New album: “Lightning Bolt”
Artist: Pearl Jam
Label: Monkeywrench
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pearl Jam’s tenth album “Lightning Bolt” is a vast improvement over their 2009 release, the energetic but largely forgettable “Backspacer.”
Being one of the last bands that were allowed to have an enduring career, a chunk of Pearl Jam’s longevity stems from their decision to abandon MTV and most of the hype machine they fed in the mid-1990s. Anyone who still follows Pearl Jam would have to pay attention to their music, not how good Eddie Vedder’s hair looked that week.
This freedom has allowed the band to release a string of solid, anthem-free albums (“No Code,” “Yield,” “Binaural”) that were miles away from the fist-pumping arena rock of their early days. Vedder’s obsession with The Who has served him well as Pearl Jam enters their elder statesmen years. Seeing Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey still get it done as they approach the age of 70 seems to have helped Pearl Jam handle being a middle-aged rock band. “Lightning Bolt” rocks as hard almost any other Pearl Jam album, and the vibe feels natural and unforced.
“Mind Your Manners” is the best rock song Pearl Jam have come up with in a while, flawlessly fusing the Dead Boys and The Who into a lean, mean pummeling machine. “My Father’s Song” provides a nice spotlight for the fluid bass work of Jeff Ament, while radio single “Sirens” is the perfect vehicle for an epic Vedder vocal. “Pendulum” is a spacey meditation on mortality that wouldn’t have been out of place on an early 1970s Pink Floyd album and serves as a nice mid-album pallet cleanser.
“Sleeping By Myself” — a song that originally appeared on Vedder’s solo ukulele album — is given the full band treatment here and it helps balance the bombast nicely. Another detour that works is the John Lee Hooker/ZZ Top boogie of “Let The Records Play,” which, if interpreted correctly, would be the band’s second tribute those round pieces of vinyl. Album closer “Future Days” wraps things up in a hauntingly cinematic fashion.
Pearl Jam have yet again found a way to satisfy their fans while still shuffling the deck enough to keep things interesting.
Classic album: “Pain In My Heart”
Artist: Otis Redding
Label: Atco/Atlantic
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Otis Redding’s 1964 debut album “Pain In My Heart” is a landmark recording that seemingly grows more powerful as the years go passing by.
Backed by Booker T. & the MG’s — the greatest soul/r&b band ever — Redding wasted no time staking his claim as the greatest Southern soul singer. Listening to his gut-wrenching performance of “Pain In My Heart,” it’s as if Redding was the kind of guy that simply overpowered his depressions. Surely a bit of acting was part of the gig, but it would be impossible to sing with such abandon unless some of the emotions were genuine.
Redding was already starting to blossom as a songwriter on his debut, with “These Arms Of Mine” and “Hey Hey Baby” reaching the heights of the established covers on the set. As for Redding’s ability to interpret other people’s songs, his reworkings of Little Richard’s “Lucille” and Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” are performed with such confidence you’d swear these were brand new songs. A funky, gritty reading of the Ben E. King classic “Stand By Me” is an under-appreciated gem, and Redding’s marvelously funky take on Rufus Thomas’s “The Dog” is about as fun as music gets.
Although his career was cut short just as he was about to achieve massive crossover success with “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay”, Otis Redding’s mark was already made. Many soul singers of the 1960s found it difficult to transition into the 1970s and beyond, but Redding’s abilities and appeal hint that he may have been the one guy who could have pulled it off. All of his original album releases are highly recommended, and “Pain In My Heart” is as good a place to start as any.
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson.com. Purchase Jon’s book “Making Gravy In Public” at Amazon.com or jondawson.com.