Happy Birthday, Mike McCready!

 

Credit: Geoff Whitman

Gigaton Turns Five

Eddie Vedder Releases Needle & The Damage Done

 We previously mentioned the upcoming Neil Young tribute album, Heart of Gold, featuring Eddie Vedder as well as Brandi Carlile, Fiona Apple, and the Lumineers, among others.  This past Friday, Eddie released his cover of Needle & The Damage Done via digital streaming formats.  It's a heartfelt, timeless, and a brisk 1:47 that you should head out listen to right now.

Then hit our link above and purchase the album.

Pearl Jam March Madness 2025 Has Begun!

It's the time of year again!  While the NCAA goes to battle to determine which college team is the absolute best, we generate an AI image of the band and basketballs and lay down the format for determining the best Pearl Jam song in existence.

We've agreed a few times.  Black, Go, Immortality, and Do The Evolution have all have multiple championships, but anything could happen this year.  Dark Matter has really shook up the contenders.  

But we won't know the winner unless you help us!  If you've got an opinion (and frankly, if you don't, you're not our kinda people) come on over to our forum and vote for your favorites.  The winner will be announced .... well sometime, there's a lot more than 64 songs that we have to work through.

New Beginning

This past Friday, Matt Cameron and his collaborator, Shaina Shepherd, released a new EP, titled New Beginning, across digital formats.  The album is produced by long time Soundgarden collaborator, Nathan Yaccino.  Do you love Matt Cameron's other solo projects?  His contributions to Pearl Jam?  Than this is straight up your alley.  Check it out now or look for the upcoming vinyl release.

TRACKLISTING

1. The Moment I Found You

2. Move

3. Next Time

4. Self Denial

5. New Beginning

Happy Birthday, Jeff Ament!

 

Credit: Geoff Whitman

Stip Returns to State of Love and Trust Podcast: Yield Superlatives

TSIS's own, Stip, appeared on this week's episode of State of Love and Trust along with Kathy Davis, founder of the some of the best Pearl Jam fan material ever created, discussing all the best Yield has to offer.  You can check out the episode below or on all of your favorite podcast services.

Jason and Paul welcome Footsteps fanzine and TwoFeetThick.com co-founder Kathy Davis as well as I Am No Guide: Pearl Jam Song-by-song author Stip back to the show to discuss Pearl Jam's Yield...from a superlative point of view. It's the second edition of this series with Vs. getting its shake a few months prior.

 

Eddie Vedder on SNL's 50th Anniversary Celebration

 

We were treated to two appearances by Eddie Vedder this weekend during SNL's 50th Anniversary Special.  His first was during a medley of songs by Andy Sandberg's Lonely Island comedy trio where he covered Michael Bolton's role on the song Jack Sparrow.

And later, he covered Tom Petty's "The Waiting" and paid homage to Elvis Costello's perforance from 1977 in which Costello bailed on "Less Than Zero" to play his anti-corporate "Radio Radio." Ed switched out "Radio Radio" for "Corduroy," but still earned a thanks from Costello via Twitter.

Thanks for the tip of the brim, Eddie. Always happy to do some unpaid script work for my old pals at SNL. Great show all around. @eddievedder, #mslaurenhill wow!!#bonnieraitt#postmalonenivarna#devo#cher, #jackwhite Congrats from @ElvisCostello https://t.co/9IzQj5M8AG

— Elvis Costello (@ElvisCostello) February 15, 2025

hhhh

Mad Season 30th Anniversary

 

1,000 copies on Black & White Galaxy Vinyl

Apologies that this news is no longer useful to you, but your unpaid news reporter was on a charter bus when the Ten Club Newsletter came out.

UPDATE: TheYeTee.com and other stores have up to 3,000 copies on "Graphite Eco-Mix" vinyl reserved for indie stores.

Pearl Jam announced a 30th Anniversary release of Mad Season's Above.  The 3,000 copies of the reissue available via Ten Club and Brooklyn Vegan have already, unfortunately, sold out.  If you have found yourself going this long without this amazing album, Brooklyn Vegan does have it on CD and black vinyl, but those versions appear to lack the recent remaster given to the anniversary editions.

