Exclusive! Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers, “All Along The Watchtower”

The new Dylan biopic I’m Not There takes the interesting, surrealistic angle of illustrating Bob at different stages of his life through the rubric of six distinctively different actors (including a black man and a woman): Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, and Christian Bale. I am very curious to see how this works itself out in the film – at least it’s a fresh angle (I mean, how many Dylan movies can you make?).

In addition to this creative lens used in the film to examine the man himself, the soundtrack is a double disc jamboree of some pretty cool Dylan covers, including disc 1, track 1 with Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers covering “All Along The Watchtower.” Fuel/Friends is pleased as punch to get an exclusive stream for you guys to take your first listen of this!

EDDIE VEDDER & THE MILLION DOLLAR BASHERS
“All Along The Watchtower”

Stream FLASH
Stream QUICKTIME
Stream WINDOWS MEDIA

And who are said Million Dollar Bashers? It’s Wilco’s god-like guitarist Nels Cline, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley (from Sonic Youth), bass player Tony Garnier, keyboardist John Medeski (from Martin, Medeski and Wood), and guitarist Smokey Hormel (onetime Beck guitarist, Smokey & Miho). I never thought I’d hear musicians from those bands all jam together. The guitar solo (assumedly from Nels?) is pretty blazing, and Vedder’s got the seething caged scream goin’ on.

Historical tie-in from last summer: there was an absolutely scorching live version of this song that full-band Pearl Jam did in San Francisco (when Sonic Youth opened), climaxing in a very rock n roll moment of Mike McCready giving his guitar the Townshend treatment and then surfing on it across the stage. PJ has played Watchtower 4 times live before, but that was my favorite. If you’d like to hear that one as well, the link over on that old post still surprisingly works.

You can also stream four other full songs from the biopic over on the soundtrack’s MySpace (the ones by Sufjan Stevens, Cat Power, Jeff Tweedy, and Jim James with Calexico). Among others, I’m also looking forward to hearing Mason Jennings’ two contributions, The Black Keys cover of Wicked Messenger, and The Hold Steady enticing me to climb out my window. The soundtrack is out October 30, and the film opens Thanksgiving weekend.

NEW CONTEST:
Would you like to win one of two copies I have to giveaway of this lovely double disc? Of course you would. Leave me a comment to enter, make sure I have a way to contact you (might wanna spell out that email addy), and if you feel so inclined, please let’s talk about your favorite Dylan cover. So I can wrap this up before I head to NYC, this contest ends Wednesday at midnight.

I’M NOT THERE (FULL SOUNDTRACK LISTING)
Disc 1
1. Eddie Vedder & the Million Dollar Bashers: “All Along the Watchtower”
2. Sonic Youth: “I’m Not There”
3. Jim James and Calexico: “Goin’ to Acapulco”
4. Richie Havens: “Tombstone Blues”
5. Stephen Malkmus & the Million Dollar Bashers: “Ballad of a Thin Man”
6. Cat Power: “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again”
7. John Doe: “Pressing On”
8. Yo La Tengo: “Fourth Time Around”
9. Iron and Wine and Calexico: “Dark Eyes”
10. Karen O and the Million Dollar Bashers: “Highway 61 Revisited”
11. Roger McGuinn and Calexico: “One More Cup of Coffee”
12. Mason Jennings: “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”
13. Los Lobos: “Billy”
14. Jeff Tweedy: “Simple Twist of Fate”
15. Mark Lanegan: “The Man in the Long Black Coat”
16. Willie Nelson and Calexico: “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)”

Disc 2
1. Mira Billotte: “As I Went Out One Morning”
2. Stephen Malkmus and Lee Ranaldo: “Can’t Leave Her Behind”
3. Sufjan Stevens: “Ring Them Bells”
4. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Calexico: “Just Like a Woman”
5. Jack Johnson: “Mama You’ve Been on My Mind”
6. Yo La Tengo: “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
7. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova: “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”
8. The Hold Steady: “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window”
9. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”
10. The Black Keys: “Wicked Messenger”
11. Tom Verlaine and the Million Dollar Bashers: “Cold Irons Bound”
12. Mason Jennings: “The Times They Are a-Changin’”
13. Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers: “Maggie’s Farm”
14. Marcus Carl Franklin: “When the Ship Comes In”
15. Bob Forrest: “Moonshiner”
16. John Doe: “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine”
17. Antony and the Johnsons: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
18. Bob Dylan: “I’m Not There”

