merlin
02-27-2001, 04:26 PM
Pearl Jam-med: Fans will be in bootleg heaven with the release of 23 double live CDs
by Sarah Rodman
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Pearl Jam isn't touring this summer. In fact, the Seattle rockers are taking the entire year off.
But that doesn't mean fans of the band won't be able to hear and see it play live whenever they want during 2001.
Today the hard-rocking quintet releases 23 double live CDs, documenting the entire first leg of its 2000 U.S. summer tour. In April, it will release a DVD containing three hours of goodies comprising an entire show and behind-the-scenes footage.
Pearl Jam fans might recall that last September the band released 25 CDs, documenting its entire 2000 European tour. In a surprise, even to the band, five of those discs debuted simultaneously on the Billboard 200, a first for any group.
Today's releases, spanning shows from Aug. 3 to Sept. 5 and including two Tweeter Center performances, continue a project that the band hopes will put bootlegs in fans' hands without their having to pay exorbitant prices for shoddy quality.
``We've been kicking the idea around for a few years,'' says Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis on the phone from the band's New York label headquarters. ``It was more of a consumer thing'' than anything else, he says. ``We kept buying our own bootlegs and were surprised at how kind of poor they were and how expensive they were at the same time, and we thought, `Why don't we just release them for the people that want them at a cheap price that sounds really good?' ''
For the bargain-basement - these days, at least - price of $12.99, listeners get full shows on two CDs. Those who bought some of the European discs will find a few sonic surprises on the U.S. releases. ``We got to master these so they sound a little better,'' says Curtis. ``It wasn't like it was fixing things or overdubs,'' he quickly points out. ``It was like bringing the vocal up a bit more or giving the guitars a kick.''
Six of the 23 discs, including the excellent-sounding Aug. 29 Tweeter Center show, carry a symbol - a crouching man and a standing man - that brand performances the band thought were particularly good. Originally, the band was going to grade all the CDs but, says Curtis, ``then you start bumming out the person who may have seen what they thought was the greatest show ever and then they find out that the band didn't like it at all.'' So the band is releasing the entire tour, ``blemishes and all.''
Pearl Jam was able to keep the price low ``by not really spending any money anywhere,'' from marketing to packaging, thus the unadorned, brown, recycled paper cases. ``Because we didn't want to sell it to the casual fan. It's for the people who would go out and spend too much on a bootleg already.''
The DVD release, ``Pearl Jam: A Touring Band 2000,'' will be more lavish. The live footage is taken from different stops on the tour but re-creates a full set list. Extras include the videos for ``Do the Evolution'' and ``Oceans,'' which was never released in the United States.
And that's it for this year, says Curtis, until another flood of live CDs from the tour's second leg is released in late spring. ``There'll be lots of music out this year,'' says Curtis reassuringly, ``so it will be like we never went away.''
by Sarah Rodman
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Pearl Jam isn't touring this summer. In fact, the Seattle rockers are taking the entire year off.
But that doesn't mean fans of the band won't be able to hear and see it play live whenever they want during 2001.
Today the hard-rocking quintet releases 23 double live CDs, documenting the entire first leg of its 2000 U.S. summer tour. In April, it will release a DVD containing three hours of goodies comprising an entire show and behind-the-scenes footage.
Pearl Jam fans might recall that last September the band released 25 CDs, documenting its entire 2000 European tour. In a surprise, even to the band, five of those discs debuted simultaneously on the Billboard 200, a first for any group.
Today's releases, spanning shows from Aug. 3 to Sept. 5 and including two Tweeter Center performances, continue a project that the band hopes will put bootlegs in fans' hands without their having to pay exorbitant prices for shoddy quality.
``We've been kicking the idea around for a few years,'' says Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis on the phone from the band's New York label headquarters. ``It was more of a consumer thing'' than anything else, he says. ``We kept buying our own bootlegs and were surprised at how kind of poor they were and how expensive they were at the same time, and we thought, `Why don't we just release them for the people that want them at a cheap price that sounds really good?' ''
For the bargain-basement - these days, at least - price of $12.99, listeners get full shows on two CDs. Those who bought some of the European discs will find a few sonic surprises on the U.S. releases. ``We got to master these so they sound a little better,'' says Curtis. ``It wasn't like it was fixing things or overdubs,'' he quickly points out. ``It was like bringing the vocal up a bit more or giving the guitars a kick.''
Six of the 23 discs, including the excellent-sounding Aug. 29 Tweeter Center show, carry a symbol - a crouching man and a standing man - that brand performances the band thought were particularly good. Originally, the band was going to grade all the CDs but, says Curtis, ``then you start bumming out the person who may have seen what they thought was the greatest show ever and then they find out that the band didn't like it at all.'' So the band is releasing the entire tour, ``blemishes and all.''
Pearl Jam was able to keep the price low ``by not really spending any money anywhere,'' from marketing to packaging, thus the unadorned, brown, recycled paper cases. ``Because we didn't want to sell it to the casual fan. It's for the people who would go out and spend too much on a bootleg already.''
The DVD release, ``Pearl Jam: A Touring Band 2000,'' will be more lavish. The live footage is taken from different stops on the tour but re-creates a full set list. Extras include the videos for ``Do the Evolution'' and ``Oceans,'' which was never released in the United States.
And that's it for this year, says Curtis, until another flood of live CDs from the tour's second leg is released in late spring. ``There'll be lots of music out this year,'' says Curtis reassuringly, ``so it will be like we never went away.''