I once had a dream that I met Pearl Jam & I went on tour with them & I was hanging out with them talking to Eddie & the band. We ended up at a bar and they had a jukebox where we were playing music and hanging out till I was awakened from this dream. If you don’t know I love Pearl Jam.
Friday, March 27th, 2020 the legendary Seattle rockers came out with their 11th studio album Gigaton. Gigaton is their first studio album to come out in 7 years since 2013s Lighting Bolt. My history with this band which you can read about in my Pearl Jam post I did a few years ago is, I learned of the band when I was 14 years old in 2006. I heard them on the radio fell in love with Eddie Vedder’s voice & then the band, their lyrics & just how the band came together. I later got even more into the band in my 20s, the social causes they support and just the really positive energy they give off. This year marks 30 years since a San Diego (by way of Chicago) surfer & singer came together with the former members of Mother Love Bone & other local Seattle bands to create Pearl Jam.
So since 2013, Pearl Jam has been on the road touring & year after year there had been rumors starting around 2015 that the band was in the studio making music & recording for a new album. Years would go by and the band would just do big benefit concerts and tour a lot but kept saying they were in the studio but no new album would come about. It wasn’t until late last year that we heard wind that the band was coming back with a new band and a new tour which was awesome!
In January, Pearl Jam came out with their first song off Gigaton called Dance of the Clairvoyance which was as different can come when it comes to this band. It sounds like they took a modern rock turn on this song where the drums sound like a drum machine and it gives off a modern rock/dance vibe. Most fans of the band I would say unless huge fans didn’t get behind this song right away. I thought it was different at first but got down with it after a few listens and gravitated to the lyrics of the song. Pearl Jam would release a couple more songs before the album came out including Super Blood Wolfmoon which sounded like straight forward rock music that would come from Pearl Jam.
As we know thanks to the Coronavirus the Gigaton tour has been postponed like most music tours, concerts and festivals so, unfortunately, we have to wait to see the band on this tour but at least we do have the music to listen to tide us over for a while. Also check out Eddie performing on April 18th at the One World: Together at Home by Lady Gaga & Global Citizen to support doctors and those on the front lines of fighting the Coronavirus.
https://pearljam.com/news/together-at-home
A gigaton is a measurement of mass, equal to one billion tons. While we’ve become used to hearing about nuclear weapon explosions being expressed in megatons, a gigaton has three more zeros – 1,000,000,000 tons. In terms of water, a gigaton is around the amount found in 400,000 Olympic swimming pools. Current estimates suggest that Antarctica is losing between 92 and 159 gigatons of ice per year. The cover artwork was produced by photographer Paul Nicklen to represent the constant Earth climate changes happening at the moment. I feel that no two Pearl Jam albums are the same so this one is no different.
Producer Josh Evans told Variety’s Jonathan Cohen that “Seven O’Clock” was pieced together from different portions of a jam early in the recording sessions, and then layered with new elements later on. Eddie Vedder’s vocal on the solo acoustic “Comes Then Goes” was captured on the first take, while the 1850s-era pump organ Vedder played on the 2015 demo of “River Cross” was retained for the studio version.
*Who Ever Said:
Favorite Lyrics:
“Whoever said it’s all been said
Gave up on satisfaction”
PJ still got something to say. This song makes me think about how some people will think that Pearl Jam being an older band might have said all they needed to or had to say. That they being a band for 30 years said all these incredible & profound things in their music and now don’t really have anything else to say. But you all underestimate this band as they’ve got a lot more to say. This also is about politics and social justice. It might seem as though everything has already been done or said and it can seem as though your voice doesn’t matter but it does. Speak up about the issues that matter to you and don’t let yourself people & politicians silence you. One of my favorites of off the album.
*Super Blood Wolfmoon:
Favorite Lyrics:
“Superblood wolfmoon
Took her away too soon”
A great return to form. Eddie’s voice is better than ever, Stone & Mike kill it with the guitar & the band is just the best! This song is about a relationship.
*Dance of the Clairvoyants:
Favorite Lyrics:
“Expecting perfection
Leaves a lot to ignore
When the past is the present
And the future’s no more
When every tomorrow
Is the same as before
The looser things get
The tighter you become
The looser things get
Tighter
Not one man can be greater than the sun
That’s not a negative thought
I’m positive, positive, positive”
“I know the girls wanna dance
Fall away their circumstance
I know the boys wanna grow
Their dicks, and fix and file things”
“Stand back when the spirit comes”
This song which is third on their tracklist is a different song for the band, a little bit more modern with some of the sounds yet still has the political Pearl Jam flavor & Eddie’s vocals sound better than ever. As the song goes on Eddie’s vocals go from powerful yet subdued to more fierce as the song progresses. Stone Gossard is playing the base on this song, Jeff Amet is playing keys & Mike McCreedy is on guitar. Then Matt Cameron who’s drum machine beats helped to start the song which he later went back & recorded the drum machine sounds live on drums give the song a more modern vibe. The lyrics are very heavy and politically charged as we know Pearl Jam all feel very strongly about what goes on in this world & fighting against the injustice in this world.
