Sing loud cuz it’s outside, sing loud cuz you’re still alive. Just sing loud, alright?

Last night at Monolith, the Flaming Lips closed the festival with a visually dazzling carnival of floating orbs and shimmering lights and confetti and dancing Santas. Sitting there under the stars, I had a moment. Maybe I was all festivalled out from the two nonstop days of sun, music, sponsored-by-New-Belgium-Brewery drinks, and lots (and lots) of stairs up and down, but during the song “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” I found myself sitting back, looking up at the stars, and all around me at the gorgeous silent beasts of red rock rising up to both sides, listening to the swell of the crowd singing along at the top of their voices. I felt something twist and swell and stab inside of me.

It was just a split second that can strike you anywhere, even at a crazy music festival on an indian summer night. Despite all odds, it was this faith-affirming moment (even if everyone around me was singing about not letting robots eat them) that made me glad for the power of something that beautiful through music. My mind started to wander to one of its favorite subjects, as it often does, wondering what it would have been like to hear the lovely and pure “Ship Song” bouncing off those rocks when Pearl Jam played there in 1995. I’ve heard the recorded moment dozens of times, but it’s got such an innocence and immediacy that I can now picture it hovering and echoing live in that specific setting.

On the dark and winding drive home, I was explaining the perfection of that particular cover to my friend & rockstar concert companion Jake, who is [wonderfully enough] as big of a Pearl Jam addict as I am. He asked if I’d heard the “It’s OK” tag from the Virginia Beach show in 2000. That Dead Moon song is one that they often work in as a tag at the end of “Daughter” and I’ve even posted another live version of it before from a few weeks after the Virginia Beach show. It’s absolutely one of my favorites, the simple strength of the creed-like lyrics and the way the crowd always sings at their very strongest. But I hadn’t heard this exact one he spoke of.

So we cued it up. And it kicked the wind out of me:

It’s OK (Virginia Beach 8/3/00) – Pearl Jam

This concert was Pearl Jam’s first time back on stage since nine fans in the crowd had lost their lives during their set at the Roskilde Festival on June 30, 2000. With the melody of the song starting to pulse and build and carry through the night air, Ed says to the crowd:

“The last time we had to ask the crowd to do something it was under completely different circumstances than this. So, it’s a little nervewracking to . . .
It’d be nice to start, uh, anew.
So, I was gonna ask you to do something and maybe you’ll do it?
[crowd cheers]
And it’s uh . . . singing.
Sing.
Sing loud cuz it’s outside, sing loud cuz you’re st-. . . you’re still alive.

Just sing loud, alright?“

Man. I know that it makes me sound like a weepy emotionalist to just come right out and say it, but Ed’s speech and the way the crowd sings along with all their hearts fairly reverberates with redemption, and listening to that moment made hot tears spring into my eyes last night that just would not stop coming even as I looked out the car window and tried to make them go back into my eyes. But at the same time, I was so glad for it, glad that music could still move me like that twice in one night for such different reasons.

The real, non-rambling reviews from Monolith start soon.

[thanks to Five Horizons for the mp3 clip]

Come with me and Vedder off “Into The Wild” [with a FULL album stream!]

Ed and I are totally going on a journey into the backcountry and you are invited to join us.

We’re just a few weeks from the opening of the movie Into The Wild that Vedder soundtracked, based on the Jon Krakauer book of the same name. Reports from the Telluride Film Festival had folks leaving the theater screening with tears running down their faces, so people, get ready. I still haven’t read the book so I don’t know the ending (but . . . I’m guessing he dies).

GO LISTEN: The entire Into The Wild solo Vedder album is now streaming at WROV The Rock of Virginia (with voiceovers at the start and end of each song, but who’s complaining?).

I’d heard about half the tracks on this album from little leaks, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it start-to-finish. My impression is that it’s a superbly nuanced, ramblingly organic album. But to allay concerns of going soft or being coddled — even though it is acoustic, it’s not at all boring or sedate or old-mannish. There are several tracks that borderline wanna bust out the rock and yowl, with fierce strumming and solid drum action. There are even a few scarcely suppressed growl-screams that Vedder does best, to the delight of this rocker girl.

