Reggae, Pearl Jam Workout

Day Two

Duration: 30 Minutes
Equipment: Elliptical machine
Calories: 600 plus (more than 100 every five minutes!)


Pearl Jam "Baba O'Reilly"
Back in the '90s when Pearl Jam was new, I saw them doing a Who cover--and it might have been this song--on some show, and Eddie Vedder was not in very good voice that night. In fact, his voice and the whole song sounded like a shambolic mess. One of the most profound regrets in my life is that I dismissed PJ over that one performance. (I know, it has been a pretty cushy life). The other thing is, PJ's live albums show that they're about three to four times better 'live' than on the studio records, I think. The fact you can hear the same PJ song 20 times and not understand the mumbled lyrics any better than the first time is an extra bonus. Great kick start to the workout today. I started at a rapid rate and didn't really slow down.

Niney the Observer "Blood & Fire"
It's interesting that reggae, unlike, say, the Dead, still sounds great when you're not high, which I haven't been for years. I don't know much about Niney the Observer, but can make the observation that he's very tuneful and very pissed off. Here's a simple lyric: "Opresser... Let it burn, burn burn" Why a kid from the lily-white suburbs relates to that at all is beyond me.

The Donnas "Better Off Dancing"
The world would have been a whole lot better off if it paid more attention to The Donnas' "Bitchin" CD last year. A solid return to form after the equally unsuccessful "Gold Medal," which was very obviously an attempt to get on the radio.

Gregory Isaacs "Don't Let Me Suffer" This song and the aforementioned Niney the Observer come from a U.K. magazine giveaway CD dedicated to Trojan records. Almost every song is excellent. That's a surprise since every giveaway CD I've had since sucked.

Pearl Jam "Alone" Taken from the excellent "Live at the Gorge." The seven-CD set documents three concerts at the same venue, and they played almost none of the same songs on those three nights. Again, the live albums, to me, sound much better than the studio stuff.

Liz Phair "Divorce Song" You just have to love Liz Phair.

Foo Fighters "Aurora" If there's a better band than the Foo Fighters out there right now, I don't know who they'd be. I'm not sure I've ever even heard this song before. It's not one of their best, but it's still real good.

The Donnas "Kids In America" If life here fair, this would have been a No. 1 song (for The Donnas as well as Kim Wilde). One of the most under-rated bands out there.

Rush "Cygnus X-1" I feel compelled to say I'm not That Rush Guy who prattles on endlessly about Neil Peart being the best drummer in the world (which he isn't) or the depth of his lyrics. In fact, I threw out the 1981 tour t-shirt I found during a cleaning mission a couple of weeks ago. It was in perfect condition. Still, some of their best stuff is still damned interesting to to listen to and this 18-minute trilogy can make 18 minutes go by real fast. Too bad, I didn't have time to hear all of it today. Next time.