Pearl Jam: Riot Act
Reviewed by Matt Reeder
They're still alive, and they're better than ever. Two-and-a-half years since their last, underrated effort Binaural, Pearl Jam is back with their seventh studio album, Riot Act. After a long vacation, Pearl Jam reconvened early in 2002 with upwards of 40 new songs between singer/guitarist Ed Vedder, lead guitarist Mike McCready, rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, and drummer Matt Cameron, in perhaps the most prolific outpouring of music in the band's 12-year career. The result is a rich, varied 15-song collection that ranks among the best of Pearl Jam's work.
The events of the past two-and-a-half years have weighed heavily on the collective conscience of Pearl Jam. On June 30, 2000, nine fans were crushed to death while the band was performing at a festival in Roskilde, Denmark, as referenced by a line in the ballad "Love Boat Captain": "lost nine friends we'll never know, two years ago today." Instead of packing it in, Pearl Jam dedicated the entirety of their Binaural U.S. tour to the lost fans in Denmark. This event, curiously reminiscent of something that happened to The Who (Vedder's favorite band) in 1979, continues to have a huge impact on Pearl Jam, both in their music and in the security of their live performances.
Among other recurring themes in Riot Act are the first two years of the Bush "presidency," as well as the events of September 11. Indeed, while Pearl Jam have always been a fairly political band, Riot Act goes far beyond anything Pearl Jam has ever released. Indeed, the political climate has changed greatly in the United States since Binaural was released in May of 2000, and with these changes, Pearl Jam has become perhaps the most radical band in "mainstream" rock (especially since Rage Against the Machine dissolved in the fall of 2000).
Over the past two years, Pearl Jam, and Vedder in particular, have been ardent supporters of Ralph Nader and the Green Party, with Vedder performing at numerous Nader "superrallies." This previous summer, the band, through their fan club, released last summer a Manual for Free Living, a collection of exclusive pieces by Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, and others.
The result of this continual progression and political awakening is a collection of some of the most political songs Pearl Jam has ever recorded: "Green Disease", "Ghost", "I Am Mine", "Help Help", and "Bu$hleaguer". While all of these songs are excellent, it is "I Am Mine" and "Bushleaguer" that are the most striking. As the first single from Riot Act, "I Am Mine" has deservedly received a healthy dose of exposure (which is welcome, considering the plethora of drivel one hears on the radio). The song is trademark Pearl Jam, an instant classic with lyrics that reflect not only September 11 ("And the feeling, it gets left behind/all the innocence lost at one time/significant, behind the eyes/there's no need to hide") as well as Vedder's somewhat-new positive reaffirmation of life ("I know I was born and I know that I'll die, the in-between is mine"). On the other hand, "Bu$leaguer" is the most overtly political song Pearl Jam has ever recorded, a diatribe of Vedder's not-so-hidden disgust with "President" Bush. After just a few listens, I cannot help but wonder if Ed Vedder has worn out his copy of The Bush Dyslexicon, as a few of the lines sound like virtual-direct quotes from that book: "A confidence man, but why so beleaguered? / he's not a leader, he's a Texas leaguer / swinging for the fence, got lucky with a strike / Drilling for fear makes the job simple / Born on third, thinks he got a triple."
Of course, not all the songs on Riot Act find their basis in the state of American politics. In fact, some of the finest, most memorable songs are highly personal. The album-opening "Can't Keep", a beautifully-layered mostly acoustic piece, evokes Vedder's desire to periodically drop out of society for large amounts of time: "I wanna shake, I wanna wind out, I wanna leave this mind and shout". "Save You", which immediately follows "Can't Keep", is one of the heaviest, most intense songs Pearl Jam has recorded since their third album, 1994's Vitalogy. Lyrically, the song deals with a friend who has fallen prey to drug addiction, which makes "Save You" the seeming successor to "Habit" (from their underappreciated fourth album, 1996's No Code). "You Are", the album's eighth song, is possibly the strangest song Pearl Jam has ever recorded. The song, recorded mostly by drummer Matt Cameron at his Seattle home, features a lead guitar part that has been processed through a drum machine, giving the song a low-fi yet electronic feel that becomes increasingly intense with each passing listen. The short "Arc" features dozens of tracks of Vedder's layered chanting, evoking his earlier work with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. However, Riot Act's true centerpiece is the acoustic number "Thumbing My Way", a stark emotional ballad in the tradition of "Better Man" and "Off He Goes" (from No Code). The song, complete with a simple yet gorgeous melody, is a work of both optimism ("no matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead") and sadness ("I let go of a rope,...thinking that's what held me back,...and in time I've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck"). Riot Act is a wonderful record by any standard. For a band that has never released a bad album, it is a strong political and personal statement by a group that is seemingly peaking 12 years into their career. Unlike No Code, Riot Act doesn't venture far into new territory, yet it manages both to rock hard and to touch the listener. Given the impossibly high standards I hold Pearl Jam to, they nevertheless manage to create album after album that define themselves as a group and improve with each listen. Riot Act is no exception.
