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Pearl Jam Twenty
Pearl Jam Twenty is an intimate and lavishly illustrated portrait of one of the world’s most influential and successful bands—by the band itself.
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
September 13th 2011
by Simon & Schuster
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Mar 27, 2012
Melissa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Pearl Jam Fans & lovers of Rock Biographies
Shelves:
memoir
Do you remember times during childhood when a summer's day stretched out before you and your only responsibility was to BE...
I had just such a day on Boxing Day, 2011. Sitting on my verandah, looking out over the city, I began reading Pearl Jam Twenty. I had Water on the Road playing in the background and I occasionaly strolled inside to top-up with Chandon.
Hours went by as I immersed myself within the covers!
Pure pleasure for pleasure's sake :)
Handy to have their records & youtube nearby...more
I had just such a day on Boxing Day, 2011. Sitting on my verandah, looking out over the city, I began reading Pearl Jam Twenty. I had Water on the Road playing in the background and I occasionaly strolled inside to top-up with Chandon.
Hours went by as I immersed myself within the covers!
Pure pleasure for pleasure's sake :)
Handy to have their records & youtube nearby...more
I have a book about Mozart, and I always thought that someday (probably around retirement) I would read the book and listen to his works as I read about them.
Instead, I did that with this book about Pearl Jam. It was much easier - I've been a fan since the beginning, so I already have all the music. All I had to do was read about the albums, and then play the albums. It was a fun journey.
I generally like and appreciate music more when I know more about the context - what the artists were experi...more
Instead, I did that with this book about Pearl Jam. It was much easier - I've been a fan since the beginning, so I already have all the music. All I had to do was read about the albums, and then play the albums. It was a fun journey.
I generally like and appreciate music more when I know more about the context - what the artists were experi...more
"A Pearl Jam concert today is about much more than music. It's about the kind of clear-eyed spirit that comes from believing in people and music and its power to change a shitty day into a great one, or looking at an injustice and feeling less alone about facing it."
"We're not concerned with how many people buy our albums - but we are concerned with how closely people listen to our music. It's nice to be able to share our art with people, and that's a rare opportunity." -Eddie Vedder
"We're not concerned with how many people buy our albums - but we are concerned with how closely people listen to our music. It's nice to be able to share our art with people, and that's a rare opportunity." -Eddie Vedder
I'll try not to overthink this. If you're a serious Pearl Jam fan this is a must-have, and if you're a casual fan (like me) with a fondness for '90s music and culture then you'll still enjoy it. Companion coffee-table books like this often end up being superficial, but the sheer volume of first-person commentary from the band members along with generous illustrations make this a good investment. (Full disclosure: I paid half-price the day after Christmas.) I enjoyed the film but felt it suffered...more
Any fan who owns No Code & Binaural, can name more than one Mother Love Bone song (not including Crown of Thorns), has been to more than 3 live shows and has a stick man sticker or tattoo, already owns this book.I'm writing this review for anyone who once loved Pearl Jam (one of the 900,000+ individuals to buy Vs. in the first week) but stopped following after '95. You guys all need to pick this up. Only by going back in time, becoming a roadie and touring with the band could you get a more...more
I bought this book 3 days ago and i couldn't stop reading it. Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands and I think Cameron Crowe did a really great job wrinting this book but that's not the reason i rated it with 5 stars. I gave it such a good rating because P.J. members are really private about their lives so I think it's a great privilege to all the fans to read about the history of this great american band.
The book is not only filled with interviews of every band member but also with coments o...more
The book is not only filled with interviews of every band member but also with coments o...more
Compiled from interviews both recent and past, Pearl Jam Twenty ably chronicles the life of a band that has managed to remain together while making good music for two decades. Divided by year, with call-out sections detailing the process and features of each album, the book manages to give both broad overview while including specific details about the origins of songs and other significant band lore. Appropriately, the book features a great deal of material about Pearl Jam's live shows, which wi...more
Started skimming this once I got to 1992. This is exhaustive and yet superficial at the same time. If you're looking for protracted commentary about certain incidents, songs or events you're not going to get it in this book. It's very authorized in the sense that little is said that's raw. Compared to a bio like Please Kill Me (oral history of punk), which wasn't even that great, you get little detail on nitty-gritty stuff. The pictures are neat, but it's not necessary to do such a play-by-play...more
In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve never been much of a Pearl Jam fan nor a fan of what someone with entirely too much time on his hands christened “grunge.” If indeed you believe the title of the 1993 documentary of the same name and 1991 truly was the year “punk broke,” why did it break when so many underground bands were emulating early 70’s hard-rock moves? If punk equaled Black Sabbath, then did anything really change?
I dunno… Pearl Jam seem like decent enough guys in that it’s not all...more
I dunno… Pearl Jam seem like decent enough guys in that it’s not all...more
I can't wait to see the Cameron Crowe documentary. This is without a doubt the most illuminating book I have ever read on a band... Why? Well other books about bands and musicians are usually written by some one else - often someone who was never connected to the band in any way. Pearl Jam 20 was written by the guys who lived every moment of the past 20 years as a part of one of the greatest living bands in rock 'n roll. Within the covers of this book are accounts of the moments of greatest succ...more
Granted, I'm an avid PJ fan, 'have been since the mid 90's, hell, I'm even in the fan club, and due to my long allegiance I get phenomenal tickets/seats, but I digress the book is put together exceptionally well. The combination of the photographs, art work, blurbs, essays make a great coffee table book. I never thought I would say such a thing, but even Pearl Jam is getting older, hence the 20 year celebration.
