A diverse set of songs from a diverse band - Pearl Jam's list rolls forth
Before I say anything else, I want to apologize for submitting my post so late in the evening last night. It was a busy day, and I finish my article when I can, but I will attempt to be more timely with its completion in the future.
The appearances of "Yellow Ledbetter" and "Even Flow" in yesterday's list aroused a nice across-the-board span of reactions, from disappointment, sadness, doubt, joy, gratitude and soft recognition of those two live legends. As usual, I enjoyed reading your thoughts and will continue to do so, regardless of the intensity and ferocious anger of some of them. The vast majority of you have sent nothing but positive, loving vibes my way and I have appreciated all of them. Some of you have touched me so deeply that when I have felt unmotivated to write an entry for the day, your words have pushed me over my hesitance and/or laziness. Thank you yet again for reading and contributing. Do not forget that I am still accepting your submissions for a fan-voted Top 25 Pearl Jam songs compilation list, to be published after I complete my own countdown. Feel free to email your lists to me at cpeelle83@yahoo.com.
I noticed that many of you, including myself in yesterday's entry, have been making references to the band's current tour. The excitement is palpable and seems to be present in our thoughts as we go about our days, at least on a subconscious level, if not at the forefront. I am mentioning this to note that I will be reviewing the Chicago 2 show (unfortunately the only one I can afford to attend this year) the day after the concert, which, if all goes according to plan, will fall on the Monday and Tuesday after the Friday I complete the countdown. Yes, that is only ten days away. I know, I am pumped, too. While counting down the songs has been and will continue to be a blast, and while journeying through the albums will be another great adventure, the live experience will definitely be an aspect of the band I will be taking on, as most of us can probably agree it is within the live show that the true spirit of this band resides. As for today, enjoy as the countdown keeps on truckin'.
35-31:
35. Who You Are (No Code, 1996) - Built around Jack Irons' love for intricate, tribal drumming and heavily influenced by world music, "Who You Are" is a dynamic work of art that likely ranks as the band's most unlikely first single. Vedder and co. have gone on record claiming that releasing the song as the leadoff for No Code was a conscious effort to whittle their fan base down in order to control and eliminate some of the chaos of the early era. When considering a couple of the other songs on the album, such as "Hail, Hail" and "Red Mosquito," "Who You Are" does seem to be a strange selection from a band known for its strange decisions and career moves, especially in the 90's. Regardless of its chart history and history as No Code's first single, "Who You Are" is Pearl Jam stepping out of its comfort zone, treading unusual ground and shaking off its early, angsty reputation to examine the world and life from a spiritual plane.
The song opens with a rumbling sound that turns out to be Irons' polyrhythmic drumming and Jeff Ament's bass, soon joined by dissonant keyboards and a strange howling sound from Vedder. After about 20 seconds of music that resembles experimental madness, the song's primary riff makes its entrance, a light and bright progression marked with a tiny ache beneath the surface. Eddie joins in at the same time, playing with words in a low-key vocal style, singing, "Come to send, not condescend/ Transcendental consequence," each syllable corresponding to the sounds of the guitar. Once Vedder reaches the second half of the first verse and delivers the line, "Trampled moss on your souls," his voice is beautifully layered with harmonies, a demonstration of his distinctive singing and arranging abilities. His falsetto comes in as the chord progression alters and a sort of "chorus" emerges with the, "Take me for a ride before we leave," line, the music swelling and evoking emotions of gratitude, loss, nostalgia, etc., all in a mere moment of a song. This pattern repeats itself in the line, "Just a little time, before we leave," after the instrumental break.
Ament's bass work in the song is simplistic but fantastic, sliding along through the second and third verses, gracing the track with subtleties and an extra tribal quality. Percussion is everywhere, different sounds coming through both channels in one's headphones. The song has a lot of depth, which can be credited to Irons and Gossard's songwriting and the band's gumption to step out on a limb and attempt some things they never had before. Eddie's soulful vocal and introspective lyrics lend the song extra emotion, and before you know it, it is over. What a gift it was to see this diamond of a tune make its return to the band's setlists last summer, with an added outro and the group seeming to enjoy it thoroughly.
