Pearl Jam (album)

Pearl Jam was recorded at Studio X in Seattle, Washington. The band began work on the album following the 2004 Vote for Change tour in November 2004, and again employed producer Adam Kasper, who worked with them on predecessor Riot Act. The recording sessions started in February 2005, The album was completed in early 2006. Bassist Jeff Ament attributed the length of time recording to lead vocalist Eddie Vedder having a child and the band touring in the middle of recording. For the first time since 1993's Vs., the band members did not go into the recording sessions with any completed songs, only guitar riffs. Vedder admitted that the band "really went in with nothing". The band sat around playing music together and discussed the song arrangements, and in just one week had completed ten songs. Ament described it as a "real collaborative effort", Guitarist Mike McCready stated that the band members were feeling "fresh and energetic" and "were communicating better than ever". Toward the end of the sessions it came down to Vedder to finish up the material, with Ament observing that "the way the record started and the way that it finished is probably two different things." Regarding his lyric writing process, Vedder said that he wrote at least four different sets of lyrics for each song, with many going as high as eight. Vedder described as a process that demands "the patience of like a National Geographic photographer sitting underneath the bush in a tent", adding he would at times "figure out after eight, nine or eleven drafts that the first one was actually the one". and "Of the Earth", which started being played live in 2010. Pearl Jam's contract with Epic Records had ended in 2003, but the band was not ready to release an album without label backing. Independent label Epitaph Records was considered, but the band wanted a company that would guarantee a wide release. Manager Kelly Curtis signed a one-record deal with J Records - which ironically during production became, like Epic, a subsidiary of Sony Music after said company merged with J's parent company BMG. J had approached Pearl Jam as early as 2001, and had its first experiments with the band issuing the live album Live at Benaroya Hall in 2004. Vedder said J was picked as they searched for "somebody who'll allow us to be who we are and respects how we do things" and contributed with the "facilitation of getting the music out there". Gossard added the label did not input any time or creative constraints upon the band—"We didn't play them much music until it was basically done, and they were pleased. They weren't expecting us to do something that was unnatural for us." ==Music and lyrics==

A number of critics cited the album as a return to the band's roots. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said, "Nearly 15 years after Ten, Pearl Jam finally returned to the strengths of their debut with 2006's Pearl Jam, a sharply focused set of impassioned hard rock." religion ("Marker in the Sand"), poverty ("Unemployable"), leaving everything behind to seek a fresh start ("Gone"), as guitarist Stone Gossard explained, "we did consider using narration to thematically unify the album, but ultimately a less conceptual structure just felt right." Vedder said that "Gone" is about a man "needing to find a new life without his past, without his possessions, and not really looking for more possessions." For the first time McCready contributed lyrics to a Pearl Jam album, writing the lyrics to the closing track "Inside Job". McCready said that he wrote the lyrics while touring in São Paulo as he "want[ed] this song to happen" despite Vedder not having done the lyrics yet, and added that the lyrical inspiration was the realization that "I had to go inside myself first before I could be open to outside ideas." ==Packaging and versions==

The album's cover art, photographed by Brad Klausen, depicts an avocado cut in half with the pit still in place. McCready said, "That symbolizes just kind of ... Ed's at the end of the process and said, for all I care right now, we've done such a good job on this record, and we're kind of tired from it. Let's throw an avocado on the cover. I think that's what happened, and our art director goes, hey, that's not a bad idea. I think we were watching the Super Bowl, and we had some guacamole or something." Because the album is self-titled, many fans refer to it as "Avocado" or "The Avocado Album". The cover was named in Pitchfork Media's top 25 worst album covers of 2006. The liner notes art features footage from the "Life Wasted" music video, directed by artist Fernando Apodaca. The photographs involve the band members with their skin decaying and animals crawling in and out of it, as Apodaca felt the songs, "Life Wasted" in particular, fit "my interpretation of the how fragile life is". The album was also issued on a double vinyl. On the choice of a self-titled album, Vedder explained, "In the end, we thought there was enough there with the title of the songs, so to put another title on the album would have seemed pretentious. So, really, it's actually Nothing by Pearl Jam." During the making of the album Vedder considered the title Superun-owned, a play on Soundgarden's 1994 album, Superunknown. He explained, "We're un-owned. We want to remain un-owned." Pre-order campaigns were also set with iTunes, Amazon and Best Buy, each retailer receiving an exclusive behind-the-scenes or rehearsal clip shot by photographer Danny Clinch. ==Release and promotion==

