You know, both Seattle papers have not exactly been kind to the boys over the years. Nice to see things change.

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

This Week's Hot Pick: Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is everywhere these days, appearing on "Saturday Night Live" last month, "Late Night With David Letterman" this week and the cover of Billboard magazine, which headlined its story "Pearl Jam Strikes Back."

The Seattle band's new single, "World Wide Suicide," started blowing up in March and recently hit No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock charts. It's one of the group's fastest-rising, highest-charting singles -- a "Do the Evolution" for a post-9/11 world.

After months and months of anticipation about the band's first studio album in nearly four years -- and its first for J Records -- Pearl Jam exceeds expectations with an urgent, powerful collection of explosive rockers.

Pearl Jam has consistently made commanding albums, though some of its more experimental music has missed the mark with fans and critics. There was even a period, following the Roskilde Festival tragedy in 2000, when the band edged precariously toward dissolution.

But the new self-titled album proves Pearl Jam has found its groove again. Eddie Vedder howls with indignation on "World Wide Suicide," an anti-war diatribe (spurred by a news report of an Iraq war casualty) that's among the group's most incendiary songs in years: "Saw his face in a corner picture/ I recognized the name/ Could not stop staring at the face/ I'd never see again."

While Vedder provides the lyrics -- lean, edgy, raw and bristling with urgency -- guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard trade off spectacularly, especially on such songs as "Marker in the Sand" and "Life Wasted," which kicks off the album with the chilling words: "Death came around, forced to hear its song/ And know tomorrow can't be depended on."

With drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Jeff Ament completing the circle, the band sounds like one powerfully beating heart in a strife-filled world. (Gene Stout)

GRADE: A

Thanks for posting.

The seattle PI stands for Post-Intelligencer. Isn't that a funny name for a newspaper? "....yup, just drinking my coffee whilst I read the Post-Intelligencer!!!" sounds like a superheroes paper.

gannett runs a good show.

glad the PI gave the album a good write up...nice to have seattle backing the band, i've still only seen one or two write ups that don't like the album! one was that UK one and not sure where the other one was from

the band sounds like one powerfully beating heart in a strife-filled world.


great line