Can anyone top Eddie Vedder when it comes to fostering unlikely musical convergences that span generations, let alone being a key link between The Beatles and Ramones?
That is — to invoke the title of an obscure 1997 Pearl Jam song — hard to imagine.
In 2002, Vedder inducted the Ramones into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony in the ballroom of New York’s ritzy Waldorf Astoria hotel. The Pearl Jam singer happily spent 17 minutes singing the pioneering punk-rock band’s praises to the sold-out audience, which included a large contingent of music-biz executives in tuxedos and evening gowns.
“The Ramones’ songs were an assault!” Vedder fondly recalled.
He described the first Ramones’ show he attended as “terribly frightening and totally blissful at the same time.” And he hailed the New York-bred band for upending the staid conventions of rock music — while being too modest to note that he sang with the Ramones in 1996, on the final song at the final concert of the group’s extended farewell tour.
“The Ramones obliterated the mystique of what it took to be in a band … all of a sudden, you could be on stage and not be a virtuoso or genetically blessed with Elvis’ cheekbones,” said Vedder, who was sporting a new Mohawk haircut for the induction speech.
For the generation that grew up embracing punk-rock in the 1970s and beyond, the Ramones were — he said proudly — “our Beatles.”
Now, 20 years later, Vedder is on tour to promote his arresting new album, “Earthling,” which features a cameo by — cue rim shot and cymbal crash — former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.
Replete with classical string orchestrations, the song he and Starr perform is called “Mrs. Mills.” It has a decided “Penny Lane” flavor that should make Paul McCartney beam with pride, even if its title seems to reference McCartney’s second wife, Heather Mills (from whom he was divorced in 2008).
The Vedder song that follows, the album-closing “On My Way,” obliquely references the melody of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood.” It incorporates singing from a vintage recording made by Vedder’s father, Edward Severson Jr., who had long been estranged from his family and died when his now-famous son was just 13.
For good measure, when Vedder and his new band, The Earthlings, performed a private show Feb. 1 in Port Chester, N.Y. — a warm up for a six-city tour now underway — their set list included The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” and the George Harrison solo song “Isn’t It a Pity.”
The Port Chester gig also boasted versions of The Who’s “I’m One,” R.E.M.’s “Drive,” Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “Room At The Top,” Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World,” Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” and nine songs from “Earthling,” which was released Friday by Republic Records.
The album finds Vedder — who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Pearl Jam in 2017 — sounding mostly happy and content at the age of 57. He is understandably delighted to be rubbing shoulders on “Earthling” with such esteemed musical guests as Starr, Stevie Wonder and Elton John.
Wonder is showcased playing harmonica on the uplifting “Try,” and his exuberant solo is the instrumental highlight of the album. Equally memorable is the rock-a-boogie-fueled “Picture,” which features Elton John on piano and co-vocals on a song whose melancholic lyrics build on Jimmy Ruffin’s 1966 Motown Records gem, “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted.”
Vedder’s teen daughters bring a welcome air of familial warmth to the album. Harper sings with her dad on the Tom Petty-styled “Long Way,” while Olivia joins him on “Try.”
“Earthling’s” most deeply felt song, “Brother the Cloud,” was partly inspired by the 2017 mountain climbing death of Vedder’s half-brother, Chris, who operated one of the spotlights at Pearl Jam’s 2013 concert in San Diego. Stylistically, the song suggests The Who, Talking Heads and Pearl Jam in almost equal measure.
The rocking “Good and Evil,” more than any other song on the album, is the most evocative of Pearl Jam. On other parts of “Earthling,” listeners may wonder if Vedder’s vocal phrasing was inspired in part by the 1980 debut album by Terence Trent D’Arby.
“Earthling” is Vedder’s first solo album since 2011’s “Ukulele Songs.”
Pearl Jam is hoping to reactivate soon for a tour that will enable the band to make up for most of its canceled 2020 “Gigaton” tour dates.
