Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Big Day Out Headliner Is ...

... not a band that begins with "P!"  You knew that!  It's Soundgarden!



Pearl Jam Edmonton, Canada 9-23-11

Soundgarden made their thunderous return to the stage this summer with a run of North American tour dates throughout July. It's been fifteen years since they last performed outside of the US. Now, we'd like to announce Soundgarden is headlining the 20th Anniversary of the Big Day Out Festival in New Zealand and Australia. Soundgarden played their first BIG DAY OUT in 1994 – the year Superunknown was released. In 1997, they returned for an encore. 2012 will bring the group’s long-awaited return down under.




1/20/12 - Auckland, NZ
1/22/12 - Gold Coast, AUS
1/26/12 - Sydney, AUS
1/29/12 - Melbourne, AUS
2/3/12 - Adelaide, AUS
2/5/12 - Perth, AUS


For more information visit SoundgardenWorld.

A Guided Tour of Riot Act: I Am Mine




(A Guided Tour of Riot Act)

I AM MINE


I Am Mine is, in my estimation, one of Pearl Jam’s most important songs—one of their ‘mission statement’ pieces that really encapsulates what the band is about, the dogged, stubborn hope that is at the core of their best music. It’s the relative absence of that hope on Riot Act that makes it such a challenging (and perhaps ultimately unsuccessful) record.



I am Mine IS a hopeful song, the most important ray of tarnished light in an otherwise dim and shadowy collection of songs, especially given the way it ends. Musically the song is introspective (especially the way the keys anchor the song) but it’s questing, rather than wondering. The song is trying to recover, rather than discover, the truth of the singer’s existence. As such there is an edge to it, a sturdy confidence underneath a fragile veneer. This is, I think, the musical highlight of the album. No other song on this record is quite as rich, has quite as much depth, or is as powerful musically, as I Am Mine.


Vocally I think this is also the strongest moment on the record. Again Eddie seems withdrawn and self-centered, rather than expansive, but in this song he sounds like he’s advancing, rather than retreating—ascending out of the darkness instead of descending from the light. The song isn’t exactly a call to arms, at least, not until the very end. Instead it is about marshalling the strength needed to fight the battle to come. I am Mine is the journey someone needs to take in order to defend the convictions advanced in Love Boat Captain.


Lyrically I Am Mine is a mixed bag, with some lyrics that come across as weightier than they really are alongside some quite excellent writing. The song beginss with the singer taking stock of the world around him, and the people inhabiting it. What is most striking about the first two verses is the sense of powerlessness and insignificance that characterizes people’s lives. There is no agency here, no sense that we can control, or even understand, the lives we’re forced to live. You can read the senseless tragedy of Rosklide into this, or the paralysis any decent citizen had to have felt under Bush, but in either way we face a world too big, too impersonal, and seemingly without justice or meaning (the first two lyrics of the second verse try, unsuccessfully I think, to convey this) for us to master, and too often we find that in the face of our own insignificance the best we can do is surrender and hope for mercy (and maybe privilege). This is the meaning of the first two sets of line (the selfish, they’re all standing in line/faithing and hoping to buy themselves time). They’re selfish, but it is a selfish born of powerlessness, the result of being forced to live in a world where, to paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt, we have to hope for privilege because we cannot count on justice. The third verse only ratchets up the tension, our sense of powerlessness and isolation, in language far more powerful than the first two verses. The ocean is full because everyone’s crying, and yet in our misery we turn away from each other rather than towards each other, and our isolation is what traps us—in a world in which solidarity is impossible justice is impossible, and our lives will remain lonely and incomplete.


So I Am Mine, like all of PJ’s best music, is about trying to build that solidarity. And, as always, that fight begins inside the self. We begin by mastering ourselves, our own sense of insignificance and our own fears of both our powerlessness AND our power—that by declaring ourselves willing to fight, willing to resist, taking responsibility for our own lives, we have the chance to rebuild the world, to begin again. We don’t need the certainty of victory—the meaning comes from the struggle. These are the ideas that Eddie concludes each verse with (As each breath goes by I only own my mind, I only know my mind, I know I was born and I know that I’ll die, the in-between is mine). The one thing that can never be taken away from us is our sense of self, and that is a powerful base from which we can begin to rebuild a new and better world provided we embrace it, since we can only really begin to love one another, and through that love heal the world we live in, when we first come to know and love ourselves.