34. Tremor Christ (Vitalogy, 1994) - Another Beatles-influenced track makes the list in "Tremor Christ," a mid-tempo march featuring inventive basslines from Jeff Ament and some of Eddie Vedder's finest lyrics. Although most of the tracks on Vitalogy (as on Vs.) are credited to the entire band, "Tremor Christ" seems to primarily be a Stone Gossard composition, with some additions from McCready and possibly Ament. The song is one of those ones that simultaneously distinguishes itself as Pearl Jam, yet sounds like nothing the band has recorded before or since. Its status as a live rarity has built its reputation up over the years. I first heard it on the radio during the Vitalogy days, and once I bought the CD, it became one of the album's most played tracks.
The song's opening riff is incessant, running through the introduction and opening verse like a steam engine. Ament's bass enters in a dropping, drooping fashion, including a fantastic hammer-on at the end of each measure. Abbruzzese's drums then come slamming in, along with Vedder's first verse vocals. Ed's lyrical presentation is a unique one, as he delivers his lines like Yoda, placing adjectives at the beginning, before verbs, then dropping the subject: "Winded is the sailor, drifting by the storm/ Wounded is the organ, he left all...bloodied on the shore." The chorus is brilliant, Vedder combining his singing with his melodic scream and claiming, "Little secrets, tremors, turned to quake/ The smallest oceans still get big, big waves." The portions between verses are the most Beatles-esque of the whole song, a looping chord progression with a melodic bass and rallying drumming. The second time this theme comes around, the guitars bend on an odd note, creating a quirky blues pop.
The middle eight section is a battle, with the instruments and Vedder's vocals almost seeming to be fighting one another, Ed's lyrics cryptic and abstract:
"I'll decide, take the dive/ Take my time, not my life/ Wait for signs, believe in lies/ To get by, it's divine/ Oh, you know what it's like."
This heavy part of the song is one of the best, but soon gives way to the track's unpredictable coda, the softest moment immediately following the heaviest. The guitars are played in a minimalist style, Ed lowers his voice to a soft, low baritone and sings the final couplet: "Turns the bow back, tows and drops the line/ Puts his faith in love and tremor christ." The last word is nearly a whisper and ends the track along with some barely-there guitar feedback.
33. Sad (Lost Dogs, 2003 - Recorded 2000 during Binaural sessions) - In "Sad," we witness how capable Eddie Vedder is as a songwriter, his composition reaching an Eastern-influenced sound while rocking fiercely, being somewhat pop-accessible and a mournful, melancholy ballad all rolled up into a track that runs under four minutes. The song's main riff is so different from the average modern rock sound that it is difficult to even be certain it is being performed by a guitar and not some Eastern instrument. After the first chorus, a second guitar harmonizes with the riff, creating an even more foreign sound. Vedder's echoing, washed out harmony vocals in the background through much of the song, and in particular the chorus, add another layer to the eerie, otherworldly quality of the tune.
In the Lost Dogs liner notes, Vedder notes that "Sad" and Jeff Ament's "Other Side" are kind of sister songs, the former regarding the widower that lost his love to death, the latter examining the lost one's lonely experience in the afterlife, yearning for her love. The song is called "Sad" and that sadness is present in every aspect of the listening journey. There is the aforementioned aching riff, Vedder's sorrowful vocals, the story present in the lyrics and the crying guitar solo. This track wears its heart on its sleeve proudly, and although it seemed unlikely, it has made a wonderful transition to the live realm, the band performing it fairly regularly over the past four years.
Eddie Vedder's gift for storytelling, language and imagery is on full display here, as "Sad" is chock full of his talents. A lyric about a man whose wife has passed away could easily be drowned in cliche and archetypes, but Ed finds a way to tell this tale of loss with both beauty and originality. Take the first verse, for example:
"All the photographs were peeling/ And colors turned to gray/ He stayed in his room with memories for days/ He faced an undertow of futures laid to waste/ Embraced by the loss of what he could not replace."
Furthermore, very few three and a half-minute pop/rock songs contain a line like "And there is no god with a plan" right there in the chorus. From this line, he jumps to the very simple and very somber observation that, "It's sad, and his loneliness is proof."
The bridge contains another outstanding moment, when Vedder yells, "He's searching for esca-yay-yay-ape!" stretching out the last word perfectly, before the fittingly hollow, simple guitar solo arrives. Following the solo, Vedder's voice comes screaming back in alongside a searing guitar, wailing, "If just one wish could bring her back!" another goosebump-inducing moment from a song that was left off a studio album...just a poppy little b-side...nothing special.