[Vedder photo credit Kerensa Wight, header image credit Playlist]

Pearl Jam movies are so hot right now

[thanks to pearljamevolution for ripping/youtubing the video clips; that acoustic Lukin made me laugh out loud in its wonderfulness]

The new Pearl Jam tour DVD Immagine in Cornice which chronicles their scorchingly fabulous Italian shows from last summer (directed by Danny Clinch) will be released upon the salivating masses of PJ fans on Tuesday. My copy is somewhere in the mail in between Seattle and Colorado, according to the Ten Club, and I may try to attend what we fondly call a “dork gathering” of friends to watch this blessed film when it arrives in mailboxes all over the Colorado Springs/Denver/Boulder area.

However, for those unbelievably lucky saps living in “select cities” (Tulare but not Denver?) you get to go see an all-digital fancy schamncy movie theater premiere experience next week. I would love to see this movie on the big screen, since my speakers are just the built-in ones that came on the TV. I actually checked airfare to, like St. Louis and Vegas (but, uh, see previous post). For more information or to buy remaining tickets, see the D&E Entertainment page.

September 24
UK and Ireland Screenings
Covent Garden – Odeon
Surrey Quayes – Odeon
Manchester – Odeon Printworks
Dublin TBA

September 25
U.S. Screenings
Atlanta – Midtown
Austin – Highland
Berkeley – Elmwood
Boston – Kendall Square
Chicago – Lake Theatre
Chicago – Charlestowne 18
Detroit – Novi
Grand Rapids, MI – Celebration
Lansing, MI – Celebration
Las Vegas – Galaxy
Los Angeles – Plant 16
Memphis – Paradiso
New York – Zeigfeld
Philadelphia – Clearview
Riverbank, CA – Galaxy
St. Louis – Chesterfield
San Diego – UltraStar
San Francisco – Embarcadero
San Luis Obispo – Movie Experience
Santa Rosa – Lakeside
Seattle – Metro
Seattle – Galaxy
Tulare, CA – Galaxy

Also, the Into The Wild premiere was in L.A. last night, featuring a soundtrack by Ed Vedder (and is it just me or does Sean Penn look like he just fell off his barstool in that picture?). It opens ONLY in New York and L.A. this Friday, for those of you searching the movie listings fruitlessly. Apparently it will get wider release on October 12; I finally got the book from the library so I am preparing myself according to my philosophical principles (“always read the book before you see the movie”).

Come with me and Vedder off “Into The Wild” [with a FULL album stream!]

Ed and I are totally going on a journey into the backcountry and you are invited to join us.

We’re just a few weeks from the opening of the movie Into The Wild that Vedder soundtracked, based on the Jon Krakauer book of the same name. Reports from the Telluride Film Festival had folks leaving the theater screening with tears running down their faces, so people, get ready. I still haven’t read the book so I don’t know the ending (but . . . I’m guessing he dies).

GO LISTEN: The entire Into The Wild solo Vedder album is now streaming at WROV The Rock of Virginia (with voiceovers at the start and end of each song, but who’s complaining?).

I’d heard about half the tracks on this album from little leaks, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it start-to-finish. My impression is that it’s a superbly nuanced, ramblingly organic album. But to allay concerns of going soft or being coddled — even though it is acoustic, it’s not at all boring or sedate or old-mannish. There are several tracks that borderline wanna bust out the rock and yowl, with fierce strumming and solid drum action. There are even a few scarcely suppressed growl-screams that Vedder does best, to the delight of this rocker girl.