We’ve gotten lots of warm acoustic Pearl Jam songs over the years (think Thumbing My Way, You’re True, Soon Forget, Off He Goes) but they’re always sandwiched on albums between other rockers. This cohesive effort feels like a long Saturday afternoon in late summer with the right proportions of relaxed rambling and more intense energies.

As far as first impressions go, one of my favorite songs so far is the closing track, “Guaranteed,” which I’ve listened to about a dozen times. It captures an ineffable, unspeakable sweetness and emotion for me, a song to a soul adrift in a figurative sea. I also am drawn to the humble ukulele meandering of “Rise.” The soundtrack opens with the short and spirited “Setting Forth,” which is acoustic but impassioned. Despite having the same name as both the Candlebox screamer and the new Social D song, “Far Behind” is neither of the two. Instead it is one of those almost-rockers I was mentioning above, and I love that. “Society” is a slightly heavy-handed collaboration with North SF-Bay singer songwriter Jerry Hannan about our modern wants and needs, and both “Tuolumne” and “The Wolf” are instrumentals, with the latter containing some chill-inducing ethereal yips and howls from Vedder.

If the goal of a soundtrack is to effectively score the emotional terrain of a film, and tease out a feeling into the foreground, Vedder seems to succeed with this effort. I look forward to seeing the movie and adding the visual storyline to my impressions of the heart of this film that Ed has scored.

PearlJam.com is currently doing a special presale of the solo album bundled with a limited-edition commemorative tshirt. The album will officially be released next Tuesday the 18th.

[In related PJ bundle news, they’re also taking preorders of the new Immagine nel Cornice DVD with a tshirt as well. Like a good little Ten Club member, I’ve already placed my order, and am waiting with bated breath]

Um . . . new from Blind Melon?

Yesterday Stereogum highlighted the fact that Blind Melon‘s MySpace page has some new tracks on it. This is odd, to me, considering that lead singer Shannon Hoon died back when I was in high school.

After disbanding for a time, they’ve now replaced Hoon with a new singer, one Travis Warren. Am I being too narrow minded, or myopically lead-singer focused, in doing a bit of a double-take? When the frontman –the distinctive voice of your band– dies, it seems weird to replace them and go on as the same band. First Alice in Chains, now Blind Melon? Take a listen to the new song:

Wishing Well – “Blind Melon”

I really cherish some of the older stuff from Blind Melon. I can do without the No Rain because I have heard it so many times (even though it’s still catchy with those snaps), but these tracks are absolute essential favorites. If you’ve never heard Blind Melon beyond the radio hit, you should probably seriously really take a listen to these, I promise:

Tones of Home – Blind Melon
(a fantastic, flirty, bluesy opening and sublime harmonies)
Paper Scratcher – Blind Melon
(rocks)
Soup – Blind Melon
(this one takes a blessed long time to build, but I love that meandering, like a stream, and then the break like a waterfall)

ADDENDUM: 2 COVERS
Out On The Tiles (Led Zeppelin) – Blind Melon
Three Is A Magic Number (Bob Dorough) – Blind Melon

And on a loosely related note (I’m telling you it really does all come back to PJ), here are Jeff Ament and Eddie Vedder in Denver last summer performing “Bee Girl,” the salute and warning to the dancing bee girl in the Blind Melon music video and on their 1992 album cover:

EDDIE VEDDER & JEFF AMENT, “BEE GIRL”

New Eddie Vedder solo song: “Hard Sun” (with Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker)

Clearly intended as a birthday gift for me (it’s tomorrow), the first Eddie Vedder solo song from the Into The Wild soundtrack has now been posted on the Into The Wild website. This initial listen sounds well-suited to what I understand the movie is about (note to self: get the book!) — a journey into the great wide open, wanderlust, sweeping vistas, solo strength.

It builds from an organic acoustic/tambourine affair to a heavier, fuzzier, driving thing of beauty by the end. It is apparently a cover of an obscure song by Canadian musician Gordon Peterson under the name Indio, from the 1989 album Big Harvest. Searching for information on Peterson is near impossible, as he seems to have all but vanished since the album was released, but the original song apparently features backing vocals from Joni Mitchell.

Ed’s version ramps up the Middle-Eastern influences and reminds me of Pearl Jam songs like “Who You Are” or “Face of Love,” a bit exotic. Sleater-Kinney punk goddess Corin Tucker duets, taking the part that Joni filled 18 years ago.

