Olympic Platinum, Cover

December 1991 delivered a true “Christmas Single” to Pearl Jam fans complete with a Christmas Song, “Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time)”.  With a Pearl Jam membership, the item continued delivering year after year morphing into the “Holiday Single”.

In recent years, however, the delivery date around Christmas – how to say … – has “fluctuated”. Through some two-way ribbing and acknowledgement between fans and the Ten Club, the “Holiday” in “Holiday Single” is now generally interpreted as “the day the Holiday Single arrives is the Holiday”

In that spirit, Happy Holiday! In this article, we’ll take a look at Fan Club Single #5 – “Olympic Platinum” / “Smile” (Live).

The Starting Line

The revelation of “Olympic Platinum” as a song is fascinating as it was one of the first examples both from Pearl Jam’s and fans’ perspective of the viral awareness the still nascent Internet made possible.

On July 21, 1996, a fan posted on the newsgroup alt.music.pearl-jam that a new song “Olympic Platinum” was played on Atlanta radio station 99X.  With fandom still at a fever-pitch prior to the release of the fan-filtering No Code, fans did their best to circulate a copy. On August 8, 1996, Issue #18 of the Pearl Jam Rumor Pit even fielded some Q&A on the song:

Q-Where can I hear Pearl Jam’s song, “Olympic Platinum” that was played on Atlanta radio during the Olympics?
A-Find someone who taped it.

Give Pearl Jam fans a challenge and they’ll succeed. Eventually this song did make the rounds through tape-trading and early file-sharing systems, but then the official Fan Club release of “Olympic Platinum” with B-side “Smile”, Live from Barcelona Nov 21 1996 started to arrive in early January 1997.

Blue-Ribbon Packaging

The blue sleeve reeks of the gimmicky sleeves of vinyl’s retro past, featuring “Pearl Jam” with the slogan “Plays and Sings!”.  Surrounded by a border of stars, a striated gray “Olympic Platinum” sits adjacent to a trophy where the trophy figure seems to be avoiding getting hit by a bus as opposed to participating in any particular sport. With a track length of 3 minutes 50 seconds, the label at the bottom lives up to its word: “Almost four minutes of SOLID PLATINUM“.

The back sleeve features a collage of black-and-white Olympic sports photos with the faces of Pearl Jam members overlaying the original athletes.

Clockwise from Top Left: Jack Irons (Hockey), Jeff Ament (2-man bobsled), Ed Vedder (skiing), Mike McCready (Tennis), Stone Gossard (Track)

Clockwise from Top Left: Jack Irons (Hockey), Jeff Ament (2-man bobsled), Ed Vedder (skiing), Mike McCready (Tennis), Stone Gossard (Track)

Stone’s “999″ shirt number looks fabricated, possibly a simple node to an upside down “666″ (Kathy’s note: Stone does like to ‘run with the devil’ from time to time) or back to the Andrew Wood “Love Rock” era of “333″.

And, oh yes, Eddie Vedder’s number is 23 on his ski outfit.

The smell of victory, land of the free

Although it’s a Pearl Jam release, it’s tough to label “Olympic Platinum” as an original or a cover, but it is officially listed as a cover (editor: how about a “Coveriginal”?). With music and lyrics by Engineer Nick Didia, the performance credits are listed on the insert as:

Olympic Platinum, Side A

• Music and lyrics Nick Didia
• Eddie (Vedder) on vocals
• Brendan (O’Brien) on Bass
• Stone (Gossard) on drums
• Nick (Didia) on keyboard
• Mike (McCready) on the phone (?)

Recording credits reveal the sessions were done at Studio Litho and Engineered by Matt Bayles. Matt Bayles was an Assistant Engineer to Nick Didia on 1996′s No Code and later given full Engineer credits for Yield and Binaural. After recording sessions in Chicago and New Orleans in 1995 for No Code, this song was recorded at some point in early 1996.

To understand the lyrics of “Olympic Platinum”, one first needs to understand the atmosphere in the United States surrounding the Olympics in the ’80s and ’90s.  To add to the competitive Olympic relationship with the Soviet Union in the 1970s, the Cold War between the two nations disrupted the Games in 1980 and 1984. First, the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Games in protest over the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, then the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. Each host country ultimately dominated the competition in their respective countries, thus bringing the idea of a “globally fair playing field” into question.

Because of these boycotts, the “struggles” of these amateur athletes were depicted in the media in histrionic fashion, as the stories behind these Olympians were often presented more prominently than the competitions themselves. Prime-time Olympic TV became a mix of tape-delayed coverage of U.S. successes, mixed in with over-produced profiles of Olympic athletes who “struggled” and were “sad” after the two boycotted Olympics spurned many in their prime.

Fast-forward to 1996 in Atlanta, which is generally accepted as the most commercialized Olympics to date. Nick Didia, who worked/works closely with Brendan O’Brien at Atlanta’s Southern Tracks Recording Studio, must have been influenced by the Olympic mania in the city, creating lyrics dripping with sarcasm, commercialism, vanity and false pride as many viewed the Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, 1996.

What’s bigger than big? The biggest! What’s greater than Bronze, Silver or even Gold? PLATINUM!

The musical performance includes an airy, reverb-soaked piano, synthesizer and bass landscape with Stone providing light drumming. Lazy falsetto background vocals accompany the song throughout, as well as a deep droning bass vocal. Mike’s credit is listed as “on the phone”, but we can’t pinpoint that role, unless it’s an additional background vocal or the crackling laugh at the end of the track.

The vocal performance taps into Ed’s dramatic side, as one can envision Ed delivering the verses with simulated integrity and a wry smile. Ironically, this song features some of Ed’s strongest vocals with his soaring delivery of “I’m living my liiiiiiiife for Olympic platinum”.

With this background in mind, check out the lyrics while you listen. Next we’ll dig deeper into the name-checks and events.

Olympic dream, Olympic dream …

If I could reach to the sky and touch it for my country
Get some on my finger and take in its smell
The smell of victory, land of the free
Olympic dream, Olympic dream
Olympic theme, my Olympic dream
My promotion scheme

How hard can it be?
How high can I jump?
How high can I throw?
How high can I run (I’m running very fast)?
How long can I hold my breath and stay underwater and wave my legs around in perfect unison with my partner who doesn’t really understand me or my olympic dream, my olympic dream

I’ll be like Dwight Stone, I’ll be like Bruce Jenner
I’ll be like that girl who trained all her life as a distance runner and then tripped with a quarter mile to go
But I…I will get up and I will run
I will run with the Georgia peach breeze and I … I will win
I will win my … My olympic dream, my olympic dream

The Gold’s just not good enough and I don’t even think of the bronze
I’m living my life for Olympic platinum
Olympic dream, my olympic theme
I’ll sing like Whitney (sing like Whitney)
My Olympic dream

The lyrics are full of tongue-and-cheek overdramatization (“Get some on my finger and take in its smell”) and winning at all costs (“The Gold’s (first place) just not good enough and I don’t even think of the bronze (third place)”) and references to Atlanta (“Georgia Peach breeze” = Atlanta is located in Georgia, “The Peach State”).

Here are explanations of some interesting references:

Synchronized Swimming

“How long can I hold my breath and stay underwater and wave my legs around in perfect unison with my partner who doesn’t really understand me or my olympic dream, my Olympic dream”

Synchronized-swimming became an official Olympic sport at the 1984 Summer games in Los Angeles. The event, where female swim teams performed underwater “moves” to music, was often seen as the dilution of athletic competition, since many found it difficult to label it as a “sport”. Here’s a link. Have fun.

Dwight Stones

“I’ll be like Dwight Stone (sic), I’ll be like Bruce Jenner”

Although Ed sang “Dwight Stone”, Dwight Stones won Bronze in ’72 and ’76 in the High Jump. Thwarted in his attempt for better results with the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Summer Games, Stones failed to medal in Los Angeles in 1984, finishing 4th.

Bruce Jenner

“I’ll be like Bruce Jenner”

Bruce Jenner, Olympic Gold Medalist

Although many now know him as the stepfather of the Kardashians (sorry, we’re not justifying it with a link), Bruce Jenner achieved enormous celebrity status in the late 1970s after his dramatic Gold Medal victory in the Decathalon at the 1976 Montreal Summer games.

Adorning one of the most famous covers of Sports Illustrated ever, his symbol of victory propelled him to be named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976. He capitalized on many commercial and endorsement opportunities, and anyone who ate a box of Wheaties in the late 1970s surely remembers Bruce Jenner.

Mary Decker

“I’ll be like that girl who trained all her life as a distance runner and then tripped with a quarter mile to go
But I…I will get up and I will run
I will run with the Georgia peach breeze and I … I will win
I will win my … My Olympic dream, my Olympic dream”

Mary Decker became a symbol of U.S. entitlement in 1984 when she fell after making contact with Zola Budd during the 3000-meters final. After success earlier in her career riddled with injuries, she never won an Olympic Medal and initially didn’t apologize for her harsh criticism of Budd, feeling she was “robbed” of the Gold medal.