We’ve gotten lots of warm acoustic Pearl Jam songs over the years (think Thumbing My Way, You’re True, Soon Forget, Off He Goes) but they’re always sandwiched on albums between other rockers. This cohesive effort feels like a long Saturday afternoon in late summer with the right proportions of relaxed rambling and more intense energies.

As far as first impressions go, one of my favorite songs so far is the closing track, “Guaranteed,” which I’ve listened to about a dozen times. It captures an ineffable, unspeakable sweetness and emotion for me, a song to a soul adrift in a figurative sea. I also am drawn to the humble ukulele meandering of “Rise.” The soundtrack opens with the short and spirited “Setting Forth,” which is acoustic but impassioned. Despite having the same name as both the Candlebox screamer and the new Social D song, “Far Behind” is neither of the two. Instead it is one of those almost-rockers I was mentioning above, and I love that. “Society” is a slightly heavy-handed collaboration with North SF-Bay singer songwriter Jerry Hannan about our modern wants and needs, and both “Tuolumne” and “The Wolf” are instrumentals, with the latter containing some chill-inducing ethereal yips and howls from Vedder.

If the goal of a soundtrack is to effectively score the emotional terrain of a film, and tease out a feeling into the foreground, Vedder seems to succeed with this effort. I look forward to seeing the movie and adding the visual storyline to my impressions of the heart of this film that Ed has scored.

PearlJam.com is currently doing a special presale of the solo album bundled with a limited-edition commemorative tshirt. The album will officially be released next Tuesday the 18th.

[In related PJ bundle news, they’re also taking preorders of the new Immagine nel Cornice DVD with a tshirt as well. Like a good little Ten Club member, I’ve already placed my order, and am waiting with bated breath]

New Eddie Vedder solo song: “Hard Sun” (with Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker)

Clearly intended as a birthday gift for me (it’s tomorrow), the first Eddie Vedder solo song from the Into The Wild soundtrack has now been posted on the Into The Wild website. This initial listen sounds well-suited to what I understand the movie is about (note to self: get the book!) — a journey into the great wide open, wanderlust, sweeping vistas, solo strength.

It builds from an organic acoustic/tambourine affair to a heavier, fuzzier, driving thing of beauty by the end. It is apparently a cover of an obscure song by Canadian musician Gordon Peterson under the name Indio, from the 1989 album Big Harvest. Searching for information on Peterson is near impossible, as he seems to have all but vanished since the album was released, but the original song apparently features backing vocals from Joni Mitchell.

Ed’s version ramps up the Middle-Eastern influences and reminds me of Pearl Jam songs like “Who You Are” or “Face of Love,” a bit exotic. Sleater-Kinney punk goddess Corin Tucker duets, taking the part that Joni filled 18 years ago.

Holy leaked Pearl Jam demos, Batman!

Recently a cool little Pearl Jam promotional CD which circulated during the production of Lost Dogs made its way to my ears, and I am beyond excited. It’s a loose assemblage of demo versions and rough mixes of Pearl Jam songs from over the years, with the occasional live cut tossed in. A couple of these songs have never been heard before by John & Susie Q. Superfan (including me), while others were tunes that I have on various cassette tapes (like this KISW performance of Bee Girl, the alternate version of Alone, or Just A Girl) but haven’t dug out or heard in years.

When something is a great find, my innards shake a little while I am downloading them. This was an innard-shaker.

Anything In Between (unreleased, Binaural outtake, 1999)
In The Moonlight (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Fatal (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Sad (a.k.a. Letter to the Dead, rough mix, Binaural outtake, 2000)
Wishing Well (live) (written by The Free, Mookie Blaylock, 1990)
Hitchhikers (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Puzzle And Game (unreleased, vastly different demo of “Light Years”, Binaural outtake, 2000)
Education (rough mix, Binaural outtake, 1999)
Sweet Lew (rough mix, Yield outtake, 1997)
Sunburn (unreleased, w/ Stone on vocals, No Code outtake, 1995)
Hold On (rough mix, Ten outtake, 1991)
(Just A) Girl (rough mix, Ten outtake, 1990)
Alone (rough mix, lyrics differ from Lost Dogs version, Ten outtake, 1991)
Brother (rough mix w/ different vocals, Ten outtake, 1990)
Don’t Gimme No Lip (rough mix, No Code outtake, 1996)
Bee Girl (on Rockline, KISW FM, Seattle, 10/18/1993)
Against The ’70s (From Mike Watt album ‘Ball-Hog or Tugboat?’, 1995)
“New” Jeremy (live version from Red Rocks, CO, 06/20/1995)

