Pearl Jam – “Mother” (Pink Floyd Cover)

So many indie bands are becoming household names these days (Arcade Fire is the latest culprit) that I have no remorse for posting a new track from Pearl Jam’s frontman Eddie Vedder from his upcoming solo album. Sirius radio just started a Pearl Jam specific station so lately I’ve been listening to quite a bit of the Seattle crew.

“Longing To Belong” is the first single released single from Vedder’s solo album that it tentatively titled Uke Songs. Speculation has it that Vedder is taking a note from Amanda Palmer and that the album will be all ukulele based tracks with minor accompaniments. It was recently reported on Grunge Report that surfer Kelly Slater is to blame/applaud for this new endeavor.

Eddie Vedder – “Longing To Belong”

At the stroke of midnight on December 31st Cornell informed all his followers on Twitter that the band was getting back together and linked to a new webpage with the message “The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!”

So far details are scarce but there are rumors that they are accepting festival offers and could possibly play Coachella this year.

I wish that I could say the reunion comes as a complete surprise but the band has been making a few appearances together over the past year and have been dropping hints that something was on the way. In march Kim, Matt, and Ben rocked out with Tom Morello and Tad Doyle. Then the comment from Cornell in an interview with MusicRadar where he said “I’m never going to count anything out. I’ve always remained on great terms with everyone in the band. We’ve always been good friends. Seeing them reunite recently on YouTube? I thought that was terrific. It gave me a warm feeling. I wish I could have been there.” Refering to the show mentioned above. And finally when Cornell made a guest appearance in October with Pearl Jam in Los Angeles for a sort of Temple of The Dog reunion and sang “Hunger Strike”.

It will be interesting to see how everything plays out over the next year especially considering that Pearl Jam just released Backspacer and Cameron has tour dates with them all through the year and the fact that he recently told Grunge Report that “the last thing on my mind is getting a band back together”. Maybe that was a comment to lead us all off the trail. We’ll just have to wait and see at their first show who’s behind the kit.

Here are two tracks from the upcoming release that display both ends of the Pearl Jam spectrum. “Got Some” is in your face Pearl Jam, upbeat and strong chorus while “Just Breathe” has Vedder putting his heart on his sleeve in this acoustic track.

Pearl Jam – “Got Some”
Pearl Jam – “Just Breathe” (This was no big surprise)

After 8 seasons, Unplugged hung it up and only produced shows on special occasions but this week MTV has pulled Unplugged off the shelves and dusted it off. Now the question is: If you were MTV who would you put on for the come back show? Who do you think has earned the right to perform at this exclusive show? Green Day? Linkin Park? Slipknot? Well here’s the line up for the next couple of shows Adele performed today, Silversun Pickups in July and Katy Perry in coming months. I have a couple of big problems with this line up. First and foremost is that none of these performers have earned a slot on this elite show. Adele has released one album which I was excited to hear and was disappointed once I did. My other problem with the Adele performance is that she plays the piano, not the keyboard, the piano. It’s already unplugged! I know what you’re saying “Well, Tori Amos plays the piano and she did an MTV Unplugged” and my response to that is “Shut up I’m on a roll here.” With Silversun Pickups, although I have been obsessed with Swoon, have also not earned this right, yet. And don’t eve get me started on Katy Perry, she’s a novelty act.

One of the other things that made MTV Unplugged great and anticipatory was waiting to see how the stage design was going to be set up in order to enhance the music. They were elaborate and yet simple at the same time. Pearl Jam and Korn’s sets were very dark while Alice in Chains was candlelit and Nirvana had a rose hue about it with floral arrangements strewn about. Each set was complimentary to the bands sound. But if you watch the Adele performance it looks like there are about a dozen people there, all sitting on the floor in someone’s living room. There are some ultraviolet lights lazily put on stands, a couple of fake book shelves and a fake wood banister stair case. Adele sits on a stool that is on a shag rug surrounded by microphones. It’s all very slap dash and messy.

Let’s take a look at a few of the great acts that have appeared on MTV Unplugged and what they had accomplished prior to appearing.

• REM (first performance) – had released 7 albums, 2 Gold, 3 Platinum and Out of Time went triple Platinum in the U.S. that year
• Nirvana – By this time they had released all three of their albums, Nevermind (aside from single handedly masterminding the grunge movement) was certified Platinum in 1991 and went Diamond in 1999 while In Utero is certified 5x Platinum
• Alice In Chains – Had released all three of their CD’s by this point, Facelift was certified 2x Platinum, Dirt 4x Platinum and Tripod 2x Platinum
• Korn – had released 7 albums, all of which went multi-Platinum

This is just to name a few, I’m not even going to get into Eric Clapton, Kiss, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam or Bruce Springsteen. This is an exclusive club that it is an honor to be a member of.

While the unplugged concept was a great idea in the 90′s, this new criterium for the chance to appear steals away from those few bands that received this honor during the first 10 years of it’s existence.

First is a video of The Decemberists covering Heart’s “Crazy On You” in St. Louis last Sunday with Becky Stark and Shara Worden sharing vocal duties.

Pearl Jam was the musical guest on the inaugural showing of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. They performed the premier of “Get Some” off their forth coming release Backspacer.

And last is the new video for the Regina Spektor track “Laughing With”

With new releases coming out some of the band’s MySpace pages are being updated and are inaccessible but check back later.

March 3rd
U2 – No Line On The Horizon
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone (stream entire album here)
Marissa Nadler – Little Hells
Bell X1 – Blue Light On The Runway

March 10th
Handsome Furs – Face Control
Propaghandi – Supporting Caste

March 17th
Ida Maria – Fortress Around My Heart

March 24th
The Decemberists – Hazards of Love
Pearl Jam – Ten (Extended Edition)
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Mono – Hymn to the Immortal Wind
Coheed & Cambria – Neverender, Children of The Fence Edition (box set)

March 31st
Peter, Bjorn & John – Living Thing
Great Lake Swimmer – Lost Channels