The Story Of Pearl Jam

 

 

Vitalogy (1994)

by Pearl Jam

14 tracks, 55 mins

 

After Ten, Pearl Jam was frequently referred to as the voice of their generation. After Vitalogy, people stopped saying that as PJ had gotten a bit too weird and confused to have such a badge of mass approval attached to them anymore. Which is odd because I think weirdness and confusion represented the generation pretty well.

Tension within the band had gotten worse and drummer Dave Abbruzzese was sacked during recording due to personality conflicts with Vedder and Ament, who he disagreed with on almost everything. Previously Stone Gossard had smoothed things over, but Gossard, the band's founder and original leader, had become pissed off with Vedder who he thought had become a "rock star", frequently treated by the media as though he were the only member in the band. Gossard became distant from the recording process, leaving Vedder to engage in explosive shouting matches with Abbruzzese. Though he played on most of the album, he was gone before its release. Mike McCready did not help matters much by developing a serious alcohol and cocaine problem. Recording was interrupted by a stint in rehab for him.

The straw that seems to have broken Abbruzzese's back is the notorious and much publicized "Ticketmaster War". Here's a rundown- talking to fans who were complaining about how expensive tickets were at a show in Illinois, Pearl Jam agreed that prices were mysteriously high. Looking into it, they found that statewide ticket vendor Ticketmaster was wacking a massive fee onto prices for no other reason than to put in their own pockets. After an attempted negotiation on price caps failed, PJ began a boycott on Tickmaster which would last from 94-97, seriously retarding their ability to play live in the US as Ticketmaster more or less had a monopoly. PJ expected other bands to join but no other significant act did, leaving them isolated. Fans became annoyed as they had to go to out of the way and sometimes inadequate venues to see PJ at all. Some places they simply couldn't play. Abbruzzese saw this whole thing as endangering his pay check, spoke publicly against it, and that was it. He was promptly replaced by Jack Irons, whom some of you may recognise as the original drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Irons, an affable family man, helped to defuse some of the personality conflicts.

The other elephant in the room of course was Kurt Cobain's suicide. It left Vedder as grunge's biggest star and media attention was increased by the ridiculous notion that Vedder "would be next". The whole ghoulish fiasco deepened Vedders already deep disdain of the media.

PJ were hurting. How to reach out to their fan base, solidify the relationship and make it all OK? Well it probably wasn't to make the lead single a hardcore punk number likening playing a vinyl record to heroin addiction.

 

 

I like Spin The Black Circle a lot. It's full of rage and power and ROCK and has a clever lyric. But I can see how it was not what the grunge scene was after at all.

Even the packaging, an elaborate parody of a 1920s medical book, was unwelcoming. And a song like Not For You, (probably PJ's most Nirvanaesque moment) seemed like a STAY THE f**k AWAY FROM ME- Vedder's screaming towards the end is unbelievable. If vocals could kill...

 

 

Elsewhere the band were in good form- the sound was a little more flexible now because this is the album where Vedder began contributing guitar, adding a third axe to the possibilities. After a brief sort of jazzy-improv thing (which you never would've believed was foreshadowing the ending) the solid, strong rocker of Last Exit kicks in and gets things moving. Its certainly more engaging than some of the attitude-heavy, tune-lite tracks on Versus. Tremor Christ (don't ask me what it's about, Vedder wasn't exactly inviting people into his head after the whole DID YOU HAVE SEX WITH YOUR MOM OR WHAT thing he brought on himself with Ten) is good too, a steady marching groove that hypnotises you if you let yourself sink into it. Next up is Nothingman, a track which is carried by Vedder's vocal as the gentle twilight strumming and soft drums speak of heartbreak and weariness. The opening clutch is closed out by the enjoyable but unremarkable straight-ahead rock of Whipping.

And then we have Pry to, a minute of Vedder saying "Oh how Pete Townshend saved my life" (see Versus entry for explanation) backwards over some silly drumming. Hmm. Well I hope you like it because a minute long track that serves no obvious purpose is to become something of a Pearl Jam trademark.

Pry To is the first overtly experimental track on Vitalogy and it's one of three, the other two being far more extreme. In fact they were so shocking at the time, they sort of cast a shadow over the rest of the album- I remember whole reviews that spluttered about Bugs and Hey Foxymophandlemama That's Me pretty much exclusively.