32. Go (Vs., 1993) - "Go" begins with arguably the greatest false start in recording history. Perhaps it is because it is not really a false start, but an unexpected intro that is kind of part of the song, kind of not. A guitar, the bass and drums come in assuredly, each listener positive that this is the opening of the song and the Vs. album. The instruments rev up and seem to be headed into full throttle, before they ease up and all that is left is Dave Abbruzzese's drumsticks counting off the true opening of the track. Feedback comes slowly fading in, then the band beats the disc up like a battered doll, the volume much louder than the introduction, the guitars full steam ahead, Abbruzzese playing as loudly and harshly as he can, Gossard creating a sort of siren with each beat, then we are off and running, Jeff Ament's bass riding along Dave Abbruzzese's drums like a race, the title of the song constituting the entire instrumental motivation of the track.
It is difficult to believe that Abbruzzese composed this song on an acoustic guitar, as "Go" seems fit only for its hardcore delivery. The song storms by so quickly that it is ponderous to attempt to unlock its force and strip away its everlasting power by focusing on each individual aspect, rather than the overall complete work. Vedder's lyrics are once again mysterious and cryptic, not lending themselves easily to analysis. "I swear I never took it for granted, just thought of it now," he sings, "Suppose I abused you, just passing it on!" His screaming vocal nestles itself right in with the nature of the lightning-fast hardcore post-punk force of the track, his quick, "Go!" "F**k," "No!" "Time!" etc. yelps coinciding effectively with the urgency of Gossard's alarm-sounding guitar work.
Mike McCready pulls off two guitar solos in the song that can only be described in the hard rock community as face-melting. The first solo makes its appearance as if the guitarist held in all of his ability just before that moment occurred, then let it all loose in a period of approximately 13 seconds. The second solo arrives after the final chorus as a fierce coda. McCready bends ascending notes madly while the band speeds the song up underneath, the notes rising like a crazed lunatic, before Abbruzzese closes it off with a snare fill. Supposedly there was so much aggression in the room when the band recorded "Go" that McCready threw his guitar across the room as the take heard on Vs. ended.
31. Thumbing My Way (Riot Act, 2002) - Readers were calling for the death of this song back in the bottom half of my countdown, much to my confusion and dismay. To this author, what some may perceive as sappy or cheesy I consider an Eddie Vedder classic. If you are really paying attention, then you already know that due to its placement, I regard "Thumbing My Way" as the best song on Riot Act. Between Vedder's chord progression, Boom Gaspar's organ, Cameron's building drums at the song's close, soft little guitar touches throughout the piece and Ed's stunning lyrics, "Thumbing My Way" is a great Pearl Jam song, the last one I leave out of the Top 30.
The song is an all-out ballad, beginning with Vedder's lone acoustic guitar, then joined by Ament's bass, and a crestfallen opening line: "I have not been home since you left long ago." The speaker in the song seems to be "thumbing (his) way" through a period of healing and soul repair, attempting to come to terms with his life situations. His hitchhiking journey serves as a spot-on metaphor for his lack of direction and lack of control over his past, present and especially future. Reflecting the music of the song, the man in question is trying to be hopeful, but sees no chance of truly believing in any hope: "I let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back/ And in time I realize, it's now wrapped around my neck." He adds, "I smile, but who am I kidding?"
In the midst of the sadness and misery, however, Vedder's speaker does convey some wonderful philosophies: "There's no wrong or right, but I'm sure there's good and bad," "No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead," "All the rusted signs we ignore throughout our lives, choosing the shiny ones instead," and of course, "I turned my back, now there's no turning back," a line he interprets softly on the album version, but brings to life magically during live performances, his voice soaring above the track's gorgeous instrumentation.
Once Vedder repeats the winter/springtime line near the end of the song, the organ grows in volume, the guitars swell, then suddenly Cameron's drums lift off and raise the song into a higher existence, its chord progression reaching a newer, superior place as Ed repeats, "I'm thumbing my way back to heaven." While the speaker may be kidding himself, the song certainly feels like coming home to this writer, like somehow finding one's way through a storm of loneliness, fear and isolation and figuring out how to move past the chains of our pasts and realize our own existences, regardless of the obstacles in the way.