Whitney Houston

“I’ll sing like Whitney! (Sing like Whitney)”

For better or for worse, it was hard to escape the popularity of Whitney Houston in the 1980s and early 1990s. Known for her powerful singing and wide range, her 1991 performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl (note, not the Olympics) is viewed as one of the most emotional and patriotic performance of the Anthem ever. Ed even goes falsetto in an upper-scale run during the “-ey” of “Sings like Whitney”.

Don’t It Make You Smile

With the timing of this single now known, it’s interesting to see how quickly it was turned into reality.  With the performance on November 21, 1996, and the tour ending soon afterwards on November 25, the track was pulled, mixed and turned into vinyl grooves in presumably a few short weeks before it shipped and arrived on doorsteps in early January 1997.

Olympic Platinum, Side B

Although we like to avoid opinion and interpretation in our articles, it’s tough to argue that “Smile” is not a genuine “fan favorite”. It may not be the most musically challenging song, and it was never a radio-friendly single, but nested in between “In My Tree” and “Off He Goes” on No Code, it serves as one of the few “happy” songs in Pearl Jam’s then-developing catalog.

Not only do the fans smile, given the opportunity to sing along in full voice, but the band smiles as well when Jeff takes on a gritty Guitar role while Stone loosely grooves on the Bass.

A year after 1995′s patchwork Australian and U.S. tours, it’s safe to say that 1996′s non-ticketmaster U.S. Tour and European Tour were populated with fans that had to work hard to be there. And once the effort of ticket-buying and waiting were over, the release at a show allowed “Smile” to shine live just like the facial gesture portrays.

The only problem for fans that saw the U.S. shows that year is that they didn’t play it. It was sound-checked Sept 22 in Toledo but its debut was saved for the European fans a month later.

Lastly, the song’s intro gave an early hint to Ed’s endearing approach to addressing international audiences by introducing “Smile” in Barcelona’s native Spanish by saying “Como se dice ‘Smile’?” which means “How do you say ‘Smile’?”

After debuting at Wembley Arena on October 25 at the start of the tour, “Smile” in Barcelona is their tenth performance but sounds like their hundredth, with a tight rhythm and terrific vocal delivery.

Although it’s tracked early on No Code, “Smile” has only appeared live during an encore, and with its placement late in the show serves as the denouement of any set with the chorus “I miss you al-readdddy” used effectively as a way for both Pearl Jam and its fans to smile and say a collective “Thank You”.

During Pearl Jam mania of the early 1990s, this message was often hard to discern, but “Smile” on this Holiday single made it official.

Check out this live version of “Smile”, its second live performance on October 29, 1996, London, UK

Side A, Side B … both are Winners!

Few fans will classify “Olympic Platinum” as a “serious” Pearl Jam composition. If you look at it that way, this Fan Club single reverses the roles of Sides A and B by putting a Ramblings-type track as Side A.  A snapshot of an artist’s mood and approach at a given time is often extracted from their albums or live material from that time period. With Pearl Jam’s holiday singles, we get extra insight because they know that their message is being delivered directly to their fans.

With No Code in the can, this single represents the “things will be different” and “sponsored by no one” labels that the band rightly received, admitting later in their history that this time period’s material was meant to pare down their fan base.  “Olympic Platinum” is not meant to be criticized for its lack of “hit single quality” but appreciated for its biting sarcasm and loose delivery. And if you want, you can even learn to play it on guitar.

Naturally, then, both songs made fans “smile” by showing their “fun” side, and continuing their encore heroics with songs that pull you onto the concert stage so that we can all sing along together.

Special Thanks:

• PJCollectors.com for the single artwork scans
• FiveHorizons.com for their awesomeness and reference coverage
• alt.music.pearl-jam NewsGroup for endless nostalgic fun

Check out our Artifactors on preceding Fan Club Singles:

• Fan Club Single #1 : Band’s First Christmas (1991)
• Fan Club Single #2 : Sorry Rudolph (1992)
• Fan Club Single #3 : Like An Angel, Part 1 (1993)
• Fan Club Single #3 : You F**kin’ Little What?, Part 2 (1993)
• Fan Club Single #4: Double Or Nothing (1995)

PJ20

Even if you didn’t make it out to the wilds of Wisconsin for the PJ20 Destination Weekend September 3-4, we’re sure the tales of the Pearl Jam museum the band put together for the purpose reached your ears. Fans were not only invited to come in and gawk at all of the archival bliss (from Eddie’s typewriter and a case full of his notebooks to Jeff’s hats and smashed Mike guitars to the actual PEARL JAM letters from the cover of Ten), everyone was also welcomed to take as many pictures of the “exhibits” as they wanted to. No wonder the line was three hours long by Sunday afternoon.

Well, whether you made it in or just want to take a more leisurely look at what was inside, we’ve made an annotated little video of most of the Museum’s stuff, and set it to “Do The Evolution” (from the PJ20 soundtrack of course). Have a look see, and feel free to stop it as you see fit to take in all of the photos and descriptions fully.

Eddie Vedder on the cover of Rolling Stone, 1999, from from Jan 17 1992 concert featured on Vault #1

Pearl Jam fans don’t have much to complain about when it comes to Pearl Jam bootlegs. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that hundreds of soundboard recordings have been released since 2000. In pre-internet days you traded or bought bootlegs, though commonly not the best quality or price. Post-internet, there are tons of sites that stream old shows.

But we do complain wish that one day yesterday Pearl Jam would release all some of their past concerts from “The Vault”. The Vault is the stuff of legend. Magazine articles have hinted at it, constant caller questioning on Siriux/XM Pearl Jam Radio has yielded lots of “we hope so one day” responses.

Fans don’t know a lot about The Vault; but if anyone does, it’s Brett Eliason – Pearl Jam’s uber-Engineer who ran Front-of-House in the early days, then recorded/mixed the Bootleg releases as well as recent Pearl Jam and side-project releases.

We care about The Vault now since we were pleasantly surprised at Pearl Jam Destination Weekend with, amongst other goodies, a single-CD in a cardboard sleeve labeled “VAULT #1” and containing the January 17, 1992 concert at the Moore Theatre. There has been no further information on its availability for purchase, either by Ten Club members or for general release.

Wanting to know as much as we could about this release, Brett took some time around his busy Fall recording schedule to answer some questions about this show, the technical hurdles it took to release it, and some insight into the mythical magical vault.

Brett Eliason Talks Vault #1 with Two Feet Thick

Two Feet Thick: The January 17, 1992 show at the Moore Theater is “famous” because of the popularity of the “Even Flow” video. As far as the origins of this being the first “Vault” release, did you suggest that show or did the band suggest it?

Brett: Actually, I dug that one up – though I had band approval as always. I had remembered bringing a multitrack tape machine and console into the basement of the Moore Theater to record the performance for the video shoot. We have precious few multi-tracks from those first couple of years as the modular systems did not exist as of yet. A buddy of mine actually watched over the recording during the show as I was doing Front-of-house. I wanted the first of that series to be a special show that had some real “historical” value to it.

Two Feet Thick: Did you have to dig out old machines to play the tapes or was it in a decent format to work with.

Brett: The performance was recorded to a now obsolete digital format, Sony PCM 3324 dash. The tapes had to be sent to a specialty transfer house to be transferred to a current working format.

Two Feet Thick: “Baba O’Riley” is cut (see below for full setlist). Having heard the audience recording, I know the performance isn’t “optimal”. Was it an editorial or technical reason that it was left off?

Brett: “Baba” was left off mostly due to the failure of Ed’s mic line. We lost part of the vocals during that song in both the house and monitors during the show. Once a new line was squared away the recording did not have it. Constant challenges of a live performance. The fact that all of that technology usually works at all is amazing.

Two Feet Thick: Fans probably have wild visions of what “the vault” looks like – a big steel door, people in white gloves, and security. Is it that glamorous? Do you have a special key or hand-print identification? A special password like “open sesame“?

Brett: The Vault isn’t quite that glamorous. It is not a clean room like you get with CD pressing plants or the like. However, it is a self-contained facility with very special environmental handling equipment that keeps it within specific temperature and humidity parameters. It is a secure facility. The system monitors entrances and exits, as well as the aforementioned environmental specs. Only a couple of people have security access as you really don’t want the door opening and closing much, besides the obvious value of the content. I am not one of the people that has access! Though there was a time when I had the band’s tape library in the office of my old home…

Packaged Good

The packaging for the CD is simple and direct. Images below are courtesy of the excellent PJCollectors.com

The front side of the cardboard sleeve shows the January 17 1992 Moore Theatre marquee.

