Does it have a lot of photos? Trying to decide between Kindle and Hardcover. Thanks!
Not many no
Hi, I host a Pearl Jam Podcast. We go back to some of the classic shows in their history and break down the entire setlist front to back. From historic perspective, to performances, to setlist construction, to fan stories. We do our best to capture the magic that is their live act and help you relive those memories, or if you weren't there, maybe turn you on to a show you've never heard before.
Live On 4 Legs can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and any other major podcast platform. But please support our website and check out the episodes archived there. Oh, and the Concertpedia as well (for you Five Horizons and Two Feet Thick fans, we've picked up where they've left off)
Am I the only one who thinks this kind of sucks? I’m about a third through it and all I get out of it so far is a lot of pointing out Ed’s bad behavior and bitching about certain songs. Im fairness I pretty much think anyone who says “I hope I never hear...insert song name” is a pretentious dbag so reading that about Alive early in the book started me off on the wrong foot. I mean if I wanted to read comments putting down Ed’s behavior and Ten I’d pull up comments from Billy Corgan
I’m on page 90 and am trying (struggling) to push through
I feel like - so far anyway - it’s a collection of little hot takes off stuff that’s already been reported or could be found quickly with simple Google searches.
I want something new, and I don’t think I’ll find it in here.
Am I the only one who thinks this kind of sucks? I’m about a third through it and all I get out of it so far is a lot of pointing out Ed’s bad behavior and bitching about certain songs. Im fairness I pretty much think anyone who says “I hope I never hear...insert song name” is a pretentious dbag so reading that about Alive early in the book started me off on the wrong foot. I mean if I wanted to read comments putting down Ed’s behavior and Ten I’d pull up comments from Billy Corgan
I’m on page 90 and am trying (struggling) to push through
I feel like - so far anyway - it’s a collection of little hot takes off stuff that’s already been reported or could be found quickly with simple Google searches.
I want something new, and I don’t think I’ll find it in here.
But that’s me.
thanks for confirming my fears.
"Oh Canada...you're beautiful when you're drunk" -EV 8/14/93
Damn. I picked it up a couple of days ago but still have a couple of books ahead of it to read. My local book store had one copy and that they had it, I decided to just buy it without waiting for more reviews. Still excited to start it and then we'll see..
Am I the only one who thinks this kind of sucks? I’m about a third through it and all I get out of it so far is a lot of pointing out Ed’s bad behavior and bitching about certain songs. Im fairness I pretty much think anyone who says “I hope I never hear...insert song name” is a pretentious dbag so reading that about Alive early in the book started me off on the wrong foot. I mean if I wanted to read comments putting down Ed’s behavior and Ten I’d pull up comments from Billy Corgan
I’m on page 90 and am trying (struggling) to push through
I feel like - so far anyway - it’s a collection of little hot takes off stuff that’s already been reported or could be found quickly with simple Google searches.
I want something new, and I don’t think I’ll find it in here.
But that’s me.
thanks for confirming my fears.
Same...I had these feelings very early but thought I was alone. It's just not a good book.
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
Not sure if the "author" is actually a fan. Goes off track way to much, bags out more songs than he likes & says GTF is not a good song & then compares it to Celine Dion. Put it down after that & going in the bin & the worst $33 I have spent in my life.
Eastern Creek 95,Syd 1 98,Bris 2 98, Syd 1&2 03, Reading Fest 06, Bris 1 06, London 09, Hyde Park 10, Gold Coast BDO 14 Budapest 22 Krakow 22 Amsterdam 22 St Paul 1&2 23 Chicago 1&2 23 Chicago 1&2 24 New York 1 24 Philly 1&2 24 Boston 1&2 24 Gold Coast 24 Melbourne 1 24 Sydney 1&2 24
Not sure if the "author" is actually a fan. Goes off track way to much, bags out more songs than he likes & says GTF is not a good song & then compares it to Celine Dion. Put it down after that & going in the bin & the worst $33 I have spent in my life.
yikes. LOL
"Oh Canada...you're beautiful when you're drunk" -EV 8/14/93
I just got this. I’m about 100 pages in. There’s a few tidbits here and there that I’ve found interesting that I didn’t know. MTV unplugged being filmed at midnight for instance. But man, the author is insufferable. “Like all Americans, I can measure out my life in mass shootings” is how he starts out the Jeremy section. Umm...ok. And the constant opinions he states as if they’re facts (the Red Hot Chili Peppers are awful, the Velvet Underground are basically gods) and stating which songs are good and which one’s aren’t (“Once” is “sophomoric”). Also kind of pretentious throughout.
