Pearl Jam (album)

Pearl Jam
Studio album by Pearl Jam
Released May 2, 2006
Recorded November 2004 – February 2006 at Studio X, Seattle, Washington
Genre Alternative rock
Length 49:42
Label J
Producer Adam Kasper, Pearl Jam
Professional reviews
Pearl Jam chronology
Riot Act
(2002)		 Pearl Jam
(2006)
Singles from Pearl Jam
  1. "World Wide Suicide"
    Released: March 14, 2006
  2. "Life Wasted"
    Released: August 28, 2006
  3. "Gone"
    Released: October 7, 2006

Pearl Jam is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam and its debut release for J Records. Released on May 2, 2006, it was the band's first full-length studio release in almost four years, the longest gap between Pearl Jam's studio albums to date. Following its appearance on the 2004 Vote for Change tour, the band commenced work on a new album. The music on the record was proclaimed as a return to the band's roots.

Pearl Jam debuted at number two on the Billboard charts. Pearl Jam was well-received critically, and eventually outsold the band’s previous release, Riot Act, released in 2002. The band supported the album with a full-scale tour in 2006. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA in the United States.

Contents

Recording

For its eighth album, Pearl Jam again worked with producer Adam Kasper. Pearl Jam was recorded at Studio X in Seattle, Washington. The band began work on the album following the 2004 Vote for Change tour in November 2004.[1][2] The band worked on the album off and on throughout 2005, with the sessions being interrupted toward the end of the year when the band toured North America and South America.[3] The album was completed in early 2006. Bassist Jeff Ament attributed the length of time recording to lead vocalist Eddie Vedder having a child and the band touring in the middle of recording.[2] The album was mixed by Kasper at Studio X.

In contrast with the process for the band's last three albums, Yield, Binaural, and Riot Act, the band members did not go into the recording sessions with any completed songs, only guitar riffs.[2] Vedder admitted that the band "really went in with nothing."[4] Vedder and Ament said the band sat around playing music together and discussed the song arrangements.[5][2] Ament described it as a "real collaborative effort,"[2] and Vedder described it as "absolute democracy."[6] Guitarist Mike McCready stated that the band members were feeling "fresh and energetic" and "were communicating better than ever."[7] Toward the end of the sessions it came down to Vedder to finish up the material, with Ament observing that "the way the record started and the way that it finished is probably two different things."[8]

The resulting material was more up-tempo compared with the band's last few albums. Vedder attributed this to the band writing a lot of material that kept getting pared down, with the band leaving behind mid-tempo songs,[5] while Ament suggested that it was because of the band balancing recording and touring which resulted in "physicality...from being out on the road."[2] The band attempted to create an environment in which McCready and drummer Matt Cameron could play much as they do live.[6] Ament said that there was "a lot of honing of the guitars and vocals in the middle and toward the end," which resulted in the album sounding "more polished."[2] On the overall feeling of the album, Ament said, "The band playing in a room—that came across. There’s a kind of immediacy to the record, and that’s what we were going for."[2]

Music and lyrics

Many claim the new album is a return to the band's roots, with even McCready having compared the new material to Vs. in a 2005 interview.[9] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said, "Nearly 15 years after Ten, Pearl Jam finally returned to the strengths of their debut with 2006's Pearl Jam, a sharply focused set of impassioned hard rock."[10] Vedder said, "It's easily the best stuff we've done but also some of the hardest stuff. It's very aggressive, because again, it's kind of a product of what it's like to be an American these days. It's pretty aggressive, especially when you turn it loud."[3] The album begins with a number of up-tempo songs before expanding to a variety of tempos for its second half,[10] with Ament observing that "the front of the record is so extroverted but it ends up so introverted."[11]

Current socio-political issues in the United States are addressed on the album. The Iraq War is addressed in the songs "World Wide Suicide", "Marker in the Sand", and "Army Reserve". The lyrics of "World Wide Suicide" depict anger against the war. Other themes addressed on the album include drug use ("Severed Hand"),[12] religion ("Marker in the Sand"), poverty ("Unemployable"), leaving everything behind to start again ("Gone"),[12] and loneliness ("Come Back").[12]