ZIP UP THE PEARL JAM DELICIOUSNESS

Also, for those baseball fans out there (I can’t talk about the Giants this year, it’s too painful) Ed’s gonna be singing at the Cubbies game this Friday. Now that’s my kind of seventh inning stretch.

Ed Vedder with Flea, Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) and Jack Irons: “The Kids Are Alright”

Vedder turned out this past weekend for a star-studded musical evening in Hollywood for Hullabaloo 2007, a fete arranged by Flea of the RHCP to benefit his Silverlake Music Conservatory which helps to provide music lessons for underprivileged kids. Some absolutely fantastic videos of the night have turned up here (thanks for the tip, Bill). Vedder’s set also included Driftin’, I Am Mine (!!), the new one No More War, and Betterman & Corduroy with Flea and Co.

VIDEO: “The Kids Are Alright” (direct link)

I love how Flea goes pogoing past in the background like that little hyperactive kid in your third grade class that the teacher could never get to sit down. Plus, it’s great to see Jack Irons wail again. I think he’s my favored drummer in the Pearl Jam pantheon.

The Kids Are Alright (Who cover) – Ed Vedder, Flea, Steve Jones & Jack Irons

Eddie Vedder @ the Kokua Festival this weekend

Eddie and Boom Gaspar played the Kokua Music Festival in Hawaii this weekend with Jack Johnson. By all accounts, it was pretty rad.

I am sitting here ripping audio from the streaming webcast up right now on the Kokua Festival MySpace: www.myspace.com/kokuafestival. Currently they are playing highlights from Saturday night on loop (and loop, and loop) — tonight’s is supposed to air live soon or so we thought. Looks like it was just Jack’s set streaming from Saturday with Eddie dropping in.

It’s almost as good as being there . . .

AUDIO:
Breakdown – Jack Johnson & Zach Gill from ALO
No Eddie, but I started recording because I saw the ukulele, and then it was such a truly lovely rendition that I’m sharing here

Soon Forget – Eddie Vedder & Jack Johnson
Ooh, they botch this one so bad…stopped in the middle — then where to pick up again?

Constellations – Jack Johnson & Eddie Vedder
…with a Hawaiian guy whose name I didn’t catch yet. Absolutely stunning and gorgeous with flawless harmonies. Hands down, best of the night that I heard.

I Shall Be Released (Dylan cover) – The whole gang
Grand finale. On the verses we’ve got Jack Johnson, Zach Gill from ALO, then Eddie taking the last verse. Boom Gaspar and Zach are on keys and various other dudes on percussion, etc (couldn’t tell from the video, sorry!)

SATURDAY setlist (Ed & Boom)
Throw Your Arms Around Me (!!!!!!!!!!!)
Don’t Be Shy
No More War (new, Ed said he wrote it 3 days ago)
Indifference
I Am Mine (!!)
Betterman/People Have the Power tag
Jack Johnson came out here but the person isn’t sure of the song
Corduroy w/Jack Johnson
Elderly Woman w/Jack Johnson
So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star

As linked above, Eddie joined Jack Johnson for:
Soon Forget
Constellations (with Hawaiian guy, I’ll get his name!)
I Shall Be Released

New song from Eddie on Saturday night, “No More War”:

No More War – Eddie Vedder

SUNDAY setlist (Eddie & Boom)
Hide Your Love Away (started twice for some reason)
Driftin (Oops - Ed screwed this up, started sucking/blowing on the microphone instead of the harmonica)
I Am Mine
No More (the new song, this time with a full band)
Throw Your Hatred Down (full band)
Wasted Reprise
Hawaii 78 (full band)
Betterman (full band, riff on the Ramones “i wanna be your boyfriend” — Hey mother earth, i wanna be your boyfriend)
Warch Outside (with full band, jack johnson on bass)
Corduroy (full band with jack johnson on bass)
Elderly Woman (full band, jack johnson on bass and dueling vocals)
Indifference (full band)

note from the poster: “2 things to keep in mind. this is all from memory, so the order may be wrong or i may have missed a song. and when i say full band i obviously don’t mean pearl jam, i mean the guys he played with last night.”


A few good articles from the weekend:

Interview with Eddie in the Honolulu Advertiser: Vedder rocking in a magical place

Star Bulletin feature on native Hawaiian Boom Gaspar: Way to go Boom! Local guy plays with Eddie Vedder at Kokua Festival

Bonus re-up: Remember last time PJ was in Hawaii?

Hey, guess where I got that picture from? Yeah, that’s right: Getty Images. There’s several good shots from last night up there now.

Vedder surprise solo set at The Croc last night

Ed Vedder (didn’t play – see note) a small surprise solo set last night at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. I ate breakfast there the last time I was in Seattle (mostly I was being a musical stalker, but in my defense I was also hungry and they make really good omelettes).

Some interesting cover choices, especially the Nick Cave one (which they’ve not previously done that I am aware of) and the awesome “Don’t Wanna Grow Up.” I can’t wait to hear this boot –surely someone was taping it?

AMENDED: Someone with too much time on their hands seems to have made up this appearance, but I am leaving up the good mp3s and we can all close our eyes and pretend it happened anyway.

SETLIST
Happy Birthday (to guitarist Mike McCready’s new baby girl)
I Don’t Wanna Grow Up (Tom Waits/Ramones cover)
You’re True
Can’t Keep
cover/improv/new song?
Gone
Hide Your Love Away (Beatles cover)
cover/improv/new song? (tag: Modern Girl/Sleater-Kinney)
Porch
Where The Wild Roses Grow (Nick Cave cover, duet with unknown female singer)

BONUS EAR CANDY
Here are some other live versions of a few of these great songs; this mp3 of “You’re True” is one of my very favorite PJ boot songs ever:

You’re True – Ed Vedder solo 2/26/02 @ Wiltern
Can’t Keep – Ed Vedder solo 2/26/02 @ Wiltern
Gone – Pearl Jam @ 10/22/06 Bridge School
Modern Girl – Pearl Jam 9/20/06
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away – Ed Vedder solo 2005 Tsunami Benefit @ Wiltern
*

You know I can’t let you slide through my hands

Dodge keeps up his blue streak of cover song finery with the latest collection: all the versions of the Stones’ classic “Wild Horses” you can imagine.

So the Chipmunks have possessed this post. The streaming feature doesn’t work (it’s all sped up, and oddly enough, Mick’s first words are “We’re gonna slow it down a little bit for you.”) but the downloaded mp3 should play just fine.

I remember when I was 14 and Vedder jumped on stage with me and my band, too. No, wait.

From Page Six, NY Post
March 13, 2007 — When your parents are Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, you get first dibs on the jam sessions with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. Saturday night, the celeb couple’s son, Miles Robbins, 14, played with his band, The Tangents, at Bar East, on First Avenue and 90th Street. Vedder came as a guest of Sarandon and Robbins, and “Eddie jumped onstage and joined the band for a couple of songs, including a hot cover of ‘Watchtower,’ ” said our spy. “Tim was directing traffic, and the place was full of teenagers who were invited by the Robbins family.”

In all, Vedder provided vocals for three songs: Blitzkreig Bop (Ramones), Rockin In The Free World (Neil Young) and All Along The Watchtower (Dylan). And the band themselves, The Tangents, are pretty good — check the MySpace link above. Frickin how do you top an experience like that at 14? That never happened in my freshman-year world. Unfortunately.