REVIEW: Pearl Jam, Live On Two Legs (Epic)
- Steve Kandell
Hey, remember the nineties? Sure you do. The way that flannel shirt felt tied around your hips - you told yourself it wasn't a "look," it was just easier to deal with the pit that way, but we can 'fess up now, can't we? The grown-ups called it "grunge." It will not be long before Singles looks like Dazed and Confused, an odd valentine to a particular embarrassing moment in fashion. With the release of their first live album, Live on Two Legs, Pearl Jam has become the only big band of that long-lost era (all apologies to Mudhoney) to make it to middle age, withered but wiser.
As he explained feebly in his suicide note, Kurt Cobain dramatically (if predictably) chose a) burning out over b) fading away, misconstruing from Neil Young's "Into the Black" that these were the only two options available. So many other bands of that heady time have since had choice b thrust upon them, but Nirvana's crosstown rivals Pearl Jam dared to choose c) none of the above. Not to self-destruct or become irrelevant, but to just become smaller, by design. No doubt Reluctant Rock Star Eddie could have seen himself going the way of Cobain at one point, but he got beaten to the punch and thus had to think up a new ending. Pearl Jam willfully abdicated the rock crown they never really asked for in the first place, all the better to save themselves the humiliation that would come when it was inevitably wrestled from them anyway. No videos, no singles, hell, no shows even - this was no way to be a megasuperrockband. Eddie Vedder and his curmudgeonly bandmates couldn't even bring themselves to admit that being in the biggest rock and roll band in the world might have been sort of fun. They flexed their dubious punk muscles by taking on Ticketmaster and nearly paid with their careers. The crowds are no longer as big, but neither is the criticism as harsh or the responsibility as heavy.
The band has softened its hardline no-sellout attitude as of late, even going so far as to do a video for the recent "Do the Evolution," a Todd McFarlane cartoon that really isn't a band video at all. The cynics will say that this is part of a calculated attempt on the band's part to recoup its dominance of the marketplace, but Pearl Jam does not look much more concerned with gaining back popularity than they did with losing it to begin with. And this new live album, a momento from Pearl Jam's first major American tour since its Vs. heyday, is hardly a mea culpa, with nary an "Alive" or "Jeremy" to be found. Rather, with its sixteen songs over the course of seventy-one minutes, Live on Two Legs is a portrait of a band perfectly content with its diminished piece of the rock pie.
While no longer a commercial powerhouse, Pearl Jam can still crank out a decent song. "MFC," from last year's not-as-impressive-as-the-good- folks-at-Rolling Stone-would-have-you-think Yield, is something of a revelation here, although the appeal of "Do the Evolution" and "Better Man" still escapes me. "Corduroy," from Vitalogy, is one of their better songs, although the version that kicks off the live album finds Vedder in strained, even lazy voice. Faring much better are "Given to Fly," anthemic arena rock at its most respectable, and a fitful "Go."
Overall, the album is restrained and modest, if not quite lackluster, and this could have much to do with the track selection (this single CD was supposedly pared down from a double-length set). The bland "Off He Goes" makes the cut, while the more spirited "State of Love and Trust" and "Rearviewmirror" are conspicuously AWOL. Gone are the bombast and histrionics of old, replaced instead by a solid, workmanlike musicianship. Vedder even sounds like he's standing still the whole time. Some of the hits you loved as a kid ("Even Flow," "Black") are here just like you remember them, and if you didn't like them then, you won't now. Also on board are not one, but two Neil Young songs - album closer "Fuckin' Up" and a snippet of "Rockin' In the Free World" woven into "Daughter." (If they insist on playing Young tunes live, aren't they at least tempted to do "Into the Black," just to sing that one line that will forever be tied to their own history?)
The liner notes are lacking for vital information. Is this all from a single show, or are the songs compiled from various shows? Don't know, couldn't tell you. The most memorable live albums capture a specific moment in a specific place (see: Bob Dylan, Live 1966) but that is not a priority here. This album seems to be more about reintroducing a band to those of us who may have drifted away, reminding us that even though Pearl Jam circa 1998 might not be all things to all people, but they are still a credible commercial rock band in a Matchbox 20 world. It also reminds us that burning out is not as romantic as it sounds and even fading away can be done with dignity.
