The “incredible” Pearl Jam song perfected in one evening
Although Pearl Jam might be afforded a slightly comical essence due to the way Eddie Vedder’s voice has been extensively lampooned over the years, we often forget that below the caricature of the booming ‘Even Flow’ and ‘Jeremy’ choruses, there is a great band.
Ever thought it’s significant that Pearl Jam are the survivors of the grunge era? It’s not as flippant a point as you might think. They are the only ones from the big four of Seattle grunge acts who keep going uninterrupted. Since forming in 1990, they’ve released 12 studio albums and kept themselves highly popular, alongside the members trying their hands at other things.
While they also drew upon dark themes with their music, Pearl Jam have never been a group closely associated with unsettling psychological themes like their three Seattle peers, despite the brutal real-life tragedy that underpins ‘Jeremy’ and other ominous moments. Perhaps this is likely to do with the fact that they emerged from the grunge era and its fallout unscathed and have continued to expand their scope, with their songs touching on an array of subjects, from youth exploitation to hitchhiking.
The group has always espoused an unyielding collective spirit, which is unusual for an act of their stature. This has fuelled everything from their consistent music to their refreshing political stance, which saw them defiantly stand as one of the first to take on Ticketmaster and its monopoly over live music.
As you might expect, this collective support for one an another has fed into a creative process that has been more straightforward than others experience. While the band have always had minor creative discrepancies, which is natural considering they’re all individual people, they know what Pearl Jam is and what it isn’t. This means there have been several key instances where the songwriting gods have spoken, and classic songs have written themselves easily, without a hitch.
According to former drummer Dave Abbruzzese, one of these tracks was the fan favourite ‘Angel’, the 1993 holiday single sent to fan club members. In a 2024 interview with Songfacts, he recalled how the “incredible” song came together between him and Vedder.
Abbruzzese recalled that he came up with a guitar part and recorded it onto a cassette recorder. He then played it through another jam box, played into it, and then recorded it into another, so there were two guitar parts. At the next Pearl Jam rehearsal, he said: “‘Hey Ed, I have this idea,’ and I handed him the tape. The next morning, he handed me a cassette back and it had his vocal lines on it. It was incredible.”
Sometime later, the band found themselves in the legendary recording studio, London Bridge, near Seattle. When they had downtime from their main project, a guitar was lying near Abbruzzese unoccupied, so he picked it up and recorded the guitar part for ‘Angel’. Vedder followed suit and captured the vocals. Unsurprisingly, the track blew away the rest of the studio. It makes you wonder why it never got a full release, as it remains one of their best cuts from this era and demonstrates how creatively aligned the group have always been.