*Quick Escape:
Favorite Lyrics:
Kashmir to Marrakesh
The lengths we had to go to then
To find a place Trump hadn’t fucked up yet
Living life on the back porch
Lifting rocks to make a wage
Every sunset paid attention to
Not a starry night went to waste”
Had to quick escape
Had to quick escape”
High energy, the bridge & everything about this song is incredible!!! The last 1:10 is so epic! Stone, Jeff & Mike still got it! This song is about trying to find a place to escape to when the government is causing havoc all over the planet.
*Alright:
Favorite Lyrics:
Be a disappointment in your own home
It’s alright to turn it off
Ignore the rules of the state
It’s your own”
Disappear in thin air
It’s your home
It’s alright to be alone
To listen for a heartbeat
It’s your own”
My new Coronavirus jam aka an introverts lullaby this song is me inside quarantine & outside quarantine honestly I’m just a big old introvert & this song speaks to me. The lyrics that PJ wrote for the song describe that quarantine introvert life. Plus the drumbeat is amazing mixed with this spacy science fiction vibe to it. So soothing to me. Introverts happy song!
*Seven O’ Clock:
Favorite Lyrics:
“For this is no time for depression or self-indulgent hesitance
This fucked-up situation calls for all hands, hands on deck”
“Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse they forged the north and west
Then you got Sitting Bullshit as our sitting President”
Opens with a drumbeat & some kind of maybe a digaredo with slight hums in the background. This song is definitely about climate change & how messed up it is. It’s about the what if’s of how this planet is being killed every day due to our destruction as humans. Great melody. The lyrics are everything!!! “More should be done”
*Never Destination:
Favorite Lyrics:
“Blisters on my fingers, blisters on my brain
Blisters on the voices, crazy makes insane
There’s an angry sea, an ocean in my eyes
The waves are rolling, I’m becoming blind”
A classic sounding PJ song could of been on like avocado or something.
Take the Long Way:
Favorite Lyrics:
“I’ll break through these feelings
I’ll break through the ceiling”
Another classic PJ song. A love song of some sort maybe? The time to resurface.
Buckle Up:
Favorite Lyrics:
“Firstly do no harm
Then put your seatbelt on
Buckle up
Buckle up”
Love the Intro music, very mellow, great backing vocals from the band, music about the harm of the Earth through the metaphor of a car crash.
Comes then Goes:
Favorite Lyrics:
“Where you been, can I find
A glimpse of my friend
Don’t know where or when one of us left
The other behind
Divisions came and troubles multiplied
Incisions made by scalpel blades of time”
It starts off with an acoustic guitar. Great track loving the acoustic melody. Everything comes & goes.
Retrograde:
Favorite Lyrics:
“Stars align they say when times are better than right now
Feel the retrograde spin us round, round
Seven seas are raising forever future’s fading out
Feel the retrograde all around, round”
Could be thunder or a crowd”
Another starts off acoustic. The backbone of the album. Definitely talking about the world being in retrograde all the time. Big anthemic vibes towards the end. Big track.
River Cross:
Favorite Lyrics:
And there’s no such thing as clear
Proselytizing and profitizing
As our will all but disappears
Folded over, forced in a choke hold
Outnumbered and held down”
Look around at the promise now
Here and now
Here and now
Can’t hold me down
Can’t hold me down”
Won’t hold us down”
Let it out
Get it out
Shout it out
Won’t hold us down
Won’t hold us down”
Won’t hold us down
Share the light
Won’t hold us down
Share the light
Won’t hold us down”
Hear a little bit of an organ in the back. Ballad. “I want this dream to last forever” the govt. messing up the whole world and how we won’t have a future but we have to look to the here & now for comfort & hope. “Share the light won’t hold us down”
Reviews & Articles:
https://pearljam.com/news/gigaton-out-now
https://ultimatepearljam.com/pearl-jam-gigaton-meaning/
https://www.space.com/pearl-jam-gigaton-record-review.html
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/pearl-jam-gigaton/
https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/03/album-review-pearl-jam-gigaton/
http://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/pearl_jam_gigaton
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/26/pearl-jam-gigaton-review
https://www.spin.com/2020/03/pearl-jam-bounce-back-with-gigaton/
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/pearl-jam-gigaton-964544/
https://www.metacritic.com/music/gigaton/pearl-jam
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/pearl-jam-gigaton-album-review/
Pearl Jam Is Reliable On ‘Gigaton’ At A Moment When Nothing Else Is
Pearl Jam – ‘Gigaton’ review: one of the biggest rock bands in the world return to semi-brilliance
https://music.avclub.com/pearl-jam-does-the-evolution-on-the-ambitious-if-uneve-1842068168
https://www.kerrang.com/reviews/album-review-pearl-jam-gigaton/
Till Next Time…Listen to More Pearl Jam!
