Shambletracks: Once I heard this great song by Pearl Jam.

Good day Sirs and Madams (?) – I trust the winter has not been too harsh on the crop yield? The Viscount sent word of troubles in the north, I do so hope young Timothy recovers from consumption before too long!

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME.

Hello all – Paddy again. I’m just so predictable.

I can’t believe I have gone this long without approaching Pearl Jam as a Shambletrack. Pearl Jam are one of my all time favourite bands and I think I was struggling with choosing one song to play you. I mean, I love every song they have ever written so picking one seems like an underhanded betrayal of all the other ditties they jigwhistle. So I’ve decided to go with the first Pearl Jam song I ever heard – Once. This was the opening song of their debut album ‘Ten‘, released August 1991, and thus is the reason I heard it first. I was given the album by my first guitar teacher when I was ten (WEIRD HUH? TEN AND TENCRAZY) and I worshipped it through the medium of walkman monopolisation. If you’re not a Pearl Jam fan – I totally understand. Eddie Vedder, like many grunge frontmen, has one of those distinctive marmite voices (see: Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, Elmo) – there’s no middle ground on opinions of him. I personally and clearly love it. Half of the time you have no idea what he’s saying, and the other half of the time you just assume it’s something excellent. HE’S AMAZING. I now have every Pearl Jam record and will never ever grow tired of them. I urge you to do the same.

PJ (abbreviated because AND WHAT) really have it all. They can be heavy as a sack of hammers (see: Even Flow), soft as a rhythmic pillow (see: Better Man) or just mad as a bag of spiders (see: the drunkest ever cover of Baba O’Riley). This is grunge music at it’s absolute zenith – may it continue to reign supreme.

Enjoy – kicks in after about 40 seconds of weird atmospheric beauty.

That’s all from me today – bit of a short one but then again so are some crusted pies, concise jokes, and the inhabitants or Ironforge.

Big Love,

Paddy XX

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