Here is what some lucky fans are looking forward to.

For the first time in 30 years, this special edition LP will be pressed on variants other than black vinyl and is set to be released March 2025.

In addition, the packaging has been restored to the ’95 artwork with original cover, inside gatefold, back photo, and center labels. We’ve included a new 20-page 12x12 booklet embossed with the same illustration as album cover with new liner notes from McCready and Martin, additional photos, and song lyrics.

Audio has been recently mastered for vinyl and Lacquers were cut by Levi Seitz. In addition to the original 10 tracks this includes three with Mark Lanegan vocals and a cover of John Lennon’s I Don’t Want To Be a Soldier with Layne singing.

All copies are limited and editioned with foil stamped numbering.

250 copies on half-and-half black-and-white vinyl

750 copies on black-and-white swirled vinyl

1,000 copies on opaque white vinyl

Ed Covers Needle and The Damage Done

 

Stereogum is reporting that a collection of Neil Young covers, Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Volume 1, benefitting the Bridge School is being released on April 25th.  

Among the artists sharing their renditions of Young favorites, Eddie Vedder covered Needle and The Damage Done.

The tracklisting is below, and if you can't wait to own it, pre-order your copy on "daisy" white vinyl here.

01 Brandi Carlile – “Philadelphia”
02 Fiona Apple – “Heart of Gold”
03 Mumford & Sons – “Harvest”
04 Eddie Vedder – “Needle and The Damage Done”
05 Courtney Barnett – “Lotta Love”
06 Stephen Marley – “Old Man”
07 Sharon Van Etten – “Here We Are In The Years”
08 Lumineers – “Sugar Mountain”
09 The Doobie Brothers with Allison Russell – “Comes A Time”
10 Steve Earle – “Long May You Run”
11 Rodney Crowell – “Mr. Soul”
12 Anders Osborne – “Cowgirl in the Sand”
13 Charlie Greene – “Such A Woman”
14 Chris Pierce – “Southern Man”

Record Store Day 2025 Will Feature Vedder and Gremmie

 The list of releases for Record Store Day on April 12, 2025 was released this morning, and it contains at least two items of interest to Pearl Jam fans.  

First of all, Eddie Vedder's covers of Save It For Later (The Beat) and Room at the Top (Petty) released digitally last year will be available on a 12" "Ocean Floor" color vinyl single.  4,000 copies will be available.

Your next goodie will be a more rare, 2,000 copies of Best of Music For Our Mother Ocean, a compilation album featuring music from all three volumes of the Surfrider Foundation benefit album including Pearl Jam's cover of Jimmy Haskell's Gremmie Out of Control. The album will be "manufactured at eco-friendly record plant Good Neighbor. All non-toxic, fully recyclable material, and all packaging is made from certified recycled paper/boards, raw plant and water-based dispersion varnish. In place of shrink-wrap, the sleeves are 100% recycled and re-usable."  A full tracklisting is available here.

Brandon Discusses "I Am No Guide" on WCHL in Chapel Hill

 Brandon took a few minutes to sit down with Aaron Keck at 97.9 The Hill WCHL to discuss our book, I Am No Guide: Pearl Jam Song-By-Song.  He discusses discovering the band and following them through a lifetime as their music changes to reach all generations of fans.

Check out the interview here.

This week, Aaron welcomes Chapel Hill’s Brandon Rector, who’s just co-authored a book that takes a deep dive into Pearl Jam. “I Am No Guide – Pearl Jam: Song By Song” discusses and analyzes every song in Pearl Jam’s legendary oeuvre, from their iconic debut “Ten” to their latest album, 2024’s “Dark Matter.”

Along the way, the book explores the band’s politics, running threads, humanistic themes, and personal journeys – and spotlights some of their best live performances as well, many of which Rector has been present for. 

Yield Turns 27

 

Happy Birthday, Boom Gaspar!

 

Deaf Charlie Announced for Z.E.S.T. Fest

 Zootown Arts Community Center in Missoula, Montana has announced that Deaf Charlie will be performing at their annual ZEST Fest on March 29th.  If you can't wait until April for your Pearl Jam fix, this might get you there.  Tickets can be purchased at the ZACC website.