Pearl Jam Are Your 2019 Record Store Day Ambassadors!

What does that even mean?  Well, not a whole lot.  Are we getting a really cool Pearl Jam release this April 13th for Record Store Day?  Previous Ambassadors (Run The Jewels, St. Vincent, Metallica, Dave Grohl, Chuck D, and Jack White) have put out RSD releases while serving as Ambassadors, but some have not.

Given that Pearl Jam, as a band, has not regularly released anything on Record Store Day, and that they have a new album in the works that is, by all accounts, nowhere near ready for release, we'd have to guess that if something is coming, it won't be mind blowing.  Have we gotten a little bitter about the lack of great Pearl Jam releases over the past five years? 

Still, don't forget to look for the official list of releases, and enjoy Pearl Jam's official video including Mike McCready record shopping and footage from the band's 2005 in-store performance at Easy Street Records in Seattle.

Pearl Jam March Madness Starts Now!

Our Annual March Madness bracket went live this morning featuring not just all of Pearl Jam's songs, but the definitive live version of all of Pearl Jam's songs.  If you haven't checked out ridleybradout's reissue/sequel to the our original Green Habit compilation, it's time for you to do it, because you need to vote for best Pearl Jam song.  Somehow, it's different every year!

Here's where you can vote.  Round 1 is open now!

Eddie To Be Featured in Soundtrack for Return to Mount Kennedy

Some never-before-heard instrumentals by Eddie Vedder will be featured in the film, Return to Mount Kennedy, which is screen in various locations in the Pacific Northwest.

No word on whether a soundtrack for the film will ever see the light of day, but here is an excerpt about the film and Eddie's contributions from the publisher:

In 1965 Jim Whittaker led Senator Robert Kennedy to the first ascent of a remote mountain in the Yukon named after the late president, JFK. Fifty years later, the sons of the original climbing team—a raucous band manager, a candidate for governor, and a young mountaineer—embark on an expedition to the mountain to celebrate the special bond that connects them all. Featuring unreleased instrumentals by Eddie Vedder and never before seen footage and photos of Robert Kennedy, the feature-length documentary sits at the intersection of politics, human rights, environmentalism and adventure.

Eddie Vedder to Play the Collisioni Festival in Barolo, Italy

Sorry for the late news, but Eddie is headlining the Collisionni Festival in Barolo, Italy on Monday, June 17th.  Tickets are already on sale via Ticketmaster and TicketOne.

Eddie Vedder to Play Firenze Rocks: June 15th

The Ten Club has announced that Eddie Vedder will be headlining Day 3 of the Firenze Rocks festival at the Visarno Arena in Florence, Italy.  The Ten Club will not be conducting a ticket sale for this show.  Tickets go on sale this Tuesday, for more information, download the Firenze Rocks app on iTunes or Google Play.

Eddie Vedder with The Who: July 6 in London

Today, the Ten Club has announced that Eddie Vedder will be supporting The Who at a show at Wembley Stadium in London this summer on July 6th.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, or if you're a member of the Ten Club, you've already gotten an e-mail telling you how to score tickets.

Pearl Jam's #11: Bleak Prospects

Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament recently spoke with Rolling Stone about progress toward Pearl Jam's next album and why we've been waiting longer for this than any other Pearl Jam album.

It seems as though there is little reason that Pearl Jam hasn't released an eleventh studio album.  Jeff points noncommittally to the death of Chris Cornell ...

“It’d be fun to record or even just write a song together,” bassist Jeff Ament says. “I think when Chris [Cornell] passed, that’s really been a tough one to wrap our heads around, and then there’s just life stuff.”

... but ultimately, has no explanation as to why the band hasn't worked together to record an album.

“We’ve gone in, probably, four or five times in the last couple of years, so we have a whole ton of unfinished stuff,” Ament says. “We’re just sort of in a little bit of limbo. I’m sure everybody’s got a bunch more riffs, and I’m sure Ed’s got a handful of journal lyrics. It’s just going to take us all getting into a room together for six weeks and just knocking something out.”

Stone is reassuring that they are still working on an album ...

“We’re going to make a record, and we’re in the middle of it,” the guitarist says. “We’re just going to keep plugging away until we get one done.”

Unfortunately, those are not the words of a band with a passionate message to get out.  Although Stone admits that he enjoyed being able to release "Can't Deny Me," there is little else in the article to tell us that the band is excited about working on this album.  We're either going to be waiting a long time, or we're going to get an album from a bored band, writing and performing out of a sense of obligation.

Neither of those options sound good for the near future of Pearl Jam.

Missoula 2005 CD Now Available

The vinyl Vault Release has started shipping, so you can now purchase Pearl Jam's 2005 Missoula, Montana show on CD ($17) or digital download ($10).

Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2018, #1

Heaven / Hell

We've made no secret throughout the countdown that we've been disappointed with Pearl Jam's output in 2018, so we're going to celebrate the one full album that came out of the band in 2018, Jeff Ament's Heaven/Hell.

Emblazoned with Jeff's own artwork, previous pieces of which he auctioned off this year for charity, the album is full of the kind of hard, experimental, grinding rock that we've come to expect when Jeff heads into his Montana studio.

His first single, Safe in the Car, featured vocals from Angel Olsen, which soften up his own harsh, manipulated vocals, and Pearl Jam bandmates, Matt Cameron and Mike McCready.  It's definitely a song that would have been worth of Pearl Jam, had Pearl Jam recorded more than one song in the past five years.

