Live: 10-22-03 Benaroya Hall
Recorded last fall in Seattle, this mostly acoustic set might seem the requisite unplugged entry in Pearl Jam's everything-must-go series of live releases. But the album's warm, wizened feel and unusual set list are appropriate for souvenir-collecting obsessives and lapsed fans looking for a new take on Pearl Jam's substantial catalog. The band gets its strum on with surprisingly apt, deep-feeling selections — covers of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" and Shel Silverstein's "25 Minutes to Go"; the originals "Dead Man" and "Fatal" — and responds to the hometown intimacy with uncluttered arrangements that give Eddie Vedder's brawny tenor room to breathe and roam.