Vault 01 - Front Cover

The back side of the cardboard sleeve shows the famous Lance Mercer photograph of the band in mid-Jam. Stone grooving, Ed digging deep, Jeff getting some big air, Mike raging (and you’ll have to imagine Dave drumming). This photo has also been featured in numerous magazines (it was once a pull-out poster of a Guitar Magazine)

Vault #1 - Back

The CD is another simple graphic, its origins unclear.

Vault #1 - CD

The track list for this show is quintessential 1992 in all its glory – most of Ten, the two tracks from Singles plus an unreleased track (“Leash”) and a cover (“Baba”).  Each track sounds like you hope it would – sound bigger than life, Marshall amps blaring, Ed’s voice soaring, and great crowd energy. Although the technical difficulty mentioned above that kept “Baba O’Riley” off the CD now seems like a monumental fail, you have to consider that Baba then was very rough and not quite the explosive show-capper that it’s become in recent years.  Ending the CD with “Breath”‘s long jam does nothing to take away from the quality of the whole show.

January 17, 1992: Moore Theater, Seattle, WA

1. Release
2. Even Flow
3. Once
4. State of Love and Trust
5. Alive
6. Black
7. Why Go
8. Deep
9. Jeremy
10. Porch
11. Leash
12. Breath
13. Baba O’Riley (omitted)

Once Upon A Time

Diehard fans, whether you go back to the days of cassette dubs passed  through the mail until the hiss was unbearable or you came in during the YouTube-and-broadband-download era, will almost certainly find this Crowe-curated trove of goodies to be required listening.

But one of the coolest things about it is that it’s not just for us. All 29 of these songs instantly turn any listener into a superfan, letting every single person hear the band’s range of music through the years from the roughest of sound quality (the newly uncovered “Alive” from PJ’s third show ever 12/22/90 Seattle; ’92 European jams with loud crowds, Temple of the Dog demos) to latter-day live gems with perfect EQ (emotional mega-singalong on “Better Man,” New York 5/21/2010), as if they’d been collecting it themselves for years. Glimpses of everything we love about Pearl Jam’s music, with a heavy emphasis on live music, is here, sometimes raw and always real, as amassed by a fellow fan named Cameron Crowe.

Disc One

Disc One is literally listed as being “From The Film ‘PJ20′” and it hews to the present/past/present push-and-pull narrative that Crowe sets up for the film itself, rather than straight chronology.

We begin in 2006 Verona, Italy with “Release,” a fitting show opener, which, if you listen close finds Ed singing out to his dear friend, the then-recently departed Johnny Ramone (“Oh Dear John, can you see this now?”). Then we jump, as the film does, back to Seattle’s Moore Theater for the December 22, 199o, “Alive” that no Pearl Jam fan since has heard until now. Crowe was one of the people there, and in the liner notes, he recalls “by the time they played ‘Alive’ heads were turning… This shy new singer singing with the power of his convictions, this new band… this could all really work.”

Through “Garden” from the long lost Albani acoustic show in Zurich on Feb 19, 1992, that huge “Black” from MTV Unplugged that every fan has heard (“we belong together!”), a handful from the 1995 world tour with Jack Irons in the drum seat, and the emotional Mother Love Bone song “Crown Of Thorns” performed by Pearl Jam for the first time on their 10th anniversary in 2000, Crowe works his way through all the years and sounds and trials and triumphs, through PJ jamming with “Uncle” Neil Young at the Bridge Benefit last October.

“Porch” from the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands (June 8, 1992), which in the film sets up an epic montage of Eddie’s early-days daredevil dives from the beams, stacks and roofs of venues around the world,  has been crossed off Crowe’s disc one setlist. See the film, he seems to suggest. See the action that goes with what makes that particular version special. Vitalogy’s “Bugs,” from its only time played live, Philadelphia on Halloween 2009, doesn’t make the cut on disc two… but you’d probably rather imagine the shrieking accordion than actually hear it.

Disc Two

Disc Two is more esoteric. Labeled “Rarities and Inspiration,” Crowe leads us into the rare air of songs in the process of being born mixed in with more live moments (from Italy ’06, the infamous “Bu$hleaguer” from Nassau in ’03, and the New York ’10 “Better Man”).

The obviously historic Temple of the Dog offerings “Say Hello 2 Heaven” (Crowe writes that McCready found this recently in the bottom of a box) and instrumental “Times of Trouble” (which  became “Footsteps” in Eddie’s hands) aside, the disc’s seven middle tracks turn the songwriting process inside out.

The 1991 Stone-strummy demo, “Acoustic #1,” like “Yellow Ledbetter,” doesn’t seem to have words as much as guttural Eddie singing (“I know the roads will lead me” are among the few decipherable lines) but it’s affecting all the same.

“It Ain’t Like That,” a rehearsal from the band’s Mookie Blaylock days, surfs a big guitar crunch over a Barney Miller-eqsue baseline (Eddie gets it right when he kids “I’m Abe Vigoda and… Alice In Chains rocks my world”).

2007′s “Need To Know” is Matt Cameron’s very Wellwater Conspiracy-like beginnings of what became 2009′s “The Fixer.” “Given To Fly” turns into something else in Mike’s hands, when stripped down to just his acoustic retake in 2010.

Only spoken of in passing in press for “Binaural,” here is Jeff Ament’s 1999 demo for “Nothing As It Seems,” complete with his own gauzy, dark vocals seeming as primal as something on Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band” – then paired back to back with the band’s take from a October 22, 2001, Seattle show, where McCready’s solo flares out into the “structural homage to Ament’s favorite Pink Floyd track ‘Comfortably Numb,’” as Crowe mentions in the liner notes.

(Not) The End

Disc One’s setlist page ends with the thick black line denoting “end of first set,” just as disc two’s ends with a thick black line denoting, “end of second set.”

But every Pearl Jam fan knows, you don’t end a set with “Rearviewmirror,” and you don’t end it after just two sets. Like the actual band, the show goes on; there’s still more to come.

It’s 1990 and you’re a Mother Love Bone fan. Maybe you live in Seattle and have had many chances to see them live, or maybe you caught them on their only U.S. tour with Dogs D’Amour. You liked them enough to join their fan club, the “Love Bone Earth Affair”, and got some nice letters and paraphernalia from the band. Sadly that all ended on March 19, 1990 when Andrew Wood died. You picked up Apple when it came out in July, but you effectively closed the book on Mother Love Bone.

Much to your surprise, Mother Love Bone memories also resurfaced with the release of Temple of the Dog. You knew who Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Matt Cameron were, but who were “Eddie Vedder” and “Mike McCready” listed in the liner notes? You were about to find out by way of a introductory letter brought to you via a $0.25 stamp, and later some music sent on the medium of the day – the cassette. Your Mother Love Bone fan club membership was about to pay dividends.

In subsequent years, Pearl Jam fans would be graced with over twenty newsletters. In this article, TwoFeetThick will take a look at the first one, and the music that followed shortly afterwards.

On The Porch A Letter Sat

Long before following a band meant going to a website and lazily clicking a “follow” button, band-to-fan communication was only possible through fan club letters. Thankfully they were usually longer than 140 characters. The good ones were usually from bands that had either a creative band member, or someone in the inner circle to assist. Pearl Jam had the former, and that was bassist Jeff Ament.

Below is a scan of a letter – widely accepted as the “Newsletter #1″ – that was sent to Love Bone Earth Affair members. We don’t know the exact date of when it was sent. The letter opens with “By late May …” and we know that “Pearl Jam” was only born in early March.

You can view the newsletter in its original size, and we’ve re-printed the contents here:

Hello Folks!!

It’s been awhile, but we’re back with a brand new thang

PEARL JAM

By late May, u should all be receiving free promo cassettes of our 1st single (Alive, Wash, + a cover of the beatles I’ve Got A Feeling). Just a little taste of what’s to come in July when our album comes out on Epic Records.  We have 3 new guys (masters one + all) – Eddie Vedder (singer, songwriter, Bulls fan from San Diego), Dave Krusen (drummer, smiler, percussive god), + Mike McCready (an Irish folkplayer who left the homeland + found Hendrix + Beck). Anyway, we’re just finishing our record + looking forward 2 playing a lot in ’91-’92.

Thanks for your patience + hope 2 see you all soon!

Jeff + Stone

Special thanks to Mookie Blaylock, The New Jersey Nets, The NBA, & all of their lawyers. For more information/t-shirts, write to: Ten Club/P.O.Box 4570/Settle, WA 98104.

The "First" Newsletter

Penned by Jeff, the letter is signed by Jeff and Stone, writing in solidarity as former members of Mother Love Bone. Already labeled the “Ten Club”, fans are asked to write in for more information and merchandise to the same P.O. Box in Seattle that was used for the Love Bone Earth Affair.

Jealous Now? Jealous Again!

“Listen Up!” Special thanks to fan Kevin Miner for sending us another letter from 1991.  Kevin told us that he was never a member of the Love Bone Earth Affair, and probably received this by way of being on a mailing list from the Black Crowes. This letter has Pearl Jam letterhead and is sent from an address in Van Nuys, CA.

