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"I Got Id" (331K WAV) | RealAudio | About RealAudio
"Long Road" (331K WAV) | RealAudio | About RealAudio

Pearl Jam: Merkin Ball CD single (Epic)

When Pearl Jam agreed to serve as the backing band for Neil Young's last album , it was always planned for him to return the favor. The Merkin Ball single is the companion to Young's Mirror Ball (both were recorded at the same sessions), only this time Eddie Vedder handles lead vocals and Young joins the band on guitar and organ. The two songs are Pearl Jam's first new music since 1994's Vitalogy, and should satiate fans until a new album, expected later this year. "I Got Id" is a building, brooding song that's better than anything on Mirror Ball. Young takes a spirited 86 guitar solo at the end, while Vedder sings with sublime control. He has lost none of his passion from the early days, but no longer over-sings to drive home the emotion and meaning of his lyrics. "Long Road" is an evocative song of closure, which strikes a tone like R.E.M.'s "King of Birds" or U2's "Love Is Blindness." The track also appears on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack in an alternate recording with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Both renditions are beautiful, but in this version the lyrics have greater prominence, and the music--centered around Young's beautiful pump organ--paints in bolder colors and strokes. Both are fine songs, and they continue the band's dramatic growth in songwriting that began on Vitalogy. --Erik Flannigan


"I Saw Her Standing There" (302K WAV) | RealAudio | About RealAudio
"This Boy" (331K WAV) | RealAudio | About RealAudio

The Beatles: Free As a Bird CD single (Capitol)

"One-two-three-four!" That's the kickoff to "I Saw Her Standing There," the first cut on the Beatles' first album, Please, Please Me. But did you know that Paul McCartney's countdown was actually culled from take nine, and spliced onto the front of take one? You do now. Take nine, in its entirety, is just one of the pleasant bits of ephemera that Capitol has tacked onto the CD single of "Free As a Bird," the languidly banal, Jeff Lynne-produced, "new" Beatles cut (built around an unreleased John Lennon 66 demo) that sounds more like E.L.O. than the Fab Four. Okay, so take nine of "ISHST" isn't much different than take one, but it's a helluva lot cooler than "Free As a Bird." The second bonus track is a recording session for "This Boy," which includes two incomplete takes that break down mid-song. Neat, if you're a completist, but not the sort of thing anyone is likely to listen to more than once. Last up is "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)," one of the lads' annual, seasonal fan club greetings--and an actual, previously unavailable Beatles song, albeit one that has more in common with "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" than, say, "Hey Jude." So, should you buy it? Sure, if you're an E.L.O. fan or a completist, or if you're looking for a cute novelty number to round out next year's Christmas tape. --Jeff Schwager


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