Excellent PEARL JAM Review

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PEARL JAM – The Comeback for the Band Who Never Left

It's not often in today's musical landscape that we can talk about a band that has
been around for 15 years, sold millions upon millions of albums and boasts a rabid,
loyal fan base that rivals that of the Grateful Dead in terms of a "comeback"; but with
Pearl Jam's self-titled release on their new record label J Records, in many ways, this is
a comeback for the Seattle quintet.

For those fans that belong to what has affectionately been dubbed the "Jamily", the
thought of calling this new album a comeback is ludicrous. To them, Pearl Jam has
made some of the best rock music the world has heard over the past 15 years. It's just
another great album in a long line of great albums. But to the more casual fan, or to
the hordes of fans Pearl Jam has lost throughout the years (due mostly to the
frustrating battle against ticketmaster, lead singer Eddie Vedders' personal politics and
music that seemed experimental at times) this new album is a rebirth. If this record was
released after 1994's mega hit Vitalogy, these fair weather fans would never have left
in the first place. This is vintage Pearl Jam.

This 13-song assault begins with a five-song combination that can only be
described as driving, raw and passionate. It's a sonic windfall of carefully crafted hard
rock compositions with lyrical content as good as Eddie Vedder has ever put on paper.
And these are just the first five songs!!

"You're always saying that there's something wrong, I'm starting to believe it's your
plan all along" growls Vedder on the albums opening track Life Wasted. This line and
this Who-like rocker set the tone for what's to come the rest of the way. The band
blasts through this opener setting up a head on collision with the albums first single
World Wide Suicide. Apparently they chose this to be the single correctly as it reached
#1 on rock radio stations across the country the day it was released. A punk rock rant
against the war in Iraq and the current administration in America, Vedder attacks the
powers that be from a more human angle than that of a direct slam as he did in their
song Bushleaguer off of 2002's Riot Act. World Wide Suicide uses lines like "Saw his
face in a corner picture. I recognized the name. Could not stop staring at the face I'd
never see again" as a more personal reaction to the senseless death of yet another
soldier. Later on however Vedder does get to throw a more direct dig at the President
with the line "It's the same everyday and the wave won't break. Tell you to pray while
the devil's on their shoulder."

The next track, Comatose takes a page out of Neil Finn's much overlooked band
from the 70's, Split Enz. With its frantic pace and staggered vocal pattern, Pearl Jam
accelerates into another gear on this song and raises the bar once again. Severed
Hand, the albums fourth offering starts off with a backwards guitar riff which morphs
itself into what could be the distant cousin of one of Pearl Jam's most popular songs
Porch, off of their blockbuster debut Ten.

The fifth and arguably best song on Pearl Jam is the hard rocking plea for God's
intervention in the war in Iraq called Marker in the Sand . This song hits on all
cylinders. It's got pointed lyrics, crunching guitars and displays drummer Matt
Cameron's finest work on the album. Cameron plods away with a tribal like drum beat
which grabs you and refuses to let go until every ounce of energy from both drummer
and listener is eliminated. As I mentioned earlier, the lyrics in this song are direct and
without question. "Now you got both sides claiming killing in God's name, but God is
nowhere to be found, conveniently." If that's not enough honesty for ya, check out how
he ends the song. "What do you say? God, what do you say? Calling out, calling out,
calling out, I'm calling you out." In a world where we can't seem to get answers from
anyone, I guess Vedder is frustrated enough to go straight to the top of the food chain.

Now that the first five songs have finished the album takes an interesting turn with
the beautiful, extremely Beatles like Parachutes. That is followed up with
Unemployable, a sad tale about the struggles of a working class man trying to feed his
family after being fired from his job. The second verse of this song has a riff which was
lifted from the Blue Oyster Cult classic, Don't Fear the Reaper which helps to make this
otherwise run of the mill song a bit more memorable. Big Wave is next up and hits hard
with a fast, punk like tempo. Pearl Jam has mastered this kind of song throughout its
career and does not disappoint here.

"If nothing is everything, if nothing is everything, I will have it all" sings Vedder at the
very end of the next song Gone. This, a masterful ballad about leaving everything
behind, has all the qualities of an early Springsteen classic. This is the kind of song
that produces goose bumps because of the passion and sincerity with which it is
performed.

The next two songs, Army Reserve and Come Back (immediately following Gone is
Wasted Reprise which is just about 30 seconds of a slowed down version of the chorus
from the records opening song) are quite different from what Pearl Jam has done in the
past. Army Reserve is a wide-open sounding track about the family of an enlisted
soldier and how they cope and Come Back is a gorgeously constructed Otis Redding
type R&B song with a sweeping chorus and uplifting finish that is totally different than
anything the band has ever recorded.

And last but certainly not least is the Mike McCready penned Inside Job. This song
marks the first time in which McCready has ever contributed lyrics to an entire Pearl
Jam song. This song, as most album ending tracks in the Pearl Jam catalog, is a
wonderful ballad with all the trappings of an instant classic…catchy verse, powerful
chorus and melody throughout.

Grunge may be dead and the Seattle scene may be reduced to Starbucks coffee
takeovers and Bill Gates still making bazillions of dollars but the band that once ruled
the world is stronger and seemingly better than ever. If the music on Pearl Jam is any
indication, this marks a new beginning for these veteran rockers and I think the world
will be ready for them once again.