Happy Anniversaries

My original plan had been to skip over "Ten" since my previous post on Pearl Jam's MTV Unplugged episode and how it cemented my fandom covered a good number of tracks on the album. That was before I realized that "Ten" turns 27 years old (!!!) on the same day that "No Code" turns 22. The former freaks me out a bit more than the latter. I can't slight "Ten" on its birthday, so my plan to walk through "Vs." will have to wait for another day.

I won't spend much time on the songs performed during the Unplugged episode -- it's not like any of them are deep cuts. Even Flow, Alive, Black, Jeremy, Oceans and Porch represent some of PJ's most iconic tunes and even the casual fan knows at least 4 of them...and can probably remember a time when they were so ever-present on MTV and radio that you could not escape them.

So let's spin through the remainder of the album...we get things started off with an instrumental intro called "Master/Slave", then immediately dive into "Once". This is one of the songs (along with "Alive" and the b-side "Footsteps") that was included on the demo cassette that Jack Irons gave to Eddie Vedder back when the band was looking for a singer. As the legend goes, Eddie wrote and recorded lyrics and sent the cassette back and the rest is history. I've always loved this song, even if the lyrics feel a bit clunky 27 years on.

After "Even Flow" and "Alive", we get "Why Go"...with one of the most distinctive bass lines of any song. This one epitomizes the general sense of anger and frustration that is found throughout the whole album. At this stage, you'd have to have thought that Eddie was perhaps the most intense person walking the face of the Earth. I was always somewhat lukewarm on this one -- until I saw it played live. Basically any song from "Ten" gets a huge reaction at a Pearl Jam concert, but there seems to be a higher gear for this one.

(Quick aside -- I'm listening to the album while I'm typing and McCready's closing solo for "Alive" just wrapped up. After all this time -- still get goosebumps)

And we're skipping some more -- "Black", "Jeremy", "Porch" and "Oceans"...the heart of the album...which brings us to "Garden". For many years, the tail end of this album didn't do much for me. Garden was a bit too metal for my tastes in the early 90's. I'm already sensing a pattern in my commentary but seeing it live...

"Deep" is the penultimate track...another one that hewed a bit too close to metal for my early 90's tastes, but has grown on me over time.

Speaking of growers..."Release" closes things out. I have no idea why now, but back in 1991-92, I never really cared for this one. It might have been the droning nature of the song or Eddie's vocal delivery. Or maybe I was just stupid in those days. I'm going to use the "but having seen it live..." comment just one more time.

September 3, 2011 -- East Troy, WI. It rained...ALL. F***ING. DAY. I was pretty excited to be at night 1 of the "PJ20" celebration...there was a buzz that Chris Cornell was there and that we'd be treated to a Temple of the Dog reunion. A number of bands were playing on smaller stages before the main event -- Dhani Harrison's band was there, Glen Hansard, Liam Finn, Joseph Arthur....we didn't make much time for these bands, but I do recall catching a bit of Finn opening his set with a cover of "Habit", and heard Arthur play "In the Sun", which is a great song. I also remember a bunch of guys walking around with t-shirts that said "World Wide Mustache Ride", which made me laugh.

A day or two before the show, my brother-in-law had somehow talked LiveNation into swapping our lawn seats for pavilion seats -- which in hindsight was brilliant because it gave us a little cover from the rain while the openers played their sets -- Mudhoney, Queens of the Stone Age, the Strokes. All of them were OK, but it felt like to took forever to get to Pearl Jam's set.

But finally, the band took the stage, and the opening notes of "Release" kicked in and I really cannot come up with the right words to describe the immediate burst of energy that came from the crowd. You had several thousand rain-soaked people all singing in unison -- it was one of those moments that I'll really never forget. To say it was electric does not do it justice. Eddie sang "I'll ride the wave..." and with hands in the air, the entire crowd answered..."WHERE IT TAKES MMMMEEEEEE". It gave me chills -- still does nearly every time I listen to the song. I was about a month and half away from my 39th birthday on the night of that show but from that opening track until the end of the show, my 20-year-old self came back for a visit.