This plays itself out through the magnificently written chorus, with its subtle shifts in meaning and allusions to Rosklide, 9-11, or whatever personal tragedy the listener needs to invest the song with to find meaning. In the face of tragedy it is easy to lose the self-confidence, the connections to other human beings, that give our life substance and direction. While our world collapses around us I Am Mine urges us to look behind our eyes, deep into ourselves, to find the strength we need to endure. It implores us that there is no need to hide, that we’re safe, that we are in control, as long as we can tap that strength.


As the song approaches its climax Eddie tries to bring I Am Mine back down into the murk that so much of the rest of the record inhabits, but it he does so only so he can dismiss it—that we will endure in the face of the lying, the lost innocence, that we steadfastly will refuse to let Bush, to let the world, break what is most valuable, most precious, most human within us. We may need to hide, but we don’t have to, we don’t need to, as long as we cling to ourselves, and through ourselves, each other.


And I Am Mine ends with a gloriously cathartic release, one of the most powerful musical moments in their catalogue with Mike’s gorgeous solo rising out of the shadows and dust reaching towards the promise of that distant, better world.


The band could have built off of this. If they chose to end with I Am Mine instead of All or None the record saves itself—it meets the political, social, and existential crisis of Bush’s America and triumphs over it. Had they gone on to include Down and Undone after I Am Mine it redeems the optimistic potential interpretations of so many of the other songs on the record. But those songs weren’t included because they didn’t fit the ‘feel’ of the record, and this isn’t a musical fit they were concerned about. Down and Undone work perfectly well in that regard. The problem is thematic. They are rays of light and hope in a record that turns away from them—they represent a faith that the songs cling to, but no longer believe. I Am Mine is all the more poignant for its failure—it strives for so much, and cannot ultimately get there.


OTHER SONGS IN THIS SERIES:
Can't Keep
Save You
Love Boat Captain
Cropduster
Ghost
I Am Mine
Thumbing My Way
You Are
Get Right
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleaguer
1/2 Full
Arc
All Or None


OTHER GUIDED TOUR SERIES:
Vs.
Vitalogy
Binaural
Backspacer

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Blue Manatee by Jack Irons



Jack Irons' new EP, Blue Manatee, is now available at the Ten Club ($8 domestic/$12.50 international) and on iTunes ($4.95).  It's recommended for background music while reading Pearl Jam Twenty, chapters 1995-Yield.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Josie C's Shirt Now Available at Ten Club


Pearl Jam - 09.14.11 - Ottawa, Canada

Upon viewing the above picture by Karen Loria from the Ottawa show earlier this month, @thesky_iscrape famously tweeted:
@pearljam Can we get this on a t-shirt? http://t.co/DYpDhg1H
... and, of course, given our mighty, mighty power among the Pearl Jam Nation, Pearl Jam has listened.  Now you can head to the Goods section at PearlJam.com and pick yourself up a shirt designed by Matt's daughter, Josie, in men's, women's, and kids' sizes.




Now, it's time to open up our mighty power for good.  What other products would you like to see Pearl Jam create?  We made it happen once.  We'll make it happen again.  I'm not just harnessing some coincidence to make our website look more powerful than it really is.  Drop us a tweet at @thesky_iscrape!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

All That's Sacred, Episode #82

All That's Sacred, Episode #82 is now available.


Having fully digested the PJ20 book, movie, and soundtrack, I'm feeling pretty nostalgic as I look forward to Vancouver tonight. No more reason needed to fire up the microphone and bring you ATS #82. Hope you enjoy it and hope you are enjoying this 20 year celebration as much as I am.

Cheers! Donny 

September 25: Pearl Jam in Vancouver

Friday, September 23, 2011

Check Your Mailbox! (2010 Edition)

It appears as though the 2010 Christmas Fan Club Single has begun to arrive in mailboxes.  


Picture credit: PJCollectors.com
Hidden within this dynamite packaging are recordings of a drastically reworked version of Jeremy entitled No Jeremy and one time improv, Falling Down, from Pearl Jam's June 20, 1995 show at Red Rocks in Colorado.

