"Yield" at Ten

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the release of what I think is the finest Pearl Jam album to date - Yield. To me, it represents a culmination of the whole "grunge" phase of the band - from the out-of-the-gate commercial successes of Ten / Vs. / Vitalogy to the shedding of fair-weather fans (who moved on to the next MTV trend of the '90s) with No Code. Yield marks the beginning of the an era of sum-of-its-parts synergy from the band. Instead of being merely Stone's album (with Ed's lyrics) or Ed's album with some collaborations, each band member contributed to album with their own songs, in their personal style:

"Brain of J.," "Faithfull," and "Given to Fly" are Mike McCready's wailing rockers. Stone Gossard's penchant for groove and rhythms butting against each other are evident in "No Way," "Do the Evolution," "In Hiding," and "All Those Yesterdays." Jeff Ament contributes yet another melancholy song in "Low Light," and the emotional residue thereof is also glimpsed in the rocker "Pilate" and the spoken-word groover "Push Me, Pull Me." Of course, Eddie Vedder lent a hand in several of the aforementioned tracks, as well as penning some minimalist rock 'n roll with "Wishlist" and "M.F.C."

Not to be left out, then-drummer Jack Irons wrote a transitional track - the one labeled with a red dot - and in future albums, current drummer Matt Cameron has had several songwriting contributions.

Pearl Jam has since left their previous record label Epic (Sony BMG) in favor of a quasi-a-la-carte distribution deal with J Records (another Sony BMG label) and other media outlets (like Rhino/WEA), so consumers will probably be spared from some sort of special anniversary repackaging of the album with a bunch of bonus material or whatever record companies do these days to siphon money from people. It's something neither the band nor its fan base probably will tolerate, in any case. However, if you want to celebrate the album Yield with auxiliary material, the band released such material throughout the calendar year 1998:

1. In August of '98, the band released a making-of-Yield documentary film called Single Video Theory.
2. In November of '98, the band released a Yield Tour compilation called Live on Two Legs, which features the band in another transition, with former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron keeping the beat.

So here's to my favorite album by one of my favorite bands. If you follow the syllogism, then Yield would have to be on my list of favorite albums.

iPods. Huh, who'da thunk?

Yeah, found out that when I updated Sydney (My ipod) yesterday, it uploaded all of the MURadio podcasts. Didn't know it did that. That rocks. I'm just sayin'.

Sick. Yes, sick I am of people telling me how great the movie TRANSFORMERS is. Being a male between the ages of 13 and 50, I like very little more than a big action movie with ridiculously cool special effects, unreal stunts, explosions galore, Is-it-live-or-is-it-Memorex CGI, narrow escapes, and super hot brunettes with killer bodies wearing as little as possible - preferably dripping wet from sweat. HOWEVER, more than all of these (save the brunettes thing), I care about S T O R Y ! ! ! Of which there was a gaping void in Michael Bay's latest hunk of crap. After 45 minutes of decent (not great) story, the Transformers land on Earth en masse. This, the point of the whole film and the TITLE, is where the film begins to suck. Ironic, eh?

This is why I (and the rest of the world, even if they didn't realize why) loved SPIDER-MAN 2: larger-than-life characters and situations, but everything is couched in a story that creates real drama, tension and emotion. (And bitchin' shots of Spidey swinging through the city... but I digress.....) I thank my God every day that Michael Bay didn't get to direct Spider-Man. (Why would I thank Alan Rickman for that, even I'm not sure. Just go with it.......)

So, that being said, as far as Mutiny Universe is concerned, I am very excited and highly optimistic, as Jason is far more talented than Michael Bay, John writes quality scripts with great character depth and story, and I intend to Executive Produce everything so that I can demand hot 21-year-old wet brunettes and CGI robots into every film, especially the tear-jerker we're prepping about the failed attempts of an ass-backward Nazi trying to build a comedy club in Auschwitz. (Think LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL meets THE PRODUCERS meets RODAN. With CGI robots.)

That, and "obsequious" is a really cool word.

Pearl Jam "Live at the Gorge" (7 CD Box Set)

Let me first say that this isn't so much a review as it is a fanboy's reaction. I'm writing this as I'm listening to Pearl Jam's Live at the Gorge. So if you don't care about the music created by Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Ed Vedder, and Matt Cameron - with "Boom" Gaspar - stop reading now. If you're just a casual fan (i.e., only like the radio singles, which only date from 1991 to 1994), this is not for you. No worries, it's cool that you're digging on "Jeremy" everytime it shows up on your randomized iTunes playlist. Anyway, bottom line: Only two kinds of music listeners should pick up this live box set.

The first kind are fanboys and fangirls, people who are members the Ten Club...like yours truly. In fact, I'm listening to my Ten Club copy, which (like last year's self-titled album) doesn't have any UPC bar codes. That itself is cool. But even more so is that I received this box set on Saturday, when the official release date is tomorrow.

OK, so the three concerts presented in this box set took place at the Gorge, in George, WA. Yes, I said the Gorge in George, Washington. There's a gorge in George Washington. (I should've ranted about that in my podcast). Like I said, you really need to be a better-than-average Pearl Jam fan to enjoy this because the whole thing is a sing along. It's like church, but with Ed's warm baritone and Mike's blues-infected leads and Stone's riffage (and vice versa for Stone and Mike) and Jeff and Matt's groove. Boom's Hammond B3 drives it home. The first songs on the first disc are definite sing-alongs: "I Believe in Miracles" (Ramones cover), "Small Town," "Off He Goes," "Low Light," "Man of the Hour," "I Am Mine"...etc., etc., etc.

There's this vibe because of the outdoor venue. The open air reduces any sort of reverberation, with all sounds leaking into space (if that were possible). So far, it feels totally different from the show I went to last year (at an indoor venue). Anyway, this particular show was recorded near the end of summer, so you can almost feel the heat. And it's freakin' hot right now, so it's perfect. I can't wait to listen to the July 2006 Gorge shows because that's when it was a really scorching summer. So I'll stop writing this non-review and continue listening (whilst I work).

Oh yeah, the second kind are people who are open to music and open to more Pearl Jam. You might not like it in the end, but at least you took a chance. Well, you can always go to http://www.pearljamlive.com/ to listen to a plethora of other shows (and thus save some bucks).

This is not much of a review. Sorry. Go to www.pearljam.com/goods for the special fanclub package, otherwise pick it up elsewhere.

I said in my podcast (which I'll post soon) that it's great to be a twentysomething/thirtysomething teenager. And it is. Next time I'll write another non-review, of the Halfing Pumpkins' return to form - Zeitgeist.