I’m not referring to lap dances, your favorite chicken sandwich or the motel room you frequent. This is about the Deluxe Edition box set for Ten. Seems as though diehard Pearl Jam fans are in store for one hell of a year and though I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, it took until today to finally get it together, sit down and put my thoughts into little jumbled letters in a sequence.
For $140, you receive The LP and CD versions of the original Ten and the Remastered version along with a variety of B-Sides, Two LP’s of a live show, the DVD for the MTV Unplugged (FINALLY), post cards, stickers, a poster and what has to be the best add on to any box set ever, the Notebook. This isn’t your mama’s notebook, it isn’t the one your ex cried about and forced you to read before having to sit through the sappy movie, and it isn’t the one where you kept you quirky seventh grade song lyrics dealing with Neolithic men, how life is so terrible and how much you love some girl you barely talk to but proficiently find yourself thinking of while accompanied by a bottle of shea butter and a dirty gym sock. The Notebook includes notes, scribbles, news articles and a genuine slice of PJ life that truly makes you feel like part of the family. To add to this, you get a remake tape of the Mamason trilogy Ed sent to Mike and Stone that got him the gig to become a frontman to among frontmen.
So yeah, it’s worth the money if you’re a fan. I treated the box set like some virgin maiden I was fortunate enough to deflower. I showed respect, restraint, patience, kindness and much love. I caressed every inch of the box set while realizing someone had taken one of the most important possessions in my life and had given an honest, just and very worthy tribute.
As for the remaster, I do agree that it will be for truly diehard fans mostly, but I can’t help but love having a second take even if I still think the original is just too high a standard to ever surpass. By the way, yes I realize I might come off like some Pearl Jam zealot but my relationship to this band is longstanding and we’ve been together seventeen years and going strong.
So you can understand, at the tender age of 12 my first three cd’s bought were The Dog Pound, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and the Soundtrack for CB4 (actually my first CD). To be honest, these are still all very good hip hop cd’s, but that’s just the point. Pearl Jam is the light that brought me to the side of rock convincing and unflinchingly. After stealing that cd I was all Gollum like clutching to it, sleeping with it and pretty much pushing a cd as far as heat and repeated use would ever allow. I had found my Rosetta Stone to understand the true language of music, and it came in a jewel case with a pink cover that read 8 letters that would forever change the way I listened to and felt about music.
Pearl Jam.
Ten was so mammoth for me at such a young age that I could barely grasp at what I had actually stumbled upon thanks to my brother leaving the disc forgotten in one corner. The funny part is that I’ve gone through various phases with that album focusing on different songs at different points in my life, having different favorites and coming to genuinely appreciate and love each track for what it has meant to me.
Be it the epic Alive, the beauty of black, the soul surfing affinity with Oceans, the energy of Deep or the release of… well Release. Ten is just one of those albums that has everything to satisfy my musical needs.
Groove induced: Once, Even Flow, Why go
Hard: Jeremy, Porch, Deep
Soaring: Garden and Alive
Soul Searching: Oceans and Release
My ears rejoice, my brain processes smart, beautiful and inspirational lyrics and my heart floats to the rhythms I digest. The thing is that this isn’t just great music. It’s music that shaped my life. That helped mold my perception. That taught me to ask more from my bands. Such is Ten in my life. And for that, I have a debt I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live down.
One last thing. Though my lucky number is and shall forever be 4, I think the title for this album is as perfect as it can get, because if ever there was a perfect ten, then look no further.
Cheers
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