For the rest of the album, Jeff carries the piano, bass, and guitars, allowing for help only from his Three Fish/RNDM bandmate, Richard Stuverud, on drums.  The result is a fun album (check out The Door and The Voices) with a few weird (Drugs) and boring spots (Are You Truing?), but definitely worth picking up from the Ten Club.  After all, we don't know what the Best Pearl Jam Moments of 2019 will be.  This could be the last "Pearl Jam" material for a while.

Happy New Year!

Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2018, #2

The Home Shows

Pearl Jam has been apprehensive, in recent years, to do shows in their hometown.  Rumors have been that the guest list filled the venue before any paying fans could get in.  Well, Pearl Jam solved that issue by opting to play the largest venue that they could find, Safeco Field.

The band even went one better by using the two shows that they played in Seattle to raise more than $10 million for homeless in the area.  They partnered with thousands of partners to make it easy for fans to give money to their Homelessness fund.  If you were in Seattle and bought chocolate, coffee, beer, wine, or bourbon, ate at a restaurant, shopped on the right day, or stayed in the Edgewater Hotel you put some dollars into the fund.  They released videos and posters to campaign all over the country for donations toward their goal.  You can even review how that worked out with a special, interactive page on their website.

Fans lined up for hours to purchase merchandise then waited in line for hours to be at the front of the crowd.  Then the band dug deep, barely touching their last three albums in favor of their classic jams, even busting out fan favorite covers like Crown of Thorns, Sonic Reducer, and I've Got a Feeling.  Great shows.  Great causes.

Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2018, #3

The Missoula Poster

It's been 16 years since Pearl Jam caused a huge stir among their conservative fan base by resting a George W. Bush mask on a mic stand, so it was about time for Pearl Jam to make some political waves again.  This year, it came in the form of the poster for their show in Missoula, Montana.  The poster, designed by bassist, Jeff Ament, and skateboard artist, Bobbydrawsskullz, featured the word "Vote" and Senator Jon Tester jumping a tractor over a scene of Washington DC on fire and President Donald Trump's skeleton being picked at by a bald eagle.

The poster drew criticism from Republicans and FoxNews as threatening of the President.  The Tester campaign even found themselves needing to distance themselves from the poster:

the campaign doesn't like the poster and doesn't condone violence of any kind. The campaign said earlier in the day it had no involvement with the poster's creation and never saw it, the band's playlist or anything else related to the show before it began.

Ament stood his ground and defended his right to political discourse, issuing the following statement and showing up to his next concert in a shirt with the word "metaphor" on the front.

“The role of the artist is to make people think and feel, and the current administration has us thinking and feeling. I was the sole conceptualist of this poster, and I welcome all interpretations and discourse. "Love, from the First Amendment, Jeff Ament.”

Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2018, #4

The Green River Reissues

2018 marked the 20th anniversary of Yield, but Pearl Jam has long since dropped the ball on releasing super-deluxe boxed sets of their music.  Fans were saved though, because this year saw the reissue of the full Green River catalog.

Come On Down was the first, reissued for the first time since its 1985 release, by Jackpot Records, with a previously unreleased demo of Your Own Best Friend.

Later in the year, after the announcement of a really cool 45 of Green River performing Away in a Manger (paired with the U-Men performing Blue Christmas) for Record Store Day, Sub Pop announced reissues of Dry As a Bone, including Green River’s cuts from the crucial Seattle-scene compilation Deep Six, as well as long-lost songs that were recorded to the now-archaic format Betamax, and Rehab Doll, including a version of Swallow My Pride recorded to 8-track at Endino’s Reciprocal Recording, which features a more accurate depiction of how the band sounded when they played live.  Both were offered as CD, vinyl, or a special edition "Loser" edition with colored vinyl.

It was a quiet year for Pearl Jam fans, but Jeff Ament fans may be overwhelmed.

Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2018, #5

Chicago & Boston

Pearl Jam broke the mold of their U.S. tours this year, by limiting themselves to seven shows in four stadiums.  Two of those were Fenway and Wrigley, locations they hit just two years ago to much success.

The bad seems to thrive among the ocean of fans that fit into a baseball stadium.  They hit local favorites, Waters Deep and Taillights Fade, and super deep cuts like Evil Little Goat.

It doesn't look like we'll be getting another documentary, but we did get a boatload of posters, a couple hundred new trading cards, t-shirts, t-shirts, and t-shirts, and a shocking amount of other baseball-themed merchandise and collectibles.

They were great shows.  Definitely fan and band favorites.  You can get boots of the shows at the Ten Club.

R.I.P. Fan Club Singles 1991-2018

Well, whether you called them Fan Club Singles or Christmas Singles, starting in five days, you will call them no more.  Pearl Jam is officially ending the Fan Club Single program starting in 2019.  They are still promising singles for members who paid in 2017 and 2018, but then the collectible 45s that came out kind of every year, kind of around Christmas will be no more.

Are the band putting their efforts into something else?  Are they breaking up?  We're guessing a "no" to both of those questions, but fans can do little more than speculate at that point.  Enjoy your next two Fan Club Singles, b/c they will officially be the end!

Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2018, #6

Vault #8

If you live in Europe, you might already be enjoying your official Vault release of Missoula 2005.  The show was a fundraiser for Jon Tester's Senate run, so it's release makes a lot of sense since Pearl Jam revisited Missoula this year for that very same reason.

Pre-orders for the vinyl are still available at the Ten Club.  Once they've shipped to US members, we should get a CD set of the show.  Vault releases are always beautifully packaged and sound great.  This one even contains the full show!  Truly deserving of one of this year's most Pearl Jammy moments.