Dogfish Head Beer Introduces Faithfull Ale

Those of you who previously enjoyed Loser Pale Ale, will be excited to learn that Dogfish Head Brewery, who has previously worked with Sony Legacy to create Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, has now received label approval for Faithfull Ale, a beer created to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Pearl Jam.
Faithfull Ale is a celebration of Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary and their seminal album Ten – In recognition of these milestones this Belgian-style golden ale is delicately hopped to 20 IBUs and fruit-forward from 10 incremental additions of black currants over the course of the one hour boil. 7% ABV.
Look for 750mL bottles at your local retail outlet!

September 23: Pearl Jam in Edmonton

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Pearl Jam to Cover Pink Floyd on Jimmy Fallon

Pearl Jam Montreal, Canada  9-7-2011

We had heard that Pearl Jam performed a cover of Pink Floyd's Mother (after Olé and All Nightat NBC Studios, but when it didn't air, we kind of wondered if the setlist relayers weren't losing their minds.


Well, they've been redeemed.  Pearl Jam's performance of Mother will air on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Friday, September 30th as part of Jimmy Fallon's weeklong tribute to Pink Floyd.

Karaoke with Mike at the Crocodile

Pearl Jam - 09.12.11 - Toronto, Canada

Thursday, October 6th, you can have a chance to Karaoke with Mike McCready.  At 25 bucks for a chance, that's a sweet deal!

After a very successful first edition of Live Rock Karaoke featuring Chris Friel Orchestra last spring supporting CCFA Team Challenge, they decided to do it again! On Thursday, October 6th CCFA Team Challenge NW is hosting the 2nd edition and unique charity concert with the Chris Friel Orchestra featuring Pearl Jam's Mike McCready. Twelve lucky and ambitious individuals who purchase a $25 ticket will be chosen at random to sing one song with the band. Singers will be able to choose from a list of songs provided by the Chris Friel Orchestra. Supporters who prefer to keep their singing voice in the shower can buy a $10 general admission ticket to attend this special event.


EVENT DETAILS
Thursday, October 6th at The Crocodile
Doors open at 8pm - 21+
$10 ticket price
$25 for a chance to sing with the band

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Guided Tour of Riot Act: Ghost

GHOST   

Ghost was the latest in a long line of Pearl Jam’s ‘departure’ songs—musical escapes about escape. Normally these are combative, uplifting songs. The act of fleeing is a moment of triumph, a chance to leave the emptiness, violence, confusion, and darkness behind you. Ghost is different, reflected in the music, the lyrics, and the vocals.

Musically, these escape songs usually have a hard driving rhythm to it. RVM has a propulsive force, Given to Fly soars, and MFC actually sounds like someone gunning an engine, a prelude to an upcoming freedom. Ghost sounds like an engine dying—it’s giving everything it can but it can’t quite climb the impossibly steep hill in front of it. It knows it has to keep trying but as it tries it grows less and less confident that it is going to make it. Ghost is the sound of freedom grinding to a halt. Even the solos (one of the highlights on the record for me) sounds less like a vehicle taking off and more like one spinning its wheels in the mud, inflicting engine damage but afraid to stop (listen for the music coming out of the musical bridge especially). Eddie’s typical Riot Act vocals add to the effect. This is the sound of someone exhausted from all the running, utterly lacking confidence that he can escape what he is running from, or that he can get somewhere safe. What he flees is simply too big, too expansive, so much more powerful than him.

Lyrically this is certainly one of the darkest songs in PJ’s catalogue, if not the darkest. The imagery consists of image after image of something giving up, fading away, losing hope. The title Ghost is aptly chosen in that regard, and the first image in the song ‘the mind is gray’ captures the bleakness of it all. This is more than just an internal battle though. He’s responding to external forces (the city, the news, larger social forces) as much as he is to anything personal or internal. The world around him is losing its vibrancy, its color—fading to gray (rather than black—there is no destruction here, instead Ghost is a song about enervation, a rapidly shrinking vitality). He looks for love to pull him through (love of self, love of others, love of society or humanity writ large) and despite the assertions in Love Boat Captain it is of little use here. It’s too far gone—and while he works for it, digs for it, at the end of the day he’s stuck in his hole alone. At this point he is willing to give up, to accept the false peace that comes from hiding (a strong departure from the message of the vast majority of their catalogue) but even this is something he’s not like to find (one can never hold).

