I'm looking for something along the lines of "Perfect Sound Forever" the Pavement bio book which is very well researched. Anything good been written about Pearl Jam?

i've been told no but I've never read any, so take that for what's worth

i read five against one by kim neely and none too fragile by some other guy whose name i cant remember, theres some useful information in the first one but there is an obvious bias (the whole middle of the book is an eddie biography) but there were some cool stories from their early years. so it wasnt the greatest, but i think it might still be worth a read. the second one i dont think was worth it at all, it wasnt in depth like the other, and i dont remember hearing anything i didnt already know.

which member would most likely end up writing the band's bio book? or who would have the most literary skills/inclinations?

i'd like for pj a book kind of like mason's inside out story of floyd

i would think stone would, if anyone. i dont know why.

Dave Krusen or Dave A.

place/date is a good biography.

They say a picture's worth...

i can imagine dave a.'s writings:

"and then I came up with this really cool and original beat for a song, and then for the other song i thought i'd use something completely different. i just came up with like a dozen different beats every hour."

I haven't read a PJ biography but I've always thought that if they were to write an authorised one they should call it "Who Answers?"

Is place/ date any good? Are there captions or is the whole thing just pictures? Is it worth the money?

I really like it. There are no captions but there's a section in the back that tells when and where all the photos were taken. The cheapest way to go is to get a used copy of the "paperback" version, which actually has an unusually sturdy cover.

Back when I was young(er) I bought every PJ biography on the market this is the mid-to-late '90's). Take it from me, they're all complete shit. Besides Five Against One, the next even quarter decent one was written by Mick Wall who used to work for Sounds/Kerrang!/Classic Rock but I forget what it was called. The next quarter decent one was by Allan Jones who used to edit Melody Maker. It was a larger format book, but quite thin on words. But he'd used some of his (old) interviews with the band he'd conducted himself for Melody Maker. That one had some nice photos and a great quote from Ed at an awards show dressing room, I think it was, where he called Paul Simon a 'baby bald eagle'. None Too Fragile is a complete hack job. To be honest, you'll learn more from the articles that used to be on Five Horizons, if that page of interviews still exists.

Like I said before, I've not read any of these, but I will say that Alan Jones is an absolute champion imo. He now edits "Uncut" which is the only magazine that I buy religiously now-a-days and read cover-to-cover. His "Stop Me If You've Heard This Before" section in each editions back cover where he brings out 1 page summaries of past interviews he has done is absolute gold.

I second the opinion that Mick Wall's book is utter trash. It was insightful to read a decade ago when I found it on a table in a Tower Records and it was cool to read about his perspective on my first Pearl Jam show in April of 1994, but as a whole, its just like any other biography where the majority of the writing is taken from previous interviews forming an out of focus perspective on the band. Its crap.

Hell, even Axl Rose called out Mick Wall during "Get In Ring," so you know its gotta be shit.

Was the Mick Wall one, the one that had the sort of bluey green cover which seemed to me to be basicly about Jimi Hendrix? Or am I thinking of a different book. It rings a bell. I'm pretty sure I had it but I can't remember which one it was.
I haven't read a good book about Pearl Jam but then I haven't read anything about them since I was probably eighteen. There must be some good ones out there now.

Here's the Mick Wall book:
http://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Jam-Mick-Wa ... 015&sr=1-1

But it looks like there's an import version with the cover that you're describing. I read this book once and I can also confirm that it was crap. I remember it talked about the history of the city of Seattle and the history of the Sub Pop label and all kinds of shit that had almost nothing to do with Pearl Jam.

Really, the only good bio so far is Five Against One and even that one is marginal. Someone sorely needs to write something better and more up to date.

I can't see the version of the one I was talking about but it basicly sounds the same. I vaguely remember the Melody Maker one as well. Funnily enough, probably the one thing that stands out in my mind about that book was the bit where Jeff and Eddie were giving a chat to some fans at the Seattle Gas works and Jeff started talking about his masterbation habits.

There's a couple of versions with a blueish-green photo of the band on the cover, but maybe they're not it:
http://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Jam-Alive-M ... 061&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Jam-Mick-Wa ... 061&sr=1-1

The Mick Wall book I had had a picture of EV on the cover. It was a Ross Halfin shot, I believe. It was taken during the making of the Jeremy video. It has Ed standing there with a smudgy red background. There's loads of photos floating around from the same session. The book was updated a few years ago, I believe. I think the cover was the same though.