I Want My Music Television: 8/28/13

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Rock and Roll – Avril Lavigne


I am trying to figure out what the most offensive part of this music video is: 1) the shameless product placement, 2) the shameless rip-off of the November Rain video, or 3) that Avril Lavigne got to make out with Winnie Cooper before I did. #3, definitely number three.


Rooftop – Dave Matthews Band


It seems like once per album where the Dave Matthews Band puts out a music video where Dave just walks around like a crazy person, this time around they actually put him in an asylum. Makes you wonder what would have happened to him had he not been the lead singer of the biggest touring band of his generation.


Mind Your Manners – Pearl Jam


Pearl Jam is back with a new music video and it pretty much looks like every other video they have made since they started making videos ago where they just play in front of images of vaguely political images.


Home Again – Elton John


Elton John has also shunned music videos of late as I cannot remember the last time he appeared in one of his own; he even had Justin Timberlake stand in for him a couple years ago. But now it is some random dude who at some point lived about a mile from the moon? Or some dude who lives on the moon which is a mile from the Earth? I am not entirely sure what this video is trying to say except for maybe it is hard to go back home.

I Would Rather Starve than Eat Your Bread

It seemed the less Pearl Jam wanted the spotlight, the more popular the band got. They refused to make anymore videos after Jeremy off their first album and their second Vs. had the biggest first week sales to date. Then they canceled their 1994 tour in protest of Ticketmaster’s service charges and their third album Vitalogy went on to be the second fastest album at the time after behind Vs. and like Vs. is being inducted into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Those two albums that chronicle the band’s tenuous rise of fame will rereleased as a three CD set later this month. Or if you have money to burn, you can also pick up the limited edition five LPs, four CDs, one cassette, an 80-page composition notebook and a memorabilia-filled envelope set. Vinyl hounds will have to trek down to your favorite independent record store when they will be sold exclusively.

Much like its predecessor, Vitalogy starts off with a one-two punch of guitar infused aggression with Last Exit and Spin the Black Circle, an ode to vinyl. I have a theory that the band loves vinyl that they made a CD that is guaranteed to scratch the CD. But in a time when the band was anti-music videos, they came up with some interesting packaging with the medical book theme of Vitalogy (which is the study of life) and the collector cards that were packaged with No Code.

In an age when the band wasn’t keen on self promotion, Better Man was still a commercial success despite never actually being released as a single and is up there with Black as one of the band’s best melancholy songs to date. But my favorite song on the album is Corduroy, a driving song that has an edge to it but remains as catchy as any pop song at the time.

Vitalogy also saw that band go into the bizarre musically whether it be Eddie Vedder singing about bugs around a poorly played accordion or the singer just repeatedly spelling privacy over and over again for a minute, or the vitrally wordless Spanish tinged Aye Davanita that just fades out as it did in. But it didn’t get any weirder than the album closer Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me which saw more repeated phrases, this time about spanking. But the highs of Vitalogy helped Pearl Jam complete one of the best trio of first albums by any rock band.

I Want My Music Television vol. LXXXVIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Amongst the Waves (Live) - Pearl Jam



Surfing enthusiast Eddie Vedder had another song about his favorite pastime on the latest Pearl Jam album and with the recent assault on our oceans, no better time that heal out the ecosystem in the Gulf. Proceeds from the U.S. sale of Pearl Jam's video “Amongst the Waves” will benefit Conservation International's Marine Programs. To learn more about this program and Conservation International, visit www.conservation.org/marine


The Fire – The Roots featuring John Legend



When I first saw this new video from The Roots, I had no idea what was going on, then I read this description from directorRik Cordero:

"The Fire" chronicles a post-apocalyptic death march set in 1945 during the final stages of World War II in Europe. After a cataclysmic event renders the war futile, a paramilitary splinter group -- led by a Kurtz-like figure known as The Commodore -- forces the transfer of young men who will be used as labor...and food. The last survivor of the march receives a mysterious White Box which holds the key to survival.