Not required reading. And at times, not enjoyable reading. But when he’s detailing big events, (Pinkpop ‘92, etc.) and you ignore his opinions, it’s fine to pick up and read a few chapters at your leisure.
I liked it at the start. Some interesting sections. However as I've read on, I find it difficult reading and have stopped. Some of the on stage quotes from Eddie are tough reading, seem exaggerated (for the supposed anger). Listening to them live, just seems like normal banter. Constant criticism of the band and some classic songs too, sort of thing, why bother.
Ryan talks with Ronen Givony, author of the new Pearl Jam book, Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense. Buy Ronen's book, Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense:
Early chapters of the book had a handful of interesting tidbits about moments or events that were new, the rest was mostly stuff any dedicated fan would already know and the opinions of the author who comes off as a self-loathing PJ fan. I get that we're all critical of certain songs, concert moments, decisions, events, etc. but I feel like there is so much more to appreciate about the band and their music and the way the have gone about being one of the biggest, most successful bands in music that deserves more pages in a book like this than the negative viewpoints the author chose to include. But, that's the author's prerogative and the fact that their are many books, docs, articles, podcasts, and more about PJ with all types of opinions is part of what makes the band continue to transcend just the music as they always have. That's a part of what makes them legendary.
Mansfield 6/30/08 Boston 5/17/10 Baltimore 10/27/13 Central Park 9/26/15 Philadelphia 4/29/16 (TEN) Fenway Park 8/5/16 Fenway Park 9/4/18 St. Paul 9/2/23 Philadelphia 9/7/24 Baltimore 9/12/24
They typos in that one page alone are an embarrassment to publishing.
In fairness, he’s quoting YouTube comments about how great Dave is...which is lame, but that’s the reason that page has so many spelling mistakes.
But while those spelling mistakes were intended, this book needed some major editing. Some of the tangents are meaningless, and often pretentious. And really, do we need a verbatim version of Courtney reading Kurt’s suicide note? Or three pages of Mark Arm recalling the Mudhoney’s White House experience while PJ was in with Clinton? Or five pages slamming Stone Temple Pilots cause Weiland’s voice kinda sounds like Ed’s? And the author has the nerve to slam Kim Neely’s book from the 90’s, which, while not perfect, at least got to the fucking point.
I'm halfway through. There's some good stuff in there that I hadn't read before - snippets of interviews that I'd not read and some quotes of on-stage rants/monologues that were interesting. It's a PJ book... so of course it's interesting!
But in terms of structure it's a hot mess. The author is a bit of a pseud, so starts every chapter with a quote from some literary classic, which is totally unnecessary and very often has bugger all to do with the subject beyond the odd word. The book also has these flights of fancy where it'll take a detour into topics that are not necessarily unrelated to PJ's history at the time - i.e. David Gunn's shooting - but will overstay its welcome on these topics. A summary is fine, and obviously a bit of context is important, but you'll get pages of the stuff. Could have benefited from a bit of editing down.
And then there are some HORRIBLE hot takes. I mean, everyone has their own opinions. No problem. But he outright dismisses Mother Love Bone as a piece of crap (aside from Crown of Thorns). And it's written as a statement of fact. And there are plenty of opinions like that. He's really quite dismissive about Ten, which is strange - I can only assume he didn't really get into PJ until Vs and so he's downplaying it a bit or something.
It looks like the second half of PJ's career is given short shrift judging by how much the 90s takes up in the book. But then the author flat-out says that after their golden period (up to Yield) the band pretty much go to the dogs, so probably best he doesn't spend too long writing about that or it'll get uglier.
So overall, a mixed bag. It feels like the stuff that's interesting is kind of "in spite of" the author rather than "because of", if that's not too harsh.
The structure is weird, with each chapter being titled with a certain show followed by a literary quote and then there's all sorts of current events thrown in as the PJ history unfolds. Its just too many framing devices to be coherent. Just pick one and go with it.