Pearl Jam letter sent in 1991

The letter hypes up Pearl Jam as an exciting new act, talks about the accompanying cassette (more below), and promotes future tours and the release of Ten.

The Gift of Cassette

These letters keep mentioning a cassette, so why a cassette? Still popular in 1991, analog cassettes were a common way to distribute EPs and demos. Portraying that DIY mentality, this 3-song cassette includes songs recorded on January 29, 1991 – with the band together for only three months.

Alive – After tons of rehearsing and a few performances, “Alive” sounds pretty close to its final version.  Stone’s distorted Marshall sound is unmistakable, as well as Jeff’s complimentary bass and Dave’s rhythm track. Eddie’s vocal performance has also grown past the hesitance heard in early demos and performances of the chorus. Mike’s solo is noticeably longer and rawer. It sounds like it was a work in progress early on because he even says (Deep “Special TEN Edition”) that the solo on the album version was recorded in England during mixing. Lastly, no, your ears are not deceiving you. Mixed by Pearl Jam and Kelly Curtis(!), Stone’s guitar mix is stronger on the left, while Mike’s is stronger on the right; roles that would later reverse and stay that way both on stage and in studio.

Wash – Born as a “b-side”, “Wash” is a great complement to “Alive” and you know it from the opening chords. With echo, delay, and clean-channel guitar riffs, the song portrays a band wise beyond their years (or months) and showcases Eddie’s amazing range and vocal power. “Wash” turned out to be the band’s most frequent opening song in 1991, but lost the battle as the opening track on Ten with the decision to come out of the gates with the Master/Slave intro -> Once.

I’ve Got A Feeling – This Beatles track can be found on the 1969 album Let It Be.  The mix is really loose and Dave Krusen’s drumming is heavy but ultra-relaxed, making this a real easy and fun song to listen to. Ed also had fun with lyric substitutions:

Beatles: All these years I’ve been wandering around the world / Wondering how come nobody told me
Pearl Jam: And I don’t understand, how come nobody told me? / Why I’d want to sing like Milli Vanilli

Beatles: Everybody had a hard year / Everybody had a good time / Everybody had a wet dream / Everybody saw the sunshine.
Pearl Jam: Everybody had a good year / Though we never saw the sun shine / Everybody had a wet dream / Makin’ Temple was a good time

Beatles: Everybody had a good year / Everybody let their hair down / Everybody pulled their socks up. / Everybody put their foot down.
Pearl Jam: Everybody made a movie / Everybody had one line / Everybody misses Andy / We’ll be seeing him in no time

The message accompanying this tape is literary gold because it’s a reflective summary of his history with Stone, and you get the feeling of hope and powerful energy, and sheer excitement for what’s to come.

PEARL JAM To think this all started 7 years ago… the Stone faction /Funny city rock guy with a Marshall/ meets the Jeff faction… \serious Montana skate punk with a basketball\ GREEN RIVER 3 records. 3 tours? The Seattle sound. Sub Pop. Loud. Long hair. Etc… … mainly etc. One thing didn’t lead to another and they left. MOTHER LOVE BONE 2 records. 1 tour… Love rock. Lots of promise. Talk. Hype … Then, Andy left to go do his solo record. Once again, the Stone + Jeff faction opt out 2 do a new thang. Mookie Blaylock … Reeenk Roink PEARL JAM. 3 new guys. The kick ass faction EDDIE. /Master of words. Earth guru/ DAVE. \Percussive God. The quiet one…watch out\ Mike /King of coffee driven guitar color, a blues mang/ PEARL JAM. Fate. Quickness. hard work. No talk. No time 4 hype. The coming together of 10. … hands … eyes .. ears … with coitus + gold-e and a deep bench in N.Y. + L.A., the journey begins. Like your favorite plant. Just add water. Watch PEARL JAM grow.

Alive / Wash / I've Got A Feeling J-Card Message

Some notes:

REEENK ROINK (Taken from “Reeeink Roink – It’s OK to Mess Up“, 2005) – Because of the “Alive” single’s liner notes, fans have long guessed that “Reeenk Roink” was a potential band name, but now we can say for sure that that’s not true. PJ fan Scott Logsden let us know that he recently lucked out and got his Reeenk Roink signed by Jeff Ament. Scott’s sleeve already contained the standard “Pearl Jam — TEN — REEENK ROINK” writing, but in addition to an autograph, Jeff added an asterisk next to “Reeenk Roink” and wrote “it’s ok to mess up.” When asked, Ament explained that back when PJ were recording Ten, when someone messed up, everyone else in the band would look at the person and make a funny face and say “reeenk roink!” It’s hard to explain in print, but what Jeff means is that “reeenk roink” is a sound spelled out, an onomatopoeia: like the sound on a game show when someone gets something wrong, or the two-tone error noise your computer might make. When they got the test discs from the record company, which lacked the name of their album and didn’t even have the band’s name printed on them, Jeff and Ed decided to write that phrase on there for when they gave them to people.

COITUS + GOLD-E – “Coitus”, ahem, is most likely a nickname for Manager (Kelly) Curtis, and “Gold-E” is the nickname for A&R Rep Michael Goldstone, who signed Mother Love Bone to Mercury and Pearl Jam to Epic Records.

Alive / Wash / I've Got A Feeling J-Card

Countdown to Ten

Twenty years later, the “Alive / Wash / I’ve Got A Feeling” demo is nearly perfect: combining their seminal anthem, an adored b-side, and a fun, respectable cover song.  The newsletters combined with heartfelt fan letters helped fans grasp on to their intangible energy; and with Ten and the live shows that followed, build a following that continued through 1991, 1992 and beyond.

One day, you may miss a train. Some Christmas, you may be late sending cards out. You may also miss a friend’s birthday here and there. In these cases, life may be kicking your butt; so to make up for that, you return the favor by giving a little extra, with some elbow grease, in the hopes that all will be forgiven. Such is the case with Pearl Jam’s 1994 1995 Christmas Single.

Check out our Artifactors on preceding Fan Club Singles:

• Fan Club Single #1 : Band’s First Christmas (1991)
• Fan Club Single #2 : Sorry Rudolph (1992)
• Fan Club Single #3 : Like An Angel, Part 1 (1993)
• Fan Club Single #3 : You F**kin’ Little What?, Part 2 (1993)

Climate Change

1994 posed many challenges other bands would not survive – a continuing popularity increase and media firestorm, parting ways with their drummer, and oh yeah, that Ticketmaster thing. Given these circumstances, the days and months ticked by and, sadly, there was no 1994 Christmas single like years past 1993, 1992, 1991.

As the time passed, the next Ten Club publication to arrive via mail was Newsletter #6. In that was provided a humorous note (can you find the vinyl pun?) about 1994′s omission.

Christmas Single

The 1994 Christmas single has become a very pressing issue. The band, in conjunction with the Republican Candidate hopeful and satanist Bob Dole, has met behind closed doors in long deliberations about what to do.

Bob suggests we do a double-single, which is in the works. The band has decided to release 1994 and 1995 singles together in a special double-issue. All members during Christmas of 1994, whether they renewed or not, will recieve (sic) this double-single, as well as current members during Christmas of 1995. (Only if you promise to vote against Dole in ’96)

This was comforting. Fans had to wait, but at least they knew it was being worked on. Honor prevailed as well, as the Ten Club honored lapsed-1994 and current memberships for what was a swelling fanbase after the mega-releases Vs. and Vitalogy.

Make It A Double

In late 1995 the single (Epic ZSS 7628) arrived, with contents as promised. A double-gatefold sleeve housed two 7″ singles. The artwork is a product of Eddie Vedder and Barry Ament (Jeff’s brother, Ames Bros. founder) and portrays Pearl Jam playing live as viewed from behind the stage to a crowd of characters – literally. The audience consists of an arrangement of dolls and action figures including Ace Frehley, Chewbacca, Cowardly Lion, Sonny Bono and a Stormtrooper thrown in for good measure. The front and back covers form a panoramic picture, although disjointed. The inside sleeve is a conjoined scene showing Pearl Jam (L-R Jeff, Ed, Mike, Jack, Stone) fleeing the dolls (including Evel Knievel, Captain America, Boy George, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and “Doctor J” Julius Irving) in a slick red getaway van complete with flames and logo “The Pearl Jams”, likely a nod to the van used during the 1995 tour featuring Monkeywrench Radio, which served triple-duty in 1995 as the touring van for Hovercraft and Mike Watt, too.

As for the music, the four songs featured had common themes: none were Pearl Jam originals, all were live collaborations with other artists, and they were all astounding.