Yep, still no clue.


You Lost Me - Christina Aguilera



It seems clear that Christina Aguilera should take the Eminem route and start disavowing this album like he did Relapse. This video seems like it is trying to be weird and artsy but just doesn’t go far enough instead coming off amateurish. Seriously, what is up with that effect when she sings about being infected?


He's Not a Boy - The Like



Of course The Like go for a retro video to the great retro song.

Best of the Week vol. XXX

Quote of the Week: (Facebook) is all about finding people you never got a chance to sleep with in high school or college. It’s annoying. (Ronnie, Mercy)

Song of the Week: The End – Pearl Jam (Castle)

Big News of the Week: Scott Brown, Your Newest Senator: It is hard to be surprised by political outcomes considering our last three presidents were black, brain-dead from cocaine use, and a hillbilly (two of which were even reelected). There is even a politician in Minnesota that managed to lose to both Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Al “Stuart Smalley” Franklin. But it is hard not raise an eyebrow at the special election in the very liberal Massachusetts that filled the senate seat that was held by someone with the last name Kennedy for fifty-four of the last fifty-six years by a Republican. Not only that but a Republican who has posed nude, his wife appeared in a 1984 music video for Digney Fignus's The Girl With the Curious Hand (I have never heard of it either but of course it is on YouTube) and has a daughter who was on American Karaoke (and she is single fellas, as her father so elegantly put in his victory speech). God bless American.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Free Download of the Week: Cousins (Video) – Vampire Weekend (iTunes)

Deal of the Week: Save Up to 56% on Boxed Sets (Mel Brooks Collection, Home Alone, X-Men Trilogy)

Video of the Week: The episode of Chuck I have been waiting for since I first heard Kristin Kreuk (who ranked in at #2 of The Hottest Hot Chicks of the 00's) would be appearing this season, and here is a promo of that episode, and as an added bonus, it also features Stone Cold Steve Austin. Color me excited.

Next On: Going Solo


Next Week Pick of the Week: Greek, Monday at 10:00 on ABC Family: When we last left Cypress Rhodes, Casey and her sisters burnt down a rival’s sorority house. That should lead to some entertainment when the show returns. What won’t will be Casey hooking up with Cappie which will probably be lame especially if the add Evan for a love triangle and Rebecca after that for a love quadrangle. I am not a fan of the newly late start time, but on an already crowded Monday, I most likely would have caught on Hulu later in the week anyway.

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2009

Today is the one day of the year I turn the 9th Green over to you the readers. I have collected your top ten lists, powered up Microsoft Excel, plugged them in, and here is the list that it spit back out to me. If you don’t agree with this list, you should have sent in you on list and I hope you do so next year. For the list of my 100 favorite songs of 2009, check back tomorrow (a little warning, it may be late as I just started working on it last night and I get a little obsessive compulsive with these lists). So thanks to everyone who did submit their list and hope to see you back here in 2010, here is your list of the best songs of 2009:

1. 1901 - Phoenix

2. Just Breathe - Pearl Jam

3. Bulletproof - La Roux

4. Run This Town - Jay-Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West

5. Daniel - Bat for Lashes

6. Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

7. No Sound but the Wind (New Moon Version) - Editors

8. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

9. World So Cold - Three Day Grace

10. Fireflies - Owl City

11. Half of My Heart - John Mayer with Taylor Swift

12. Swim - Jack's Mannequin

13. Houses - Great Northern

14. Impossible - Daniel Merriweather

15. New Divide - Linkin Park

16. Heartless - The Fray

17. Supernova - Mr. Hudson featuring Kanye West

18. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

19. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

20. Help I'm Alive - Metric

21. The Debtor - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

22. You Belong with Me - Taylor Swift

23. Poker Face - Lady Gaga

24. House of Flying Daggers - Raekwon featuring Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, and Method Man

25. Day n Night - Kid Cudi

When Something’s Lost, I wanna Fight to Get it Back Again

It seemed like someone made a conscience effort to make Pearl Jam’s last album, the self titled one, a comeback album with a full media blitz behind its release (or as full as the media shy band has had in a while). The band even appeared in their first music video fourteen years. But the album just didn’t stand out from their other four albums since they were last a cultural phenomenon with the release of Vitology. The band’s ninth studio album Backspacer may not be getting the comeback buzz the last one did, but it is actually better and possibly their best this decade.

