Happy Birthday, Pearl Jam!

Vs. Turns 27

Lightning Bolt Turns 7

Vault #10: Moline, Illinois, 10/17/2014

So late that we thought it wasn't coming, Pearl Jam has announced their Vault Release for the year.  #10 is going to be the October 17th, 2014 show from Moline, Illinois, famous because they played No Code, complete and in order.  The four-record set will include the full setlist, including an improv called Moline.

Members of the Ten Club can pre-order the album now for $55 (plus $16.70 domestic S&H).

Setlist is below.

Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town

Sometimes

Hail, Hail

Who You Are

In My Tree

Smile

Off He Goes

Habit

Red Mosquito

Lukin

Present Tense

Mankind

I'm Open

Around The Bend

Given To Fly

Interstellar Overdrive

Corduroy

Mind Your Manners

Brain Of J.

Infallible

Even Flow

Gone

Garden

Porch

ENCORE 2

Eruption

Alive

Fuckin' Up

Yellow Ledbetter

ENCORE 1

Moline

Bee Girl

Imagine

In Hiding

Lightning Bolt

Do The Evolution

Jeremy

Why Go

Painted Shield - November 27th RSD

Painted Shield announced, this week, that their debut eponymous album will be released in a limited, colored vinyl format for Black Friday's Record Store Day (November 27th).  The album will also include a bonus 7” single, with tracks not on the album.  

They also released a second song from their album, Time Machine.

Deaf Charlie - Something Real / Sitting Around at Home

 

The Ten Club is taking pre-orders for the debut release by Deaf Charlie, a band formed by Jeff Ament and John Wicks (of Fitz and The Tantrums).  Side A is Something Real (from the Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, Volume 2 compilation), and Side B is their cover of the Buzzcocks' Sitting Around At Home, previously released via YouTube.

You can pre-order the 7" vinyl release for $10 (plus $6.25 domestic S&H).

Hyde Park Rescheduled Shows

Overnight, Pearl Jam announced that they will be headlining two shows at BST Hyde Park 2021 on Friday, July 9th, and Saturday, July 10th, featuring Pixies and IDLES consecutively.

If you had tickets to the cancelled Hyde Park shows in 2020, you will get priority access to both 2021 shows.

See the Pearl Jam website for more information about tickets and fan club access.

Get It Back: The TSIS Review

B-sides and one-off tracks are one of the great joys in music.  It’s like being in a Secret Santa pool with some really good gift givers.  You might get a novelty, some shit, or a surprisingly great present you had no idea you needed.  A well-constructed album has a theme, a feel, and a flow.  There is (or should be) a deliberate intentionality behind the songs chosen for inclusion.  Bands can and do write songs that just don’t belong on a record.  That they don’t belong isn’t a comment on their quality or worth.  They could be a brief, fun aside, an interesting point that just happens to be a little too repetitive, or a compelling and insightful digression that you cannot pursue without derailing the larger conversation.  I love Undone, more than just about every other song on the Riot Act album. But its inclusion changes the story that album is telling.  It doesn’t belong, but it is absolutely worth hearing.   And the arrival of a b-side is always appreciated – a nice little snack when you are always hungry and the next meal isn’t coming any time soon.

And so while the recent run of non-album tracks we’ve received from Pearl Jam hasn’t always lit my world on fire, I’m always happy to get them.  Ole is in that glossy pop punk style that is maybe their creative space I like the least.  Can’t Deny Me was a rare near complete misfire.  But I adore their cover of Again Today – one of my most listened to Pearl Jam songs of the past ten years.  With this as background I was happy to shell out $20.20 for a new Pearl Jam song.  It’s for a good cause, and who knows how far away the next album meal is.  Besides, Gigaton is a late career masterpiece that I have more than gotten my money’s worth over.   I have no problem playing 20 bucks for a song at this point. 

I was slightly less excited when I learned that Get it Back was a pure Matt Cameron song – music and lyrics.  I love Matt as a drummer, but I’m not nearly as much a fan of his songwriting as I am of the other members of the band.  And this is, for better or worse, a Matt Cameron song.  Mid-tempo, slightly off-kilter cadence, a droning vocal melody that plateaus more than it rises and falls – locked into the rhythm of the song rather than surprising with its choices (the kind of vocal melody you might expect a drummer to write).  This is absolutely in some people’s wheelhouses, but it generally doesn’t speak to my sensibilities.  

Although the song was written in 2018, it feels like it belongs from the Riot Act or S/T era, filtered through Matt’s Wellwater Conspiracy work. There are shades of Otherside in its autumnal wistfulness, and its tempo - the floating cadence of the verses, and the subdued triumphal grasping of its chorus -remind me in places of Amongst the Waves. It makes me wonder if Matt wrote Let It Ride.  

The verses feature some pleasant, very mildly discordant but still sing songy guitar that doesn’t leave too much of an impression. I’ve listened to this about 10 times, and I still can’t remember it when the song is over.  The accents do remind me a bit of a slightly reedier and electric play on the lush and misty verses of Amongst the Waves.  The chorus transitions into some heavier grunge riffing, but the heaviness feels a bit perfunctory – there to draw a distinction between chorus and verse,  rather than serving its own purpose.

