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Pearl Jam: Single Video Theory cast: Jeff Amant, Stone Gossard, Jack Irons, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder director: Mark Pellington 45 minutes (E) 1998 widescreen ratio 2.35:1 DVD Region 2 retail RATING: 7/10 reviewed by Paul Higson |
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Ten songs are performed to perfection but hang your doubts, as anyone who has seen the band live can tell you, this is a band that is as intrinsic on stage as it is in the studio, a precision sound every time, an immaculately rehearsed quintet; the sound you hear is an honest transfer. Intelligent guitars and a great voice are repeatedly proven. All Those Yesterdays welcomes the viewer in as the band quite literally clock in at the studio. The songs are bridged by interviews with the five band members finding a comfortable place on the back end of a terrible pressure zone, a prone period during which they reduced the touring along with the unnecessary video shoots. After all, as they saw it, this was an aural thing, the visual medium had a distant place in the scheme of things, and the mental images drummed up by the sound were the important thing. The interviews are chiefly about the now and the new, the Yield album, the creative process, the themes and results. It is particularly poignant to see Jack Irons, the drummer, here pondering his abilities, questioning his gift, positing the future he so wishes to continue to pursue with the band, whether he still has what is required to go forward with them. We now know that he was shortly after to retire when illness bore too greatly down on him; he looks tired but happy, the fans are understood not to expect to see his return. He drums so hard that an ice bath is brought in for his hands... or is that part of the ailment. Matt Cameron (ex of Soundgarden) became his permanent replacement. Eddie Vedder and Stone Gossard indulge in the playful accusatory banter that persists to this day, on camera and on stage, berating one another, but the best of brotherly fondness unmistakeable between them. For a group of individuals and composers who claim to fail to understand one another fully or enough, the tunes that ride out on the riffs and the slip in of lyrics are a magical meld.
Produced by Kelly Curtis (Mrs Vedder) and Cameron Crowe (the great groupie, hanger on and fame surfer), this visual record was overseen by director Mark Pellington (director of the Jeremy promo video) who followed up with the critically lauded Arlington Road and more recently had a Fortean fling with The Mothman Prophecies, the programme is impeccable but should not alone be a release. It should have been support to a longer documentary or concert video when one is due. The band made the headlines in America recently when Eddie staked a George Bush Jr full head mask on the mike stand and 'dozens' of fans were seen to walk out. What did they think Bu$hLeaguer was about? They weren't really Pearl Jam fans (probably blind dates and press on a freebie ticket) and with a sell-out two-leg tour ongoing stateside alone... I doubt they'll be too concerned.
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