting in front of me... he wasn't in the same # grouping as the first group at the beginning of the tour ... then all the sudden... he is moved to the first grouping and clocking 1st and second row fan club tickets

thing is, i'm always finding inaccuracies w/ their information. luckily each page has a submit form at the bottom to correct them.

it is an insanely great source of music information, no doubt, but as far as their reviews & rankings go, i don't put much stake in either.

Even when they don't like something I enjoy I like that they usually give pretty good reasons for why they feel the way they do.

I like them a lot as well. My only complaint is the 2 1/2 stars they gave to Yield.