Record 1, Side A – “History Never Repeats”, from March 24, 1995, Mt. Smart Super Top, Auckland, New Zealand. At this show, Neil and Tim Finn from the Split Enz join Eddie Vedder during the encore for this song and Pearl Jam for another, “I Got You”. “History Never Repeats” peaked as high as #5 on the New Zealand singles chart in 1981. Later in 2001, Ed performed the “History Never Repeats” with Neil Finn oh his tour, as captured on the 2002 DVD “7 World Collide”.

Record 1, Side B – “Sonic Reducer”, from September 17, 1995, Tad Gormley Stadium, New Orleans, LA. Fans were certainly familiar with this song as Side A of the 1992 Christmas Single; the liner notes even list the track as “Christmas Single Reprise”. 1995′s patchwork tour featured a handful of shows with legends The Ramones opening. Closing this “leg”, Joey Ramone joined Pearl Jam for this Dead Boys cover, with the liner notes reiterating “Only fourth in New Orleans, 106°, 2-1/2 hr show, last song with Joey Ramone”

Record 2, Side A – “Swallow My Pride” from December 30, 1993, Aladdin Theater, Las Vegas, NV. To continue the “history” theme, this cut includes somewhat of a Green River reunion, performing this song off Green River’s 1988 record Rehab Doll with former Green River and current Mudhoney members “Little” Stevie Turner and “Magnificent” Mark Arm. Special guest on drums for this song is Chuck Treece, who was touring with opening act Urge Overkill.

Record 2, Side B – “My Way”, from November 30, 1993, Aladdin Theater, Las Vegas, NV. From the same show as “Swallow My Pride”, Ed closed the show by appearing with Elvis impersonator “Terry Presley” (noted as “Elvis’ cuz”) to sing the Paul Anka song that Frank Sinatra made famous, “My Way”. After Terry takes the first verse, Ed sings the second verse in a deep baritone that would have made The King smile.

The center label on each side of the vinyl records depicted nothing but the song title and one doll, which lead to …

It’s a Single! It’s a Contest!

In addition to the great music, this double-single (isn’t that just a “double”?) reappeared in Newsletter #7 as the subject of a Contest. ²

Who’s In The Crowd Contest

You may already be a winner! You probably think you recognized most of the audience members on your new Christmas Single. Here’s your chance to prove it and win one of 2 custom Snowboards home grown at Seattle’s own Lib Tech Snowboards. Take a look at the center labels on each disk of your Christmas single and name all four characters. List them on a 3″x5″ card and send it to us at the address listed below. Don’t forget to include your name, address and day phone number. If you’re one of the first two contestants with the correct answers……

You’ll ride away on a snowboard complete with bindings, featuring a custom paint job, complete with Pearl Jam logo, brought to you by the boarders at Lib Tech. Runners up get some shit too!

Send To: <address here>

Deadline for entries is Feb 15, 1996. Winners will be announced in Newsletter #10. Only one entry per person. Must be a member to enter. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Subsequently, Newsletter #8 announced the three (not two) winners and four lucky runner-ups.

Last issues winners: These guys won Lib Tech snowboards: Sharon Callender, Ryan Arnold, and Jane Martin. Runners up were: James Northup, Susan Bloyer, Josh Ling and Tim Ott. They’ll be receiving prizes from the V.H.C. store. Thanks Lib Tech!

If you were a winner, or you know the winners, drop us a line! We’d love to know about your prizes and any pictures you might have.

Vinyl Goodness

Identify Those Dolls!

Amongst all our readers, we have to have a diverse cast of pop culture mavens. Click on the Gatefold Record Sleeves above and see if you can identify any of the dolls. If you can, write in as many as you can in using the comments form below. Let’s try and identify them all!

To whet your appetite for our upcoming massive, original, super-special TwoFeetThick production about Pearl Jam’s origins as the exact 20th anniversary of the band’s first show (Oct. 22) approaches, we present this detailed look at Stone Gossard’s Summer 1990 instrumental demos. These are the vocal-less tracks that snared him a singer named Eddie and that later formed the basis of Ten. Stone Gossard himself talked to us about the making of the tape, and you’ll notice pretty fast that Stone was a huge fan of the key of E back in the day.

Within months of the death of Mother Love Bone’s Andy Wood in 1990, Stone forged ahead creating a new band. By the late summer, he had Mike McCready and Jeff Ament in place. They gathered at Reciprocal recording studio in Seattle to record Stone’s music. The idea was that, in addition to getting the new music recorded, the resulting tracks would help land them a singer and drummer to complete a new band. Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron and Chris Friel (from McCready’s old band Shadow) sat in on drums.

Often dubbed “The Gossman Project,” Stone told us it was the bootleggers that labeled it that way, “it didn’t have any working name. Nope. It was just, ‘New Stuff.’”

Rather than giving the unfinished songs generic titles, Stone tells TwoFeetThick that it was important for him to give them evocative names. “It’s better to put a name on a song than it is to not,” Stone says. “If you want it to actually be a song, you can’t name it something like ‘Riff 2.’ I’ve got tapes and tapes and tapes of things just named ‘Riff 1,’Riff 2′ which I’ll never look at again because I need to remember. I need the name to remind me of it. So [the '90 demo song titles] were just a loose association thing.”

With Stone’s help, let’s dive into the tape, track-by-track, explaining the riff titles, the sound, and what song(s) the riff ultimately became. Click the “play” buttons next to the song title to hear the audio, courtesy of Gremmie.net!

“The King”

“The King” is the musical foundation of “Even Flow” from Pearl Jam’s Ten. This demo track is interesting in that it is one of the few whose structure and style changed drastically when it was finally arranged and recorded. The opening and core riff of the song is similar but not identical to the swinging “Even Flow” riff. While the style of the verses are similar, the bridge and chorus did not materialize into any future arrangement. The fascinating part though, is that riffs from “The King” popped up in future jams in Pearl Jam’s early years.

“Dollar Short”

“Dollar Short” is the musical foundation of the song “Alive” from Pearl Jam’s Ten. “Alive” was the band’s first promo and radio single, and it became the first signature song for the band. At just a slightly slower pace than the record, the demo is very similar to the final song – from Stone’s trademark riff, Mike’s clean-channel A-Asus2 chord progression, Jeff’s complementary bass and Matt’s simple accompaniment. “Dollar Short” includes a prominent acoustic rhythm guitar track for each chorus. Entering the bridge (which lyrically became “Is something wrong she said…”), the arrangement is note-for-note, and as the band would normally start the final chorus, Mike’s solo kicks in. The solo has a somewhat conservative approach, with Mike trying to find a way to complement the song but not ready to put his trademark style on it just yet. Unlike future demos, rough tracks and renditions today, the demo contains none of the identifying trademarks that we air-guitar to today. At 4:32, the track void of Ed’s lyrics starts to fade and eventually comes to a hard stop much like it does live today. As a side note, this is labeled on some early bootlegs as “New God”.

“Richard E”

Stone reveals that “Richard E,” the musical foundation of the Pearl Jam song “Alone,” was named that, because “something about it reminded me of Keith Richards.” The finished song “Alone” later appeared as a b-side to the “Go” single and on the b-side collection Lost Dogs. As Stone’s reasoning for the riff’s name indicates, the instrumental is similar in style to the riffs of The Rolling Stones’ guitarist. Once again, the structure resembles the ultimate structure of the Pearl Jam song, complete with another untamed Mike McCready solo. “Alone” is the career minor-leaguer in Pearl Jam’s catalog by missing two cuts – it didn’t make Ten and then didn’t make Vs., before being relegated to b-side status.

“E Ballad”

“E Ballad,” which is literally a ballad in the key of E, is the musical foundation of the song “Black” on Pearl Jam’s Ten. Like “7-Up”, the musical arrangement of this track is so similar to the final product, it’s amazing. With its familiar clean-channel intro, both guitars, the bass, and the simple drum track are all almost identical in performance. Mike clearly found his way with his accompaniment during the verses, and his wah-wah feedback solo centering on a high-E note is immediately familiar. Like “Dollar Short”, an acoustic guitar accompanies all the choruses. The trademark “do-do”s are present during each chorus and throughout the ending sequence. Further making the title “E Ballad” an apt one, it alternates between E-major and E-minor chord progressions.

“?” or “Untitled”

“?” or “Untitled” is the other track on the demos that did not result in a future recording. In a collection of barely titled tracks, this ironically-labeled track at 4:10 is a very full arrangement similar to “Dollar Short” and “E Ballad” with its use of electric and acoustic guitars. The music itself is torn between two moods – the power of the G-major chord and optimism of the E-minor chord. Alas, nothing more became of “Untitled”, a title which grew legs in 1996 as the “title” of a Pearl Jam improv that often preceded “MFC”.

