"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.

Jonny Greenwood, Eddie Vedder, and the D.I.Y. Ethos

I was extremely disappointed to see the Academy Award nominations today, when it came to music nominations. Neither Radiohead guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood's score for There Will Be Blood nor any part of Eddie Vedder's Golden Globe-winning Into the Wild soundtrack were nominated for an Oscar. Apparently, according to Rolling Stone magazine:

"On the music front, Jonny Greenwood’s score for There Will Be Blood was disqualified from the competition despite already picking up a Critic’s Choice Award and getting nominated for a British Academy Award. Eddie Vedder’s omission is confusing, as his “Guaranteed” from Into the Wild seemed to be a shoe-in for Oscar love after winning a Golden Globe."

(By the way, I first received news of the nomination list from Rama's SCREEN, run by someone I knew from high school but have gotten to know better through blogging. There's a lot of great, late-breaking movie news at Rama's SCREEN.)

Anyway, check out the trailer for There Will Be Blood, with bits and pieces from Greenwood's score:

And if want to hear some more Greenwood ASAP, your best bet is to download the album through Amazon.com's DRM-free MP3 service: There Will Be Blood.

Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" won the Golden Globe for Best Song, but Vedder's work has been snubbed in favor of not one, not two, but three songs from Enchanted. At least Cate Blanchett's two nods come from two different movies (the Elizabeth sequel and I'm Not There). Anyhow, check out the music video for "Guaranteed":



The quickest way to hear the rest of Vedder's soundtrack is to download it through DRM-filled iTunes, as the album hasn't made it to DRM-free iTunes Plus or DRM-free Amazon.com MP3 yet: [Deluxe Version] |

Before I try to provide some analysis to my lamentations, let me just quote what I wrote in the comments of the Rama's SCREEN Oscar Nomination entry: "It’s a bit reassuring (in a masochistic way) that these 1990s alt-rock heroes are still underrated by the mainstream…the establishment. The spirit of D.I.Y. ethos and not selling out lives on, I guess…"

The moral of the story is that the establishment doesn't have to recognize fantastic artists, as it often doesn't. And so what if the mainstream often rewards things that are more popular and less timeless? It's a cliché, but it happens all the time. It shouldn't - and doesn't - stop some really wonderful, timeless work from being produced, regardless of acclaim.

If it's any consolation, not having a Golden Globes ceremony and not being nominated for the currently green-lit Oscar show actually saves Vedder the trouble of being part of a potentially awkward situation. The only thing left is this year's Grammy Awards, in which Vedder is nominated and could win and could say something like twelve years ago:



Jonny Greenwood photo credit: Zach Klein.
Eddie Vedder photo credit: Jim Bachalo.

Ryan's List-Worthy from Last Year List: Non-Podcast Rock Music

Other than spinning the fine music heard at Radio@MU, I haven't consumed much music in 2007. Early in the year, I cut demos to some of the Elan Vital soundtrack. In the middle of the year, my band The Society of Gloves recorded a couple of tracks. At the end of the year, and continuing to this day, I've been tracking music for the Elan Vital score. Instead of listening to new music, I've produced music and grooved to a bunch of classics released in previous years.

Anyhow, here's a sadly brief (but great-sounding!) list of three good songs released last year. They're not necessarily my top favorites from 2007, but each song comes from some of the new albums I spent a great deal of time to listen last year:

1. Radiohead "Reckoner" | Amazon.com MP3
BAD. ASS. You can't get anymore badass in 2007 than Radiohead's In Rainbows and the way it was initially for sale - and Mutiny Universe broke the news (at the same time as virtually everyone else), too! "Bodysnatchers" was initially my favorite track off the album, that is, until "Reckoner" got under my skin! Here's a video of a live performance of "Reckoner," and it is IMPERATIVE that you concur that the song is badass:

2. Eddie Vedder "Hard Sun" |
Into the Wild is a fantastic soundtrack/solo album by Ed. I haven't seen the film, but I've heard great things about it. I'm also partway through the book of the same name, and my brother (who read the book before me) says great things about it. Ed has written great songs, and continues to do so - but this selection is a cover song, which goes to show that Ed can consistently record great cover songs, with or without Pearl Jam: "Love, Reign O'er Me," "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," and "Last Kiss," to name a few. Here's a music video that promotes the film:



3. Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin "United States" | Amazon.com MP3
On paper, they're called the Smashing Pumpkins, but since they recorded the album Zeitgeist and their latest EP American Gothic with neither the two other original or the three new Pumpkins, they might as well stick to calling themselves BC/JC. Anyhow, Zeitgeist was a better-than-average comeback album that has been tainted by typical record company greed: Multiple versions and album colors, as well as Ford commercial airplay. Ironically, the previous Pumpkins album, Machina II, was a loud-and-clear F-YOU to the record industry, as the band gave the music away for free online. On any other list that involves new Pumpkins tracks, I would have written "Bring the Light" instead, but "United States" is a nearly-ten minute heavy rock epic, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin recorded the drum track in ONE TAKE and NO CLICK TRACK. Supposedly, there's one flubbed note in there, but I'll take a Jimmy Chamberlin flubbed note any day to my flubbed notes! Here's a live performance of the song:



So that's my short list. It's definitely missing a lot of good stuff from 2007, so I guess I'll have to catch up in 2008.

These are YOUR misheard lyrics!

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.