What may or may not be coincidentally, this is the first time the band worked with producer Brendan O’Brien since 1998’s Yield. And the album is better for it with much of the songs short and to the point with eleven songs crammed into thirty-six minutes. And you can tell that from the beginning with the rapid fire beginning of the first three tracks Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, and The Fixer barreling through in less than nine minutes and you will be surprised it took that long after listening to them in a row. It is like the band reminding everyone they are a rock band first and foremost.

That’s not to say the album slows down with the next track Johnny Guitar slows things down that much sounding like Eddie Vedder singing over lost track from Bruce Springsteen’s seventies catalogue. Things do get slowed for Just Breathe which may be the most melancholy song the band has ever recorded. Backspacer may not get Pearl Jam back to their former glory (granted the record business isn’t creating many cultural phenomenons anymore) but it should get some of the fans that wrote off the band earlier this decade back.

Please note, if you buy Backspacer on CD or through iTunes, you can download two concerts from the band in their entirety from a virtual vault that features eleven concerts spanning from 2005-2008. Also the only big box retailer selling the album is Target (you should also be able to find it at your local record store with a different cover than the one at Target) and the only online store you can find it is iTunes where it is available in its new iTunes LP format (see banner below).

Song to Download – The Fixer

Backspacer gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television vol. LXIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Run this Town – Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West



A better song than D.O.A. but Jay-Z is continuing the obscure movie theme to the video off The Blueprint 3 and Run This Town has a The Warriors by way of Mad Max feel to it but with more face covering with Rihanna coming off as a Mortal Kombat character ion the beginning.


The Fixer – Pearl Jam



I never understood why Pearl Jam gave up making videos after their first album because they did were performance pieces anyways (sans Jeremy) and that is just what this is but with extreme close ups courtesy of Cameron Crowe.


Why I Am – Dave Matthews Band



Just the Dave Matthews Band doing what they do best: perform live.


Sabotage – Kristinia DeBarge



Considering her last name and being produced by Babyface, the first couple singles from Kristinia DeBarge have been disappointing and adding to that, how can you do a video for a song called Sabotage and not feature someone named Cochise?

Of course the original Sabotage is up for the Best Video to Never Win a Moonman which got me thinking, what actually beat Sabotage. It lost to Cryin’ by Aerosmith (can’t complain too much as Alicia Silverstone owned MTV in the mid-nineties) with Heart Shaped Box and Everybody Hurts also in the running. Compare that to this year that features Lady Gaga, Britney Spears naked, Kanye West singing, Beyoncé in a leotard and Eminem dressing up like Bret Michaels. Um, yeah, I think the children are officially no longer the future.

Got a Bomb in My Temple that Is Gonna Explode

It is sometimes weird how a premature death alters history. In the late seventies The Beatles were just that band Paul McCartney was in before Wings then they became the biggest band ever with the murder of John Lennon, who himself went from the third most successful artist to its first. Yet had it been Brian Wilson who was gunned down we very may have considered The Beach Boys the most influential band of all time.

In my lifetime it is weird to see the hero worship around Kurt Cobain (how does he crack the top fifty in Rolling Stone's Greatest Singers of All Time?) when Pearl Jam completely overshadowed them in the early nineties. I was one of the million people that bought Vs. the week it came out (which I can prove as it lacks a name on the cover which the first shipment didn’t have) while Nirvana’s sophomore album was pretty much a flop. Then Cobain puts a shotgun in his mouth and he is a voice of a generation.

