Associate news editor Arthur Williams moaned earlier this year that there still wasn't a great rock record of 2013.
Good news - it's finally arrived.
Lightning Bolt, the 10th studio album from Seattle's Pearl Jam is an uncompromising set of songs from a group of incredible musicians entering middle age with the battle scars to show for it. Pearl Jam is playing what it wants, how it wants, so Lightning Bolt has some rough rockers like My Father's Son, the angry punkish Mind Your Manners and the gorgeous ballad Sirens, which the band has issued a video for and refused to cut any of its five-and-a-half minutes for radio.
Nor should they.
The song is a fearless throwback to a time when rock anthems meant something and voices and guitar solos could soar. The video is a throwback, too, showing nothing more than the band performing on a darkened stage.
Eddie Vedder sounds as strong and vulnerable as ever, drummer Matt Cameron adds some sweet backing vocals at the right moments and the band plays tight and fierce, all masters at the top of their game and still putting out records as if they have something to prove, even though they're shoo-ins for induction into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2016, their first year of eligibility.
Check out Sirens, a great rock record in this or any year, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQXP6TDtW0w.
