Whoever said “Rock is dead” has not heard the latest from Pearl Jam, Seattle’s sole living survivors of the early 90’s grunge wars. A unit of explosive equal to one billion tons of TNT, a gigaton is exactly what Pearl Jam dropped earlier this year with their album of the same name. Their first record of new material in seven years Gigaton has been well worth the wait.
Pearl Jam have injected some much needed fire into the belly of rock n roll with their 11th album in 30 years (The Beatles put out 13 in just under 8 years but that’s another story). Harnessing the strength of three man guitar force Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder these fiftysomethings really show the kids how it’s done, especially on the albums first four opening tracks Who Ever Said, Superblood Wolfmoon, Dance Of The Clairvoyants, and Quick Escape.
In spite of the 65 year old genres lack of representation in Billboards Top 200 Albums these days, Pear Jam deliver an unrelenting unrepentant rock n roll album built solidly upon the bedrock of GUITARS GUITARS GUITARS. And pertinent lyrics:
Do I leave it there still sleeping or maybe kill it, better yet?
For this is no time for depression or self-indulgent hesitance
This fucked-up situation calls for all hands, hands on deck
They giveth and they taketh and you fight to keep that what you’ve earned
We saw the destination, got so close before it turned
Swim sideways from this undertow and do not be deterred”
With the tragic loss of contemporaries Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland, Eddie Vedder now stands apart as the lone living voice to the grunge generation. Undaunted by this position Vedder and Co. manage to put all that baggage behind them boldly spearheading forth with what is possibly the best rock record of the decade, perhaps the last two for that matter. It’s just that good.
Bi-Weekly Record Review 10/26