Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam's eighth album is often seen as a return to the heights they had reached with Vitalogy. Through tracks like "Love Boat Captain" and "I Am Mine," Riot Act proves that Pearl Jam are still a vital source of hard-edged, unpredictable, yet popular music. Drummer Matt Cameron steals the show on many occasions on this strong record.

For Eddie Vedder, rock radio must seem like a fun-house mirror, a medium in which the
most easily caricatured aspects of his vexed bellow are distorted by the Scott Stapps of the
world into messianic bombast. You can't blame the guy for feeling the need to chill out. On
Riot Act, Vedder cautiously mutters his vocals as though a baby is asleep in the next room.
Even when he takes a swipe at the "Bush Leaguer" in the Oval Office, he sounds t... More >

Masters of their own audio, with soft spots where their emotions can go ("Save You," "Bushleaguer") (Grade - *)