But it was Pearl Jam that was making the better music and later this month see the reissue of Ten on two CD’s (the original version on one and each song remixed by Brendon O’Brian on the second with bonus tracks) and a DVD (featuring the band’s Unplugged performance). And the album is this month’s Scooter Hall of Fame inductee.

The album starts off with a jolt in the arm, Once featuring Eddie Vedder’s controlled growl that is part scream but never loses its melody. The song even reduces into almost a jam band kind of groove before getting back to rocking. Maybe it was the moody teenager in me, but I cannot count the times I would let loose with the chorus of the second track letting anyone know, “Whoa, I’m still alive.”

The song that got the most play time thanks to an over abuse of the repeat button was Black, a heavy handed song that was a great soundtrack for almost any event for a teenager in the early nineties. But the true stars of Ten were the duel guitars of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready who really shined in that Unplugged setting highlighted by Porch. Yeah the camera focused on Vedder scribbling on his arms, but it is the solo in the song, with help from Jeff Ament, that got full attention from my ear and may be the worth double downing on the reissue when it comes out.

We on Award Tour: 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Yesterday when I was talking about all the great events that happen in the middle of March I left out one very important even, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. You may not agree with some of the inductees, but undeniably you will get some unforgettable, sometimes surreal, performances and this year was no exception. Well the biggest exception is that for the first time ever you could watch the ceremony live on either VH1 Classic, which re-airs the whole thing in its entirety this Friday at 8:00 or stream over at AOL.com where you can currently stream the event on demand. For those that don’t have the time to devote the four hours to the show can watch the usual VH1 butchered show this Saturday at 9:00, because who doesn’t want to spend St. Patrick’s Day in front of the television. Now onto my thoughts:

- Of course the show is emanating from New York City instead of the actual Hall, here in Northeast Ohio. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

- The show starts off with Jann Winner of Rolling Stone talking about one of the co-founders of the Hall who passed and get a proper tribute of the guy from two time inductee Stephen Stills as well as a performance by Aretha Franklin for some reason. We also get your token In Memoriam package which obviously goes beyond just those inducted as they included the dude from Molly Hatchet. But why was a roadie for the Grateful Dead included?

- The first inductees were The Ronettes. A little before my time as I mainly associate them for contributing a song to the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack and one of them did a song with Eddie Money, who got a shout out. One person that didn’t get a shout out was their producer Phil Spector who they went out of their way to not mention. Making that even odder was after they performed Paul Shaffer read a note from Spector, who is rumored to be the reason the group hadn’t been inducted yet, congratulating them. Only at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Well maybe until Big Head Barry gets inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

- One thing we don’t get to see is on the edited telecasts is the intermissions in between induction. The first is a montage of memorable moments from past induction, the best part are the estranged moments of band members that probably haven’t spoke to each other since they broke up. Other intermissions are filled with individual performances which one being one of my personal favorite from 2004 with the all-star jam for While My Guitar Gently Weeps featuring a rancorous solo by Prince who ended it with throwing his guitar behind him then just walks off stage. Can we induct Prince every year? C’mon, you can at least put him in with The Revolution and The New Power Generation.

- Holy Zach del la Rocha sighting! Dude been in an Axl Rose type hibernation since breaking up Rage Against the Machine. And it looks like during the interim he has been growing one silly afro. He’s there to induct Patti Smith, another artist I never really got into. The only Smith story I have was I once gave a presentation on racism in popular culture and played her song Rock and Roll (Expletive Deleted) during it. And wouldn’t you know she played that very song saying it was her mom’s favorite song to vacuum to. If only there were a camera on the Rev. Al Sharpton when the chorus kicked in as I would have liked to see his reaction.

- Speaking of Sharpton he was there to once again to eulogized inaugural Hall of Fame inductee, James Brown. Luckily a Christina Aguilera tribute didn’t follow. I would have liked an actual musician to have done thins instead of Sharpton milking his friendship of Brown yet again. But anyways.

