RATING: *****
Sometimes |
PEARL JAM No Code (1996) Sony/Columbia [72:43] by Kelvin Ha No code. No expectations. No rules. That seems to be what Pearl Jam's new album, No Code, is about. Musically, it is a divergence from what most of us expect from America's premier number one band. This is the first Pearl Jam album that contains more acoustic numbers than all their three previous albums combined. More importantly, we even hear Eddie Vedder singing about God in "Sometimes" ( You're God and you've got big hands . . . seek my part, devote myself, my small self, like a book, amongst the many on a shelf). No Code is indeed Pearl Jam's statement about not taking them for granted. In the anthemic track "Who We Are", Vedder sings "here's to transcend where we are, who are we, who we are". And transcend who they are is indeed what the band does on this outing. From the opening track "Sometimes" to the brief 62 second "Lukin", the band takes us on a musical roller coaster, from a soft piano and acoustic guitar ballad to a no-holds barred all out rocker. In between we hear a variety of sounds which we have never heard from the band before, like the country style "Around the Bend" and half narrated "I'm Open" which hints at the part in The Doors "The End" where Morrison narrates how the oedipal killer awoke before dawn and made his way to his mother's room. For those who expect Pearl Jam to be the same hard rocking band they knew, there are more than adequate numbers to satisfy them, but it is these newer sounds which make this album an exciting buy. In Neil Young's 1995 album, MirrorBall, Pearl Jam attempted to transcend their ego when they chose to perform as Neil Young's backing band. As a result, they turned in one of their finest and tightest studio performances yet. The instrumentation on that album was superb and it showed that they were a band capable of more than their usual fare. Though No Code lacks the power packed energy of Ten, their 1991 debut album, it is a groundbreaking effort by virtue of the diversity of it's styles and the effort by the band not to be caged in and limited by the expectations which have come to be associated with their name.
Kelvin Ha
once played guitar in a long haired band with no
name. They almost landed a recording contract but if fell through because they
couldn't decide what to call themselves.
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