PEARL JAM PROTESTS, POWERFULLY|
(FOR USE BY NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE CLIENTS)|
|By JOAN ANDERMAN Globe Staff|
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c. 2006 The Boston Globe|
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New Pearl Jam CD is an antiwar call to action
Pearl Jam has spent the last decade answering to powers higher than popular appeal, gloomily waging battles of conscience with Ticketmaster, the marketplace, and their own better judgment as musicians. But there’s a real war going on, and the current state of global affairs trumps the band’s aversion to convention. What the world needs now (among other things) is hard rock - the lean, brawny stuff, scraped clean of ballast, arty oddities, and anti-careerist baggage.
’’Why swim the channel just to get this far?/ Halfway there, why would you turn around?’' Eddie Vedder clamors to know midway through ’’Life Wasted,’' the incendiary call to action that opens ’’Pearl Jam,’' in stores Tuesday. The eighth studio release from the biggest American rock band of the ’90s is a full-blown protest album, and based on the Seattle rockers’ explicit 2002 song ’’Bushleaguer’' as well as its participation in the Vote for Change tour, one might imagine that the disc is full of name-calling and finger pointing.
In fact, there’s little of it. Rather, the whole collection is fueled by outrage and filled with urgency. There’s work to be done, and Pearl Jam - hell-bent on firing us up - is on fire again. From the barbed guitars and restless bashing that kick off ’’Life Wasted’' to the sickly, treated keyboards on the simmering finale ’’Inside Job,’' the sound of the songs is as loaded as the lyrics.
The first five tracks on ’’Pearl Jam’' come fast and furious. Blistering drums and dueling guitars build to a ferocious peak on lead single ’’World Wide Suicide,’' the disc’s most explicit antiwar anthem, as Vedder growls and barks about ’’medals on a wooden mantel next to a handsome face/ that the president took for granted/ writing checks that others pay.’'
Guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard wrestle like animals, all claws and fangs on the punk tune ’’Comatose,’' gunning angry power chords in ’’Severed Hand,’' and spewing equal-opportunity licks to underscore the point of ’’Marker in the Sand,’' where Vedder sings ’’Now you got both sides/ Claiming killing in God’s name/ But God is nowhere to be found, conveniently.’'
The album shifts out of full-frontal assault mode at track six: ’’Parachutes’' is an antiqued acoustic jaunt that would be at home on a Paul McCartney record, and from there the album begins to meander.
Vedder, a surfer, loosens up for a bumpy ride on ’’Big Wave’' and gazes inward on ’’Gone,’' a brooding ballad. ’’Army Reserve’' is a measured elegy to soldiers’ families left behind at home, and the song’s chiming guitars, so evocative of tolling bells, echo still more ominously in the soulful, slow-burning glow of the following tune, ’’Come Back.’'
For all of its visceral power, though, the music on ’’Pearl Jam’' isn’t notable for inspired songwriting. It’s hard to imagine any of these tracks becoming anthems, or cover tunes, or even lodged in anyone’s memory for very long. No matter. Immediacy has its place, especially when tomorrow is looking more and more like a crapshoot. ’’I will not lose my faith,’' Vedder promises in closing, under massive thunderclaps of classic-rock riffage, reclaiming the very notion from fundamentalists everywhere.

This is why Boston is the best city, with the best fans!!!

interesting that this review predicts the album won't age well. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that.

Best part of this review: use of the word 'crapshoot'

beat me to it.

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles ... d_purpose/



my email:

I'd rather be with a...CANNIBAL!

i know. makes sense right?

Like we agree on anything. Someone was bitching about another release opener in one of the tour threads the other day

Yeah I was yawning during Release last night.

anyone who can't appreciate how amazing of an opener (or song in general) Release is, is not a fan or a terrorist, take your pick

but yeah, just cuz you might not agree w/ me on that, i guarantee you if you questioned a ton of hardcore PJ fans, Release will be their answer for the "quintessential" show opener.

almost all of PJ's best shows of all time have opened with it (and a lot closed w/ Indiff)

I have to read a lot of 1930's/40's history and it warms my heart to see that we've replaced communist/socialist with terrorist. That's some real forward progress there. USA! USA! USA!

i thought about fascist, but figured i'd update it a bit

"An epic version of ``Even Flow" brought Vedder to his knees, literally and figuratively, eventually requiring him to exit for a smoke break. That's when McCready stepped in with an exceptionally long guitar solo........."


Good thing Mike was ready when Ed spontaneously gave in to his enthusiasm for Even Flow and had to go smoke as a result of it's sheer brilliance during this show.

http://www.cleveland.com/music/plaindea ... xml&coll=2

Vedder tries hard, but band is dated
Monday, May 22, 2006
Jonah Bayer
Special to The Plain Dealer

Most of us will always associate Pearl Jam with its early '90s video for "Even-Flow," in which frontman Eddie Vedder stage-dives from an imposing ledge into the crowd. But the band that performed Saturday was not that Pearl Jam. Older, slower and often dated-sounding, the band is slowly morphing into the rock dinosaurs it rebelled against in its '90s grunge heyday.

The 15,000 fans at The Q didn't seem to mind. Opening with "Better Man" off 1994's "Vitalogy," Vedder strummed the chords and allowed the crowd to sing the first verse before joining in. Front-loaded with songs from Pearl Jam's new self-titled disc, the set continued with the driving "World Wide Suicide," the garage-y "Life Wasted" and the album standout "Unemployable" before harkening back to favorites such as "Daughter."

Unfortunately, much of the new material seemed like a lackluster attempt to recreate the past, and the band's static stage presence made the laser show welcome. The exception was the engaging Vedder. The politically engaged singer couldn't help inviting the crowd to move to Seattle after criticizing Ohio's role in the last election. Nor was he afraid to declare "Pistons Suck!" after a mention of Detroit drew boos.

The 2½-hour set included two encores, featuring classics (an extended "Alive" that found Vedder on top of a PA speaker), covers (a haphazard rendition of Neil Young's "(Expletive) Up") and a Jim Morrison-esque description of a dream in which the moon, as a metaphor for democracy, vanishes one night. Ironically, Vedder's rant was a better metaphor for that evening's performance: rambling and ultimately unsatisfying despite the frontman's best efforts.

Opener My Morning Jacket warmed up the crowd with an energetic set that featured "Wordless Chorus" and "What a Wonderful Man" off its recent disc, "Z." Combining the Allman Brothers' guitar harmonies with Mercury Rev's dreamy soundscapes, the band's sound translated perfectly to the arena setting.

I don't know if I've ever read a concert review that didn't have some factual errors in it.

I'm not talking about the guy not likeing "Release," that's a matter of opinion and opinions are like assholes.

But ... "Cannibal"? I couldn't even figure out what he might be referring to (though Animal makes the most sense). A few shows ago (I don;t remember which show - IP maybe) the reviewer got obscure song titles correct and then dubbed the song "I'm Alive."

Now, look, I've been a reporter. I know it's hard because you can't know everything about everything, you have to do your best. But doesn't that maybe include double checking with a website or a record to see what the titles of songs are? Don't these newspapers employ copy editors? (Or is that why I couldn;t get a copy editing job after college?)

show reviews often have some problems since they have to get put up so quickly.

who's heard this boot? How fair an assesment is this?