The 11 Best Live Music Performances on the David Letterman Show

Thank you, Dave. Here are the 11 Best Musical Performances on the David Letterman Show: 1.  Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days 2.  Future Islands - Seasons 3.  Foo Fighters - Everlong 4.  R.E.M. - So Central Rain 5. Beastie Boys - Ch-Ch-Check It Out 6.  Warren Zevon - Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner 7.  Eminem & Jay-Z - Renegade 8.  The Orwells - Who Needs You 9.  The Vines - Get Free 10.  James Brown - Sex Machine (July 12, 1982) 11.  Eddie Vedder - Black      

The 11 Best Albums By Pearl Members

It's been three years since our last Pearl Jam album but that hasn't stopped the members from keeping productive.  This year alone...there have been three side projects put out by PJ members.  Earlier this year we had a new Brad album, United We Stand.  And just in the past month, two new side projects were released.  The first album features Jeff Ament and Joseph Arthur, called RNDM.  The second group...which is actually truly random...features Duff McKagan (of Guns N Roses) and Mike McCready, called Walking Papers.  Two decades ago, Duff and Mike represented two different worlds of popular music.  Duff was in one of the most heralded metal group of 80s with Guns N Roses, while McCready and Pearl Jam were on the front lines of the alternative music that pretty much decimated 80s metal from the mainstream.  Now, the two musicians are basically equals.  Both groups raise the question of whether musicians can be great on their own or are they really stronger as the sum of all parts.  RNDM borrows the sound and style of Pearl Jam from the old days as if they're better doing what they do best.  Walking Papers does the opposite.  They toss the styles of their previous bands out the door and try to establish their own sound.  They have more in common with King Crimson or Black Label Society then they do with anything they've done before. It's interesting to be able to hear both strategies side by side.  On one hand it's comforting to hear the familiar sound of a band you love...but it's also an intriguing listen when a band goes out on a limb and tries something new.  Getting two side projects at the same time with both styles is basically the best of both worlds.

Here are the 11 Best Side Project Albums by Pearl Jam Members:

1. Brad - Shame (1993)
2. Mad Season - Above (1995)
3. Brad - Interiors (1997)
4. Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild (2007)
5. The Rockfords - The Rockfords (2000)
6. Jeff Ament - Tone (2008)
7. Brad - Welcome to Discovery Park (2002)
8. Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs (2011)
9. Tres Mts. - Three Moutains (2011)
10. Three Fish - The Quiet Table (1996)
11. Stone Gossard - Bayleaf (2001)

Buy Jeff Ament's side project RNDM's new album Acts and Mike McCready's new side project Walking Papers.

The 11 Best Side Project/Solo albums of 2011 (so far)

This week another project from the Dispatch family comes out.  Chad Urmston under the moniker Chadwick Stokes has a very strong solo release hitting the digital shelves.

Dispatch is a very interesting band considering their huge popularity on the east coast...while out on the west coast nobody even knows who they are.  It's rare to see a band whose popularity is regulated to a region of the country.  Even in today's digital world where everything should be equal, Dispatch still remains an east Coast legend while on the west coast they might as well be a unsigned act.  On the east coast they have a legion of die-hard dedicated fans and on the west coast they wouldn't even be on the guest list to their own concert.

This year, Chad isn't the only one branching out from his main band to go out on his own.  Here's a list of the best side projects and solo albums so far.

Here are the 11 Best Side Project/Solo albums of 2011 (so far):

1.  Middle Brother - Middle Brother (Dawes, Deer Tick, Delta Spirit) - Daydreaming live
2.  Radical Dads - Mega Rama (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
3.  David Lowery - The Palace Guards (Cracker)
4.  The Elected - Bury Me In My Rings (Rilo Kiley)
5.  Chadwick Stokes - Simmerkane II (State Radio, Dispatch)
6.  Panda Bear - Tomboy (Animal Collective)
7.  Eddie Vedder - Ukelele Songs (Pearl Jam)
8.  Fruit Tree Foundations - First Edition (Idlewild, Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit)
9.  Graham Wright - Shirts vs. Skins (Tokyo Police Club)
10.  Miracle Parade - Hark and Other Lost Transmissions (Everyday Visuals, Rilo Kiley)
11.  Alex Turner - Submarine EP (Arctic Monkeys)

Buy Chadwick Stokes - Simmerkane II now!

The 11 Best Solo Songs By Eddie Vedder

At lunch today, I was impressed by the music selection in the franchised restaurant where we ate.  It was a selection of early 90s rock, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains.  I love this music, I grew up on it, but I was impressed how it had been adopted by such a mainstream establishment.  It made me think about how back in the 90s eccentric bands were the trend-setting uber-stars.  They didn't need to look pretty.  They didn't need to have crystal clear voices.  They didn't need to be primmed and proper.  They were everything that a rock star was NOT supposed to be.  Yet, they were gigantic.  Now, two decades later, their music holds better than anything else out there.  This is a lesson that is so blatant and so obvious is blows me away every time the big labels refuse to move away from anything that doesn't represent the middle of the road vanilla.  There is no other voice out there like Cobain's scream, or Cornell's howl, or Corgan's whine, or especially Vedder's signature croon. 

It was a tough choice of whether to go straight solo songs versus...guest appearances and collaborations.  But since I haven't done solo songs yet...here it is.

Here are the 11 Best Eddie Vedder Solo Songs:

1.  Society (Into the Wild)
2.  No Ceiling (Into the Wild)
3.  My City of Ruins (Charity Single For Haiti Relief)
4.  Guaranteed (Into the Wild)
5.  Better Days (Eat, Pray, Love)
6.  Hide Your Love Away (I Am Sam)
7.  Hard Sun (Into the Wild)
8.  Masters of War (People Speak)
9.  Long Nights (Into the Wild)
10.  Setting Forth (Into the Wild)
11.  Here's To the State (Into the Wild Expanded Edition)

Buy Eddie Vedder new solo album, Ukelele Songs...now!

11 Great Eddie Vedder Performances (sans Pearl Jam)

Eddie Vedder is a rock n roll legend. He's an icon. He's the voice of a generation. When I was in college, I would buy an entire CD just to hear him singing back-up vocals for 3 seconds. Every thing he did was genius. At 19, I didn't have a lot to go on...but for my generation, he was ours and I wanted everything he ever did to be mine.

Sixteen years since the first Pearl Jam album, Eddie Vedder has done the thing that everyone knew he would do someday...that is releasing a solo CD. But in true Eddie Vedder fashion, he is releasing it not as a vanity project, instead, he did it as a soundtrack to the upcoming film, Into The Wild (directed by Sean Penn).

The early verdict, IMO, is great. This might be the best thing I've heard from Vedder since before I packed up my last flannel shirt. But this isn't the first time Vedder went off without the foundation of his badmates...here is a brief tour though some of his other visitations.

11 Great Eddie Vedder Performances (sans Pearl Jam)

1. Against The 70s - Eddie Vedder and Mike Watt
2. Break On Through - Eddie Vedder and the Doors
3. Light My Fire - Eddie Vedder and the Doors
4. Roadhouse Blues - Eddie Vedder and the Doors
5. Devil Doll - Eddie Vedder and the Supersuckers
6. I See Red - Eddie Vedder and Neil Finn
7. Croon Spoon - Eddie Vedder and Susan Surandon
8. Hymn - Eddie Vedder and Hovercraft
9. Watch It Die - Eddie Vedder and Bad Religion
10. Take Me Out to The Ball Game - Cubs Game
11. The Star Spangled Banner - Bulls Playoff Game

Buy Eddie Vedder's new solo CD...right now!!!