The chorus plays off of the tension between these hopes and these failures. He declares that he’s going to escape, and references RVM and Given To Fly (driving, flying), and looks to find something new, something he’s missed before, something to hold on to and be his lodestone as he tries and find his way out. But again, the vocals give away the conclusion of the song. He is trying to convince himself but he no longer believes.

The second verse reminds us that the isolation is much larger than just some kind of inner self-torture. The TV and the larger institutions that keep us in touch with one another and the world, have betrayed him. The 9-11 connection (and Bush’s response to it) is all over this. The constant drumbeat from the TV is one of suspicion and doubt. Anyone could be a terrorist. No one can be trusted. We are forced to live in fear. People can learn to live with fear, but primarily through solidarity and engagement—by being willing to share that fear with others and confront it together. But if you remember Bush’s post 9-11 message he told us the opposite. We were a nation shocked out of complacency, that was prepared to challenge its old order, to begin to believe in something larger than itself, and to reach out to its fellow citizens in a declaration of solidarity. Instead Bush told us that our greatest contribution to the war on terror was to be suspicious of everyone, to go to the mall (the primary duty of the citizen is his continued participation in the American economy) and leave everything to him. Rather than confront the destruction of our old world view as agents in solidarity with one another we were told by our leadership to retreat into each other, to be afraid, and to shop—to be passive consumers instead of active citizens. We built walls around ourselves to keep the bad things out and look to that new TV, that new computer, that new outfit, that new soap (the sentiment is a good one even if the lyrical choice was poor). We confront our terrifying new world as isolated, confused, adolescents. Not a particularly empowering place to be, and the singer feels it—we’re overloaded with news of events we’re powerless to affect, to weak and insignificant to do anything other than be conscious of our own lack of agency.

The climax of the song tries to put a brave face on this powerlessness. He flees, but doesn’t expect to get anywhere. He leaves his old world, his old friends behind, and claims he won’t miss them, but he doesn’t mean it (compare that line, for example, to the climax of RVM). He claims he’s not in any pain, but then immediately retracts it. The psychological torment, the sense of isolation (the worst feeling in the world for someone who equates freedom with love) is killing him. He takes a brave final stand (bring it on cuz I’m no victim—a line that references both President Bush’s call to Al Quadea to ‘bring it on’ as well as a refusal to allow the events of 9-11 to define him) and prepares to face his uncertain future on his own terms, but his will gives out, almost immediately. The final escape of the song is not found in his freedom, but his spiritual death, as he finds himself dying away as his world, his life, his potential, and his self gray out, fade away, becomes a ghost.     





OTHER SONGS IN THIS SERIES:
Can't Keep
Save You
Love Boat Captain
Cropduster
Ghost
I Am Mine
Thumbing My Way
You Are
Get Right
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleaguer
1/2 Full
Arc
All Or None


OTHER GUIDED TOUR SERIES:
Vs.
Vitalogy
Binaural
Backspacer

"Halfway," You Say?

Pearl Jam - 09.14.11 - Ottawa, Canada


Jeff first mentioned work on Pearl Jam's tenth album on January 19th, 2011 in an interview with Rolling Stone.  Today, Jeff tells Rolling Stone that Pearl Jam is official "halfway" through the next album.  It is with great confidence, that today, TheSkyIScrape.com predicts the release date of Pearl Jam's tenth album to be ...

... TUESDAY, MAY 22ND, 2012

September 21: Pearl Jam in Calgary

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Given To Cast, 9/23/2011

A couple of days early ...


The 9/23/2011 episode of Given To Cast is now available for public consumption.
In honor of the release of PEARL JAM TWENTY today, I have come out with a new podcast. A lot of great music including some songs from the PJ20 Soundtrack and some songs from Night II of the PJ20 Weekend. Enjoy!!!

Happy Pearl Jam Twenty Day!

News and reviews have been rolling in for over a week.  It's more than your average blogger with a day job can keep up with.  Still, I try ...


