Pearl Jam - C or D?

I mean, what kind of fucking egomania would possess a group to pull such a stunt, other than to fleece its fans? It isn't as if Beddie Wedder were Frank Zappa, whose boots from different shows one would want to hear (alright, I confess, I would want to hear). Or that PJ is the Grateful Dead, with an exceedingly loyal and devoted fan-base (any valid criticisms of the band's actual music and the fanbase notwithstanding). I mean, it's as if Foreigner or Foghat decided to dump a shitload of live CDs on the market during their respective heights of popularity. And that's just what Pearl Jam is -- the Foreigner or the Foghat of the Nineties.

OK, honestly? I've never heard them. Twenty ghastly seconds of "Jeremy" and then the whole of that same song on a jukebox and that is knowingly it. I feel rather proud of that. Why did anyone like grunge, can someone remind me?

If I want to listen to Blackfoot, I'll go straight to the source.

Sorry for the pun. I see a lot of folks here sticking to the first impression 'Ten' gave them, which turned them off to the band. I can fully understand that, because I for one can't listen to that record anymore without cringing. But, and I stress this, even as my musical tastes evolved (and I, like many of you I'd bet, must thank the grunge-hype for pointing me in that direction in the first place) I found Pearl Jam to remain interesting, both for their music (evolving from archaic bluesrock - yes, high krustyvalue indeed! - to a more substantial indie-oriented sound that wouldn't look too bad on a GBV or Superchunk) as well as their ethos (quite a popular word here, but you gotta appreciate what they do as a major-label act).

As for the bootleg issue. I think one of the reasons why they did it (apart from making obscene amounts of cash at the cost of about $300 per recording) is that, as Pearl Jam always condoned people taping their shows, there were tons of shit quality recordings going around at high prices. So why the hell not help folks out get a decent recording of a show they were at (or missed, after all these years I still never got to actually see them play live because shows still get sold out within minutes) AND make some cash? Makes sense to me.

In conclusion: classic, classic, classic.

Love them or hate them, this is totally untrue. From their first record on up through the most recent, they've always written lots of highly melodic pop tunes. In terms of music science, you just can't fucking dispute that.

I was actually talking to somebody at the TV On the Radio show this past Friday who was wearing a Pearl Jam t-shirt. He was a big fan and said they still put on a good show (not that I'd ever seen them live anyway).

I guess I'll go with classic.

I'll always have a big soft spot for them, and I revisit them every so often with some fondness.

tvotr and pj are not so far away from each other. except pj have more memorable songs. so far.

xpost - I see little similarity between tvotr and pj. I'm with you on the second sentence, though.

That's for sure.

I suppose you could say that about a lot of "rock" bands, though.

I don't know, I think the guy just likes Pearl Jam, amongst many other types of bands and genres of music. We only discussed Pearl Jam when I noticed his t-shirt. The rest of the time, we talked about any number of other bands.

The Gen-X Bruce Springsteen.

Anyway, Ten has its moments, the best of which, you're right Dan, is "Black." I didn't really follow them much after that.

I saw them for the first time at Lollapalooza's Miami date. Vedder came up to the mike, saw the size of the crowd, and cracked, "Wow. Guess there's a real hurricane in Miami after all." The crowd roared, not having a clue.

Two days later Hurricane Andrew happened.

Never underestimate Vedder's knowledge of Florida meterology.

I guess Eddie Vedder has a new solo album? Single is fine, but I was intrigued by the band he got together for a live show recently.

The Earthlings are formed by former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer (now a Pearl Jam touring band member) and producer Andrew Watt on guitars, Pino Palladino from the Who on bass, Glen Hansard on guitars and backing vocals and RHCP’s Chad Smith on drums .

Pino! And I did a double take at the news that Klinghoffer is yet another new touring member of Pearl Jam:

Josh made his live debut with Pearl Jam during the band’s concert at the Sea.Hear.Now. Festival, where he played keyboards, guitars, percussion, tambourine and also contributed backing vocals, especially on the new songs from Gigaton.

At last someone is finally handling all that extra tambourine that Vedder has struggled with.

he doesnt struggle w tambourines as much as he routinely beats the living shit out of them (especially if he gets his hands on two at once)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIOPlerkok

So is that Boom guy who you could never actually hear apart from the one cover song still in the touring band?

I think he's still there, too! Maybe they can all play tambourines together.

lol and that's totally otm, btw. the last time I saw Pearl Jam, two nights, I literally forgot he was there until his showcase.

He and the guy from Foo Fighters should team up and make minimal, isolationist ambient records.

Time to repost this channel of heroic YT PJ fan-nerdery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BetterThanN

Oh dear.. let's try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

*sigh* jfc, okay it's a channel called BetterThanNothing that syncs up the PJ live bootleg series to concert fan footage w/ very high standards.

I often imagine when long-term v successful bands like PJ start adding extra touring members it's more about the mood and vibes they bring on the road/backstage than anything musical

I can believe that. Just to shake things up a bit, allow for some fresh faces.

saw them live for the first time last night. Matt Cameron has COVID so they had drum duties split between josh klinghoffer and some local drum teacher. And this high school kid who’s in some viral band came out and drummed for a song too.

It was fucking amazing. I wasn’t a huge fan or anything before but I’m kind of in love with Eddie Vedder right now.

Also mike mccready looked exactly like Gary numan looks like now.. hair and wardrobe

they closed with a cover of “baba o Riley” in honor of The Who playing Cincinnati for the first time since 79

haaha, I was there too. I'd only seen Pearl Jam once before, opening for the Stones (in Oakland, which Eddie mentioned last night too) and this blew that out of the water. So fun with the different drummers.

