From what I've heard of it so far, the new Pearl Jam album is a winner, their re-emergence into the musical mainstream after a full decade in which they retreated into an elective downsizing of their fame. But their re-appearance brings up an interesting question- why do bands release self-titled albums in the middle of their careers?
Pearl Jam has now done it, Blink-182 and Liz Phair did it a few years ago, and Seal did it twice (confusing lots of record-store clerks with two albums in a row with the same title). It's not strange at all for a band to self-title their debut- though I always found it a bit uncreative- but now we've got people doing it after they're already established. Why, even my friend Dan Israel named his most recent album -his 7th- after himself.
Speaking of Dan, he's recorded a song based on the super-popular upcoming film "Snakes on a Plane." You can hear it here, on his MySpace page.
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 11, 2006 03:45 PM