Pearl Jam - Just Breathe
Published January 3, 2010 @ 11:47 in Pearl Jam, SLS ~ Smells Like Sour

I'm submitting a song for SLS23 consideration. I'm submitting "Just Breathe" by Pearl Jam.

This isn't just the best song on Backspacer, it's the best Pearl Jam single since... since... well, since before SLS, that's for sure.

There's a rule with SLS that the same artist can't be represented on the same issue more than once. Pearl Jam's "The Fixer" was a shoe-in for SLS22, so I couldn't nominate "Just Breathe" until now.

Now you know the rest of the story.

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We Do Work For Pearl Jam
Published November 11, 2009 @ 14:36 in Pearl Jam

I get letters...

Mike,

Hey - We do work for PJ and are trying to spread around this official widget. We'd love if you could post it on the site. Let me know, thanks!

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Pearl Jam's The Fixer Video from Cameron Crowe
Published August 24, 2009 @ 15:07 in Pearl Jam

The new Cameron Crowe video for Pearl Jam's "The Fixer" has been released. Check it out below.

I remember after the huge success of "Jeremy" Pearl Jam was done with videos. It was a pretty big deal when we got that cool Todd McFarlane video for "Do the Evolution" back in '98.

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Pearl Jam Concert Review: Toronto 2009
Published August 22, 2009 @ 11:05 in Pearl Jam

I was lucky enough to see Pearl Jam live in concert for the seventh time yesterday. I can already hear some of you snickering about how you've seen one band 32 times or another 45 times, but I've only seen one band more times than I've seen Pearl Jam.

This time, Pearl Jam was at the Molson Amphitheatre, a venue they last played in 2003. Before I dive into my review of the show, here's your Pearl Jam Primer and here's my page solely dedicated to Pearl Jam shows I've seen live. Now, on with the show...

Pearl Jam is consistently awesome in concert. They mix up their massive catalogue so there's a great mix of crowd pleasers and lesser played gems. For example, you can bank on getting "Even Flow", "Better Man", "Corduroy" and "Do The Evolution" at every show, but you might also get "Off He Goes", "Lukin", "Why Go" or "Of the Girl", as we did last night.

Here's a taste of a personal favourite, "Given to Fly".

"Given to Fly" was one of five songs Pearl Jam played from their 1998 Yield album, meaning I was wearing the right shirt.

A personal highlight for me was hearing "Black" live for the fifth time. Twenty years later, it still nails that chord. The lyrics, the melody, the emotion...

Eddie Vedder still has the lungs, but we Pearl Jam faithful don't even need him. It's one big sing-along with 15,000 strong carrying the day. Hear for yourself with the longest song title in the Pearl Jam catalogue, "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" and "Better Man".

Fittingly, Pearl Jam wrapped things up well after their 11pm curfew with Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World", a song I've now heard them play live four times. This time, there was no Bono.

Thanks, Yoda, as always. For all my pictures and videos, check out my Flickr photoset. For the entire setlist, including my all-time Pearl Jam song statistics, visit my Pearl Jam in Toronto page.

I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me.

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Pearl Jam - The Fixer
Published August 8, 2009 @ 09:52 in Pearl Jam, SLS ~ Smells Like Sour

I'm submitting a song for SLS22 consideration. I'm submitting "The Fixer" by Pearl Jam.

This catchy mofo from one of my favourite bands is a shoe-in for SLS, but I've got more pressing PJ issues to iron out.

As documented on my Pearl Jam in Toronto page, I've caught a Pearl Jam show the last 6 times they've come through town. And yes, I'm counting the '98 show in Barrie as a local performance. That means I haven't missed a Toronto Pearl Jam gig since September '96.

I didn't buy a ticket for the upcoming show at the Amphitheatre, as I had a hook-up. When Yoda chose John Mellancamp over Eddie, a second hook-up materialized and I was set. Now, it's looking like that one will fall through as well.

Is there a third hook-up possibility out there?

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Pearl Jam - Brother
Published March 3, 2009 @ 15:59 in Pearl Jam, SLS ~ Smells Like Sour

I'm submitting a song for SLS21 consideration. I'm submitting "Brother" by Pearl Jam.

I almost refused to submit "Brother" by Pearl Jam. A few weeks ago, while listening to 102.1 here in Toronto, the deejay teased us by saying they'd play new Pearl Jam after the break. I stuck around, pretty excited to hear new Pearl Jam, and then they played "Brother."

I'm a pretty big Pearl Jam fan. I've seen them live six times and I've been collection Pearl Jam bootlegs since Ten. You can read my Pearl Jam primer here.

"Brother" is not new Pearl Jam. Yes, it's getting an official release now that they're reissuing Ten, but "Brother" is almost twenty years old. I first got my grubby mitts on a version of "Brother" with lyrics in the late 90s and I've been spinning that in MP3 format for over five years now.

It's not new, but it's new to many of you, and it's an awesome tune. That's why I'm putting it on SLS21.... because it rocks.

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Eddie Vedder's Hard Sun CanCon Mystery Solved
Published February 5, 2009 @ 15:09 in Pearl Jam

Alan Cross spoke with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and asked the question I've been curious about for years. We now finally know how Vedder came to record Indio's "Hard Sun" for the Into The Wild soundtrack.