It was a trip down memory lane, and easy on the eye. It will be cool for house guests...more
It was a trip down memory lane, and easy on the eye. It will be cool for house guests...more
Given that Pearl Jam's such a private band, it's great to see an authorised biography and so many rare pictures from the past 20 years. I'm a Pearl Jam nut so there's not all that much information in there that I didn't already know, so I tended to skim read it. My only disappointment is that there didn't seem to be any mention of the 6 Adelaide Concerts anywhere within the book... They were such monumentious occasions for me that it would've been nice for at least one of them to have been given...more
Without question this is the greatest rock n roll book I've ever read. I consider myself to be a pretty big Pearl Jam fan, and this book was sill packed with stories and tidbits and truths about the band and songs and moments that I had never heard anywhere else. Pretty remarkable. As is the band themselves. Not just that they've survived this long as a band, but that they have done so coming from the scene that they emerged from and with the enormous amount of instant success that they achieved...more
O passado dia 20 de Setembro foi, ao mesmo tempo, o culminar e o recomeço da minha grande paixão por este grupo. Nesse dia, tive oportunidade de assistir numa sala de cinema ao documentário Pearl Jam Twenty, realizado por Cameron Crowe, e que tinha como objetivo documentar a história da banda, desde os grupos de onde vieram os seus membros (mais notoriamente os Mother Love Bone), em finais dos anos 80, até aos dias de hoje. Eu já sabia muita coisa sobre a história dos Pearl Jam (quando fico obce...more
Feb 20, 2012
Melissa Lee-tammeus
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
borrowed
Saw the movie - had to see the book, of course. This is a must have for any true Pearl Jam fan. It goes through every day as a journal montage of any significant event that has happened in the last 20 years to this band, including separate projects by each band member. Great photos and excellent snippets of political and social arenas they have been involved in/with. It even has a picture of Ed's first paycheck with the record label. Very cool - I loved flipping through and "remembering when."
I loved this book. I'd take some time every day to read another chapter or two and it was as satisfying and pleasurable as sitting down in a favourite chair with a glass of good red and a box of dark chocolates. My brain likes to put things in chronological order, so the year by year format was welcome (even though the photos are mostly all over the place). I already knew much of the information, but there was not a page without some interesting tidbit, or quote from PJ and friends, that was new...more
Jul 25, 2012
Rossrn Nunamaker
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
bio-autobio,
non-fiction
My wife and daughters got this for me for Father's Day, awesome gift and I really enjoyed it. I'm not a fan club member and haven't seen them in concert, but am a fan. The movie was great and I've got the studio albums, plus Lost Dogs and several concert compilations.
Imagine this is mostly for fans, and really if you're Gen X, who isn't?
The band released Ten when I was in college and I have to say that this book gave a well done, year by year, review of key moments in their history. It is not as...more
Imagine this is mostly for fans, and really if you're Gen X, who isn't?
The band released Ten when I was in college and I have to say that this book gave a well done, year by year, review of key moments in their history. It is not as...more
Just pre-ordered this on Amazon! Ten came out when I was thirteen, I had it on cassette and listened to it over and over and over and OVER again. No album has ever affected me the way it did and I'm sure no album ever will. Can't wait for this and Cameron Crowe's accompanying documentary!
A book for fans. The level of detail gone into, the day-by-day aspect of things, is a little too much at times. As a fan, it was interesting to learn about what was going on behind the music. I wish there would have been photo credits along the way to put the pictures in context.
This is definitely a book for dedicated Pearl Jam fans. I did not read this cover to cover, but skimmed and read the moments and events that were memorable to me. This is an incredibly detailed account of the band from their early beginnings to 2010. But for me, all I really needed was the film documentary. The extra details that come from the book weren't really anything I seeking knowledge on.
I love Pearl Jam, and can see the appeal of a coffee table book, but I am glad I didn't buy this book. It is well laid out and interesting to see a year by year account of activities and highlights, but it also seemed very superficial and self congratulatory.
An amazing photograhic history of one of the best bands of the 21st century! All taken form the hoarding boxes of the band and chocced full of tit bits and things you didn't know, plus previously unseen stuff that set any fans' toes a tingling!
May 20, 2012
Praveen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Pearl Jam fans
Shelves:
music
The definitive retrospective catalog of all things Pearl Jam, put together by Mr Cameron Crowe. Bought it on amazon the moment I heard it was available. Pearl Jam fans, this is a must have! what can I say I'm crazy about this band!
I saw the movie and loved it. This book has so many more interviews and tour stories though. I could not put it down,loved every page, and most of all it solidifies my opinion that Pearl Jam is the greatest band of my lifetime.
only for the true Pearl Jam fan. Has some great stuff for nerding out--trivia, old pictures and mementos, not enough on what really went down with the drummers but definitely more than in the film.
Great book and fast read for PJ fans though it's a bit mired in details of what they were doing each year from 1990 to 2010
Loved it. I learned some new things about the band that I didn't know before. Twenty years of band lore, can't beat that.
Not as many interesting photos as I was expecting, but for he PJ fan this is a must read/browse!
The ultimate bio for Pearl Jam fan's, a journal of 20 years of ups and downs of this band career.
Beautiful book. Nice, big pictures that follow the evolution of a great band over the last 20 years.
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Sep 23, 2011 12:16pm