Also the author's strange sentence structures are distracting, -- the double dashes being his favorite -- and appear on nearly every page. And his opinions on certain songs are not always supported very well. His distaste for anything post-Yield is also off putting . There are also strange contradictions where at the start of the book, he's says the reason he's been to 50+ shows is because of the setlist variety but by the epilogue, he's calling their current shows formulaic which I don't get. And he criticizes the band on the TicketMaster stance, complaining that they could have been making more music during that period instead of standing up to the industry. Maybe so.. but lots of fans cite that fight as one of PJ's most endearing moments to the fans. And they also probably needed a bit of a break.
On the positive side though, there is some good stuff in here . The revisiting of early shows and the early timelines of how the band came to be were nice refreshers with a few new bits thrown in. Love revisiting any road stories from that early period. And there is a truly mind blowing sliding doors what if about a certain Shadow audition.
Much better than Five Against One, but I'm hoping the recently announced Steven Hyden PJ book is an improvement
Comments
Live On 4 Legs can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and any other major podcast platform. But please support our website and check out the episodes archived there. Oh, and the Concertpedia as well (for you Five Horizons and Two Feet Thick fans, we've picked up where they've left off)
http://liveon4legs.com
Chapters seems to have it only in Ebook... Anxious to have it for real !
-EV 8/14/93
Same...I had these feelings very early but thought I was alone. It's just not a good book.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
-EV 8/14/93
-EV 8/14/93
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
Constant criticism of the band and some classic songs too, sort of thing, why bother.
Ryan talks with Ronen Givony, author of the new Pearl Jam book, Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense. Buy Ronen's book, Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense:
Boston 5/17/10
Baltimore 10/27/13
Central Park 9/26/15
Philadelphia 4/29/16 (TEN)
Fenway Park 8/5/16
Fenway Park 9/4/18
St. Paul 9/2/23
Philadelphia 9/7/24
Baltimore 9/12/24
Ev Solo Providence 6/15/11
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
But in terms of structure it's a hot mess. The author is a bit of a pseud, so starts every chapter with a quote from some literary classic, which is totally unnecessary and very often has bugger all to do with the subject beyond the odd word. The book also has these flights of fancy where it'll take a detour into topics that are not necessarily unrelated to PJ's history at the time - i.e. David Gunn's shooting - but will overstay its welcome on these topics. A summary is fine, and obviously a bit of context is important, but you'll get pages of the stuff. Could have benefited from a bit of editing down.
And then there are some HORRIBLE hot takes. I mean, everyone has their own opinions. No problem. But he outright dismisses Mother Love Bone as a piece of crap (aside from Crown of Thorns). And it's written as a statement of fact. And there are plenty of opinions like that. He's really quite dismissive about Ten, which is strange - I can only assume he didn't really get into PJ until Vs and so he's downplaying it a bit or something.
It looks like the second half of PJ's career is given short shrift judging by how much the 90s takes up in the book. But then the author flat-out says that after their golden period (up to Yield) the band pretty much go to the dogs, so probably best he doesn't spend too long writing about that or it'll get uglier.
So overall, a mixed bag. It feels like the stuff that's interesting is kind of "in spite of" the author rather than "because of", if that's not too harsh.
Also the author's strange sentence structures are distracting, -- the double dashes being his favorite -- and appear on nearly every page. And his opinions on certain songs are not always supported very well. His distaste for anything post-Yield is also off putting . There are also strange contradictions where at the start of the book, he's says the reason he's been to 50+ shows is because of the setlist variety but by the epilogue, he's calling their current shows formulaic which I don't get. And he criticizes the band on the TicketMaster stance, complaining that they could have been making more music during that period instead of standing up to the industry. Maybe so.. but lots of fans cite that fight as one of PJ's most endearing moments to the fans. And they also probably needed a bit of a break.
On the positive side though, there is some good stuff in here . The revisiting of early shows and the early timelines of how the band came to be were nice refreshers with a few new bits thrown in. Love revisiting any road stories from that early period. And there is a truly mind blowing sliding doors what if about a certain Shadow audition.
Much better than Five Against One, but I'm hoping the recently announced Steven Hyden PJ book is an improvement