Photo credit: TwoFeetThick

Here are the highlights of the day.

You can also get daily updates on all things PJ20 through the end of the month at our PJ20 Page.

It's Coming ...

... October 24th, 2011.


The PJ20 Deluxe Blu-Ray
Pre-Order now at the Ten Club!
  • DISC ONE FULL-LENGTH VERSION OF "PEARL JAM TWENTY" ALONG WITH BONUS FOOTAGE
  • DISC TWO "THE KIDS ARE TWENTY" VERSION OF THE FILM AND BONUS FOOTAGE 
  • DISC THREE- "THE FANS ARE ALRIGHT" OVER 90 MINUTES OF EXTRAS FOCUSING ON THE FANS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BAND

Twenty Days of Pearl Jam (Repost)

Now that the Twenty Days of Pearl Jam are complete with today's addition from TwoFeetThick, I thought we'd revisit the list and get fans pumped for their screenings.  




1. Better Man (Madison Square Garden - New York, NY 5/21/2010 - Video)
2. PJ20 Weekend: Behind the Scenes with Live Nation
3. Unveiling the Soundtrack packaging
4. PJ20 Daughter Teaser
5. PJ20 Weekend Recap
6. Spotify premieres an exclusive stream of Blood, from the PJ20 Soundtrack, and also a Bonus Bootleg
7. Thrillist offers you a chance to win an iPod loaded with the entire Pearl Jam catalogue and a pair of tickets to see PJ20 in theaters
8. Rolling Stone Exclusive: Read and Excerpt from Pearl Jam Twenty
9. Come Together: A Pearl Jam Twenty Preview
10. Exclusive clip of Pearl Jam Twenty from NME
11. MSN.ca Releases Exclusive "Blood" Clip
12. Stream the Entire PJ20 Soundtrack
13. Thumbing My Way at Chop Suey
14. Tune into All Encompassing Trip on SiriusXM for an exclusive clip of Nothing As It Seems
15. Relix presents The Pearl Jam Family Tree
16. Yahoo Hosts Blood from Auckland, 1995
17. Pearl Jam Fandom: A Statistical Analysis
18. Toronto Press Conference Highlights
19. Do The Evolution from the Monkeywrench Radio Sessions
20. PJ20 Soundtrack Deep Dive: Map and Timeline

Friday, September 16, 2011

Tune Into NPR For More PJ20

Photo credit: Jessica Letkemann
This weekend on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday (check your local listings) ... well, they describe it better than I could.
... there is a reason to believe in the band, or at least in one band that started with an utterly crappy prognosis 20 years ago — Pearl Jam. On Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon will talk with director Cameron Crowe and his fellow executive producer (and longtime Pearl Jam manager) Kelly Curtis about PJ20, the new documentary that, along with a soundtrack packed with rarities and a lush coffee table book, fetes alternative rock's most best working argument for being in a bad — not for hipster cred or intermittent chart success, but for the sheer bloody, ragged, glorious hell of it.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Best Pearl Jam Songs of All Time

Pearl Jam Toronto, Canada  9-11-2011
Photo credit: Karen Loria
Rolling Stone Readers have voted on their choices for the top ten Pearl Jam songs of all time.
Pearl Jam have spent the past few months looking back at their 20-year career, so it seemed like a good time to ask our readers about their favorite songs by the band. Turns out you guys really dig their first three albums. Only one song in our top 10 here was released after 1994's Vitalogy – and that came out just four years later on Yield.
What made the cut?


1. Black
2. Alive
3. Yellow Ledbetter
4. Jeremy
5. Given To Fly
6. Rearviewmirror
7. Even Flow
8. State of Love and Trust
9. Better Man
10. Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town

It's Official: The Pearl Jam Twenty Book is Awesome!


Sorry that this is a day late, but those of you who are checking our PJ20 News Page or TwoFeetThick got the reminder that yesterday was Book Day, and frankly, I was a little busy ready to post stuff.  At any rate, don't miss the interview with Jonathan Cohen at TheUncool.com.  Part 2 comes tomorrow.