After Pry To we get Corduroy, a classic Pearl Jam number where the band does the job and Vedder engages with his lyric to good effect. But if being led in by the eminently skippable Pry To wasn't bad enough, the other side of the sandwich is Bugs. Please listen to this.

 

 

Before Kid A, this was Kid A. WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY DOING? It's a (presumably deliberately) terrible accordion riff repeated over and over with a spoken word piece from Vedder about being overrun by bugs. And they were still doing it live on their last tour, complete with an extended accordion solo from Vedder. It becomes cool in a sort of avant garde/RIO sense but taken as a Pearl Jam song, this was clearly the next step, after the NO HIT SINGLES of Versus, in becoming unpopular and chasing away complacent fans. And then, because this is Pearl Jam and they're nothing if not contrary, comes a big hit single. Their biggest outside of Ten actually.

 

 

Better Man. I just love the idea of people snapping up Vitalogy for Better Man and then having to sit through Bugs. Better Man was a song written by Vedder over ten years previous when he was in high school (shows how talented he is, who writes songs like this as a teenager) and had been brought up during the Versus sessions, but had been rejected for being too commercial though producer Brendan O'Brien loved it and begged for them to record it. For Vitalogy they agreed, one presumes as a trade off with Epic for letting them do Bugs and Hey Foxymophandlemama That's Me. (Henceforth HFTM.) Better Man really is a great song though, not a cheesy cash-in. The lyric is mature and real, Vedder's delivery sensitive and appropriate, the band crashing in in just the right way so as to make it dramatic but not corny. It's the last album track they'll ever do that will connect with America in a big way. America didn't care though, they had Hootie And The Blowfish in 1994, whose album Cracked Rear View (the title itself an arguable PJ reference) took PJ's sound and approach and wedded it to radio format. Tellingly though, PJ are still chugging on with a reduced but desperately devoted fanbase whereas HATB were finished as a significant band after their debut.

So then we have Aye Davanita, another one of those mystic/tribal tracks PJ get in on most albums. Quite a good one too- not much happens in this instrumental but its quite engaging and charismatic and it's probably just done to annoy people who enjoyed Better Man a little too much. Then there is Immortality, a big serious ballad but one I don't like too much. It has always felt like a lesser retread of Versus' Indifference to me. And then there's HFTM.

 

 

Often described as PJ's Revolution #9, this adlibbed seven minute romp of guitar and drums over creepy recordings from interviews with mental patients was one of the strangest things a massively popular band (from their next album on not so massively popular, oddly enough) had ever thrust on its audience. I remember the absolute disbelief when people first heard this. I sometimes wish it had been the first track to make it really confrontational- at the back you can happily press the stop button if you like- and I would've paid to be in the room when it was previewed to the Epic executives. Again, this is PJ having a mini-Kid A- they are burning down all preconceptions and restraints of their sounds, leaving them only with fans who will accept the band doing anything it likes.

The big difference between PJ and Radiohead though is that Radiohead are MUCH better at pulling of their experiments. PJ's desire to be non-conformist is admirable but Bugs, Pry To and HFTM are none of them great tracks and many fans delete them from the playlist. Their significance is mostly in the bravery the band shows through them. It would be a long time yet before the band accepted that they were actually at their best playing actual rock song and leaving the Nurse With Wound influences at home.

All in all, Vitalogy is a very good album. I went into this wanting to give it 4 as its highs are higher than Versus' but after a relisten I have to admit its lows are also lower meaning it ends up with the same rating of 3.5.

A conflicted and flawed but nevertheless high quality album of rare daring for a band that had just sold twenty million records.

 

3.5/5

by Pearl Jam

13 tracks, 48 mins

 

Many consider that 1996's No Code began a slump that didn't lift until the self-titled a decade later but I disagree. Yes, No Code was the least compelling album the band had made up to that point but I think the recovery is immediate with Yield which is significantly better.

A few things had improved- firstly, Pearl Jam decided that their Ticketmaster boycott was a failure. Their legal action against the company had been dismissed, it had failed to attract any industry support (something they'd counted on) and now it looked like they were just punishing fans who could either see them live in compromised conditions or not at all. PJ agreed to work with Ticketmaster for the Yield tour which allowed them to play in prime venues to large audiences once more, though they did put pressure on promoters to keep ticket prices down.