Alan Cross: How did you come across “Hard Sun” for the “Into the Wild” soundtrack?

Eddie Vedder: Ah yeah the Canadian connection. When Shawn first showed me the movie it was in the film, him and I were just watching it in my living room.

And to be honest, it was the first time I have heard it; and I felt like I have heard it before. I couldn’t tell if it was from the late 60’s, mid 70’s. I couldn’t tell. It had this kind of timeless….

AC: So it was Sean Penn who found it?

EV: Sean at one point knew Gordon or had been in contact with him, or had friends that were friends of his, and Sean has really eclectic musical taste.

He can quote Phil Ochs at a drop of a hat or give you a 12 minute Bob Dylan song he could recite in your ear, and at the same time he’ll know stuff like David Baerwald [American singer-songwriter who used to be in David & David and now a solo performer]. He is a good friend of his and I think he knew this fellow Gordon, and loved this song. I think I wrote something for that piece as well.

And then he said “I think that’s good but I think we need to go with “Hard Sun;” and I thought “Great! That’s less work for me to do!” And he said “No, no! YOUR version of it.” And then I thought, "F%$^*!" [Laugh]

So I really tried to make it, you know, every element to mirror something in his... I tried to be really true to his delivery of it. It’s a really great song. I’ve not met him. I thought to write him but I never did. I had kids and things moved very quick for me. I hope he liked it.

AC: We don’t know because he has gone underground; he has been underground for like 15 years. And we don’t know anything about Gordon Peterson. He never resurfaces.

And the original album which is called “Big Harvest,” and it's from 1989. It's like a hardcore collector’s item now.

EV: Wow! Yeah, apparently he reached out to a website maybe a few years ago... and it seemed like he was alive and well.

And it sounds to me like he had a hard time consolidating music and the business atmosphere that sometimes you have to work with, or the pressures of being on labels and what their visions of music are. And as a solo artist and not a band, it's understandable.

I think it’s very hard, myself. It’s a great job but that’s the tricky part, and for someone that says they could not handle that part, I actually respect it.

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Your Pearl Jam Primer
Published December 4, 2008 @ 19:48 in Pearl Jam

I'm writing this Pearl Jam primer off the top of my head, because I was there and I remember.

For me, Pearl Jam flew in under a cloud of Nirvana dust. My ear buds were freaking out over Nirvana's Nevermind when our local alt rock station, CFNY, started playing Pearl Jam. The media lumped them together as part of Seattle's grunge scene. I didn't care what they called it, so long as they played it. Ten, released in the summer of 1991, was a play-through I played through about 4 zillion times. You can hear Alive, Evenflow, Black and Jeremy on any rock station on any day, but I preferred Porch, particularly this version from their Unplugged performance for MTV.

While waiting for Vs., we got a couple of great Pearl Jam tracks on the Singles soundtrack. State of Love and Trust was one of those soundtrack tunes that was way too good not to appear on a studio album.

Pearl Jam could rock out with Eddie's wail, but those ballads could carry the night. One moment you're yelling until your throat hurts and the next moment you've got the lighter out and you're swaying back and forth staring at the stars. Here's Eddie and his pal Ben Harper singing one such song.

On the morning of my first day of university, I awoke to one of my favourite covers of all-time. This is Pearl Jam singing Victoria Williams' Crazy Mary for the Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams LP and I still love it.

Studio album #3 was Vitalogy, another Pearl Jam album I got on its first day of release. Do kids even do that anymore? Did the internet kill that feeling you get when you'd peel off the plastic on day one and throw that disc you've anticipated for months into the player?

When I first spun Vitalogy, I couldn't get over one track that just got my heart racing. It's even better live. It's Corduroy.

I could go on forever about Pearl Jam, a band I've seen live six times. I've got lots more on my little Pearl Jam in Toronto page, if you're interested. The weight of the Pearl Jam catalogue is impressive, even without delving too deep into the rarities and b-sides. For my money, nothing beats Daughter with the extended It's Ok tag.

Let me just leave you with another cover... this one a recent cover of Hunters and Collectors' Throw Your Arms Around Me.

Ok, I lied. There's only one fitting way to close out a Pearl Jam show, and that's with Yellow Ledbetter. G'night, all.

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Some Day We'll Go All The Way
Published September 21, 2008 @ 12:20 in Pearl Jam, Toronto Maple Leafs

Eddie Vedder feels about the Chicago Cubs the way I feel about the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's in his blood, and he holds out hope, despite never seeing a championship in his lifetime.

Eddie wrote a great song for his team called "All the Way". I've embeded it below. As I listen to his passion and hope, I think about my Leafs. Some day, we too will go all the way... and many a tear will be shed.

I want a song like this. Who should write and sing it? Is Hayden a Leafs fan? Should The Rheostatics reform and make it happen? Can Blue Rodeo pull it off?

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Vedder Wins Golden Globe
Published January 14, 2008 @ 15:09 in Pearl Jam

The 65th annual Golden Globe Awards were awesome, weren't they? The biggest casualty of the writer's strike to date, the Golden Globes were awarded via some kind of a press conference thing. It somehow seems fitting that Eddie Vedder would win in a year when the pomp and circumstance is completely absent. He always was rather shy about his fame.

Vedder won Best Original Song for "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild. Here's the video for that tune if you haven't seen the video yet.

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