Pearl Jam Strikes A Lightning Bolt

It's almost impossible to write a review about Pearl Jam without a biased lens. And it is perhaps that biased lens that has pigeonholed Lightning Bolt into any number of assessments that have everything to do with the reviewer (and sometimes the band) and nothing to do with the album.

So let's put everything into perspective and get the obvious out of the way. Lighting Bolt is not the greatest album that Pearl Jam has ever recorded. But Lighting Bolt is light years ahead of most albums.

The album is not an allegory for aging rock bands. Pearl Jam did not put themselves on cruise control. Eddie Vedder is in a different place as a singer-songwriter. And how much you love the album will likely depend upon if you are in the same place.

Lighting Bolt hits a dozen notes, many of them brilliant. 

Sirens is an obvious place to start as one of the first tracks to tease the album. Before Vedder ever added lyrics, Mike McCready wrote it two years ago after he attended a Roger Waters concert. This well-publicized point has driven some Pink Floyd references in reviews, all of which miss the point.

The point is that it is a classic alternative rock take on a power ballad. And as such, it's not a power ballad but a deeply contemplative piece about love and mortality. There is an overwhelming element of grace brought into the track once Vedder put words to it. McCready says he was almost brought to tears.


To get to Sirens, you have to move through the first three tracks. Getaway is all right, a track about tolerance that attempts to power out an opener. My Father's Son is an experimentally oddball track that strains Vedder's vocal ability. And that leaves the second song, Mind Your Manners, which is by far the better track.

It's this thrasher that became the lead single for the album in July. There are two things to take away from it: Vedder's signature smoky voice and Matt Cameron crashing on the drums.

Lightning Bolt almost feels like Pearl Jam rolled itself back an extra decade. It's a catchy track more reminiscent of the arena rock that alternative bands eventually challenged. If it comes across as too pat for a Pearl Jam fan, Infallible will elevate those expectations again. The song, which was co-written by Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (lyrics by Vedder), layers the instruments to create some splendid melodic depth with darker lyrics tied to fate and temptation. Nobody's perfect.

Other standouts on the album include Pendulum, which was originally written for Backspacer; Sleeping By Myself, which was originally released as a ukulele tune; and Future Days, which catches the band's world weariness in a time capsule. It's a brilliant way to close the album.

Yellow Moon and the other tracks are fine too. The back story that McCready championed Yellow Moon makes it more interesting. The track is clearly unique and most people will be glad that it made the cut. If it would have been cut, it wouldn't have been for the song as much as the tempo. The pace of the album swirls more than it trashes, with Yellow Moon adding to that mystique.

Some might say the album mostly finds the band sitting comfortably far away from its formative years, but I would disagree. The album isn't comfortable as much as conscious of their strengths. At the same time, there are plenty of places the band moves to push out with something more experimental. To be honest, it doesn't always work but it does work more than it doesn't. Risks are like that and I'm glad they still take them.

Lightning Bolt By Pearl Jam Strike 7.8 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

There are no duds on the album, but there are some tracks that have a hard time keeping up with the best tracks. That isn't because the band isn't trying. It has more to do with stretching their creative legs. Sometimes that works and sometimes it conjures up memories of what one used to expect from alternative rock's favorite baritone. But that, as I mentioned before, has more to do with you then them.

You can find Lightning Bolt by Pearl Jam on Amazon or download the album from iTunes. Lightning Bolt is also at Barnes & Noble. Pearl Jam is currently on tour, working their way east to west across the United States. The band will kick off their world tour in Auckland, New Zealand, in January. Visit Facebook for details.

Mark Lanegan Has A Blues Funeral

As frontman for Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan needs no introduction. Both bands broke enough ground that they sometimes swallow up some of his numerous projects like Soulsavers, Gutter Twins, The Twilight Singers (on occasion), and others.

And then in 2003, of course, there was the gritty and tenacious release of Here Comes The Weird Chill by The Mark Lanegan Band. It was a brazenly dark and delicious exploration of expression that was much loved but still somewhat left lurking on the fringe of his other solo work, like Bubblegum.

Not this time. Blues Funeral is an alternative blues rock powerhouse that pulses up from six feet under. It's not Bubblegum or Weird Chill, but something better. It carries forward some of the same shuddering feelings but often with a bigger, bass-heavy voice and thick lyrics.

Blues Funeral is a meticulously haunting love affair with everything under the veil.

The nearly decade long wait to revive this remarkable direction catches Lanegan exactly where he needs to be to deliver it. The music is intensely intimate, reaching out and enveloping everything.

The album leads off with The Gravedigger's Song, a driving introduction that sets the tone of the album with a beautiful gloominess. It's a crushing contrast to anything being produced by the pop quarters and momentarily makes you fall in love with music all over again, right down to the French verse.

Everything is black, my love. Everything is white. I love you, my love. As I like the night.



The obsessiveness isn't all spent on ghostly love and infatuation. It's only the beginning. The surrender in Bleeding Muddy Water with its slow beat blues is infectious. The brooding lament of St. Louis Elegy captivates with its twisting end-of-the-line lyrics. And Riot In My House retracks the pace of the album with some crunchy guitars and an uptempo beat fronted by a celebration of savored chaos.

The album doesn't miss a beat becoming more eclectic as it carries on. Ode To Sad Disco is an awakening song, both spooky and romantically melodic. Phantasmagoria Blues washes over with a regretful sorrow, someone trading in integrity for success. Harborview Hospital is both sad and thoughtful, referencing the life, death, and sickness found inside the song's namesake.

The entire album strikes hot and heavy, with the last three songs sure to be among my underplayed favorites. Leviathan, Deep Black Vanishing Train, and Tiny Grain Of Truth are all contemplative and end-of-life exposes like only Lanegan can deliver. Sometimes it's as if he glimpsed other people's last chance at redemption or maybe he remembers one of his own.

The best made better by some of the finest collaborators in music and film. 

The album was produced in Los Angeles with Alain Johannes (Them Crooked Vultures) and Jack Irons (Pearl Jam) handling most of the production. Irons also guests on some of the tracks, along with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and Greg Dulli (The Twilight Singers).

The Gravedigger's Song video was crafted by Allstair Legrand. The entire intent of the video was to translate the music into something dark and elegant, much like the song and entire album. Everything is surreal and dream-like, which is undeniably sinister in its literal moments but oddly comforting in how Legrand wants you to be unafraid, an ever-present theme across the album.

The video was shot at a house built on a secluded hillside near Salinas, Calif. According to The Masses, it remained untouched since the retreat of its last residents. Legrand said it was waiting for them.

Blues Funeral By The Mark Lanegan Band Digs Up 9.7 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

For someone as talented as Lanegan, it's difficult to come right out and call this his best work. It would be like saying Warhol is better than Basquiat or Gauguin better than Van Gogh. The fullness, texture, completeness, and songwriting are different, much like Weird Chill or maybe Bubblegum.

Although I'm not especially fond of the repetitiveness in Gray Goes Back or peppiness of Quiver Syndrome, Blues Funeral deserves to be listened to in entirety, start to finish. You can find Blues Funeral on iTunes or pick up the CD at Barnes & Noble. The album is also available at Amazon.

Lanegan is already on tour in support of the Blues Funeral. After tonight in Los Angeles, he will embark on a heavy European schedule (first stop Norway) and a couple of stops in South America. He'll be back in the U.S. for the Sasquatch! Festival in May.