The album was released on May 2, 2006. While Pearl Jam is normally averse to press, to promote the album they performed the album songs on Sessions@AOL, reached number two on the Mainstream Rock charts, and spent a total of three weeks at number one on the Modern Rock charts. Neither of the album's other commercially released singles, "Life Wasted" and "Gone", charted on the Hot 100, but the former placed on both the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts, while the latter placed on the Modern Rock chart.{{cite magazine ==Tour==

, Italy on September 20, 2006.|alt=Eddie Vedder sings in a stage. Pearl Jam promoted the album with a tour across North America, Europe, and Australia in 2006. The tour originally had 69 concerts, which were then expanded with three gigs in Hawaii, one of them opening for U2's Vertigo Tour in Honolulu. The first leg of the North American tour focused on the Northeastern United States, and then the band moved to the Midwest and the West Coast for the tour's second leg. Pearl Jam went on to tour Europe for its first time in six years. The band played a small secret show at the Astoria in London, and headlined the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2006, despite having vowed to never play at a festival again after Roskilde. In an interview in advance of the band's return to the festival circuit, Gossard commented, "It seems like an era to trust that we're aware enough to get through those bigger shows. We have a heightened awareness of what needs to happen every night so people are as safe as they can possibly be." Vedder started both concerts with an emotional plea to the crowd to look after each other. He commented during the Leeds set that the band's decision to play a festival for the first time after Roskilde had nothing to do with "guts" but with trust in the audience. On September 19, 2006, at the Torino, Italy show at Palaisozaki, Pearl Jam played Pearl Jam in its entirety in order midway through its set. After Europe, the band headed to Australia and then finished the year with two shows in Hawaii. The band's shows at The Gorge Amphitheatre were released as part of the Live at the Gorge 05/06 box set. A DVD documenting the band's shows in Italy entitled Immagine in Cornice was released in 2007. ==Reception==

Commercial performance Pearl Jam entered the UK charts at number five, the band's highest position there since 2000's Binaural, while it reached number two in the U.S., selling 279,564 copies in its first week. It was held off the top spot by the Tool album, 10,000 Days. As of July 2009, the album has sold 750,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. Pearl Jam is considered a comeback hit, outselling 2002's Riot Act—by 2009, 750,000 copies as opposed to Riot Acts 508,000 It has been certified gold by the RIAA. Critical response According to Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The album was named in Rolling Stone's top 50 albums of the year at number 13. Rolling Stone staff writer David Fricke gave Pearl Jam four out of five stars, calling it the band's best album in ten years. He said it's "the most overtly partisan—and hopeful—record of their lives", adding that it's "as big and brash in fuzz and backbone as Led Zeppelin's Presence." Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "Now as ever, Pearl Jam takes itself seriously. But it delivers that seriousness not with the sodden self-importance of rock superstardom, but with the craft and hunger of a band still proving itself on the spot." Kyle Anderson of Spin gave the album three out of five stars. He said that "rather than rage against the time machine, they seem to be having fun ... Pearl Jam are taking themselves less seriously, and it fits them like a snug flannel shirt." Mat Snow of The Guardian also gave the album three out of five stars. In the review he stated that Vedder "musters absolute conviction in writing and singing lyrics of male teenage angst." Snow observed, "And though few of these 13 numbers have the drama of tracks by the Who or Led Zeppelin, from whom the band draw much of their style, Pearl Jam play like men on a mission." David Raposa of Pitchfork called it the "most consistent effort the group's released since its second album," but he added that it "gets pretty boring pretty ... quick." ==Track listing==

I "Wasted Reprise" contains a reprise of "Life Wasted". II "Inside Job" contains a brief instrumental hidden track at 6:35. ==Personnel==

Pearl Jam • Eddie Vedder – vocals, guitar, layout and design; credited as "Jerome Turner" for album concept • Jeff Ament – bass guitar • Matt Cameron – drums, percussion • Stone Gossard – guitar • Mike McCready – guitar Additional musicians and production • Fernando Apodaca – art and sculpture, disc design • John Burton, Sam Hofstedt – engineering • Boom Gaspar – Hammond B3, piano, pump organ • Adam Kasper – production, recording, mixing • Gregg Keplinger, Aaron Mlasko, Steve Rinkov – drum technicians • Brad Klausen – cover photographs, layout and design • Jason Mueller – artistic facilitater, disc design • Pearl Jam – production • George Webb – guitar technician • Gary Westlake – optigan ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==