- The moment that everyone has been waiting for of course failed to live up to the hype. I’m speaking of the Van Halen induction that didn’t actually feature either of the band’s namesakes and more surprisingly absent was David Lee Roth who is never one to turn down a public appearance. According to Scott Weiland, whose Velvet Revolver inducted the band as well as handled the performance, invited Roth to sing one of their earlier songs, but balked when the band wouldn’t agree to perform Jump because of that whole, they don’t have a keyboard player thing. Almost as surprising is they actually let Sammy Hagar perform backed by booted bassist Michael Anthony, who actually gave a shout out to Gary Cherone during his acceptance speech, and Paul Shaffer and the CBS Hall of Fame Orchestra. Nice to have the two members currently not in the band are the only ones to actually show up.

- Jay-Z is up next to induct Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Oddly for a guy who is highly touted for never writing down his lyrics, Jay never looked up while reading his speech, from his Blackberry. I like how Mele Mel called out the younger generation during his speech, although it will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears as the new generation can’t hear anything with their massive diamond earrings in their ears. Great performance too adding some theater to the program but I wish they would have spent longer on each song instead of jumping around.

- Last in this year are R.E.M. who get the induction treatment from Eddie Vedder who correctly calls out Mike Mills for hid Elvis type suits in the mid-nineties. I’m sure many of the longtime readers may wonder what my favorite song of all-time in, and you are likely to get a different answer at different times you ask, but one song that comes up quite frequently is the band’s Nightswimming. R.E.M. is also one of the few bands that I’ve created a personal Best of CD for my collection, which I will certainly share the track with everyone one of these days. I was a little disappointed with the band’s song selection as I would have like them to focus on their nineties work aside from Vedder joining them for Man on the Moon.

- The show ends with a couple of collaborations with Smith joining R.E.M. for I Wanna Be Your Dog, a jab at the Hall for not letting The Stooges in yet. That was followed by most of the inductees and inductor (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 were conspicuously absent although one of the guys who was in their performance was bouncing around) closing the show with Smith’s People Have the Power.

- Tune in late this year to see if acts like Beatie Boys, Metallica, Sting, Madonna, or Janet Jackson can get in with their first year of eligibility or if multiple finalist like The Stooges or the Dave Clark Five finally get in.

In or Out: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Edition vol. 2

Next Monday the latest crop of inductees are getting a spot reserved at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in honor of that, AOL has a list of twenty-five potential future inductees from the late eighties and nineties for people to vote on. Oddly when I voted, each and every artist had a no vote. Here is the second of third posts, ten each post. I’ll have two different ways of deciding. First whether they will actually get in and if I had a vote, would I vote that artist in. Since that only leaves five for the last post, going to add some of my favorite artists not included on their list. Also, if you would like me to dissect your favorite artist, leave a comment and I’ll whip up their odds of getting. Like I said, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction is next Monday and for the very first time (at least that I’m aware of) VH1 Classic will be covering it live starting at 8:30. You can also catch VH1’s usually butcher cut down version the following Saturday at 9:00. Now onto the list:

(Check out vol. 1)
(Check out vol. 3)

Beck (eligible 2018)
Will Get In: No
Would I Vote: No

Same boat as Radiohead where the critical success hasn’t quite translated to mass appeal. But at least Beck had more legitimate follow-up hits to actually break him out of one hit wonderdom.


Sheryl Crow (eligible 2018)
Will Get In: No
Would I Vote: No

Started out a Grammy-darling with plenty of good songs but good songs don’t get you into the Hall. You need great albums to get in, something she lacks.


Green Day (eligible 2016)
Will Get In: Yes
Would I Vote: No

I was never of fan of their pop-punk beginnings so I knock off points for that. But that is not to say if they keep on releasing more albums like American Idiot, I could have my mind changed in the future. But as of now, one great album does a hall of famer make unless it is an instant classic which American Idiot wasn’t.