Vedder wrote the lyrics for "Life Wasted" after attending the funeral of Johnny Ramone, and has said the song's lyrics are about the feelings one has after driving home from a funeral.[13] Vedder said that "Gone" is about a man "needing to find a new life without his past, without his possessions, and not really looking for more possessions."[12] Damien Echols, one of the three members of the West Memphis 3, co-wrote the lyrics to "Army Reserve".[14] For the first time McCready contributed lyrics to a Pearl Jam album, penning the lyrics to the closing track "Inside Job". McCready said that he wrote the song after realizing "I had to go inside myself first before I could be open to outside ideas."[7] This is the second studio album by the band that does not contain any cursing in the lyrics (the first being Binaural).

Release and reception

Pearl Jam entered the UK charts at number five, the band's highest position there since 2000's Binaural, while it reached number two in the U.S., selling 279,564 copies in its first week.[15] It was held off the top spot by the Tool album, 10,000 Days.[16] As of April 2008, the album has sold around 700,000 copies in the U.S. Pearl Jam is considered a comeback hit, outselling 2002's Riot Act, though it has fallen short of the sales of the previous six albums, even 2000's Binaural. However, it was also released during a slow year for album sales, and actually charted higher on Billboard's Top Selling Albums of the Year than either Binaural or Riot Act.[17] According to Billboard, it is the 90th best selling album of 2006.[18] Pearl Jam achieved gold status.[19]

Pearl Jam received generally favorable reviews, and is currently the band's best reviewed studio album of the 2000s to date.[20] The album was named in Rolling Stone's top 50 albums of the year at number 13.[21] Rolling Stone gave Pearl Jam four out of five stars. Reviewer David Fricke called it the band’s best album in ten years. He said it’s "the most overtly partisan -- and hopeful -- record of their lives," adding that it’s "as big and brash in fuzz and backbone as Led Zeppelin's Presence."[22] Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+, saying that Vedder’s "passionate howl seems more valuable now, pitted against the navel-gazing emo whine that's commandeered the landscape," and he went on to say that "in a world full of boys sent to do a man's job of rocking, Pearl Jam can still pull off gravitas."[23] Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "Now as ever, Pearl Jam takes itself seriously. But it delivers that seriousness not with the sodden self-importance of rock superstardom, but with the craft and hunger of a band still proving itself on the spot."[24] David Raposa of Pitchfork Media called it the "most consistent effort the group's released since its second album," but he added that it "gets pretty boring pretty damn quick."[25]

Three singles were released from Pearl Jam. The album's lead single, "World Wide Suicide", and the companion B-side, "Unemployable", also from the album, were made available through online music stores. "World Wide Suicide" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 41. Neither of the album's other commercially released singles, "Life Wasted" and "Gone", charted on the Hot 100, but both placed on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. "World Wide Suicide" was the most successful song from Pearl Jam on the rock charts, reaching number 2 on the Mainstream Rock charts and spending a total of three weeks at number 1 on the Modern Rock charts. Videos were made for "World Wide Suicide" and "Life Wasted". The video for "Life Wasted" was released to the public through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license allowing copying, distributing and sharing,[26] and was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects in 2006.[27] "Big Wave" was featured on the soundtrack to the 2007 Columbia Pictures movie Surf's Up.

Imagery and design

The album's cover art depicts an avocado cut in half with the seed still in place. Because the album is self-titled, many fans refer to it as "Avocado" or "The Avocado Album."[28] The inside cover depicts this same seed by itself. The back cover features the same avocado, without the seed. The cover was named in Pitchfork's top 25 worst album covers of 2006.[29] Fernando Apodaca handled the liner notes art as well as the music video for "Life Wasted", which emulates the liner notes art from the album. The vinyl pressing of the album is a limited and one pressing issue, just like fellow No Code and Binaural albums.

