Part of the '90s Seattle grunge triumvirate completed by Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam debuted with Ten, their most accessible, least self-conscious album. Over time, PJ's rep as a politically correct band just a little too above it all to prostitute its music on MTV has nearly superseded the music. But before that, they were a simply an in-your-face, in-your-head, loud, melodic rock band. And lead singer Eddie Vedder was known for his possessed stage presence and a primal growl that sounded like it required three vocal chords. The personal, narrative singles "Alive," "Jeremy," and "Even Flow" catapulted the reluctant band into the 10-million-plus-sales division. Subsequent albums are more intricate, subtle, thematically complex, and, in many ways, better than Ten. But the band may never repeat the stampede caused by this debut. --Beth Bessmer
Perhaps it's the color scheme and imagery on the slipcase art for Live at the Gorge, recalling Roger Dean's classic 1970s-era album jackets, but this 7-disc set of live Pearl Jam feels warmly retro. Fans will concur, of course, since the 100 tracks favor Ten and Vs. And let's not kid ourselves, it'll be mostly committed fans that buy Gorge, given the sprawl and the fact that several tunes appear three times. That fact alone is retro: Fans buy live albums; generalists stay away. What fans will get--and generalists miss--here is an old-school, road-proved rock throwdown, from start to finish. Eddie Vedder's connection to fans is palpable in the between-song chatter and the Brit-style sing-a-longs (not to mention the Tom Petty goading he has going strong on the 2005 gig or the two appearances of Petty's "I Won't Back Down"). The general soundscape goes like this: The 2005 set is somber and slow-to-build, with its highlight in "I Believe in Miracles" as a show-opener. The 2006 discs, all four of them, are heated and gritty, with the final show's opening, "Severed Hand," providing a great vantage point into Pearl Jam's version of what Keith Richards calls "guitar weaving." It was a sweltering day at the Gorge (in George, Washington, no less), and the music embodies the heat. --Andrew Bartlett
Pearl Jam "rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003)"
$8.47
In an era when pop nihilism fulfilled its dark promise all too regularly, Pearl Jam not only survived, but thrived to become one of rock's greatest bands. This 33-track double-disc career retrospective documents the arc of a career that went from arena and radio triumphs in the early 90's (while Nirvana's promise imploded in the wake of hype, Pearl Jam's crowd-pleasing fame only burgeoned) to the uncompromising, core audience-focused tack that carried the band into the 21st century. Shrewdly compiled by the band into an "Up" disc that chronicles the band's driving, Stone Gossard-Mike McCready fueled hard rock dramatics (including such early career landmarks as "Jeremy," "Alive" and "Even Flow" alongside more aggressive fare like "Go" and "Spin the Black Circle") and a "Down" side that focuses more on Eddie Vedder's brooding, often dark ballads ("Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town," "Yellow Ledbetter," their unlikely hit cover of the oldie "Last Kiss"), it's a collection that underscores both the band's range and musical integrity. Though centered largely on the band's pre-Vitalogy studio era and containing no new material, longtime producer/collaborator Brendan O'Brien contributes remixes of "Once," "Alive" and "Black" that offer new insights on the familiar, while non-album tracks like "Man of the Hour" and "State of Love and Trust" considerably enhance the overall listening perspective here. --Jerry McCulley