Secondly, after No Code, Eddie sat down with the rest of the group and said that he'd become something of an ogre since Ten for all kinds of reasons and it was making everyone unhappy and he wanted it to change. He invited others to contribute more to the songwriting and creative process. The result was a happier band and a more balanced album.

These two compromises also inspired the album's title and artwork, Yield, as Pearl Jam let grievances go for the greater good of their career, their fans and their relationships.

 

 

I still remember the great TV ad for the album where a car pulled up to a recreation of the artwork and stopped despite the road being utterly desolate. Seemed to strike a chord with Eddie's leanings towards Eastern philosophies such as Zen.

The album contains both some of the most mellow and fierce songs PJ have done to date, a relief after the dithering on No Code and when I first heard lead single Given To Fly I was very excited- listen to Vedder on the chorus. Yes it may be cheesy but it's the sound of a man reconnecting with his music and sounding interested and passionate again. It's a great song, similar to those on Ten but more spiritual and open.

 

 

As Hootie And The Blowfish took Ten's sound and made it commercial, Given To Fly is the sort of song that would unintentionally lead to Creed and the like but don't blame Pearl Jam for that. That's like blaming The Simpsons for American Dad.

However, the other song used heavily to promote the album gave me some doubts. Do The Evolution is among my least favourite Pearl Jam singles and aside from silly experimental number Red Dot (more on that later) is certainly the worst song on the album. I was ready to fork out my money after Given To Fly, but about ready to close my wallet after all after Do The Evolution. For some reason the band chose Do The Evolution as the subject of the only official video they'd made since Ten.

 

 

The track has a good noisy/energetic atmosphere but there's not enough of a song in here and lyrically it's hamfisted and far too overt for Vedder. The moment when the choir joins in has never worked for me, though it was an interesting effect. I sympathise with the sentiments the lyric and the video express but for my taste, this isn't subtle enough.

So let's get onto the album itself and see what the bulk of songs were like. It gets going with Brain Of J.

 

 

I've never been that confident as to the song's meaning but this is a much better way to lead off an album than Sometimes. Some fans said that PJ's return to a traditional rocking opener (and generally a less meandering/puzzling approach than No Code) were a sign of PJ entering a comfortable middle age or making concessions to popularity. I think it's that they've gotten past a lot of their worst troubles and are becoming calmer people. Remember that they're around 34 now, when people start to settle into marriage and kids and so on. The idea that Yield was supposed to be a return to the days of diamond plaques seems absurd when you hear the album. Just because it's not offputting or hostile doesn't make it cheesy.

Faithful follows. Vedder has a confused relationship with religion. He's a very spiritual person, particularly interested in Eastern philosophies, but is very shy of organised religion itself, and continually disgruntled by Christian PJ fans who impose pro-Christian intepretations of his songs despite his not being one. (Given To Fly is a very good example of this.) Faithful seems to say there may be no one out there listening to our prayers and observing our deeds, but it doesn't matter- if all we have each other, that is enough and we should be good and true to each other. Musically it begins with a pretty and fragile verse before going into several minutes of a chorus that repeats over and over to soaring effect before closing with another quiet verse, an interesting song structure. Wishlist is also unusual in this regard, fading out during a new verse. Wishlist is a real grower, feeling dull as dishwater on a first listen, but now I think it's one of the better songs here. Nothing fancy happens but there's a calming, wistful tone to Vedder's voice and the gently hypnotic music completes the relaxing vibe.

 

 

No Way and Pilate are not as strong as the songs discussed above but are nice enough- the spooky production on the middle eight of No Way ("Ooh let's call it an angel") stands out and Pilate which combines countrified verses with an angular, rock chorus to disjointing but tolerable effect. Then there's Red Dot, right up there with the silliest of PJ's infamous experimental tracks, an interesting piece of percussion somewhat defused by a lunatic vocal of "We're all crazy, we're all crazy in war."

However, two strong tracks follow, the formulaic yet still charismatic driving rocker MFC and then one of my favourite PJ songs ever, Low Light.

