Art: The Arts:
Reviews music
BY Andrew Perry
29 April 2006
The Daily Telegraph
010
English

POP

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

J Records, pounds 12.99

Sneered at by fellow Seattle grungers such as Kurt Cobain for being corporate imposters, Pearl Jam have experienced no such problems convincing the record-buying public of their virtue. Fifteen years and 60 million sales on from their inception, they remain one of the world's biggest rock bands and yet still somehow critically maligned.

The fact is that Pearl Jam have evolved while the critical consensus about them has stood still. Indeed, the thrilling mega-riffed vigour of the opening couple of tracks, especially Life Wasted, might well have been hewn from the same rock as AC/DC. Certainly, the blustery anthemics and smooth corporate grunge of the band's first two albums have long since been scratched from their agenda.

These days, Pearl Jam play tough, emotionally charged rock, which on occasion (Comatose) veers into ferocious punkiness - as singer and lyricist Eddie Vedder has certainly matured far beyond mere angst. Come Back - possibly a lament for his late friend, Johnny Ramone - is a real choker, affectingly written and brilliantly sung with all the bruised soul of Bruce Springsteen. In short, then: a grade-A rock album.

That's really good.

Did you know the Telegraph is supposedly a right wing broadsheet, and to give PJ such a review is unusual. And no mention of Ten / Ticketmaster

Quality review. Looks like someone actually took the time to listen to the album. Notice how its the non-"trendy" mags/newspapers that are lovin the album? unlike so called "trendies" like NME and Q lol. If the album was called "who the f*ck are the Arctic Jammers?" NME would love eet.