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highplainsdem

(56,880 posts)
Tue May 20, 2025, 11:34 AM May 20

Pearl Jam - Alive (MTV Unplugged, 1992. Reaction/analysis from a vocal coach + MTV video.)

Ran across the reaction video late last night. Fun to watch. The comments are fun, too.








Btw, Rolling Stone put this in second place, behind Nirvana, in their list of the best MTV Unplugged concerts:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/mtv-unplugged-the-15-best-episodes-119361/pearl-jam-1992-120688/

Pearl Jam were just beginning to gain a national profile when they taped their Unplugged special at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens on March 16th, 1992. They’d just wrapped a grueling European tour and had little time to prep. “We literally got off the plane from Europe, spent all day in a cavernous sound studio in New York, and did the show that night,” said bassist Jeff Ament. “It’s pretty powerful, and Ed’s singing great. Yet it’s kind of naive, which is awesome.” The group later said they wished they had more time to put together a whole set of newly arranged songs like Nirvana would do late the following year, but it’s still an amazing look at a band just starting to realize their own incredible power and range.
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Pearl Jam - Alive (MTV Unplugged, 1992. Reaction/analysis from a vocal coach + MTV video.) (Original Post) highplainsdem May 20 OP
That's colorful.... Lovie777 May 20 #1
The reaction video, or the song, or both? highplainsdem May 20 #2
Good take on a... JoeOtterbein May 20 #3
Thanks! I agree! highplainsdem May 20 #4
Btw, did you see the reaction video I posted here: highplainsdem May 20 #5
Not yet.... JoeOtterbein May 20 #6
Thanks! Curious to hear what you'll think of it. A couple of his other reaction videos have been highplainsdem May 20 #8
Well Worth Watching ProfessorGAC May 20 #7
That song - Eddie's singing there - has always given me goosebumps. Re the guitars - they were RENTED. highplainsdem May 20 #9
Yeah! Mine Plays & Sounds Great ProfessorGAC May 20 #10

highplainsdem

(56,880 posts)
2. The reaction video, or the song, or both?
Tue May 20, 2025, 12:31 PM
May 20

I have no idea what your taste in music is, since you rarely post here. But that's one of Pearl Jam's best songs (my personal favorite). And Eddie - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Vedder and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam - is generally considered one of the greatest rock vocalists.

ProfessorGAC

(73,276 posts)
7. Well Worth Watching
Tue May 20, 2025, 05:09 PM
May 20

I agree with her. Eddie is a very stylish singer and he uses dynamics superbly. Probably right up a vocal coach's alley.
One interesting thing I noticed is that both guitar players appears to be playing Takamine guitars. One is for sure, the other only pretty sure.
They're really good guitars at a wide range of good, reasonable price points. I've got one that would probably be around $1,800. Like this one: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JP3DC--takamine-jp3dc-pro-series-dreadnought-acoustic-electric-guitar-natural
But, I bought mine about 30 years ago so it's not the exact same model.
I wonder if Steve & Mark had an endorsement deal with Takamine.

highplainsdem

(56,880 posts)
9. That song - Eddie's singing there - has always given me goosebumps. Re the guitars - they were RENTED.
Tue May 20, 2025, 07:33 PM
May 20

And one was a Takamine.

Btw, the Takamine guitar you linked to is beautiful.

I couldn't resist doing some googling to see what I could find out about the guitars.

First found out their equipment was rented when I saw this thread on a Pearl Jam message board: https://community.pearljam.com/discussion/37069/pearl-jam-unplugged-mike-and-stones-guitars

Did more checking and found out Stone Gossard played the Takamine and was pretty happy with it.

From a 1992 Guitar World article someone put online: https://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/articles/gw0992.shtml

MCCREADY: It came out all right, but it could have been a nightmare, because we ordered some specific equipment and they gave us pretty shitty stuff. I wanted to get a Martin, some nice guitars. But when you rent equipment, you don't know what you're getting. Jeff ordered some specific basses and they didn't appear. The acoustic guitar I played had really high action, so it was totally impossible to do leads. But I thought it came out pretty well anyhow.