On the choice of a self-titled album, Vedder explained, "In the end, we thought there was enough there with the title of the songs, so to put another title on the album would have seemed pretentious. So, really, it's actually Nothing by Pearl Jam."[30] During the making of the album Vedder considered the title Superun-owned, a play on Soundgarden's Superunknown. He explained, "We're un-owned. We want to remain un-owned."[3]

Those who pre-ordered the album through Pearl Jam's official website received a version of the album with different CD art and packaging than the retail version. Instead of the retail digipack packaging, this fan club pre-order version resembles a book and has the liner notes bound inside it. In addition, a live CD of the band's show on December 31, 1992 at The Academy in New York City was also included with the pre-order.

Tour

Main article: Pearl Jam 2006 World Tour
Eddie Vedder on stage with Pearl Jam in Pistoia, Italy on September 20, 2006.

Pearl Jam promoted the album with tours in North America, Europe, and Australia in 2006.[31] The first leg of the North American tour focused on the Northeastern United States, and then the band moved to the Midwest and the West Coast for the tour's second leg.

Pearl Jam went on to tour Europe for its first time in six years. The band headlined the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2006, despite having vowed to never play at a festival again after Roskilde. On returning to the festival circuit, guitarist Stone Gossard said that the band has "a heightened awareness of what needs to happen every night so people are as safe as they can possibly be."[32] Vedder started both concerts with an emotional plea to the crowd to look after each other. He commented during the Leeds set that the band's decision to play a festival for the first time after Roskilde had nothing to do with "guts" but with trust in the audience.[33] On September 19, 2006 at the Torino, Italy show at Palaisozaki, Pearl Jam played Pearl Jam in its entirety in order mid-way through its set.[34] After Europe, the band headed to Australia and then finished the year with two shows in Hawaii. The official bootlegs on this tour were available in MP3 and lossless FLAC formats. The band's shows at The Gorge Amphitheatre were released as part of the Live at the Gorge 05/06 box set. A DVD documenting the band's shows in Italy entitled Immagine in Cornice was released in 2007.

Track listing

  1. "Life Wasted" (Stone Gossard, Eddie Vedder) – 3:54
  2. "World Wide Suicide" (Vedder) – 3:29
  3. "Comatose" (Mike McCready, Gossard, Vedder) – 2:19
  4. "Severed Hand" (Vedder) – 4:30
  5. "Marker in the Sand" (McCready, Vedder) – 4:23
  6. "Parachutes" (Gossard, Vedder) – 3:36
  7. "Unemployable" (Matt Cameron, McCready, Vedder) – 3:04
  8. "Big Wave" (Jeff Ament, Vedder) – 2:58
  9. "Gone" (Vedder) – 4:09
  10. "Wasted Reprise" (Gossard, Vedder) – 0:53
  11. "Army Reserve" (Ament, Vedder, Damien Echols) – 3:45
  12. "Come Back" (McCready, Vedder) – 5:29
  13. "Inside Job" (McCready, Vedder) – 7:08
    • "Inside Job" contains a brief instrumental hidden track at 6:35.

Outtakes

A song from Ament's 2008 solo album, Tone, called "The Forest", was recorded by Pearl Jam, however Vedder never got around to adding vocals to the track.[35] The instrumental version by Pearl Jam is featured in the 2007 Pearl Jam concert film, Immagine in Cornice. The version of the song on Tone features vocals by Ament and music taken from the original demo version of the song.[35]

Personnel

Chart positions

Album
Year Chart Position
2006 Italian Albums Chart[36] 1
Portuguese Albums Chart[37] 1
US Billboard 200[38] 2
Australian Albums Chart[39] 2
Belgian Albums Chart (Vl)[40] 2
Belgian Albums Chart (Wa)[40] 12
Canadian Albums Chart[38] 2
Czechian Albums Chart[41] 2
Dutch Albums Chart[42] 2
New Zealand Albums Chart[43] 2
Swiss Albums Chart[44] 2
Top Internet Albums[38] 2
Austrian Albums Chart[45] 3
German Albums Chart[46] 4
Irish Albums Chart[47] 4
Norwegian Albums Chart[48] 4
UK Albums Chart[49] 5
Swedish Albums Chart[50] 6
Croatian Albums Chart[51] 7
Finnish Albums Chart[52] 13
French Albums Chart[53] 21
Hungarian Albums Chart[54] 28
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
2006 "World Wide Suicide" US Billboard Hot 100[55] 41
US Modern Rock Tracks[55] 1
US Mainstream Rock Tracks[55] 2
Latvian Singles Chart[56] 45
"Life Wasted" US Modern Rock Tracks[55] 10
US Mainstream Rock Tracks[55] 13
UK Singles Chart[57] 110
"Gone" US Modern Rock Tracks[55] 40

