I don’t hate Pearl Jam anymore. What a way to start a review, huh? Well, when Grunge slaughtered every other Rock genre in their way in the 90’s with bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam, I gave all of them bands a fair shot but I couldn’t find anything to embrace within those bands. Dark, gloomy, depressive – and they all looked like they had been living in someone’s basement for years. There were some good songs, of course, but not that many – and growing up in the 70’s and being a teenager in the 80’s, I so missed music that was fun and great musicianship was important. With Pearl Jam, I listened to their debut album Ten (1991) several times to no avail. Only a couple of songs were to my liking so I guess Grunge was never for me. After that I album I didn’t bother with Pearl Jam anymore. Until that one day.
It was 2009 and a close friend of mine who happened to be a huge Pearl Jam fan sent me an e-mail containing the then new song “Got Some”, asking me to take just a few minutes to try it out – he really thought there was a good chance that I might like it. Since open-mindness comes with age, I thought why not and gave it a chance. Well, I dug the song, checked out the album Backspacer while I was at it and lo and behold, I dug it. After a few spins more, I began to love it and when they released the follow-up Lightning Bolt four years later I was all over it like a cheap suit. It wasn’t as great as Backspacer but I sure enjoyed it a lot. The new album is their first in seven years and to be honest, it was a weird feeling to actually look forward to a Pearl Jam record, but I did.
One of the album’s leading singles “Who Ever Said” opens the album in a heavy way with some big, crunchy guitars and the verses comes across as pretty plain Hard Rock, raunchy yet melodic. The song takes a punkier, more alternative turn in the chorus but even though I’m not a big fan of that kind of music, I still got hooked on the big catchiness. This is a beefy rocker where the verses are stronger than the chorus but it’s still a damn good song. “Superblood Wolfmoon” (what a fantastic title!!! I want to name my band that I don’t have that) opens with a meaty drum groove and some 70’s sounding guitars that actually brings early Kiss to mind. It continues down Classic Rock lane with some poppier melodies added all the while with the Kiss vibes intact but with a slight nod towards alt-rock. It’s a good, chunky, plain rocker that’s to my liking very much.
“Dance Of The Clairvoyants” changes the outlook on a big note. It opens with a dance-beat, a big, chunky bass-line and a robotic sounding drum beat – quite experimental. Being a guitar-band, some crispy guitars do comes in, making the song more of a rock-dance tune. There’s a mixture of both alternative and funky rhythms and a memorable main-melody. Still, I can’t seem to get the hang of this one but it’s not a bad tune at all. “Quick Escape” is a slower paced rocker that holds a groovy bass-line and a bouncy rhythm. The guitars are on the raw and crunchy side with straight-forward, in-your-face verses and a striking refrain that hits right where it should, catchy as damn without any flirtations with radio. There’s also an underlying darker ambience all over the track that makes for a killer dynamic. I love this!
“Alright” is a slow and somewhat psychedelic ballad where the late 60’s meets the early 70’s. It starts out stripped and earthy but takes on a bigger soundscape when more guitars are added. It’s heavily based on acoustic guitars but even when the electric guitars comes in, the tune holds a spacey, Pink Floyd kind of vibe. That being said, there are also plenty of feelgood vibes all over the track and the melodies really gets under my skin and I just ride along. It doesn’t sound like the Pearl Jam I remember but I like this very much. “Seven O’Clock” is a slow, stripped yet groovy pop-rocker, pretty down-to-earth with a sort of cozy feel to it. It’s laid-back yet straight-forward, slightly trippy and the toned-down, spacey passage makes for a dynamic change. The song then speeds up and brings on a more straight-ahead vibe throughout the song and the whole soundscape gets wider. It’s a bit hard to grasp at first but when you get it, it sure is a really good tune.
“Never Destination” is a raw, organic and rowdy rocker, quite stripped yet both hard and kicking. It’s faster in pace and goes right for the throat while mixing up Classic Rock with a punkier and garage-band like outlook. While this kind of music isn’t really my thing, I don’t hate it, it just won’t stick. “Take The Long Way” is a rough, attitude-laden, punky rocker, both riff-happy and edgy with a raw, ballsy rhythm. It’s ok as a furious let-off-steam song but the melodies don’t stick and the chorus goes nowhere. It pretty much falls on the way-side. “Buckle Up” is a bluesy swinger in mid-pace on a laid-back note. It holds some darker undertones mixed with pretty slick melodies and a softer arrangement. Again, it’s an ok song but it lacks real structure which makes it hard to grasp and it just flows along without standing out one bit.
“Comes Then Goes” is a slow, acoustic guitar based ballad with its feet in the early 70’s – raw, organic and stripped down with only guitar and vocals. It’s darker laden and quite melancholic but the melodies throughout the songs are quite striking. A very good song and a nice breather. “Retrograde” starts out slow and earthy with acoustic guitars as a base and feels like a ballad of sorts but it soon speeds up some and creates a bit of a groove. The stripped production goes into a bigger soundscape as the song goes along but with the organic and stripped vibes intact. A memorable main-melody makes the tune stick but on the other hand it has no clear refrain. Still a really good track. Closing track and single “River Cross” is a slow, sullen and laid-back tune, stripped yet with a big production and soundscape. It’s deep and introvert but with an intense main-melody and a very in-your-face outlook that makes it crawl under my skin. That song really got to me – brilliant!
As a whole, I think this album is really good although it couldn’t hold a candle to the brilliant Backspacer – and to tell the truth, it’s a few steps away from Lightning Bolt as well. The album do have its ups and downs and at times it feels like they’re experimenting for experimenting’s sake – so expect the unexpected. It also contains a lot of slow numbers which to my surprise are the strongest cards on this disc/vinyl. Listening to this record, I find little in common with the band that made Ten a million-copy seller all those years ago – to call Pearl Jam of 2020 a Grunge band is pretty far from correct, which in all honesty is fine by me. This is not an album that sticks by first listen but on the other hand, those are the records that usually lasts the longest. It’s a good album that in a few months might have grown on me more but as for now, I say good, not great.
6/10
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Tracklist:
1. Who Ever Said
2. Superblood Wolfmoon
3. Dance Of The Clairvoyants
4. Quick Escape
5. Alright
6. Seven O’Clock
7. Never Destination
8. Take The Long Way
9. Buckle Up
10. Comes Then Goes
11. Retrograde
12. River Cross
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