Pearl Jam
Unplugged

THE REVIEW

Few voices in the world can move me, and one of them is surely that of Eddie Vedder.

With his unique timbre, recognizable from the very first syllables, warm, and full enough to fill all the air in whatever space he is in, whether it's a small room or a huge stadium, sweet, yet capable of roughening and rippling to offer moments of anger alternating with the calm of a sea of oil at sunset.

The notes don't stop at the "mask," but rise from the nasal cavities and reach to vibrate every hair and every single neuron. Vocal intensity like Vedder's is rarely found.

His fellow adventurers are no less: each is master of their own instrument, Gossard always weaves perfect guitar tapestries; he's the hidden genius of this band, the hidden and deliberately shadowed mind. McCready always unleashes alcoholic solos worthy of praise, and the two communicate perfectly in making their guitars converse.

Ament, the little sprite with a bass in hand, always present, performs his duty impeccably and with his lines, he has always given the right direction to the rhythm section, which over the years has seen various percussion virtuosos alternate (the last and now permanently settled, as you all well know, the great Matt Cameron - immediately recruited).

In this performance, released by Pearl Jam at the Kaufman Astoria Studios, Queens, NY, on March 16, 1992, Dave Abruzzese joins them on their journey, a great drummer in my opinion, (in a comment I had read that among the many who followed, he remained the ideal one for the band), characteristic for the use of the splash cymbal and a good speed with the single kick drum. The only flaw attributed to him was too much force in striking the skins, which can be noticed especially in this acoustic performance, where the drums tend to overshadow the rest of the instruments a bit.

The intro is entrusted to the evocative "Oceans," accompanied by soft bass lines and cymbal crashes, subdued guitars, and Vedder drawing almost tangible vocal lines in the air. The splendid "State of Love and Trust," a track composed for the soundtrack of "Singles," ⁽¹⁾ immediately raises the stakes with a beautiful guitar riff and Abruzzese delights us with a superb performance, while Vedder roughens the tone and leaves us surprised by the transport and intensity of the execution.

"Alive" needs no commentary, it's possibly the most famous track, the evocative masterpiece par excellence of the band, here faithfully reproduced to the original, especially in the guitar solos, which, although executed perfectly, lose a bit of intensity, perhaps due to the slightly low sounds of the two instruments. Vedder, truly in outstanding form given his young age, leads the group into an emotional "Black," in which the only flaw, in my opinion, is found in the slightly slower and less convincing execution.

Everything is smoothed out with "Jeremy," the usual and unique Vedder gives us yet another vocal gem, and the guitars manage to rise above the drum sound, also thanks to more incisive and confident strumming. This is particularly noticeable in the subsequent "Porch," the most vigorous piece of this Unplugged, the rhythm and solo are impeccable, followed next by a frenzied Abruzzese. Here, space is given to improvisation in the middle, where everything calms down a bit, only to pick up at a frantic pace to the end.

The acoustic version of "Even Flow" is curious to listen to, it loses some of its evocative power, its primitiveness, to transform into a pleasant and compelling blues rock with strong tones, united with sweetness in the chorus, with a grand guitar interlude, also here softened with the volumes, before the explosion at the end.

A fantastic "Rockin’ in the Free World," a cover of Eddie's spiritual father, Mr. Neil Young, duly closes this acoustic performance, not as famous as that of Nirvana and Alice in Chains, but equally praiseworthy.

^{(1) 1992 film by Cameron Crowe, which encapsulates the atmosphere breathed in Seattle during its peak, with Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick. You can catch glimpses of Pearl Jam themselves appearing as actors, Chris Cornell, who also performs the beautiful "Birth Ritual" with Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains who play "It Ain't Like That" and "Would." Cornell had also tried, unsuccessfully, for the lead role, which was then given to Dillon.}