Trailer for new Pearl Jam live Italian tour DVD: Immagine In Cornice

If you’ve known me for more than a week, you might know that two of my favorite things in life are Pearl Jam and all things italiano. I lived and studied in Italy for a time, and I am completely smitten with the language, the culture, the people, the coffee, the food, and even the music.

So this new DVD forthcoming from Pearl Jam is enough to make me fairly pass out from the pleasure wiring in my brain short-circuiting with a zillion tiny sparks.

I believe the official title of the DVD is Immagine In Cornice (“Eemah-geenay een Cor-nee-chay — “Picture in a Frame,” named after the Tom Waits cover performed in Milan) although they’ve gone back and forth on translation issues (it could be “Telaio”). The DVD is due out September 25, with a presale starting through pearljam.com on August 22.

The film was shot in a variety of formats from Super-8 to Hi Def, and was directed by Danny Clinch, a man who has worked with tons of greats. Some of my favorites from Clinch are the September feature with Ryan Adams, the Pleasure and Pain documentary with Ben Harper, and the recent Broken Radio video with Jesse Malin & Springsteen. You can also explore Clinch’s very cool Three on the Tree Productions site to learn more about the rad work he does. I want his job.

Clinch says, “Picture in a Frame is a film I’ve really wanted to make. The band invited me to Italy and gave me the access I needed to show a side seldom seen by their fans. It has become a collaboration as well. The band even offered me some music that has never been heard and Mike went into the studio to create some more music for the soundscapes. This is a look at Pearl Jam that no one has seen yet. A trip through northern Italy with the band, through the document and through abstraction.”

Here is the first glance at the trailer. I’m dying . . .

Hearing Eddie speak in Italian makes me so happy, you seriously have no idea. He doesn’t do too badly, either.

The last three seconds of this trailer are priceless (“Jam? Like [spreading motion] jam?”)

Pearl Jam at Lollapalooza tonight: crazy good

Pearl Jam full set at Lollapalooza (mp3, 2 hours)
Capture of streaming audio from AT&T BlueRoom video feed

SETLIST
Why Go, Corduroy, Save You, Do The Evolution, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town, Severed Hand, Education, Even Flow, Given To Fly, World Wide Suicide, improv: Don’t Go BP/Amoco, Lukin, Not For You, Daughter/Another Brick In The Wall, State of Love and Trust (!!), Wasted Reprise, Alive.
ENCORE 1: Betterman/Save It For Later (!!), Crazy Mary, Life Wasted, Rearviewmirror (!!)
ENCORE 2: (new song) No More w/ Ben Harper, Rockin In The Free World w/ Ben Harper and “a bunch of people on stage”
[thx and thx]

Holy leaked Pearl Jam demos, Batman!

Recently a cool little Pearl Jam promotional CD which circulated during the production of Lost Dogs made its way to my ears, and I am beyond excited. It’s a loose assemblage of demo versions and rough mixes of Pearl Jam songs from over the years, with the occasional live cut tossed in. A couple of these songs have never been heard before by John & Susie Q. Superfan (including me), while others were tunes that I have on various cassette tapes (like this KISW performance of Bee Girl, the alternate version of Alone, or Just A Girl) but haven’t dug out or heard in years.

When something is a great find, my innards shake a little while I am downloading them. This was an innard-shaker.

Anything In Between (unreleased, Binaural outtake, 1999)
In The Moonlight (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Fatal (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Sad (a.k.a. Letter to the Dead, rough mix, Binaural outtake, 2000)
Wishing Well (live) (written by The Free, Mookie Blaylock, 1990)
Hitchhikers (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Puzzle And Game (unreleased, vastly different demo of “Light Years”, Binaural outtake, 2000)
Education (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Sweet Lew (rough mix, Yield outtake, 1997)
Sunburn (unreleased, w/ Stone on vocals, No Code outtake, 1995)
Hold On (rough mix, Ten outtake, 1991)
(Just A) Girl (rough mix, Ten outtake, 1990)
Alone (rough mix, lyrics differ from Lost Dogs version, Ten outtake, 1991)
Brother (rough mix w/ different vocals, Ten outtake, 1990)
Don’t Gimme No Lip (rough mix, No Code outtake, 1996)
Bee Girl (on Rockline, KISW FM, Seattle, 10/18/1993)
Against The ’70s (From Mike Watt album ‘Ball-Hog or Tugboat?’, 1995)
“New” Jeremy (live version from Red Rocks, CO, 06/20/1995)

ZIP UP THE PEARL JAM DELICIOUSNESS

Also, for those baseball fans out there (I can’t talk about the Giants this year, it’s too painful) Ed’s gonna be singing at the Cubbies game this Friday. Now that’s my kind of seventh inning stretch.