Ed’s performance isn’t helping to elevate the song, either.  He sounds fine, but singing at this pace highlights the elongated vowel affectation that has crept into his later work. The best songs in the last fifteen years find a way to either hide this or channel it through more dynamic and exciting vocal melodies or a wordier approach to the lyrics (consistently to great effect on Gigaton, where Ed is the star of almost every song). The droning approach adopted here does neither.  The lyrics are a bit generic – not worth drawing attention to in their own right, nor are they just there to give Eddie something to sing over a winning melody.  And the lack of dynamic range in his performance means Get It Back feels like it is standing still – there is no real meaningful transition between verse and chorus, which undercuts their power.   Amongst the Waves and Unthought Known both suffer from the same problem, though Amongst the Waves benefits from a much more engaging vocal melody and Unthought Known from a more committed performance.  

As a result the vocal performance and music are locked in with each other (the authorial voice is consistent), but not going anywhere in particular. More dynamic music might benefit from the grounding of a flatter lead vocal, and likewise stolid music might help keep a more engaged vocal honest, but I don’t think they are doing each other any favors here.

The lack of any tension or stakes in the song is compounded by a typical Matt Cameron lyric. The sentiment is a worthwhile one, and a bit tighter than you usually see in his writing. There is some real longing in the lyrics. It’s not hard to see this as a song about processing his grief around the death of Chris Cornell.   They are honest, and heartfelt, but lacking in any striking turns of phrase or insight (compared to say, Comes Then Goes, which has masterful writing).    It would be fine if the music or the performance captured the sadness and longing, but it is a song where every part seems to be holding back while it waits for another element to make the song’s major statement.

The emotional catharsis and comes in at the 2:35 mark through Mike’s extended raw and plaintive solo. It works, and would have been a strong button on a more engaged song, but it almost ends up feeling out of place given the amount of heavy lifting it is being asked to do. It is mourning a different tragedy.  The grief feels unearned here. And there is an unusually clunky fade at the end.

And so Get It Back is the quintessential b-side.  This song wouldn’t fit on Gigaton – it stands still and would feel especially constrained on an album that is spacious and full of movement.  But it’s still new Pearl Jam. Fans of Matt Cameron’s songwriting will almost certainly love it, and there are bound to be elements for any fan to take away, as there is almost any time musicians you love take the time to record together. For me it will be the climax (as was also the case for Ole – Mike McCready is apparently my marginal b-side savior). I’m glad it exists, but as its own moment in time.

Get It Back - NEW SONG!

 

Pearl Jam has announced that they have contributed a new, studio song called "Get It Back" to the Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, Volume 2 compilation with all proceeds benefiting the Voting Rights Lab.  The album will only be available for ONE DAY, AND ONE DAY ONLY, on this Friday, October 2nd, so make sure you stay tuned to Bandcamp and don't forget!

The album will also feature a song, "Something Real" by Deaf Charlie (Jeff Ament and John Wicks) and "Near" by Stone Gossard.  Check out the album here, on Bandcamp.

Backspacer Turns 11

Painted Shield

 

Today, Pearl Jam announced that Stone Gossard has collaborated with former Pearl Jam drummer, Matt Chamberlain, folk singer, Mason Jennings, and Seattle musician, Brittany Davis, to create a group called Painted Shield.  Their self-titled album will be available from Loosegroove Records on November 27th.

You can pre-order (or pre-save) their album on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer or Tiday by visiting their website.

You can listen to their first single, I Am Your Country, below and a video is set to release tomorrow, exclusively on Apple Music.

Read more about the new band from Spin Magazine.

"Cartography" by Eddie Vedder

 

The Sub Pop Singles Club has sent its members a clear vinyl single of Eddie Vedder's song, Cartography, (with a remix by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs' guitarist, Nick Zinner, on the B-side) to their members.

Is there any other way to get this single?  No.  Will you get to hear this song?  Do you know someone who subscribes to the Sub Pop Singles Club?  

In the meantime, keep an eye out for more of Eddie's music from the soundtrack of Return to Mount Kennedy.

Ten Turns 29 / No Code Turns 24

Europe 2021, Plus Two Dates!

In an optimistic move, Pearl Jam has announced new, rescheduled dates for their European Tour and added Holland's Pinkpop Festival and a show in Prague.

Tickets will remain valid for all rescheduled shows. Fans who are unable to attend the rescheduled shows can reach out to their point of purchase for ticket options. Ten Club ticket holders can request a refund from the My Tickets page in their membership accounts.

We look forward to returning to Europe, pending these events can safely take place in Summer 2021. The safety and well-being of the band’s fans, crew and event staff continue to be priority.

The new dates are below.

DATE	CITY	VENUE
June 16	Amsterdam, Holland	Ziggo Dome
June 17	Amsterdam, Holland	Ziggo Dome
June 20	Landgraaf, Holland	Pinkpop Festival
June 23	Berlin, Germany	Waldbuhne
June 26	Imola, Italy	Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari
June 29	Zurich, Switzerland	Hallenstadion
July 1	Werchter, Belgium	Rock Werchter Festival
July 4	Stockholm, Sweden	Lollapalooza Stockholm
July 6	Copenhagen, Denmark	Royal Arena
July 14	Budapest, Hungary	Budapest Arena
July 16	Frankfurt, Germany	Festhalle
July 18	Paris, France	Lollapalooza Paris
July 21	Vienna, Austria	Wiener Stadthalle
July 23	Krakow, Poland	Tauron Arena
July 25	Prague, Czech Republic	O2 Arena

Happy Birthday, Stone Gossard!