I couldn't believe how old Mccready and Gossard look (Gossard looks like a project manager for Microsoft now). Granted I haven't really paid attention to what these guys look like in a hundred years but Mccready is only six years older than me and looks like John Slattery.

Pearl Jam was in Oakland last night and their drummer tested positive for COVID but the show went on and they invited a local kid to sit in with them and it looks like he did an amazing job pic.twitter.com/0ifIek4Iwj

— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) May 14, 2022

this was also the largest collecton of drunk meatheads I've been around in many years. Heading to BART a woman had pissed herself and was holding up her husband who was so drunk I honestly thought at first he had a disability or something.

we were at the 1st oakland show the night before, which was more of a greatest hits playlist - incredible how they just threw everything at the wall to try & do the show anyway - and the crowd was so happy to have them back that it went over like gangbusters. definitely once in a lifetime show.

that 2nd night setlist gave me serious FOMO though lol

the local drum teacher = richard stuverud who has played in all of Ament’s sideprojects, played drums on the ‘nothingman’ demo for Vitalogy; i think he was in the Fastbacks for a couple of years (?). seems like a cool guy + total mensch <3

also watching Eddie doing more “host” duties to fill the lulls between all the constant changeovers was kinda funny to see, lots of stories & interaction with the crowd, they must have all been so stressed out <3

A pal of mine is friends w/klinghoffer and went to a recent show to support him; he didn’t really know what to expect from the band (he only knows the first few PJ albums) but said they were really great.

you never really know what you're going to get.

one week I went to two different cities to see them over a span of three days. one night I got a cover of "Sonic Reducer" and a bunch of mid-to-late era stuff, the other night it was basically Ten-Vitalogy material for the most part.

I feel like I got two great distinct shows.

yeah there’s pretty much nothing they can’t do as a band, especially with Cameron on the kit. fans are kinda spoiled with the richness in their setlists

every show i see makes me want to see 5 more

but $150 face value (!) for the Sacto show means i will not be seeing them in my hometown which sucks

I really wish they didn't look so middle management. I've assumed for a while their "aging rock star" aesthetic is influenced by The Who in the 80s/90s but imo it does not look cool at all. But yea I love them dearly.

a total noob observation here but I LOVE Eddie’s move where he smoothly flips the mike stand back up with his foot after knocking it down

what’s wrong w their look? they look like old skater dads. i like it.

the mike kick trick gets funnier as he gets drunker - at our show he was a wine bottle deep, tried the kick flip twice & eventually had to bend down & stand it up lol

haha that's good

never listen to pj at home but have seen them live 3 or 4 times, they rock

so cool for that drummer kid sitting in!

oof Ament tested positive now too, so cancelling some shows.

I saw them back in 2000, the tour when they were releasing CDs of every show. They were good, not great, but tbf I had shitty seats.

I was working in Tower Records when Ten came out. Total classic. They've shown flashes of brilliance since then, but imho the only album that comes close as an entire album to their debut is Yield. So, on balance, one classic album, the rest good to great. Near classic?

so bummed about Jeff

we rolled the dice on keeping our Oakland tix vs swapping for Sacramento, which we decided not to do in the end. kinda lucky we got to see them

xpost also OMG jimbeaux i disagree on so many levels! Avocado, No Code, Gigaton, all qualify as legit great albums. in this TED talk I will…

LOL No Code is pretty solid.

Ten isn't even in my top three lol

As a debut, it was smashing. In 1991-92, I played it more than I played Nevermind.

well sure, in the absence of other pj albums i played it all the time too lol

vitalogy >>>>>>

vitalogy is great, i love all the full length songs so much but man those interlude songs still annoy the fuck out of me. HAYFOXYMOPHANDLEMAMA is still very triggering

It has its moments--"Better Man" and "Corduroy" are stone classics--but a lot of it is just self-indulgent wankery (literally, if you read the liner notes).

no way dude - besides which corduroy is the most lyrically self indulgent song on there lol (it’s great too, i agree)

Stupid Mop

vitalogy >>>>>>

Looking back at the playlist for that 2000 show, I gotta say it was incredibly good.

Release
Corduroy
Insignificance
Animal
Hail Hail
Nothing as It Seems
Rival
Given to Fly
Light Years
Do the Evolution
Even Flow
In Hiding
Daughter
Better Man
Nothingman
Leatherman
Grievance
Rearviewmirror

Encore:
Once
Breakerfall
Immortality
Crazy Mary
(Victoria Williams cover)
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Porch
Fuckin' Up
(Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover)

Encore 2:
Yellow Ledbetter

Sonic Youth opened.

lol I saw that tour too, in Tampa FL. my first Pearl Jam show.

we got State of Love and Trust and Soldier of Love.

also registered to vote at that show. so I could waste my vote on Nader months later.

i like those 00’s shows, the binaural tracks sound so great live esp Insignificance

I was working in Tower Records when Ten came out. Total classic. They've shown flashes of brilliance since then, but imho the only album that comes close as an entire album to their debut is Yield. So, on balance, one classic album, the rest good to great. Near classic?

I'd say No Code is their best, and is an incredible record, and that Yield, Vs and Vitalogy are just behind it. Gigaton is excellent, too, and I don't think they've put out a bad or even average album, though I wasn't sold on Lightning Bolt.

love it when they play Fuckin' Up

Binaural is a great album; I'm a Tchad Blake fan though so the weird flange and reverb effects on the drums are like a warm blanket to me. I'm sure some people hate it the way people hate Froom.

I thought Binaural was their weakest album up to that point.

i didnt take to it at first, and it was one i didnt play much for a long time, but it has held up so well, there’s really not a bad song on the whole thing, and wuite a few tracks are faves now. Thin Air is so good, and i love Sleight of Hand

I went back and listened to the show I attended. It sounds much better than I remembered. I really did have shitty seats.