Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2022, #1

 #1, EARTHLING

It was late 2021 when we first learned that Eddie Vedder had been working on a solo album.  Our first chance to hear "Earthling" was a song called Long Way, that called back to Tom Petty's sound (hardly a surprise after hearing Ed's cover of Wild Flowers on the 2017 Fan Club Single).  It was nearly Valentine's Day 2022 before it dropped, and, like Ed's two previous albums, it was a shocking departure from both Pearl Jam and his previous albums.

Ed let his influences from Petty, the Beatles, and Springsteen loose, pays tribute to his lost friends, and brings a host of guest stars to the table, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Ringo Star, and even his own, late father, Edward Severson Jr., through a recording passed down to Ed from a friend.  This may have been the truest Ed we've ever gotten even if he shared songwriting credits with his co-collaborators, Andrew Watt and Josh Klinghoffer.

The album was so amazing, we had to break our review into two parts.  Each time we hear from Ed, and Ed alone, we see slight shifts in the music of Pearl Jam, and since Stone Gossard tells us that they may be working on twelve album (possibly with Andrew Watt?), we may be in for some amazing things in the future.