Pearl Jam serve reflectively-aggressive nuggets

Just when you felt betting-sure the best (no-prefix) Rock albums of this year were out and the toss would be between Foo Fighters’ ‘One By One’ and Queens Of The Stone Age’s ‘Songs For The Deaf’, another contender appears. And, it is surprisingly – after ‘Binaural’ being a tad on the underwhelming side – Pearl Jam’s ‘Riot Act’. It is an extremely engaging record, both musically and lyrically, valiantly and stubbornly following its own creed and destiny.

Of course this is not the Rage Against The Machine ranting-stylee, despite its title, it is more profound, pernickety and sombre music about the effect of ‘9/11 Tragedy’ as well as the daily life’s hurdles. On the first count, Eddie Vedder doesn’t go easy on his Prez and in a song ‘Bushleaguer’ (or should that be ‘Bushligger’, PM Blair?) he accuses people in power of being usually the ones who are the least clued into what to do with it. On the second, there are moments that almost make you cry although it’s not as depressing as Coldplay; PJ prove that you can be brooding without sliding into total downbeat.

There are songs here you’d consider typical Pearl Jam, such as ‘Can’t Keep’, a dark-but-hypnotic opener which Eddie Vedder delivers succulently with Stone Gossard guitar sounding magical over a slightly-tribal rhythm… ‘I Am Mine’ is another example of the band’s identity and status, as well as ‘Thumbing My Way’; the latter is the most beautifully painful song they’ve written since ‘Nothingman’.

On subject of life, ‘Love Boat Captain’ – that sails on an organ motif to evolve into a future lighters-aloft crowd-pleaser – reveals that “Love is all you need/ All you need is … love, love, love’; on ‘You Are’ he proclaims, “Love is a tower of strength to me…” Of course the members are still Neil Young-disciples and there are tracks – ‘Save You’, ‘Half Full’, ‘Ghost’ – where passion and fuzzy guitars unite in gloriously rocking idiom. Still, no middle-aged rebellion here but genuine wish to explore new ideas and reach for neo-tones.

The penultimate song, ‘Arc’, is one-minute harmonising in the manner of an African group, such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo: there is almost a jazzy-shuffle headed by Vedder’s ‘crooning’ (more Nick Cave than Frank Sinatra) with a bluesy guitar-bridge that leads into even more emotional ending. This, and ‘I Am Mine’, are the pivotal songs on the album; the latter is a message of hope that you can control destiny bookended by birth and returning to the original nothingness.

Pearl Jam have grown out of their ‘Nirvana-successor’ phase to become a stadium band that is credible while remaining largely independent in the corpo-market. They’ve managed to become the greatest cult band in the world that still produces great records without fame affecting it, for the difference from a band like REM, for instance.

‘Riot Act’ is a pertinent record for these troubled times and the feeling is that this band is nearing to creation of its masterwork. This is awesome but not there just yet.

9/10