-snipping GW asking Stone if it was uncomfortable for him-

GOSSARD: No. It was a lot scarier going in than it actually turned out to be. We showed up, and instead of the Gibson Chet Atkins steel-string guitar I had ordered, they had a classical one there. It was getting late -- like eleven o'clock at night -- and where can you rent stuff at that hour? Luckily, we knew some people who were able to score us a couple more guitars, and it turned out fine. I ended up getting a Chet Atkins steel-string -- which played great -- and a Takamine that felt pretty good. In those kinds of situations, you just have to play with the hand you're dealt. [Laughs]

MCCREADY: It was weird, because we've only done five or six brief acoustic shows, and it forces you to play differently; you can't rely on feedback. [Laughs] It forces you to use dynamics, and to look at each song in a different way. Some songs turned out good acoustically, and some just didn't quite happen. I didn't think "Even Flow" was any good.

GOSSARD: An acoustic show is really sort of a naked, exposed way of playing your songs, because you can't hide behind distortion. Doing it in front of millions of people is even more intimidating. We actually went out there and had a fun, energized show. It's a cool way to hear the band, because the drums and the vocals are featured a lot more; Dave, our drummer, is a great player and Eddie can really shine when he's given room to move around vocally. It gave people a different perception of the band.



From Rolling Stone, March 5, 2015, quoting part of the Guitar World article:

Flashback: Pearl Jam Play Intense ‘Black’ on ‘MTV Unplugged’
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/flashback-pearl-jam-play-intense-black-on-mtv-unplugged-47702/

Pearl Jam were just beginning to get noticed nationally when they shot their MTV Unplugged special on March 16th, 1992. Their debut album Ten had been on shelves since the previous August, though they’d only released a lone single in America and the LP was sitting under the likes of Mr. Big and Ugly Kid Joe on the Billboard album chart. But “Alive” was getting a lot of radio play, they’d just wrapped up a now-legendary tour with Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and it was clear they were about to absolutely explode.

The Unplugged special was taped at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, just three days after the conclusion of a grueling European tour. With little prep time, they were forced to rent equipment. “We showed up, and instead of the Gibson Chet Atkins steel-string guitar I had ordered, they had a classical one there,” guitarist Stone Gossard told Guitar World. “It was getting late – like 11 o’clock at night – and where can you rent stuff at that hour? Luckily, we knew some people who were able to score us a couple more guitars, and it turned out fine. I ended up getting a Chet Atkins steel-string – which played great – and a Takamine that felt pretty good. In those kinds of situations, you just have to play with the hand you’re dealt.”

They’d played a few brief acoustic sets by this point, but nothing of this magnitude. Nearly every song from Ten made it into the set, along with a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” “It forces you to play differently,” said guitarist Mike McCready. “You can’t rely on feedback. It forces you to use dynamics, and to look at each song in a different way. Some songs turned out good acoustically, and some just didn’t quite happen. I didn’t think ‘Even Flow’ was any good.” But the group’s performance of “Black” was nothing short of amazing, as can be seen in the video above.

-snip-


Oh, and after I googled

pearl jam takamine

I turned up, very serendipitously, a story on Takamine's site about Eddie's friendship with Takamine fan Glen Hansard:

https://www.takamine.com/news?n_id=942

ProfessorGAC

(73,276 posts)
10. Yeah! Mine Plays & Sounds Great
Tue May 20, 2025, 07:45 PM
May 20

I bought the Martin about 7 years later because I was convinced I needed a Martin or Taylor. No regrets on that, but if I never stepped up beyond that Takamine, I still would have had a very good guitar.
Now, the Takamine is an alternate tuning instrument using a setup I stole from Jimmy Page.

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