Eddie Vedder, Republic, 2022
Nostalgia sells in music. Look at Live Nation’s When We Were Young Festival, which cost over $200 for a twelve-hour event and sold out almost instantly, with two additional days selling out in similar fashion. Music writers have been quick to poke fun at the emo retromania of Millenials, but it has become clear that Generation X is just as susceptible to the illusion that you can pay money to return to the past and the warm feelings that you left there.
Case in point: Eddie Vedder’s new solo album.
Being the Pearl Jam frontman’s first true solo offering, not counting collaborations, two soundtracks, a ukulele album, and a smattering of singles released over the past fifteen years, the album might seem like it would be worth taking a flyer on. The Fender Mustang on the cover means that it’s a grunge album, right? There’s even a chance that it would be a special album, or at least an album worth the 48 minutes it takes to listen to, right?
It’s none of these things.
Earthling is an uninspired cash-grab of a record that has Pearl Jam’s soft, emotional underbelly without the gritty exterior that makes the music nuanced and beautiful. Much of the album turns its back entirely on the punk rock and heavy metal of the 1970s that informed grunge in favor of softer influences tracing back to the same decade. “Long Way,” the album’s lead single and most streamed track on Spotify, sounds conspicuously ripped from a Tom Petty record. The “soft 70s” influence continues with “The Haves,” which owes its backbone to early-era Cat Stevens. (It might be noteworthy that the tracks that have emerged from the forthcoming Father John Misty record bear a similar resemblance to 1967’s Matthew & Son and New Masters. Baroque pop revival, anybody?) This might be slightly more inspired than a solo record that sounds exactly like the artist’s work with their main band, but not by much.
Later in the album, the tempo gets fast with “Rose of Jericho” and “Try,” but the tone of the instrumentation doesn’t change sufficiently to match the attitude generally conveyed by tracks that turn up the speed. It’s moments like this that make the project seem like it’s going through the motions of being “rock and roll music” when it really doesn’t want to be. While being less exciting, it’s folkier tracks like “Mrs. Mills,” “Picture,” and “Fallout Today” that succeed because they’re the ones that feel like they might have had some semblance of inspiration or even joy behind their creation. It seems like Vedder wanted to make a softer album, but the brass at the UMG offices demanded a few songs that sounded like Pearl Jam, and the man caved. So like a student doing an assignment in a G.E. class the hour before it’s due, he cranked them out and the result is deserving of a barely-passing grade.
That’s not to say that the album is without redeeming qualities. As a songwriter, Vedder retains his ability to create the “earworms” that vaulted commercial grunge acts into the top 40 during the 90s. Furthermore, just because he songs are largely derivative of 70s soft rock hits, they manage to remain memorable, and don’t really drop in quality with subsequent listens (not that they were particularly high-quality to begin with). The Elton John collaboration “Picture” really sounds like it’s equal parts Elton and Pearl Jam, which is a rarity in collaborative song-making, and something that the industry needs more of as “features” become increasingly more common.
But alas, any positives of this record are quickly forgotten after a look at the face value prices of the Eddie Vedder gig at San Diego’s Magnolia Theatre tonight. Charging people $199.50 to see a show in a theatre cements the status of this project as a cash-grab. There’s nothing forgivable about that.
This album might, might, be essential listening for hardcore Pearl Jam fans, but even grunge aficionados would be safe leaving it on the shelf. A person would be better off dusting off some rock LPs that have sat in the attic since 1979 and reliving the glory days that way.
Sonic Explorer 