September 14: Pearl Jam in Ottawa

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

A Guided Tour of Riot Act: Cropduster

CROPDUSTER


Cropduster is a jaunty little song about our insignificance. If the first 3 songs on Riot Act are about recapturing a feeling of personal agency, Cropduster (a song clearly inspired by Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael series) is a song about embracing our lack of agency. Eddie tries to be casual about it, even revels in it, but in the end this is a song of defeatism, a rationalization away of our own power, and not something to be taken lightly, let alone celebrated.

The song starts with some generic ‘cycle of life’ imagery notable for two things. The vocal melody is really quite nice, even if the actual performance isn’t that moving, and the obsession with death. Rather than emphasize the moment of rebirth the particular lyrics outside of the cycle (every life is falling down/dies to be part of the ground) highlight endings. Even the lyric about returning to life is immediately tempered by the reality of its impending death. A life affirming song this is not. The next verse is no less pessimistic—every life faces death and there is an inevitability in it. At best we can hope that the future may look better than this—maybe something better than who and what we are will grow out of our rot. Again the possibility of something better is there, but it is almost academic at this point. It is hard to believe that he means it

Certainly the pre-chorus and chorus celebrate this. We practice at living lives that make a difference, we practice at exerting some control over our lives, but almost everything is contingent. Our agency is an illusion and we’re at the mercy of larger structural forces and arbitrary power we did not consent to. This is what shapes our world. We are the object, rather than the subject of the system, characters in a story authored by someone else.

The second verse is likely a reminder of this, a veiled (not so thinly in the context of the record) shot at Bush and co (talking to Bush Sr (dad) perhaps?), reminding them that the world is too big for them to simply rearrange to their liking by fiat. He is asking Bush to recognize his own comparative insignificance so that he might do less harm. The consequences of losing sight of our own powerlessness are severe, and not easily undone (this aint’ no book you can close…). A useful message, but one that comes from a place of defeat.

Eddie is, without realizing it, echoing the message of the great social Darwinists from the late 19th century who argued that there is no place for human agency in society and so any attempt to intervene, to challenge the laws of nature, lead to social wrack and ruin. This was an arch-conservative philosophy designed to legitimate doing nothing to challenge the presence of poverty and human misery. The point of Pearl Jam’s music (and Eddie’s left politics in general) is to assert agency, to force the laws of nature and the laws of the market to submit to the needs of man, and not the other way around. A sense of limits is no doubt healthy (re: Bush and Iraq or the environment) but pushing this too far leads to the powerlessness and defeatism that infuses Riot Act. The problem is not necessarily Bush’s ambition or sense of mastery. The problem is that his program was so terrible. Democracy by gunpoint—bad idea. But fighting aids in Africa, hunger at home, preventing hurricanes and aiding their victims—these are good things and either we’re powerless to do anything or we have to recognize that we DO have power over our environment and these larger social forces (at least some) and then the battle involves making sure that we pick the right causes, fight the right fights. Human beings have the potential to do great harm AND great good—and we must not surrender the possibilities of the later in the face of the former. An earlier (and later) Pearl Jam would have recognized this and reflected it in the song, but this was not the space the band was in during 2002. Riot Act remains an ironic title precisely because of the bands refusal to read it.

The song ends on a potentially uplifting note—a reminder that as long as the cycle continues (as long as the moon keeps rolling there's an upside of down) we have the chance to begin again, and these are some of the most animated vocals on the entire record. Riot Act is full of these little moments, but rather than govern the songs they remain asides, and certainly Ghost does not pick up on that potential.





OTHER SONGS IN THIS SERIES:

Can't Keep
Save You
Love Boat Captain
Cropduster
Ghost

I Am Mine
Thumbing My Way
You Are
Get Right
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleaguer
1/2 Full
Arc
All Or None


OTHER GUIDED TOUR SERIES:
Vs.
Vitalogy
Binaural
Backspacer

PJ20 Items Available at Ames Bros.

Ames Bros. is making a few PJ20 Items available to anyone, regardless of whether you made the trek to Wisconsin or not.  If you missed out and want to make good, now's your chance.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Stream the Entire PJ20 Soundtrack



Sorry if you're getting post-overload this morning, but you can now stream the entire PJ20 Soundtrack at RollingStone.com.  

