Pearl Jam
Yield

THE REVIEW

The Pearl Jam continue to tread their long road, as we can see from the cover of this new and perhaps overly relaxing album, which shows us, more clearly than ever before, the band's most introspective side.

We are indeed faced with seven more or less electric ballads out of a total of thirteen tracks; thus arises the challenge of deciding how strict to be in judging the work, trying to view the individual songs for what they are, regardless of their slowness.

First of all, it is certain that if Bon Jovi had put seven ballads on an album, it would have turned out to be monstrously dull, whereas Pearl Jam managed to write direct pieces influenced by the 70s, and particularly by Neil Young, which generally enjoy good inspiration.

The problem may be that while there are no real missteps, there is also rarely any shout of miracle, so “Yield” can be considered a good album by a band that has somewhat lost its best characteristics in the immediacy and compositional spontaneity that marked their beginnings, directly influenced by seminal bands like Green River and Mother Love Bone.

Wanting to tie ourselves to the past, the new songs more closely resemble the ballads and faster moments of “Vitalogy” rather than “No Code,” with the difference being that here there aren’t any truly useless moments, as the only track that can’t be defined as a real song is even untitled and represented by a red dot, with drummer Jack Irons making noise in his kitchen, placed halfway through the album with the intent of serving as a pause before resuming the musical discourse with the second half of the album.

Among the best things, we find the first single “Given To Fly,” written by Gossard, an electric ballad where a slowly crescendoing U2-like guitar accompanies Eddie’s voice until it explodes; it must be said, however, that the introductory riff here is more or less brazenly stolen from that of “Going To California” of Zeppelin-like memory...

Then we have “No Way,” perhaps the best track of the batch, where stands out the anguished lament of someone who feels different from a certain type of predominant and oppressive behavior and way of thinking.

But perhaps the most peculiar track for a band like Pearl Jam is called “Do The Evolution,” where Eddie’s ever-inspiring singing clashes with a once-in-a-while rock’n roll riffing by Gossard.

“Low Light” would be perfect to close or open one of their concerts with the lights dimmed and the lighters lit; it’s all thanks to Eddie in the second side’s opening, the stunning piece titled “MFC,” which, in some unknown way, ties the singer to our capital.

Finally, noteworthy is a track recorded in low-fi, with spoken lyrics and titled “Push Me, Pull Me” sung in chorus: pay attention, the lyrics are immense, and perhaps were written by Vedder thinking of a deceased friend who sang of young spirits a few years ago....