“Weird A”

“Weird A” is the musical foundation for Pearl Jam’s “Animal“, released on Vs. Yes, that’s right, Vs. The mere fact that this demo yielded songs not just from a debut album, but carried over to the band’s sophomore effort, is true testament to the quality of these tracks. At a slower pace, the arrangement of “Weird A” is similar to “Animal” with the opening riff and the verses, but the chorus varies and even includes a bridge not found in the latter. Sounding “weird”, this song is indeed in A-major. At 4:25, the song keeps pace with the other instrumentals, eventually sped up and stripped down for “Animal”.

“7-Up”

“7-Up” is the musical foundation of the song “Pushin’ Forwards Back” from Temple of the Dog S/T. Considering 100% of the musicians on this track eventually recorded as Temple of the Dog, you can almost call this a “Temple of the Dog Demo”. Sans Chris Cornell’s vocals, the guitar, bass, and drums work together on his 3:40 track, nearly note-for-note with the final track which ended up just four seconds longer at 3:44 on the album. The title “7-Up” refers to the 7/8 Time Signature of the rhythm, meaning that the eighth note is the steady beat seven times per measure. 7/8 is considered an “irregular” time signature and – for lack of a better word – gives the music that “herky-jerky” feel to it. As a reference, another popular song in 7/8 time is Alice in Chains’ “Them Bones.” It sounds like there is just one rhythm guitar track throughout, and unlike the final track, this demo ends by fading out the main riff of the song.

“Doobie E”

“Doobie E” is the musical foundation of the song “Breath“, ultimately released on the Singles soundtrack. The eventual track is noted for its lush guitars, and are even more prevalent here in the demo, with Stone’s Marshall sounding like a buzz-saw to start the track off. All the musical components of “Breath” are here, including the faint singing of the “do-do”s at the beginning. The verses are very stripped down and almost sound very different from “Breath”, but you eventually realize how Ed’s vocal fills that space. Instead, the verses included machine-gun soloing from Mike McCready in the vein of Hendrix and Jeff being experimental on the upper frets of his bass. As the fourth song on the demo, Stone’s arrangement style is straight out of the rock’n'roll playbook, with intro, verses, chorus, a bridge to shake things up, then doubling back to the chorus as the outro. Mike’s wah-wah makes an appearance throughout the entire solo and is a must-listen, ultimately a bit more daring and untamed than the solo eventually recorded. “Doobie E”? The song is in the key of “E”. Is there a Doobie Brothers song that may have inspired the title? Possible, that’s not known.

“Agyptian Crave”

“Agyptian Crave,” whose title is the word “Egyptian” spelled with an “A”, was so-named, Stone says, because “it was kind of an eastern scale except it was in the key of A.” The song is the musical foundation of the song “Once” from Pearl Jam’s Ten. The guitar riffs are eerily similar to the resulting tracks on “Once”, reinforcing a theme throughout all these songs that the integrity of the riffs were maintained and respected because of their quality. Immediately following the opening riff, the main difference between “Agyptian Crave” and “Once” is clear, as the sonic level of the demo drops and a half-blues, half-jazz riff echoes over the serpentine riff that Ed eventually sang “Once” over. From the bridge (eventually with “Backseat lover…” lyrics) to the Chorus (“Once, upon a time…”), the music is nearly identical to “Once”, with Stone repeating the opening / central riff and Jeff’s fluid bass undercurrent. Matt’s drums are similar in style to Dave Krusen’s interpretation.

“Times of Trouble”

“Times of Trouble” is the musical foundation of the Temple of the Dog song of the same name, but also Pearl Jam’s b-side “Footsteps“, later released on Lost Dogs. For a demo, this instrumental track is fascinating because of its lavish arrangement. The piano accompaniment is present, as in the Temple of the Dog version. With Stone playing electric, Mike is on acoustic utilizing his slide and soloing throughout most of the demo. Jeff and Chris Friel’s drumming is simple and complementary, eventually coming together for the final recording of “Times of Trouble”. Reminding you that it’s still a demo, you can hear someone sneeze at 0:06 during the opening riff. More on that later. From other demo and early studio sessions, it doesn’t seem that “Footsteps” was ever recorded until Ed and Stone played live in studio on Rockline in 1992, from there becoming a moderate rarity having been played at less than a hundred shows. Stone says he unsure of the original name of the riff before it became “Times of Trouble.” More details of the fascinating multiple lives of this riff will be revealed soon in TwoFeetThick’s big 20th-Anniversary production.

“Evil E”

“Evil E” is the musical foundation for the Pearl Jam song “Just A Girl“, which later appeared as one of six bonus tracks on the 2009 reissue of Ten . Since this song had such a short live lifespan (they only played it once as far as we know), the music from this demo does not stray from the full-band version recorded months later. Many of its musical traits are still intact: Jeff’s use of harmonics and slide, Mike’s use of clean-channel wah-wah. Stone’s intro riff is also similar to the Mookie Blaylock demo of “Just A Girl,” but the rest of the song is a near carbon copy musically. The key of the demo is higher-pitched than “Just A Girl”. The difference may be real, or possible due to analog tape speeds making them sound different. “Evil E”? As Stone mentioned, riffs or ideas without lyrics will just be given generic labels to set them apart as they incubate into songs. This demo evidently sounded “evil” enough, and is in the key of “E”. It also should be noted that Stone has been a big fan of hip-hop forever and “Evil E” is the name of rapper Ice T’s DJ. Discuss amongst yourselves.

“Folk D”

“Folk D” is one of the few demo tracks that did not result in a future recording. At 3:36, it has a main riff, structure, and a pretty wicked Mike McCready solo. It is in the key of “D” and its “folk” feel is the 6/8 time signature normally associated with polkas, but maybe Stone thought it sounded more “folky”. After listening to the other instrumentals, the style and pattern of “Folk D” is very similar to other songs that eventually became legend. We all know that not all songs go from seed to tree, and “Folk D” is in this category.

Momma-Son: It’s Evolution Baby!

Momma-Son Cassette and Case

“Dollar Short” becomes “Alive”

As we explained in our earlier special about Eddie’s “Momma-Son” cassette, Eddie turned three of the Stone Gossard demos into the earliest music that can truly be called Pearl Jam songs. “Alive” became the first song Eddie Vedder put lyrics to, and to this day, the lyrics are a 100% match to the original demo version. The vocals aren’t Ed’s full-voice singing that we’re used to, and are more intimate, made clear by the minimalist recoding done in his apartment. The chorus doesn’t yet have that anthem-like quality yet, but he’s close to finding his way singing “I … oh-oh I’m still Alive”.

“A-gyptian” becomes “Once”

This initial version of “Once” reveals the core theme of the song, with most elements of the song intact except for the dramatically different verses. Ed even maintains the exact phrasing for the final chorus that can be found on Ten and most live versions.

“Times of Trouble” becomes “Footsteps”

The lyrics Ed writes to Stone’s riff match the later released version 100%. Our favorite detail, however, is that on the Stone Gossard Demos instrumental of “Times Of Trouble,” someone sneezes at the very beginning. And on the “Momma-Son” tape’s “Footsteps,” which Eddie recorded right over top of the instrumental, Eddie quietly says “Bless you” after the sneeze.

But Wait There’s More

Lots more. We’ve detailed Stone Gossard Demos. Earlier we dove into “Momma-Son.” But as we said in the intro, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Before 10/22/2010, the band’s 20th birthday, TwoFeetThick.com will unveil a gigantic special about Pearl Jam’s beginnings complete with tons of original interviews, and every detail and artifact we could unearth. Stay tuned.

Special Thanks

The MP3s of the Stone Gossard 1990 demos and Momma-Son songs are brought to you by the excellent Gremmie.net. Gremmie.net was developed for the purpose of bringing hard to find and out of print Pearl Jam music to the fan community, and hosts a great collection of rare material and B-sides.

We’d also like to thank Gavin Conaty (and his inherint thank you list) who created the original Early Pearl Jam Recordings History, which is currently the only known source of the original tracklist of the Stone Gossard 1990 Demos.

Pearl Jam Doormat

I’ve never been arrested.  I’ve never shoplifted. A bad case, though, of Pearl Jam fever in a suburban New Jersey music store almost gave me a record – and, no, I don’t mean the vinyl kind.

1991.  I’m a few months past my 20th birthday and a friend and I are home from college and at our regular meetup – Compact Disc World in Totowa, NJ. Back from college, some people played video games, others went to dinner, coffee shops, etc – but my crew of music geeks met where we could discover new music and relish the gems in our collections.

At crappy record stores you would have to ask store personnel what new releases were coming up.  Decent stores would have a messy marker board or sign showing the new releases.  Better stores – like Compact Disc World years ago – had nice workers who would let you look at the for-retailers-eyes-only list of upcoming releases that was faxed to them once a week.  That was “music discovery”. More like “music CSI” actually. As Umlaut says, oh “Kids today they don’t even know“.

My friend and I had already owned Ten since its late August release day. We knew that once we went to the “P” section of the CDs, that there would only be one CD for Pearl Jam.  But we always kept checking because we knew eventually their section would include singles, B-sides, the whole works.

