monday's mandatory music (pt 2)

well its official, i have a reoccurring blog column. i love it. it forces me to stick to my guns and to hit you all over the head with some very very good music.

so in reality you should of spent all of last week listening to my morning jacket's album 'Z' and scratching yourself furiously through out the weekend mumbling to yourself, 'whats steve going to write about on monday?!?!'

if thats not the case then you should go see a professional for some help, there might be something wrong with you.

so if you live in reality here you go. this weeks MonManMu column features an album and a band for that matter that has helped formed the way our generation perceives rock and roll. today i want to talk to you about pearl jam and their 1998 platinum release, 'live on two legs'.



'live on two legs' was recorded during pearl jam's 2008 summer tour and acts as the quintessential album that provides an intimate insight into the inner workings of an energy efficient live performance by this ground shaking rock band. in other words there is pearl jam and then there is live pearl jam, and thanks to 'live on two legs' we all get to experience live pearl jam for 15 bucks.

the opening seconds of the album begin with the roar of the crowd synchronized with the opening cords of 'corduroy' which is simply a welcoming vocal warm up for eddie vedder who continues to passionately serenade the listener through rocking versions of 'given to fly' and 'hail hail'.

following the vedder heavy emotional opening the band enters into an eerie version of the single, 'daughter' off of their album 'vs.' complete with a haunting lyrical allusion to neil young's 'rocking in the free world' towards the end of the track. almost perfectly fitting comes the duo of the tranquil and loved filled 'untitled' flowing into (represented in the jam world by a simple ->) the fist pumping fury and anguish that fills 'many fast cars'.

with the album having gain a tremendous amount of steam at this point, the band reveals its roots in the ripped jeans, flannel pattern shirts, and long hair head banging of the grundge rock movement with 'go', 'red mosquito', and my personal favorite off of their album 'ten'; 'even flow'.

then the climax of the album takes place in 4 out of the 5 next tracks. it is almost like eddie vedder and the rest of the band invite the listener to crawl in, curl up, and get comfortably warmed in their musical blanket (personal note: these 4 tracks have actually gotten me through some difficult times - yeah a.) i am that sappy and b.) these songs are that good).

the set kicks off with 'off he goes' a tune about separation, lost friendships, longing, and connection. the vivid pictures painted in 'off he goes' are followed by the introspective track called 'nothingman'. the pain and heartache in this tune is made so clear through the vulnerability of vedder's voice. filling out the monumental set is the song who vedder has openly dedicated to, "the asshole who married my mother": 'better man'.

the set is completed however with the powerfully emotional track, 'black' (link to the lyrics ... read them) where eddie vedder lets his heart hang out there for everyone to see - showing how the combination of raw grundge, passion, and emotion coupled with the heavy guitar rifts and rock and roll drumming at its finest make pearl jam a definitive band and 'live on two legs' a mandatory cd.



Untitled
i got a car, i've got some gas
oh let's get out of here
get out of here fast
everyone's confused
so i stay in my room
if i go i dont want
to go alone

i hope you get this message
or you're not home
i could be there in
10 minutes or so
i got my things
we make it up as we go along
with you i could never be alone
never be alone

MFC
sliding... out of reverse into drive, this
wheel will be turning right, then straight
off in the sunset she'll ride
she can... remember a time denied, stood by
side of the road, spilled like wine, now
she's out on her own and line high

there's no leaving here
ask, I'm an ear
she's disappeared

they said... timing was everything, made him
want to be everywhere, there's a
lot to be said for nowhere

there's no leaving here
ask, I'm an ear
we've disappeared
there's no leaving here
ask, I'm an ear
fuck it, we'll disappear