Eminem (eligible 2024)
Will Get In: Yes
Would I Vote: No

Again, Eminem is the same as Jay-Z in that he has to wait on how the Hall looks at rappers. But he has the critical and commercial success so far that voters like. Also since he made noise in the late 90’s/early 00’s, the Hall will need to induct someone during that era because you can’t let Limp Bizkit or Jennifer Lopez in. Personally he has some great song but he limits himself at times by pandering to his audience, watering songs that will play well with teenage white girls which weighs heavy on my vote.


Pearl Jam (eligible 2016)
Will Get In: Yes
Would I Vote: Yes

I’m not sure if the Hall will be all that nice to the grunge era after Nirvana, who is a lock. But despite a mid-nineties drop-off, I have a feeling Pearl Jam has enough to get in as their first three albums are undeniable and should be in everyone’s collection. Plus their extracurricular activities such as their war against Ticketmaster and their many political statements will help their cause.


Beastie Boys (eligible 2011)
Will Get In: Yes
Would I Vote: Yes

Like I’ve said before that we don’t know how the Hall will react to rap artists but with that said, either way Run-DMC and Tupac are locks and add the Beastie Boys to that list as they are one of the rare rap acts that can crossover to rock fans. With two classic albums along with four great ones, their induction is a lock, but look for the boys to add to that this year as it looks like we will get a new album later this year.


Mary J. Blige (eligible 2017)
Will Get In: No
Would I Vote: No

This is a hard one. Mary has had a few great songs throughout the years as well as appeared on others, but much like Sheryl Crow, she is missing that classic album. Unlike Crow, Mary could still have one in her which will boost her resume to the point of getting in. Granted she has already performed with so many artist already in, which may be enough with some voters already.


The White Stripes (eligible 2025)
Will Get In: No
Would I Vote: No

It’s just too early to call this one yet. Fell in Love with a Girl was such a breath of fresh air back in 2002 when teen pop was destroying music but a few great albums isn’t enough to get you in. Ask me again in a couple months and I may change this to a yes as Jack White said an album is finished and will be released as soon as the machine will let it out. This album may be the one to put the band over the hump. Then maybe White can focus on getting The Raconteurs Hall worthy.


R. Kelly (eligible 2017)
Will Get In: No
Would I Vote: No

Here some news that may hurt the rumors that I’m a musical snob: Not only do I own one R. Kelly Album, I actually own two (12 Play, R. Kelly) and I will definitely grab the Trapped in the Closet DVD whenever R gets around to releasing the final chapters. With that said and even if I disregard the whole “other” video, I don’t think Kelly is Hall worthy. Now if you can guarantee me that Dave Chappelle inducts him, maybe I’ll change that to a yes vote. If you can't firgure out why I would want to see Chappelle to induct R. Kelly, check out this very not safe for work video.


Mötley Crüe (already eligible)
Will Get In: No
Would I Vote: No

Again, is this a joke, right? If you let the Crue in, it opens a Pandora’s Box of hair bands like Bon Jovi, Poison and Warrant and then the hall loses all credibility.

The Best of Pearl Jam

For long time readers to the 9th Green know I love making mix tapes. A subset to this is my Best Of series. I routinely make my own because inevitably they leave off some of my favorite songs on Greatest Hits packages (the worst offender being I’m on Fire being left off of Bruce Springsteen’s). Even though the resurgence of Pearl Jam has since died down after the release of their new album, I’ll still hype the band with my Best Of for the band. Keep in mind this was made before its release, granted I’m not sure if any of those songs could bump something of this set. This CD comes in at 77:28.