Given To Cast, PJ20: Part 1

Photo Credit: Anna Knowlden
The latest version of Given To Cast is now available for public consumption.
The PJ20 Edition Part 1 is up and ready for your listening pleasure... Great music and shout outs from some of my friends, including Tim from The Ten Club, Jessica from TwoFeetThick.com, the coolest guys in the world, Travis and Chris from Virginia, Daniel and Brian from Texas, Tom from Philly and more...

September 12: Pearl Jam in Toronto

Friday, September 9, 2011

A Film You Simply Don't Want To End

The first review of Pearl Jam Twenty from the Toronto International Film Festival is in.



James Marsh of TwitchFilm.com has the first review of PJ20 to cross my RSS Feed, and friends, I like where this is going.
For a band whose outspoken attitude towards the industry has ruffled plenty of feathers over the years, the band members come across as open, honest and surprisingly humble. You will believe that these guys, now well into their 40s, can take or leave their success at any time, provided they still have their instruments and are allowed the opportunity to play. Not that you would want them to quit. PEARL JAM TWENTY is a film you simply don't want to end, a film that has cherry picked the finest live renditions of so many excellent songs and edited them together into a sublime celebration of rock music done right. PEARL JAM TWENTY treats you to many of their very best performances (and even a few of their worst just for good measure). If Pearl Jam were never to play another note Crowe's film would serve as the perfect eulogy to a band that seems more important than ever. More than anything, however, PEARL JAM TWENTY will send you racing home to crank "Ten" up as loud as it will go and thrash the night away, wishing you were young again and still had hair down to your nipples.

All Night (Roots on Backing Vocals)

Yeah, that's right.  Pearl Jam's performance on tonight's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will rip your face off.



Video from Jimmy Fallon and a Free Download of Olé

I really don't know which video with which to lead.  What's more important?  The debut of a new Pearl Jam song (Olé) or Eddie on stage with Jimmy Fallon singing Balls in Your Mouth?  Whichever I choose, I'll be wrong.




Oh, and did I mention that you can download your own copy of Olé by Pearl Jam?  All and all, it's enough to make you wish you'd stayed up until 1am.

September 9: Pearl Jam in NYC


Set your DVRs ... again.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

New Song: Olé

Pearl Jam released a new song last night (Ole). You can snag a studio version off of pearljam.com, or watch a live performance on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon website. It’s hard for me to get a handle on this. It clearly comes from the strand of Pearl Jam that produces songs like Leatherman, all night, hitchhiker, big wave, you, green disease, and supersonic—that glossy hyper kinetic pop/punk stuff that I personally don’t care much for , although musically there are some nicer slightly more dark/menacing undertones that makes the music catchy without feeling cheap.

Musically it flutters along at a fast little clip—there is something sharp and blunt about it at the same time, like someone is trying to slash you to ribbons but they only have a butter knife. The last minute of the song is the highlight, with Mike using his solo to dig under your skin while Stone reprises that dirty bridge from Johnny Guitar. The last 30 seconds is dominated by the vocals so it’s hard to get a read on the music.

Eddie continues to play with the fast melodies he used in Got Some and Johnny Guitar. He sounds fine, with the sort of poppy vocal choices he makes in a song like Supersonic but with a bit more…not quite urgency---bewildered energy. Much more prominent backing vocals than we usually get. They’re nothing special during the verses but the last 30 seconds when they’re all yelling over each other (I have no idea what they’re saying) in that clipped, impatient way is pretty cool.

Lyrically this seems to be (this is just speculation based on what I can make out) a song about laughing in the face of death and absurdity. Some of the lines in here are decent, and they can get by with being a bit simplistic and lightweight since that’s kind of the point (although it would be a better song with better lyrics), but the Ole’ exclamation point is all over the verses, and so you can’t isolate or ignore it. If you think it’s sassy or whimsical or irreverent you’ll like the song. Unfortunately for me it’s a bit grating.

The last minute of the song I like quite a bit—the vocal interchange especially. That’s new for them and they do it well. But the rest of the song is in that power pop style I don't much care for, and the constant oles in the verses keep taking me out of the song before it can build any momentum.

It was speculated by RM user Spike that the Ole stuff might be so prominent for its sing along potential on the South American tour. Interesting thought?

