Link: Pearl Jam
The Inside Pulse:
Pearl Jam is growing old fairly gracefully. In fact, you might make the argument that the past was pre-script to this album. Self-titling this one is a very telling move. After how many studio and live albums, the band seems to be saying that this is the disk that defines it. The Tickmaster battle, the “greatest living band” thing, the 97 live double disk sets, the liberal flag waving, the hits and misses — hell, even Binaural leads here, to this perfect iteration/expression of Pearl Jam.
And the band sounds tight. The instruments sound like a unit and the musicians know where the beat is. Only Eddie at his most “surfer/rock star with a brain” tosses you out of the groove, but you should have learned to accept that over the years if you claim to like Pearl Jam. In that sense, this is very much like Tattoo You to the Rolling Stones. Some would call it the Stones’ best, but that band didn’t make its name with that release. Pearl Jam might make fans out of those who missed the first go round, but likely won’t win over those that didn’t buy it the first time.
Positives:
– The band seems almost intentionally to be playing for the fun of it. After too many years of trying to make a statement with every release, Pearl Jam is playing the music that makes the band members bob their heads.
– They aren’t reaching, but the band has tremendous reach. The album comfortably shift tempos and textures from song to song, so the whole doesn’t get tiresome over the course of 13 tracks.
– This is a road tested band and you can imagine every song was nailed in the first take. It’s that loose and that tight at the same time. Even the mopey intro to “Gone” sounds fairly breezy.
Negatives:
– Some times Eddie Vedder is a preacher and that really takes away from the rock and roll experience even if I agree with him.
– This album won’t sneak up on anyone. If you know you don’t like Pearl Jam, sleep well knowing you aren’t missing anything.
Cross-breed:
A looser, more agreeable version of the band that made Vs.
Reason to buy:
If you’ve been waiting for the new Pearl Jam album, or just waiting for Pearl Jam to get out of its own way and rock already, this is exactly what you were waiting for.
