If Eddie Vedder farted into a microphone, you can guarantee that someone, somewhere would buy it. Such is the level of devotion, nay fanaticism, that this band is capable of inspiring. With every show released as a double live CD and, occasionally, a DVD as well, the 'Pearl Jam' market is almost insatiable and here's another double disc set to further tempt the faithful. And very tempted they should be. With such a glut of product, it's lucky that Pearl Jam are one of the finest rock bands to emerge from the nineties. They show no signs of stopping, either, and might just end up as a 'Grateful Dead' for the 'E' generation. A thriving, passionate fan base, a healthy bootleg industry and the many noble causes of Eddie Vedder all point in that sort of direction. Just wait and see. 'JamHeads', anyone? Remember where you read it first.
So, anyway, what we have here is another of those double live discs, but this one is rather special and warrants your attention. For a start, it's an acoustic show and, being an acoustic show it's bloated full of polished little gems of songs. If you've kinda lost track of what the band have been up to lately, now's the perfect time to reacquaint yourselves with them. Over the last ten years or so, Pearl Jam have consistently produced album after album of top quality music that has more or less been ignored by the mainstream media, especially in the UK. That hasn't stopped them from selling out Stadiums in minutes, though, and the concert captured here sold out in just less than eight minutes. It's all for charity as well, wouldn't ya know, and the concert aimed to raise money for YouthCare, a non-profit organization that has looked after Seattle's homeless for the last thirty years or so. Visit the site YouthCare when you've a spare minute. Incidentally, only US sales of the discs produce any money for the charity and you might want to bear that in mind when ordering.
The key to Pearl Jam is to understand that the spaces between the music are as important as the music itself. It's very sparse music and this acoustic setting is the perfect showcase for it; the songs have a chance to breath and fill out. It's like the old jazz maxim, less is more, and the delicate soundscapes certainly benefit for being acoustic. The fragile, latticework-like arrangements are naked, spaced out and hanging together on the hook of Eddie Vedders' voice. Now, listen, if there's one voice in rock at the moment capable of sending shivers up the spine every few seconds it's Vedder. If you want proof of that, listen to 'Nothing As It Seems' from this album. Slowed down, with it's simple chords strummed and lone soloing electric guitar it sounds like something Pink Floyd would have cheerfully killed for in 1978. It's big, epic and, my god, that voice. Vedder is mournful, sardonic and world-weary here, and conveys it to the listener with chilling conviction. It's pure emotion made vocal. More proof? Well, there's not another singer on the planet who could pull off an acoustic version of The Ramones' old chestnut, 'I Believe In Miracles' and not only does he pull it off, he makes it sound like something they wrote. Genius.
There are a fair number of covers on here that they cheerfully play with and make their own. Dylan's classic protest song, 'Masters Of War' is a logical choice for the outspoken Vedder and it's another of the albums stand out moments. Less obvious, and far more fun, is Johnny Cash's dark humor laden, '25 Minutes To Go' which sees Pearl Jam come over all C&W for a few minutes of light mayhem; again, Vedders voice conveys the dark humor wonderfully well. It's not all covers, of course, and the original stuff here is simply beautifully played. 'Round The Bend' sounds simply stunning, and 'Black' has never sounded so emotional as it does here. Again, that soloing, solitary electric guitar is the stuff dreams are made off. You also get a fine version of 'Man Of The Hour', the song they wrote for Tim Burton's 'Big Fish'; what more can you ask for? Well, if you asked for splendid, and slightly different, versions of 'Daughter', Parting Ways' and Thin Air' and many, many more, then you'd be in luck. You even get an acoustic version of 'Lukin', one of their thrashier numbers, which is hilarious yet lovely at the same time.
This is simply a beautiful, timely reminder of what a great band Pearl Jam are. If you've ignored them over the last few years then this is your chance to get back on board. It's also a great introduction to them, especially if your slightly bewildered by the vast amount of live albums they have, as it gives a hint of the range of emotions they're able to convey and rare indeed is the double live album that can comfortably be listened to in one sitting as this one can. Of course, the one group who'll need no encouragement are the 'JamHeads' who'll be salivating over this for months to come.
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