Pearl Jam - Dark Matter

 

Pearl Jam always make me think immediately of my Pearl Jam supporting friend. A great bloke I met in Dortmund in 1992 who I went thrugh the Grunge years years with. Nevermind had just been released. Plaid was worn. Hair was grown. My mate had a Tonto headband.  We followed the fortunes of the main Grunge players for the next couple of ways before I made my way to Turkey and then Poland just in time for the arrival of BritPop years.

I heard Ten plenty at Matt's flat in Dortmind on Friday afternoon. Then we were bth taken by Vs. I left Germany and bought a bootlegged cassette of Vitalogy from the stalls outside Empik on Marsalkowska and enjoyed that too. Then I lost contact with the band for a while before we reconnected with their No Logo reinvention in 2000 with Binaural when I found myself in Sicily.

I'm not enough of a fervent disciple of Pearl Jam to have followed them through for every record since. I generally like them well enough to l listen through to them at some point, generally a few weeks after they've come out. This pretty much tells you where they stand in my affections.

I've listened to Dark Matter a couple of times in a couple of days and it seems like a pretty good record. There is Eddie at the front of the attack. His manly baritone as breathy and full of doubt about himself and the world around him as he ever was.

Sacred Of Fear the slbum opener plays out like a missions statement. 'We used to laugh. We Used to sing. We Used to believe...' Meanwhile the guitars howl and rage and summon up the ghost of the Riders of Rohan, the bass rumbles as uf for an oncoming earthquake, the drums thunder. This is Pearl Jam. That much seems clear.

Dark Matter does what Pearl Jam do. They're not a spent force. They do light and shade. They do nuance.They serve up a few songs you'll find yourself coming back to if you generally like what they do. There may not that get that many fresh 'I see the light. Hallelujah' ' conversions  IYou wouldn't expect them to really/f you like Pearl Jam records you'll like this one. I did. I give it 8. They'll be back I'd warrant.