Re: PJ covers PT

[James Marshall Boswell <jboswel@emory.edu>]

On Sun, 24 Mar 1996 DANwhoIEL@aol.com wrote:

> I read a review of a Pearl Jam concert they did in SF about a year and a half
> ago, and the review stated they did covers of "My Generation" and "The Real
> Me" during the show.  Is anyone else aware of this?  Does anyone have the
> inside story about that band's apparent love of our beloved Who?  

Well, you can hear it in the sound, of course, particularly in the
ballads.  "Nothing Man" and "Better Man" from the last PJ album sound to
me like outtakes from "By Numbers," for instance.  I've also seen a PJ
bootleg album whose cover pays direct homage to "Live At Leeds," which
Eddie Vedder has gone on record as being his favorite album, or one of
them anyway.  And their new cover of "Leavin' Here" is really a cover of
The Who's cover of "Leavin' Here," as other listservers have already
pointed out.  One last interesting note: if you look at the cryptic,
hard-to-read lyric sheets from the last two PJ albums, you'll note that
whenever the pronoun "who"  turns up, Vedder (or somebody) has added a
tell-tale arrow to the terminal "o." 

I also see PJ trying to match The Who's early Seventies seriousness and 
sense of integrity or whatever.  The TicketMaster thing is indicative of 
this.  Unfortunately, methinks they doth protest too much.  Good records, 
those PJ things, but personally I'm a bit exhausted with all this moaning 
and angst from the Vedder Camp.  

Marshall