On this particular day, we started walking towards the “P” section and saw this “thing” on the floor, but we weren’t sure what it was. Getting closer, I was like “Hey, that looks like the Stickman” and then my buddy’s like “Dude, that is the Stickman!”

What we found was this black, coarse, thick mat … just a mat! A “Welcome” mat – fixed on the floor, right in front of the “P” section. Across the top was the tattered-letter single-version of the Pearl Jam logo, with Jeff Ament’s signature “Stickman” below, followed by “ten” (note: and for some reason, i just realized that on the CD artwork, “ten” is all lowercase and doesn’t even appear on the front or back cover – it’s only on the spine! Discuss.).

Obnoxiously to the left and right of the Stickman are two arrows pointing “up”, but when laid down on the floor with the top aligned with the CD racks, they pointed right at the “P” section screaming “BUY PEARL JAM HERE” – ahhhhhh, you say … that’s what those arrows meant.

Was this thing a gimmick? With the Epic logo and its official catalog number “D-47857″, yep, it was the real deal. Cheesy, promotional, gimmicky. Whatever,  we wanted it.  My buddy and I were looking at each other saying the same thing without words: How can we get this toy home?

We asked the store owner if anyone had dibs on the mat, and he’s like “yeah, there are a bunch of people that wanted it”, so that was out.  Like Jack Bauer, we started to scan the room looking for exit doors, security cameras and leery personnel. The problem was record stores were like the brightest frickin’ stores in the world and much like the letter “P” is close to the middle of the alphabet, this mat was in the middle of the store.

Almost Two Feet Thick!

We thought we might be able to hustle it out of the exit door by the classical section (c’mon, is the guy who sells Brahms going to be able to catch me?), but this wasn’t some little collectible – measuring 24″ x 18″ and weighing in at 5 lbs.

Do you think we pulled off this heist? Nah, it was never in the cards.  Pearl Jam fever had hit me hard, but it didn’t send me over the edge to the point where I would have gotten caught and later smiled “cheese” for a picture while holding up a string of numbers down at the station.

This doormat was rare and eventually became a pretty pricey collectible. Sometimes sold for $200, $300, $400, I finally saw one for sale on eBay and eventually paid a grand total of $35 – wOOt! How did I do that? I remember it pretty clearly. I was searching for Soundgarden’s SOMMS EP, and it was a habit of mine to check out “Seller’s Other Auctions” which I did for a certain user.  Listed amongst his other auctions was – “PEARLJAMSUPERRAREPROMOTIONALDOORMATFORTEN”, with starting bid $35.

Yes, the CAPS were creepy, but I saw the needle in this haystack quickly – this item was never going to show up in a search for “Pearl Jam Doormat” because this seller didn’t include any spaces in the title of his auction! I did some searches to prove my theory and I was right! After waiting for five grueling days for the auction to end, I was finally the winner with 1 bid at $35.  YYYYEAHBABY!!

I don’t keep the doormat sealed in an air-tight compartment, but I don’t put it outside of my front door either.  It sits on the floor of my closet next to some shoes and some framed posters that will have a home on a wall someday. Do you have a doormat? Keep it in anywhere interesting? Let us know!

One definition of “Ramblings” as an adjective is “straying from one subject to another; desultory”. While I don’t know what the word “desultory” means, the “Ramblings” B-sides on Pearl Jam’s first three Christmas singles surely live up to their name.

The Ramblings Trilogy

The first “Ramblings” from 1991 was a spontaneous verbal letter from the band to its fans talking about Christmas, Slayer and Stone’s insistence that “Satan” is not an anagram of “Santa”. The second “Ramblings” from 1992 was a more artistic endeavor with another message to fans interspersed with random audio clips from movies, TV and music.

The third “Ramblings” is the B-side of a gorgeous love song called “Angel“. For everything that “Ramblings” was in the previous two years, this “Ramblings” is … ummm … unique. It’s not tender, not subtle, not carefully worded. It is a “message” and is certainly “directed” to fans, but done less gently. OK, I think you know where I’m going with this. There’s no point trying to be politically correct, so let’s just cut to the chase.

This is Part Two of a two-part Artifactor on Fan Club Single #3.  Go to Part One – “Angel”

Bombs, Droppin’ Down

Otherwise known as “Fuck Me in the Brain“, “Ramblings” is a violent sonic assault and F-bomb laden tirade recorded live from the Empire Polo Grounds, Indio, California on November 5, 1993. This concert was one of the most circulated (and best sounding) bootlegs from that tour and is infamous for “the shoe-throwing incident”, where fans threw so many shoes and other objects at the stage, that the band even played a song sheltered behind their amplifiers.

Whether it was the fans or something else that set Ed off, we may never know. Give the video below a quick look and see for yourself. We’ve even supplied the words so you can sing along!

Origins

Brett Eliason, Pearl Jam’s Sound Engineer since 1991, told TwoFeetThick.com how “Fuck Me in the Brain” emerged as a candidate for the Christmas Single. “I mixed a bunch of live material from (the Vs.) tour all at one session.  This was the first year that we multi-tracked each show.  I mixed that cut as it had a ton of attitude – obviously.  As I remember it, the band was going through my mixes – which were on a DAT tape – and after they heard that cut, Stone looked up and said “Well, I think we have our Christmas single“.  I remember a pretty good grin that went along with that statement.”

Laden with profanity, the track – including banter – includes 20 “fuck”s, 1 “shit” and a “cunt”! Sorry to be crass, but don’t shoot the messenger! The funny thing about the whole profanity thing, though, is that regardless of all the F-bombs, Sony Music chose to censor the word “cunt” from the final product, replacing it with an awkward “bleep”. We know this for sure because the test pressing of the single was not censored, and Brett said he didn’t do it either, “I think Sony censored that word.  Had we done it from our end we would simply have cut the vocal.”

At the song’s close, Ed’s half-joking-half-not dialogue with the fans is self-explanatory once you see the video above. The audio on the single itself ends after “Ok, I think we’ve got enough shoes”, but we chose to show a little more of the video as the band went into an break anyway.

One last quirk of the track is during Ed’s banter. While Ed is speaking and Mike is noodling on his guitar, there is an indistinguishable voice track. The voice track appears not only backwards, but also of varying speed. Whether due to 16 years of elapsed time or a solemn pact of secrecy, Brett answered “I have no idea” when asked of his recollection of this sample.

Liveage

To the best of our knowledge, “Fuck Me in the Brain” was a “one-time, one-time only” event.  The song was previously listed as being performed twice on the Concert Chronology and on PearlJam.com, but video of the second performance from Boulder, Colorado, later in the month shows that “Fuck Me in the Brain” was a “Daughter” tag and doesn’t resemble the Indio rendition.

Conclusion

Since this Christmas single actually arrived in 1994, and the latter part of the year was consumed by Dave’s exit, the Ticketmaster battle and Jack Irons’ hiring, the next Christmas single did not arrive until 1995 – a double 45rpm single with no “Ramblings, Part 4″.

Although CDs were the medium of the day and MP3s were still years away, the band’s choice to continue with the vinyl format allowed their relationship with fans to remain somewhat sacred, knowing that this non-commercial direct-mailed single would remain their way of expressing their state as a band – in this case, a polarized state of beauty and angst. And this is why the Christmas single can always be called one thing: a present.

Christmas, 1993: Pearl Jam’s “Ten” was already an instant classic, Lollapalooza had earned them legions of fans, and “Vs.” sold like 839 billion copies in its first week of release. Wouldn’t that be a great time to break Christmas tradition and mass-produce the band’s third Fanclub-only Christmas single? Try again.

Just past the new year in 1994, fans with valid Ten Club memberships started receiving their slightly-belated Christmas present by mail- still a 45 rpm vinyl record. 50,000 copies of the record were made and distributed, according to most collectors’ sites.

Side A:  “Angel”
Side B:  “Ramblings”

The Cover

The front cover features a cut and paste collage (yes, with actual scissors and glue!)  featuring the “Vs.” style “Pearl Jam” logo. The backdrop is an American flag – stars top left, stripes top right – and front and center is what can best be described as a “grunge angel”, complete with wings, a Converse high-top and saluting with her right hand.

In the bottom left is a headshot of former U.S. President Richard Nixon in a field of tall grass with a halo over his head (ironic, considering he was the only U.S. President to resign his position). At the bottom is a crossword puzzle snippet with the words “angel”, “sage”, “ed”, “bond” “one” and “devil” filled in. In the right corner is a male hand holding a cross, a snippet of a map of North and South Dakota, and an excerpt from a newspaper.

Like the first two Christmas singles, all the artwork is done by Jeff Ament, as you can see the “Ames” in the bottom left.

The back is less dynamic, but it looks as though there is an underlying photo covered by a black screen, and the symbols around the outside have been cut out, showing but not revealing the photo beneath. Also shown is a collage of a man pointing a gun.

