Dissident [EP] - Pearl Jam (CD 1995)

If you feel that Pearl Jam lost their edge around 1994, you re not the only one. Although Yield and Vitalogy produced some good songs, overall those albums just weren t that strong. I kind of like Vitalogy in spite of myself, but besides Brain of J and Wishlist there isn t much point in buying Yield. Then they released a weak live album. If they had included some of their good material, it would have been a worthwhile purchase. But this band has become quite adroit at not doing what is expected of them. For that I do applaud them, but musically they just don t get my heart pumping anymore. You notice I didn t mention the No Code album. It s like the second Highlander movie; we ll just forget it ever happened.

So, am I going to make a point sometime soon? I sure hope so. Oh yeah, Pearl Jam... Anyway, on a late night run to Circuit City I stumbled across a Pearl Jam display advertising the Yield album. I noticed that they had several of the band s other releases, both full-length albums and singles. I had already owned several of their singles, but not Dissident. So I picked it up and was shocked. It was seven songs long for only four bucks! Besides Dissident (from 1993 s Vs.) it contained six live songs. All of the live songs are from Pearl Jam s first two stellar albums. This is my favorite single, as well as one of the best deals you ll find anywhere.

Dissident is one of the standout tracks from Vs. The guitar work is superb and I m not annoyed by Eddie Vedder s lyrics. The guitar duo of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready show off their talents here. The verse rhythm is subtle, but the lead riff that Mike plays throughout the song is totally over the top. That is what made Pearl Jam famous.

The first of the live tracks included is Release . This was an odd choice, I thought. Not that I don t like the song, but it is the one song from Pearl Jam s debut album that I never pictured them playing live. The droning minor chords add a resonant sadness to Vedder s droning vocals. I remember how taken I was with this song when I first got the album Ten. I m a sucker for songs that manage to be both melancholy and beautiful.

But, this EP (it s seven songs, it s not really a single) isn t about slow songs. The scorching versions of Rearviewmirror and Even Flow remind me of why I loved this band s music when they first emerged from the Puget Sound. The album version of Rearviewmirror is dry, but it sounds incredible live. The band just lets it all hang out without any trace of inhibition. Now, I can say without any doubt that the version of Even Flow is one of the coolest live songs I have in my collection. This version just cooks. But if you thought the album version was difficult to lip synch to, this faster version is nearly impossible (remember Adam Sandler s parody of Vedder on Saturday Night Live?). But Vedder s ramblings aside, the band really rocks on this tune.

Pearl Jam then treats us to a live rendition of Dissident . It sounds even better than the studio version. Once again, I ll reiterate that I like Vedder s performance on this song. His lyrics are best when they aren t self-indulgent. The subtle change in the outro of the song where he speaks the line escape is never the safest plan instead of singing it really stands out. The emotion he puts into this song is admirable.

Two other songs from Ten are included here. Why Go and Deep are two of the heaviest from that album, as well as the roughest. What I mean by that is that the guitar tone is dirty, giving the songs a harder edge than most from Pearl Jam s first album. The instantly recognizable drum intro to Why Go really gets the crowd screaming. It is the weakest of the live songs included here, but it was the weakest song from that album in the first place. It has a good beat, but guitar-wise it s a little thin. The version of Deep is nice and ratty. I was always fond of the distorted open-tuned guitars on this song. It has great lyrics, too.

So, there you have it. The best live album available of the band. I own twelve Pearl Jam singles, so I have a number of their live songs available to me. You can hear Alive live on the Oceans single. Yellow Ledbetter can be heard live on the Daughter single. The singles from their first two albums are what keep me going since the band has gone so consistently down hill. Did anyone else see them on Letterman the other night? They were terrible.

Song Selection:
1. Dissident
2. Release (live)
3. Rearviewmirror (live)
4. Even Flow (live)
5. Dissident (live)
6. Why Go (live)
7. Deep (live)

Top Picks: Even Flow (live), Rearviewmirror (live), Dissident (live)

Band Members:
Mike McCready: guitars
Stone Gossard: guitars
Dave Abbruzzese: drums
Jeff Ament: bass
Eddie Vedder: vocals, guitar