Pearl Jam to play pre-Lolla, fanclub only show at Chicago’s Vic Theatre

Hot off the heels of another mindblowing show from Ryan Adams last night (more on that later), my email tells me of another show I should perhaps consider sacrificing a kidney to be at:

Vedder to pen(n) solo soundtrack album

It was reported by The Playlist blog yesterday (unverified source) that Ed Vedder is working on composing an entire album of solo material to soundtrack the new Sean Penn-directed movie Into The Wild. Here’s the trailer:

The movie is based on the true story explored in the book by Jon Krakauer. We previously knew that Vedder was collaborating for this project, recording songs in a Seattle studio with American bluesman Charlie Musselwhite, but we didn’t know the extent until this report. Vedder is also rumored to have a small part in the film.

This is essentially a solo album (due Sept 18) for Vedder, although the songs will thematically be grouped for a movie, so it’s not quite the same as a true solo endeavor. I can see it coming, but a pox on the houses of those who will say this heralds the beginning of the end of Pearl Jam as a group. I can’t see them breaking up anytime soon. When I’m 50 I’ll go see them in Japan or something, and I love it even though that’s just a little bit depressing.

Vedder is also contributing two original songs to the new documentary Body of War, one of them being “No More War” which was debuted at the Kokua Fest a few months ago in Hawaii.

Pearl Jam has a long and luscious history of contributing some great gems to soundtracks (some original, some borrowed from other albums). Here is a sampling:

BROKEDOWN MELODY SOUNDTRACK

Goodbye – Eddie Vedder

CHICAGO CAB SOUNDTRACK

Who You Are – Pearl Jam
(also on No Code)

Hard To Imagine – Pearl Jam
(a great version of an unreleased rarity that finally showed up on Lost Dogs)

CRADLE WILL ROCK SOUNDTRACK

Croon Spoon – Ed Vedder & Susan Sarandon
(how’s that for a duet? Betcha didn’t know Vedder did lounge acts)

I AM SAM SOUNDTRACK

You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (Beatles cover) – Eddie Vedder

BIG FISH SOUNDTRACK

Man Of The Hour – Pearl Jam
(I loved this movie)

DEAD MAN WALKING SOUNDTRACK

Face of Love – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Eddie Vedder

Long Road – Pearl Jam (corrected)

For my money though . . . the best Vedder role (from one of my all-time favorite movies) is in Singles. “…Other than that, he was ably backed by Stone and Jeff, and drummer Eddie Vedder. I mean, that’s good — that’s a good review.”

“A compliment for us is a compliment for you!“

The soundtrack to that movie also gave us two of my favorite Pearl Jam songs (as well as a bunch of other amazing songs from folks like Paul Westerberg, who allegedly composed his contributions in a hotel room in less than 30 minutes, Chris Cornell/Soundgarden, and Smashing Pumpkins). Depending on the day, I might even say that State of Love and Trust is my favorite Pearl Jam song — just listen to that marvelous opening riff:

SINGLES SOUNDTRACK

State of Love and Trust – Pearl Jam

Breath – Pearl Jam

I can’t wait to hear what Vedder is envisioning for this new soundtrack, which seems ripe for artistic harvest (escaping the “civilized” world as we know it, a solo journey of survival and discovery, etc etc).

Come on September!

Pearl Jam unleashes their cover of “Love Reign O’er Me” in concert for the first time

Pearl Jam played Copenhagen (wonderful Copenhagen) last night, their first return to Denmark since the tragic deaths of 9 fans during their set at the 2000 Roskilde Festival. By all accounts it was an emotional night yesterday for the fans and the band. Ed gave a small and heartfelt speech near the end of the set “somewhere along the lines [of] all of us walking the road/path of life, and tonight all our personal paths crossed. In other words, he sort of celebrated life by saying that we had to look forward and just follow that path wherever it may take us.” (from a fan who was there)