 

 

Like Wishlist, Low Light (which is anything but what its title implies) grew and grew on me and now I love it. Not even sounding much like PJ, the band suddenly wheel out a beautiful slow rocker of rich country harmonies. I'm not entirely sure what the lyric is about (but it's a song written entirely by Ament in response to Vedder's request for more group contributions) but something about the atmosphere of the song goes to the soul. It's a sort of sad and sorrowful song that is peaceful and beautiful all the same.

The records heads into the final stretch with In Hiding (which could've been an emotional and soaring song but is undermined by a feeling of being stretched out- it didn't need to be five minutes) and the other wierdo track on this album, Push Me Pull Me, where Vedder springs another spoken word piece on us just as we thought we were going to escape without one. This one is a bit odder than most with Vedder taking on a sleepy, humorous tone to discuss the afterlife in a flippant way, broken up by a straight forward and probably sarcastic pop rock chorus.

Never mind. After that things are closed by All Those Yesterdays which feels similar to Around The Bend in some ways, but it tries a bit harder and as a result I prefer the more natural and authentic Around The Bend. All Those Yesterdays deploys horns, a PJ first, but rather than being an exciting new sound, it comes off corny and like they're trying to orchestrate a big finish. It's an enjoyable song but not a great one. That awful 90s trend of hiding another track inside the other one turns up. PJ's eastern influences, which have turned up on every album, are worn on their sleeves in the hidden track, an instrumental Iranian belly dancing number. (Yes really.)

 

Before you think this is PJ earnestly branching out into world music, note that the band occassionally cries out "Hummus!" in unison as the song progresses, suggesting that the track was not entirely sincere.

Yield may be a less artistically tortured and reaching album than the previous three but it's smoother listen as a result and more enjoyable, but still with some odd touches here and there so you know you're not listening to Nickleback. Not a world beater but a solid album that deserves a listen.

 

3.75/5

 

The aftermath of the Ticketmaster war was that though Pearl Jam had met defeat, they were now a happier band who could perform for their fans. However the end of the Ticketmaster war would cost them a band member. Pearl Jam were now doing mega tours and Jack Irons, a quiet family man, hated the one he did with them in '98. He'd been fine with PJ's wilderness years when they hadn't played much but now they were back on the road, he wanted out.

Pearl Jam were now beginning to resemble Spinal Tap, about to acquire their fourth drummer in five albums. However that fourth drummer would turn out to be a keeper and PJ's line-up has not changed since. He was of course, Soundgarden's Matt Cameron whom the band knew from the early Seattle days. With Soundgarden's demise, Cameron performed a coup worthy of Bill Buford by simply sliding into another band that was one of the biggest in its genre. (Though Soundgarden has since reunited and resumed both touring and recording, Cameron remains a full member of both bands. It remains to be seen if scheduling conflicts will make this possible in the long term but they'd make a pretty good double bill, though Vedder might end up doing more acoustic numbers than usual to give Cameron a rest.)

In 1999 Pearl Jam suddenly had one of the biggest hits of their career (and the last one) when a version of the 1961 Wayne Cochran song (though most famous in the 1964 cover by J Frank Wilson & The Cavlier) they had recorded as a knock-off at a soundcheck reached the radio and went mega. PJ had had no intention of releasing it but when they realised what the demand was, they released it as a single. Were PJ finally cashing in on popularity? Not really- all proceeds went to a pro-Kossovo charity.

 

 

I'm not a big fan of this actually- Eddie's vocal needs to open up and you can tell the band are playing at half-tilt. But like I said, it's literally a soundcheck so you can't be too hard on them.

While we're on the subject, Pearl Jam are known for the quality of their cover versions. In fact, while even many hardcore fans run away at the prospect of their favourite band doing a covers album, PJ is one of a very select group of acts who have been requested to do one by their fans.

But we still haven't seen one. In the meantime, here is their sixth studio album.

 

Binaural (2000)

13 songs

52 minutes

 

 

 

I don't know why but I love this cover art.

Band relations continued to improve as evidenced by the fact that Vedder only wrote five of the 13 songs by himself, continuing to welcome contributions from the other members. In fact they rallied around him- they were already in the studio putting down cuts like Breakerfall and Grievance and asked to see the rest of the material- and Vedder had to admit that there wasn't any. He was experiencing the worst case of writer's block he'd ever had. While the songs would eventually get flowing again, in the meantime the band responded by rising to the ocassion- some of my favourite songs here, like God's Dice are not Vedder compositions.

