Happy Halloween!

Today is...what is it also called? All Hallows Eve? Anyway, for today I tried to think of a song that was scary. This was hard for me to do, maybe because I've grown up in the multimedia age, I don't find music scary even when it's trying to be. I couldn't find a scary song, but there was a song that I thought tried hard to be and was interesting in how far it would go to try to achieve this goal.

When I first started buying music, I was influenced somewhat by my younger neighbor also named Mike. He had a lot more music than I did and went through various phases. At first he worshipped Todd Rundgren because his older brother did, meaning I had to listen to a lot of Utopia which was OK but didn't really do it for me. Then he went into New Wave which was cool because I got to copy all of his The Police tapes, all five of them! He even went as far as Duran Duran for a second. After that he shifted to metal, first getting into KISS and then speed metal. While playing Strike Out in my front yard he would endlessly debate with himself: which band was heavier, Metallica or Slayer? Which leads to today's theme song for Halloween.

I had not heard of Slayer before my friend started playing them around me and while they weren't scary, I thought it took a sort of dementia to simulate speaking in tongues followed by an ominous voice saying "Hell Awaits". It was amusing to watch my friend copy the speaking in tongues part when there was no music playing, it really is something meant to be heard a capella. Then there was that album cover with presumably the fires of hell and spears piercing through corpses. On that same album was a song that was so "out there" I couldn't stop laughing, "Necrophiliac". Yes, it is exactly about what is in the title. When my friend would start singing the lyrics it was just too funny. Even now, 25 years later, the thought of this song brings a smile.

I was going to pick "Hell Awaits" for the Halloween song of the day but really, what could be better than "Necrophiliac"? A Halloween warning to all that click on the link below, the lyrics are graphic which of course makes it that much funnier to me. What a wicked holiday Halloween is.

Keep The Fire Burnin'

Eddie Vedder leads the charge once again for Pearl Jam.

Rating:

and a half

Shortly before the release of Pearl Jam's new album Backspacer it seemed like the band couldn't catch a break. Bassist Jeff Ament was mugged outside of the recording studio and a deal to make the new disc exclusive to Target had fans crying "sell out". Sure this group has been through worse, it still was a less than auspicious setting to drop a new album.

When last we saw Pearl Jam they had reclaimed their often copied anthemic sound that they had dropped after their third album Vitalogy. Here on Backspacer it gets dropped again as Pearl Jam returns to an emphasis on wiry rhythms and subdued melodies. Every PJ album has its own flavor and here a loose punkiness mixed with maturity takes hold. Most of the songs are relatively short and the fast beat of the first four songs (The Whoish "Gonna See My Friend", "Got Some", the lead single "The Fixer" and the almost funky "Johnny Guitar") shoot by like a bullet.

In the middle of the album is "Just Breathe", a mellow acoustic ballad that sounds like a radio hit waiting to happen on adult contemporary. A surprise from this usually defiant rock band.

The sudden drop in tempo allows for more varied beats and a bit of classic rock such as the surging heroic "Amongst The Waves" with it's extended guitar solo or the pensive Traffic like piano driven "Unthought Known".

"Supersonic" picks up the pace again with another rapid fire rocker before going into a slower, swaying "Speed Of Sound". "Force Of Nature" is a decent mid tempo piece before closing with the reflective acoustic song (with strings!) "The End".

Overall, Pearl Jam sounds as invigorated and inspired as ever with a nerve and awareness in every track. They take chances by getting more frantic and ragged on the rockers while being sentimental and a bit mushy on ballads. Lyrically, it is one of their blander efforts with a lot of self affirmations and invocations of light, spirit, standing up for or against things. The relatively short run time (somewhere around 40 minutes) is perfect as it doesn't overstay its welcome. A good but not great Pearl Jam album.

The Return Of Shred?

Is it cool to play guitar again? I don't mean just pose with a guitar and fake strum while the song plays which has been the norm in music for a while, I mean full on finger flying speed of light over indulgent guitar solos. The guitar has long been the symbol of rock rebellion, however in the past ten years or so it's been used more as a style accessory than an actual instrument. So to see young 'uns actually play something on it is a big shock. This week's free Itunes download is a singer/guitarist named Orianthi whose song is dull but shreds up a storm with her guitar (even classic 80's metal style hands all up on the neck and everything) suggesting maybe people are ready for this lost art to return.

Then I saw the much maligned (but I personally like 'em) Creed release new stuff. Usually Creed makes the same album each time out and though the beginning of "Overcome" fit in that mold it seemed to hit a little harder. Then when they got to the guitar solo the dude tore it up in a way I can't remember happening on any of their previous three albums. Sure you can still ridicule their sub Pearl Jam post grunge religious rock but hey, I like rock music that has the subtlety of a sledgehammer. So hammer away Creed.

Could this be a hint of things to come? Even Richie Sambora had to go back to the recording studio to redo his solo for Bon Jovi's "We Weren't Born To Follow" because people didn't think he was ripping it enough. Will rock fans have a real reason to pump their devil horns in the sky again? It just may happen.