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Rolling Stone United States "The Top 50 Albums of 2006"[21] 2006 13

References

  1. ↑ Gundersen, Edna. "Pearl Jam: Life after 'Suicide". USA Today. June 15, 2006.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Porosky, Pamela. "Pearl Jam's Pop Art". Bass Player. July 2006.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cohen, Jonathan. "Pearl Jam Feeling 'Aggressive' On New Album". Billboard. November 11, 2005.
  4. ↑ Miller, Eric T. "Eddie Vedder". Magnet. 2006.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hiatt, Brian. "Eddie Vedder's Embarrassing Tale: Naked in Public" Rolling Stone. June 20, 2006.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Scaggs, Austin. "Eddie Vedder: Addicted to Rock". Rolling Stone. April 21, 2006.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stout, Gene. "Energized Pearl Jam Makes an Explosive Return". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. May 5, 2006.
  8. ↑ Jasmin, E. "Bring the Noise: On how the band approached the new album". The News Tribune. July 20, 2006.
  9. ↑ Mike McCready on Andy Savage in the Morning on 96.5 K-ROCK. April 6, 2005.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Pearl Jam". Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  11. ↑ Reynolds, John and Letkemann, Jessica. "Do any PJ albums have hidden tracks?". TwoFeetThick.com. July 18, 2006.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Cohen, Jonathan. "The 'Pearls' Of Pearl Jam". Billboard. April 14, 2006.
  13. ↑ Hiatt, Brian. "The Second Coming of Pearl Jam". Rolling Stone. June 29, 2006.
  14. ↑ "ECHOLS CONTRIBUTES TO NEW PEARL JAM ALBUM". wm3.org. Retrieved on 2007-07-22.
  15. ↑ "Pearl Jam's Self-Titled Album Enters the Chart at Number Two and Sets a Chart Record". Marketwire. May 10, 2006.
  16. ↑ Harris, Chris. "Tool, Pearl Jam Claim Billboard Chart In The Name Of Rock". MTV.com. May 10, 2006.
  17. ↑ Top Selling Albums of the Year. Billboard.
  18. ↑ "Billboard 2006 Year In Music: The Billboard 200". Billboard.
  19. ↑ "Gold and Platinum Database Search". Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
  20. ↑ Pearl Jam by Pearl Jam. metacritic.com.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "The Top 50 Albums of the Year". Rolling Stone. December 11, 2006.
  22. ↑ Fricke, David. "Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam". Rolling Stone. April 21, 2006.
  23. ↑ Willman, Chris. "Pearl Jam". Entertainment Weekly. April 21, 2006.
  24. ↑ Pareles, Jon. "Critic's Choice: New CD's". The New York Times. May 1, 2006.
  25. ↑ Raposa, David. "Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam". Pitchfork Media. May 3, 2006.
  26. ↑ Steuer, Eric (2006-05-19). "Pearl Jam Releases Its First Music Video In Eight Years Under a Creative Commons License". CreativeCommons.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
  27. ↑ "2006 MTV Video Music Awards". Rockonthenet. Retrieved on 2007-09-05.
  28. ↑ Presswire.com. "Pearl Jam Show Wows London Crowd". greatreporter.com. April 21, 2006.
  29. ↑ Schreiber, Ryan. "Top 25 Worst Album Covers of 2006". PitchforkMedia.com. December 14, 2006.
  30. ↑ Tulich, Katherine. "Coming of Age". Rolling Stone. June 5, 2006.
  31. ↑ Pearl Jam: Set Lists. pearljam.com.
  32. ↑ Kerr, Dave. "Explore and not Explode". The Skinny. May 2006.
  33. ↑ Simpson, Dave. (2006-08-28). "Leeds Festival". The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
  34. ↑ "Pearl Jam Shows: 2006 September 19, Palaisozaki Torino, Italy – Set List". pearljam.com.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Cohen, Jonathan. "Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament Preps Solo Debut". Billboard. September 3, 2008.
  36. ↑ "Classifice Artisti — Archivio". FIMI. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
  37. ↑ "Top Oficial da Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa". Associação Fonogràfica Portuguesa — AC Nielsen Portugal. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 "Pearl Jam – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-06-11.
  39. ↑ Pearl Jam in Australian Charts. Australian-Charts.com. Retrieved on May 28, 2008.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 "Belgian Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". belgiancharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  41. ↑ "Czechian Album Chart". IFPI.cz. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  42. ↑ "Dutch Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  43. ↑ Pearl Jam in New Zealand Charts. Charts.Org.NZ. Retrieved on May 28, 2008.
  44. ↑ "Schweizer Hitparade". hitparade.ch. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  45. ↑ "Austrian Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". austriancharts.at. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  46. ↑ "Chartverfolgung / Pearl Jam / Longplay". musicline.de. Retrieved on 2007-06-11.
  47. ↑ "Irish Album/Singles Chart". irish-charts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  48. ↑ "Norwegian Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  49. ↑ "EveryHit.com". Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  50. ↑ "Swedish Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  51. ↑ "Official Croatian Album Chart website". Top of the Shops. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
  52. ↑ "Finnish Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  53. ↑ "French Single/Album Chart / Pearl Jam / Longplay". lescharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  54. ↑ Pearl Jam in Hungarian Charts. Hungarian chart Retrieved on June 4, 2008.
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 55.3 55.4 55.5 "Pearl Jam – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-06-11.
  56. ↑ "Latvian Airplay Top 50". lanet.lv. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
  57. ↑ "Chart Log: 1994-2006". Retrieved on 2007-06-11.