1. Alive - Ten
2. Porch - Ten
3. Black - Ten
4. Dirty Frank - Even Flow Single
5. Dissident - Vs.
6. Rearviewmirror - Vs.
7. Daughter - Vs.
8. Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town - Vs.
9. Indifference - Vs.
10. Yellow Ledbetter - Jeremy Single
11. Better Man - Vitalogy
12. Nothingman - Vitatogy
13. Immortality - Vitalogy
14. Corduroy - Vitalogy - Vitalogy
15. I Got ID - Merkinball
16. Given to Fly - Yield
17. Last Kiss - No Boundaries

I’m sure there will be must debate to this album (I never liked Jeremy, and this is my list), so feel free to comment on what you would add and or subtract. And as an added bonus, in a recent issue of Rolling Stone they had a Best of the Boots list which picked the best songs from their 176 official concert bootlegs:

1. Daughter - Las Vegas (11/30/93)
2. Go - East Rutherford, N.J. (9/8/98)
3. Corduroy - Virginia Beach, VA (8/3/00)
4. Yellow Ledbetter - Cincinnati (8/20/00)
5. Alive - Seattle (11/6/00)
6. Sometimes - Mansfield, Mass (7/11/03)
7. World Wide Suicide - Grand Rapids, Mich (5/19/06)

Memories Like Fingerprints Are Slowly Raising

If the MTV Unplugged series is the best music show devised for television, then VH1 Storytellers is a close second. But both have become sporadic at best with only Alicia Keys getting the Unplugged treatment recently and Storytellers only produced three shows last year and is airing the first one of this year tonight starring Pearl Jam. It should be interesting the stories the band tells after being in hibernation for about a decade, but at the very least the performances will be solid and hopefully top heavy of earlier albums.

In honor of their performance tonight, it seems apropos that I induct one of their albums into the Scooter Hall of Fame this month and for my money Vs. is the pinnacle of their career. Ten was a great debut, but was bogged down by the grunge sound at times while Vitology had some better songs, but it was also a decent into lunacy with songs like Bugs and the closing “song.” But it is Vs. where everything came together, expanding on the grunge sound, to make the best album of their career.

Vs. starts out with the one-two punch of Go and Animal, two songs that, if they can’t get your blood pumping, nothing will. But the band quickly showed their growth next with Daughter where they were able to slow things down without going into the power ballad cliché. The musicianship really shines through on the song and I love the ambiguity of the lyrics with the booklet saying the line in “violins (ence).” Granted intelligibility of Eddie Vedder doesn’t work because for a long time I thought he was saying “a glorified version of a pelican.”

Dissident features one of the best riffs the band has come up with making you wonder how the duel attack of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready are always absent from best guitarist list, but that may be the answer, that there is two of them. The band takes a complete left turn on W.M.A. with its percussion and bass heavy song about police brutality and still has yet come close to creating another song like it which is somewhat of a same. Rats may not have been the best song on the album, but you got to love the Michael Jackson shoutout at the end.

Near the end of the album are two of my favorite Pearl Jam songs starting with the pulsing Rearviewmirror. I remember after getting my license a few years later and I loved playing this song at night in the summer on a country road with the windows down as each passing headlight telling a different story as the song made a perfect soundtrack. There was just a sense of optimism to the song. On the other hand Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town took a much more subtle approach and after two albums filled with doom and gloom, the song was a refreshing breath of clarity and simplicity and could be my favorite Pearl Jam song not titled Betterman.

The album ends with the haunting Indifferent, yet another chance the band took and the line, “I’ll swallow poison until I grow immune” still sends a chill down my spine to this day. The diversity and the and all the successful risks the band took on Vs. makes it a welcome addition to the SHoF. And yes, I do have one of the copies of the CD without the title on it. (If you remember, the band did have a name for the album when it when to print, so the first shipment went out without Vs. appearing on the album anywhere.)

Car Mix - June 2006

Every once in a while I like to compile a list of songs that I’m currently listening to onto a CD to listen to in the car. So here’s some suggestions of songs that you should be listening to. The CD comes in at 76:58.

1. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall (see my album review - Her Face Is the Map of the World)
2. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
3. Hips Don’t Lie - Shakira & Wyclef Jean
4. Touch the Sky - Kanye West & Lupe Fiasco (see my album review - You Gotta Love Though, Somebody Still Speaks from His Soul)
5. Number One - Pharrell & Kanye West
6. Crazy Times (Team9) - Gnarls Barkley vs. Prince (For those keeping track at home, this is a mash-up of Crazy and Sign 'o' the Times)
7. Drive Slow - Kanye West, Paul Wall, & GLC
8. Cash Machine - Hard-FI (Another great Single of the Week)
9. Walk Away and I’ll Wait (Aggro1) - Kelly Clarkson vs. Van Halen (What mix tape would be complete without a Kelly Clarkson remix, this time with Van Halen getting the mash-up treatment)
10. Dani California’s Last Dance (Laptop Punk) - Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. Tom Petty (Apparently someone pointed out that Dani California sound similar to Mary Jane's Last Dance, even though I really don't hear it, but that didn't stop an unknown mash-up artist from putting the two songs together)
11. World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam (I hope you got this back when Pearl Jam had it up for free on their website, if not, it is worth the .99)
12. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
13. Steady, As She Goes (Acoustic) - The Raconteurs (This and the next song were both Free Singles of the week on iTunes, but instead of getting the album versions, we get acoustic versions of their latest songs. Hopefully this tread continues)
14. Put Your Records On (Acoustic) - Corrine Bailey Rae
15. Not About Love - Fiona Apple (see my album review - I Promise You Everything Will be Just Fine)
16. Boston - Augustana
17. Brand New Way - Rhett Miller (see my album review - Sex in Wartime Is Sweeter than Peace)
18. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray (I always find it interesting whenever a former Free Single of the Week makes it into the top 25 downloaded list on iTunes, luckily, I got this song back when it was free)
19. Sway - The Perisher (This was featured during the Sadie Hawkins dance episode on Veronica Mars and it sounded familiar and lo and behold, I downloaded it back when it was a Free Single of the Week)
20. You’re Pitiful - “Weird Al” Yankovic (For those that made it to the end of my lengthy MTV Movie Awards recap saw this gem where Al is letting you download his latest parody on his website. Get it before he takes it down before you have to pay .99 for it by clicking on the song name)

If I Keep Holding Out Will the Light Shine Through

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the new self titled Pearl Jam album as everyone says it is their best work in over a decade. Well that really says much since it can’t be hard to be better than the bland rock they have been churning starting with the release of No Code. But with that said, this album is indeed better than anything they have released during that time frame, but still is no way near as good as their first three albums.

The album is the band’s first in four years and the rest did do them good as there seems to be a spring back in their step, or it could also have been their time on the Vote for Change Tour lit a match underneath them, as sharing a stage with Bruce Springsteen can definitely have a positive effect on musicians. The album starts off with the twin guitar assault by Stone Gossard and Mike McCready on Life Wasted and the you should have downloaded it when it was free on the band’s website World Wide Suicide which roar with ferocity that will undoubtedly will become a highlight of their live shows. Then Comotose is fast romp that is the closest the band has gotten to puck yet.

But what made Pearl Jam great is their diversity, yeah, they rocked, but were still able to slow things down, go acoustic, and make some eerily good music too. Marker in the Sand effortlessly switches from an angst fill verse to a mellower chorus with ease. The back to back Parachutes and Unemployable both sound like something from the British Invasion. The conclusion on Wasted Reprise sounds like something that could have come off their collaboration with Neil Young on Mirror Ball. The somber Come Back is their most heart wrenching song ever not named Betterman. Then the closer is the very moody Inside Job that builds to a eerie conclusion that grabs your attention for all of it’s seven minutes.

The stories are more poignant as ever even as Eddie Vedder’s delivery seems to be more indecipherable as ever. World Wide Suicide is a full on assault on the Bush administration. Unemployable follows a dude just issued his pink slip on his journey on trying to get another job. But the one that hits closest to home, and happens to be the closest to the Pearl Jam of old, is on Army Reserve, an elegy to the wives and children of those serving in our armed forces today. Hopefully this album singles an upswing the band will be on for years to come.

Song to Download - Come Back

Pearl Jam gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.