Does this give us a sneak preview of the new record? I’d be surprised if this song makes it on, both because of its disposable feeling and because this seems like an odd way to release new material. I suspect this was just a random track they knocked out for fun while they were recording. Imagine if the first song you heard from Yield was Leatherman or Hitchhiker from Binaural. Still, this does gives us a sense of the sound of their next record—and it sounds like someone took some sandpaper to the shine on Backspacer, making it just a little scratchier without sacrificing the brightness. That part bodes well.

The performance on Jimmy Fallon was a solid rendition of the song—a little less poppy since live pearl jam always that extra grit. If you liked the studio version you’ll like the live version. If you don’t’ like the studio version you might still like the live version. They really commit to the song.

Of course the real hit here was Eddie’s duet with Jimmy Fallon: ‘Balls in Your Mouth’ That was an emotional tour de force that really rammed home the human tragedy of the Gulf Oil Spill, explained the social, political, and economic ramifications of the spill, criticized the political response, laid down the gauntlet for future generations, and did it all without being preachy or pedantic.

One More Peek at the Pearl Jam Twenty Book



There is now less than a week before you get your hands on Pearl Jam Twenty the book.  If you live in Europe, you might already have it on your bookshelf.  If you're following the Twenty Days of Pearl Jam, you already know that Rolling Stone has posted an excerpt from the Riot Act chapter.

If that is still not enough, you can swing by iTunes and download a 35 page sample for free (you have to have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad).  It contains Cameron Crowe's forward, introductions of each band member, and the first chapter.  You can't beat the price!

If you're the type who needs the smell of a new book and a nice crackling sound as you break it open for the first time ... I'll see you on Tuesday!

September 8: Pearl Jam in NYC



Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A Guided Tour of Riot Act: Love Boat Captain






LOVE BOAT CAPTAIN


The early songs of Riot Act are all governed by the same basic tension—they each contain the same affirmation of life and agency that animates Pearl Jam’s best music, but it sounds like Eddie has lost his faith in the truth of that affirmation. He’s not signing to convince the listener. Instead he’s mulling it over himself, uncertain about whether or not it is still true. In a post bush, post 9-11, post Rosklide, post divorce world how much control over our lives and ourselves, despite our best intentions and best efforts, do we really have?

LBC confronts this question directly. Is this all insurmountable? It is easy to drown in our suffering and misery without someone to guide us through it, without some kind of love to hold on to. Love in fact, is all you need (a weak line but then again I don’t like the Beatles), the most powerful source of meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. And, as usual, this doesn’t have to be romantic love. The love that comes from friendship and solidarity can be just as vital here. And LBC is an offer of love and friendship from the band to its fans (this comes across effectively live, in part because the burdens of real life disappear during the shared experience of the music). Perspective matters here. It is easy to lose hope when you are trapped in a dark place, and it is important that we look to others to remind us of the existence of light and love—especially those who have experienced it and come through it. Eddie has the people he leans on, and in the bridge he both thanks them and offers to be that person to the listener—finally confident enough that he is prepared to play the role in others lives that his musical heroes played in his own.

At least this is the hope of the song. The opening organ gives what should be an inspirational song a funeral base, and while the music does rise above those darker beginnings, the vocals never quite match it, and the song ends in the same quiet place it began, with Eddie trying to convince himself that love is enough. Eddie has made his grand declaration, but somehow the words never quite leave the ground. The sentiment is there, and he knows that intellectually it is true, but he doesn’t quite believe it anymore, or can’t quite make himself believe it. And so once again, the declaration of war, the call to arms asserted by the title, is overwhelmed by experience, a tension that will reappear again and again throughout the rest of the album—in fact, it is the dominant theme of the record, and is the reason why Undone and Down, despite being some of the best songs to come out of these sessions, ultimately can’t be on Riot Act (more on this later).





OTHER SONGS IN THIS SERIES:
Can't Keep
Save You
Love Boat Captain
Cropduster
Ghost
I Am Mine
Thumbing My Way
You Are
Get Right
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleaguer
1/2 Full
Arc
All Or None


OTHER GUIDED TOUR SERIES:
Vs.
Vitalogy
Binaural
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