External links

Pearl Jam
Jeff Ament · Stone Gossard · Mike McCready · Eddie Vedder · Matt Cameron
Additional personnel: Boom Gaspar
Former members: Dave Krusen · Matt Chamberlain · Dave Abbruzzese · Jack Irons
Studio albums
Ten · Vs. · Vitalogy · No Code · Yield · Binaural · Riot Act · Pearl Jam
Live albums
Live on Two Legs · Official Bootlegs · Live at Benaroya Hall · Live in NYC 12/31/92 · Live at Easy Street · Live at the Gorge 05/06 · Live at Lollapalooza 2007
Compilations
Lost Dogs · rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991–2003
Videos
Single Video Theory · Touring Band 2000 · Live at the Showbox · Live at the Garden · Immagine in Cornice
Filmography
Vote for Change? 2004
Singles
"Alive" · "Even Flow" · "Jeremy" · "Oceans" · "Go" · "Daughter" · "Animal" · "Dissident" · "Spin the Black Circle" · "Not for You" · "Immortality" · Merkin Ball · "Who You Are" · "Hail, Hail" · "Off He Goes" · "Given to Fly" · "Wishlist" · "Last Kiss" · "Nothing as It Seems" · "Light Years" · "I Am Mine" · "Save You" · "Love Boat Captain" · "Man of the Hour" · "World Wide Suicide" · "Life Wasted" · "Gone" · "Love, Reign o'er Me"
Tours
Mookie Blaylock 1991 U.S. Tour · 1991 U.S. Tour · Ten Tour · Lollapalooza 1992 · 1993 European/North American Tour · Vs. Tour · Vitalogy Tour · No Code Tour · Yield Tour · Binaural Tour · Riot Act Tour · Vote for Change · 2005 North American/Latin American Tour · 2006 World Tour · 2007 European Tour · 2008 U.S. Tour
Related articles
Discography · Band members · Awards and nominations · Grunge music · Green River · Soundgarden · Bad Radio · Mother Love Bone · Temple of the Dog · Singles · Brad · Mad Season · Mirror Ball · Three Fish · Wellwater Conspiracy · The Rockfords · Bayleaf · Into the Wild · Tone