Enough with all this artsy cover stuff … what music is actually on it?

Side A contains “Angel”, a song credited to Eddie Vedder and Dave Abbruzzese. Score a writing credit for Dave! Well, actually, he has writing credits on “Go” and “Blood”, so at the very least carve another notch in his songwriting headboard.

“Angel” – released just a few months after Vs. – is quite a contrast to the fiery, explosive tracks on that record. “Angel” contains Ed singing over just Dave A.’s guitar track. And it’s not just one Ed – it’s a lot of Eds – as many layered harmonies mold this song into an interlaced weave of bass, baritone, tenor and falsetto vocals. Without even getting to the lyrics yet, the vocals and open-string chords create an orchestra of vocal and musical color, much in the way “Arc” did on “Riot Act”, only this time with words.

Very early on – both in Kathy’s zine Footsteps and Sony’s “Synergy” site – the lyrics for Angel were listed as “Lyrics inspired by ‘The Eloping Angels’”.  “Eloping Angels” (sans the “The”) was an 1892 poem by William Watson (1858 – 1935). Apparently “Eloping Angels” wasn’t taken very seriously when published, described as a “comic opera” and a critic in 1893 went so far as to say the “levity in these twenty-nine stanzas is ponderous rather than hazardous.”

We encourage you to read the full text to “Eloping Angels”. Its story is whimsical, curious and full of levity. In short, the story involves Faust and Mephistopheles being bored with “life on earth”, and suggest a joy ride to Heaven just for the hell of it (pun intended). When they get there, they eavesdrop on two angels deeply in love, but who yearn for the validation of their love in the form of marriage, because their state as angels does not allow for their union. Faust and Mephistopheles engage these angels and offer their clothes to the angels so that they can “trade places”, return to earth, and live in love together.

Knowing this, the inspiration of “Eloping Angels” is clear, and serve as just one theme in his plurality twist from being about two angels, to him as just one “Angel”. First let’s look at Ed’s lyrics:

Like an angel fly over your house
Like an angel pass out wishes
Like an angel I remove the arrow
Like an angel I live alone

I’m not livin’ what was promised
I am close but can’t enjoy
Oh I’m not dyin’
Oh I’m so …

Tortured ’cause I see all
Tortured and all I cannot do
Tortured all I should have done
Tortured while I occupied a man

I’m not livin’ what was promised
I am far from glorified
Oh I’m not dyin’
Oh I’m not alone

Mind is not a celestial state with idle hymns of praise
Time is short I have an appointment at noon … at noon in Hell
Across the waste of space and fields of air I glide alone at night
Oh please please think of me ’cause I’m … I’m by your side
I’m by your side I’m by your side oh
Oh I’m right in front of you,  I’m by your side

The first two unique verses and repeated chorus clearly define Ed’s “Angel” character in this lyric. This angel is an an immortal companion to a mortal human – always surrounding, helping, aiding, but ultimately alone and “close but can’t enjoy”. He (presumably) struggles deeply with the past and his immortality, “tortured” by what he knows he could have done while a mortal.

The third verse clearly associates to “Eloping Angels” by referencing phrases and entire lines from four different stanzas.

( Stanza 8 )

Faust had not erred. These angels were indeed
Two human lovers, who, by sudden fate,

Full early from the yoke of life being freed,
Renewed their vows in that celestial state.

Now Faust, although immoral, was, I need
Hardly affirm, a gentleman. ‘ I hate,’

He said, ‘to play the spy at scenes like this.

So he coughed loudly on their whispering bliss.

(Stanza 10)

‘ Friends, for such tidings ye in vain apply
To me,’ the radiant Youth Angelic said.

‘We lead a life withdrawn, this maid and I,
Nor love the life by other angels led

All idle hymns of praise to the Most High.
Our one supreme desire is to be wed,

And we were even now concerting schemes

How to escape and realise our dreams.

(Stanza 14)

So Faust and his companion entered, by
The window, the abodes where seraphs dwell.

‘Already morning quickens in the sky,
And soon will sound the heavenly matin-bell ;

Our time is short,’ said Mephisto, ‘for I
Have an appointment about noon in hell.

Dear, clear ! why, heaven has hardly changed one bit

Since the old days before the historic split.’

(Stanza 15)

But leave we now this enterprising pair,
Faust the explorer, Mephisto the guide,

And follow yon bright fugitives in their
Ethereal journey whither mortals bide.

Across the wastes of space and fields of air
Tireless they sped, and soon this orb descried,

Hung like a fairy lamp with timid gleam

From the great branches of the Solar Scheme.

As the song comes to a close, the angel begs silently for the mortal to “please, please think of me” and Ed’s voice hits falsetto notes that float over layer upon layer of harmonies that reincarnate the musical themes exhibited earlier in the song.

Studio

The origins of this song are rather interesting. In a Rolling Stone article from May 1994 – shortly after the last performance of “Angel” in Chicago – author Kim Neely indicates the song was written as early as 1991, meaning the poem’s inspiration was just shy of 100 years old. So if this song was written in 1991, that means it sat on the shelf for a few years before being released on the Holiday Single.

Since Pearl Jam were busy bees from 1991 to 1994, it’s very easy to pinpoint when this was recorded because of the writing credit, which is shown as “Recorded and Mixed by Rick Parashar”.

We all know that the tracks on Ten (and early Ten demos) were recorded by Rick Parashar from the famed London Bridge Studios in March and April of 1991, then mixed by Tim Palmer in England. After Dave Abbruzzese joined in August 1991 and extensive touring in the fall/winter of 1991, Pearl Jam returned to London Bridge in January of 1992 to record songs for Singles, re-record some singles and new songs:

• “Even Flow” – Produced by Rick Parashar, Mixed by Brian Malouf
• “Jeremy” – Produced by Rick Parashar, Mixed by Brendan O’Brien
• “State of Love and Trust” – Produced by Rick Parashar, Mixed by Brian Malouf”
• “Breath” – Produced by Rick Parashar, Mixed by Brian Malouf”
• “Yellow Ledbetter” – Produced by Rick Parashar, Mixed by Brian Malouf”
• “Dirty Frank” – Produced by Rick Parashar, Mixed by John Goodmanson
• “Angel” – Produced and Mixed by Rick Parashar

There were no other recording sessions until the band’s trip south to Northern California for the Vs. sessions in early 1993, which did not involve Rick Parashar.

Live

Being a special song, the inclusion of “Angel” in Pearl Jam’s often violent and energized 1992->1994 sets was indeed a rarity, but each of the four total live appearances had its purpose:

May 17, 1992 – Roseland Theater, Portland, OR

Why did “Angel” debut at this show you ask? It was Dave’s birthday!  Ed says “Tonight also is like the night that me and my girlfriend have been together for eight years. It’s serious. It’s probably the sole reason that I’m alive. But, ah, that’s why I wanna stick around on earth. I don’t ever wanna be an angel or nothin’. I wanna be right here with her and, ah, so let’s try this song.”

November 1, 1992 – Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA

The band’s acoustic performance at their inaugural Bridge School Benefit allowed the song to be played in a somewhat natural setting and was played Ed reveals the band “had to make a deal with the drummer, because we couldn’t bring the whole set, that we’d let him play guitar.”

November 12, 1993 – Moody Coliseum, SMU, Dallas, TX

A year later, and in Dave A.’s home state of Texas, the “EV/DA” duo (hey! rearranged that spells D-A-V-E”) closed with “Angel” at SMU’s Moody Coliseum.

March 13, 1994 New Regal Theater, Chicago, IL

The song’s final performance (and about a month before Dave A’s final performance) was described in the aforementioned Rolling Stone article: “To anyone unfamiliar with the song’s genesis, the full impact of those lyrics would have been lost. But to watch Vedder on that last night in Chicago, pouring his soul into lines like “I’m not living what was promised, I am close but can’t enjoy” was to be absolutely, spine chillingly certain that for him, the words had just grown a little weightier.”

Legacy

As is the outcome of other famous splits, Dave A’s dismissal from the band in 1994 signaled the end of future live versions of “Angel” – but, then again, we never thought we’d hear “Bugs” again, either!

While many Christmas Single tracks were released on the B-sides collection “Lost Dogs”, “Angel” was a notable omission. Was it ever considered? Maybe, a promo version of Lost Dogs didn’t include the song, but said “Track 10 Angel Missing“.

Side B?

All this fun info on “Angel” … and it’s just Side A of the Christmas Single!!! Read about Side B: “Ramblings”, characterized by a “shock and awe” array of f-bombs, a bleeped c-bomb(!) and a reason to keep your shoes on the next time you’re at a Pearl Jam concert.

• “Angel / Ramblings” scans courtesy of the excellent PJCollectors.com
• “Dirty Frank” originally listed as John Burton, but was actually John Goodmanson, who later recorded Three Fish and The Rockfords