Before we get into the songs though, Binaural was something pretty alarming to PJ fans, who were used to being alarmed. It was a gimmick album. The gimmick specifically was that it used producer Tchad Blake's "binaural" recording technique which gives the album its name. So far it's the only album besides Ten not to be made with Brendan O'Brien but Ament said the band felt like it was settling into slightly-too-comfortable middle-age and changing producers was a way of keeping things interesting.

So what is binaural recording? Basically it's recording for headphones, intending the sound for entry via two isolated points (each ear). And what difference does it make to PJ's album? None that I can tell. It doesn't even sound particularly different, which is the consensus view, and hence my calling the whole thing a gimmick. I'm sure PJ didn't intend it as one but it was trumpeted as being significant and isn't.

Which leaves the album to die or fly on the songs themselves.

 

The album opens with a brace of hard rockers, all under three minutes. Breakerfall gets things rocking, wearing its Who influences on its sleeve and Evacuation sees Cameron knocking the stuffings out of his kit to make his mark and Vedder hollering out a high impact chorus. However it's Ament's God's Dice which is easily my favourite of this opening salvo.

 

 

It's just got a great driving guitar sound, it's infectious and you could play it on the radio but it's still a thoroughly respectable hard rocker. You won't hear it on the radio though because with predictable perversity the only singles released from the album were the slow epic plodders Light Years and Nothing As It Seems.

Both of which come in a brace after the opening rockers. Light Years is wonderful and another of my favourites on the album.

 

 

Cameron lays down a hard solid beat where others might play it soft as this is a "serious" song as PJ do something they've done before- start out rocking and then suddenly go deep. Really works this time though as Vedder ponders how he understands so much about the world, but not the death of a loved one. A very touching lyric with nice understated guitar parts and an unhurried vibe make for an enjoyable and contemplative listen.

However I do not like Nothing As It Seems much, though many PJ fans worship it. It's a very cold, murky song in my opinion that I found very predictable- the first time I heard it I correctly anticipated everything the music was going to do. It also does not need to be five and a half minutes.

The pleasant Thin Air, which really shows how Vedder has learned how to nail a vocal without overselling it Given To Fly style, comes by next and then Insignificance, a dynamic track which contrasts relatively relaxed verses with a mored edgy bridge and then a very anxious, tense chorus. Examination of the lyrics in general will find Vedder's interest in politics and society growing, trying to resolve his own inclination to sit about on his ass with his family and friends having a nice time with his desire to do someting about the world turning to sh*t. The openly angry Grievance and Rival return us to the days of Versus in some ways and while some will like to hear the fury back, musically I think PJ has sort of outgrown this type of material.

There's also Of The Girl, a wide meditative, deliberately repetitive piece with those Eastern influences in full effect, penned by Gossard. I find it's great for zoning out too- doesn't demand lots of brain activity but it's not boring or facile either.

 

 

The album heads towards the home stretch with another dull plodder a la Nothing As It Seems, Sleight Of Hand. As with Nothing As It Seems, Sleight Of Hand seems to be straining for "importance" with a "big lyric" but comes off bloated and boring. That effect is almost immediately remedied by it being followed up by Soon Forget. Apparently coming across a ukelele at random and deciding to write a song on it, Vedder gets his George Formby on to charming affect with a simple but striking cautionary tale about a materialistic man.

The album closes with Parting Ways, another Eastern song and once more about death, though there is a warmth and acceptance to it this time. A full rich sound envelops you and closes the album in a great way.

But wait? Where's the stupid random track PJ put into every album? It seems we got all the way through without this time? Well if you don't hurry to the stereo to press stop when Parting Ways fades out, you'll come across hidden track Writer's Block which is some silly train noises. Good call guys.

 

A decent album but another mixed bag (as I've said, Ten is arguably the only thing they ever did that wasn't a mixed bag). The quiet, dignified recovery after almost losing their sh*t on No Code continues.

 

 

Next: Pearl Jam's darkest day and this from a band that has had their share of dark days.