The whole grunge movement was something of a sexual escapade that you didn’t
want you parents to know about. All the while though, you flung it in their face
because you were an angry youth, filled with middle-class American hate. Young,
oppressed, and not living in a communist country. Did you ever have something to
be fuming about. And then when the music of the time took up your call with you,
you were belated. Soundgarden was angry like you, Tad was angry like you,
Nirvana was angry like you, Mudhoney was angry like you, and Pearl Jam was angry
like you.
That, of course, was then, this is very much now. Ten years have gone by and the grunge movement lays long dead in a ritualistic “Mainstream-overblow-all-over-you-pants-athon” and all the guys and gals look back on it with a smile and some quiet time to go with it. In those ten years, only one of the mainstream banditos have kept their own gig going. Pearl Jam has in their pocket their 7th studio album, titled Riot Act. Fifteen tracks of something that no longer has the resonant sounds of early the 90s.
People keep wanting the band to put out another angry and youthful record, full of aggression towards people that have screwed them over and have left them half beaten mid-stride to the local Kwik-E-Mart. But Pearl Jam have a mean age of 37.5, they’re not going to be too angry with what they were angry about when they were in their early 20s. Their last album, Binaural, touched upon feelings of corrupt governments (specifically the American one), the corruptness of consumerism, and that ever tried and true formula, love. Not only has Pearl Jam been growing up in terms of their subject matter but indeed in their sound as well.
Beginning with Vitalogy they were experimenting with sounds that weren’t just guitar driven angry rock. And so they kept digressing from that grunge sound, steering clear, and eventually, just being labeled, “Pearl Jam: Rock Band”, which is probably why they’re still around. As each album goes by, they sound more and more like those rock heroes that they themselves have heralded. The Who, Neil Young, that 70s rock sound is something that is prevalent in the Pearl Jam sound. The writing process is no longer a single man affair within the group. The whole band brings in something they’ve created, throw it on the table and the work to make a song begins.
The sound on Riot Act is more powerful than the last Pearl Jam release. While Binaural was laced with slow tempo tunes with the occasional rock song to liven it up, Riot Act, is a rock record with a few ballads thrown into the mix. The opener to the record, "Can’t Keep," is a mid-tempo rock song. The snare drum and acoustic guitar are the main role players as it starts off but as the song progresses it becomes fuller. Lightly distorted electric guitar accompany along with, duh, bass. "Save You," which follows, is the first full rock out tune on the record and is something that lightly touches upon the heels of earlier releases by the band.
"Ghost and Get Right" are another two examples of the band putting on their “Rock” for the masses. You don’t go without a ballad or two to go along with all this mid-tempo to high strung rock though. "Thumbing My Way" is a slow acoustic love song about going home and seeing the girl or guy you have those squishy feelings for. The recorded closes with a slow, almost bluesy song, which incorporates Matt Cameron using the brushes and a the hushed sound of acoustic guitar while Eddie Vedder quietly sings, while still putting forth that deep Vedder voice.
Riot Act turns out to be one of the bands more solid releases. Binaural had it’s moments but at times lacked musical foundation. This new record has the band almost in a sense regressing to their rock nature. Will they ever produce an angry rock laced record like Ten? Hell no, they won’t. Will they keep putting out solid rock records for the tenure of their careers under the Pearl Jam moniker? One can surmise that it’s a possibility.
1. Can't Keep
2. Save You
3. Love Boat Captain
4. Cropduster
5. Ghost
6. I Am Mine
7. Thumbing My Way
8. You Are
9. Get Right
10. Green Disease
11. Helphelp
12. Bushleaguer
13. 1/2 Full
14. Arc
15. All or None
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