Link: Pearl Jam’s Homepage.
The Inside Pulse: Of all the bands that exploded into the national consciousness via the Seattle scene, just about the only one left standing is Pearl Jam. By eschewing the normal trappings of rock and roll stardom, they managed to avoid the pitfalls that befell their Pacific Northwest brethren, but in the process they deliberately shed all but their most hardcore fans through a combination of events, from refusing to make music videos to attempting to tour without using Ticketmaster, which restricted them to only a handful of venues. In the process, they’ve seen album sales shrink from the nearly nine million copies of Ten to the 500,000 for Riot Act. Now, after fifteen years together, Pearl Jam seems comfortable enough in their skin to release what many are calling their most accessible album since Vs., the eponymously-titled Pearl Jam. But will the album hold appeal to the throngs of listeners who abandoned the band post-Vitalogy?
Positives: This is certainly PJ’s loosest album since Vs., as Eddie and the boys start out with the hard-driving “Life Wasted”, with bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron setting an up-tempo groove that perfectly frames guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready’s crunching guitars. The tempo doesn’t let up with the next few tracks, including the first single, “World Wide Suicide”, and “Severed Hand”. “Gone” is a gorgeously elegiac song about eschewing the hustle and bustle of city life, while “Army Reserve”, the album’s angriest song, manages to be political without resorting to overtly political lyrics. Overall, it’s a strong statement from a band that finally seems ready to wear the mantle of the best band in America.
Negatives: None, really. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but it’s a solid album that sounds like it could have come out in 1994 instead of 2006. There’s always the chance that PJ has built up too much baggage with the casual fan to win them back with this offering, but then again they probably don’t care.
Cross-breed: Other bands sound like Pearl Jam, not the other way around.
Reason to buy: PJ fans won’t need a reason to buy this album. But if you tuned Eddie and the gang out back in 1995, this is the perfect album to remind you why you liked them in the first place.
