Customer Reviews

Five against One

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I was a huge PJ fan in their early years, stuck with them in the "middle" years, and became a huge fan again recently when they released the 72 live bootlegs (I have 'em all and am still trying to listen to all of them). With this new interest I decided to read this book. I loved learning more about the history of the band, but the way the author constructed the book is flawed and biased. First of all, the only band member to make significant contributions is former drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who's a cool guy but he got fired from the band back in 1994. Some very old interviews with Stone, Mike, Jeff, and Eddie are used as background, but clearly the author did not consult them extensively, or else they chose not to participate (more likely). Thus you get extensive coverage of Abbruzzese but nothing about key group members Jeff, Stone, and Mike except some very vague personality descriptions and second hand opinions from other people.

Then there's the coverage of Eddie Vedder, who clearly did not make any direct contributions to the book. Kim Neely's only direct contact with him were some early interviews she did for Rolling Stone. Neely's attitude toward Vedder is difficult to comprehend and is a major flaw in the book. Early in the book, despite calling Vedder a "shrimp" at one point, Neely seems to like him and thinks he's a great guy. But as the book progresses, Neely increasingly tries to belittle Vedder and is determined to cut his public image down to size. This is especially true in the section on Eddie's upbringing, in which his painful family life is described. About the only source used for this section is Eddie's stepfather Peter, whom Eddie has often vilified in the press. I feel that Peter is a good guy and that Eddie has been unfair to him. But then again, Neely is attempting to research the past to create a true psychological thesis on Eddie's personality and emotions, and it is downright irresponsible to try to do this without talking to the person you're writing about. So Neely has failed to illuminate Eddie's lyrics and public persona with this so-called psychological research, and only comes across as a muckraker with some sort of score to settle. I wonder what Eddie did to Neely in real life, besides ignoring her. Plus, why not get into the backgrounds of the other guys this extensively? Aren't they interesting enough?

Another big flaw is the problem that sinks many biographies and history books - ignoring recent history and glorifying the good old days. The period of the band's formation, and up to around 1993, is covered in ridiculous detail, while everything since then is glossed over so quickly that you'd think nothing interesting happened. The best evidence of this is Neely's descriptions of each PJ album. Every single song on "Ten" is described in detail, including the sound, the lyrics, and the songwriting process. Most songs on "Vs" are described, and a few on "Vitalogy" are detailed while the rest are sped through in a few vague sentences. And then the albums "No Code" and "Yield" (the most recent at the time of the book) are given just one paragraph each with very brief descriptions of just a few selected songs.

The story is mostly entertaining, but it is hard to take the writer and the structure of the book seriously. And if you're interested in the band's recent history in any way, you're gonna have to go elsewhere.

Although Five Against One is the only Pearl Jam book I have ever read I would still recommend it to any hardened Pearl Jam fan. Written by Kim Neely(a reporter that knows what she's talking about) the book covers Everything from Jeff's upbringing to the release of the 'Given to Fly single. The book devotes two chapters around about mid-book to the complete life story of Eddie Vedder. This basically answers all the questions you have about his past which is shrouded in mystery. The only negative thing about the book I found was that although it covered the release of their first album 'Ten' and the following European tour, it says less and less about each successive album as it progresses, No Code only has about a page written on it! Apart from that it is full of lots of interesting facts like how the noise of drumsticks clattering at the end of 'Rear View Mirror' is really when Dave Abbruzzese chucks a tantrum, and that the band is not really named after Eddie's Grandmother. What really enlightened me about reading the book was how poorly Dave was treated by the rest of the band and how it is perhaps the greatest shame that he was ever dropped. If you want to know all about Pearl Jam's battle's with Ticketmaster, their relationship with Nirvana etc. I suggest you pick up a copy of this fabulous book. Hadleigh Brownie 28/4/99

It's a shame that so many of the reviews here are by people who have confused negativity with the truth. Neely's book is not well researched, nor is it especially accurate. All of her sources were slanted against the band, and I noticed a number of factual errors in the text. Maybe someday someone will write a bio of Pearl Jam that tells the real story, but this isn't it.

I was hoping to read a book about Pearl Jam and their music, but ended up with a slam of the lead singer. It started out good, with background of the Seattle scene, but the last half of the book seemed to be dedicated to Vedder. Unfortunately, the stories and quotes were all from people that have grudges against the singer, making the whole book slanted and prejudiced. I couldn't enjoy it after that without a grain of salt. Basing most of her information on quotes from the drummer that had been fired and blamed Vedder, and the step-father after a bitter divorce from Vedder's mother is not what I consider good journalism. Pearl Jams music, along with the other band members, or anything that has happened since Vs. was released was barely mentioned. Not a well rounded or informative read.

When I bought the Five Against One book, I was really looking forward to getting some insight into Pearl Jam...not the dirt on the band members, but information that a fan would like to know...."Why did Dave Krusen leave the band?" "How was 'Ten' recorded?" That kind of information. And while Kim Neely's book offered some of that perspective, the majority of it deals with Eddie Vedder, and the things she says about him are NOT flattering. Five Against One is reminiscent of the article Rolling Stone did on Eddie in its November '96 piece, "Inventing Eddie Vedder: Pearl Jam's Mystery Man." Ms. Neely uses a lot of "confidential" and "anonymous" sources, along with some of her own opinions (appearantly she spent a lot of time with the band in its early days....funny that she doesn't interview them anymore) to build up Eddie Vedder as an egomaniacal jerk, more interested about his image than his music. While the book starts off well, discussing the events that led up to Pearl Jam's forming and shedding light on Stone Gossard's and Jeff Ament's history, it ends up as a slam, and is taken by fans (or at least by this one) as an attempt to discredit an amazing group of musicians. If Pearl Jam is more interested in its image than its music, then they sure as hell fooled me....

It took me about 3 days to read Kim Neely's book about my all-time favorite band. From a journalist's perspective, the book was well-written, and I have enjoyed Neely's articles in Rolling Stone. There are a few parts that are misleading, as the eager Dave Abbruzzesse (former drummer) is always ready and willing to talk about his departure from the band and how his bandmate Vedder mistreated him. However, the comments from the band are not as plentiful, so the entire case is not presented. The early sections prove interesting as Neely details what the Seattle music scene was like. Even more intriguing are the chapters concerning Pearl Jam's early tours and what an emotional strain they were on their singer. After reading those parts one can come to more of an understanding of what this band had to deal with to get their music heard. These excellently detailed chapters of the early years lead the reader/fan to a sort of letdown at the end of the book, where the band's last two albums were barely spoken about. "No Code" and "Yield" are key albums that represent the transition of the band's mindset and music. The book annoyingly focuses on the negative parts of their career rather than the postitive parts where the whole band seemed to be in good spirits in the time that the last two records came out. Neely makes Vedder's life seem like a soap opera as she devotes a whole section entitled "Blood" to detail his life. This is good writing. But that's all it is, because while I read it, I felt uneasy about knowing everything about Eddie Vedder's life...I realize that he is just a common guy like myself, and I probably wouldn't enjoy having the bad parts of my life written up into a book. A question comes to mind when I read this part, like where's the Stone Gossard detailed life story at? or the Jeff Ament? Mike McCready? Jack Irons? These are members of the band also, just as important as Vedder is, and if you're going to call a book "The PEARL JAM story"--then u should deliver upon that promise and equally report about the members. The book does bring to light a few themes in the music and trivia that I was not aware of. As far as books go, this isn't a bad read... but if u do read it, be sure that's not your only source and that u educate yourself furthur about Pearl Jam, this book leads u to a greater understanding of some of the aspects of the band, but not all of them. --Kirk Robinson

First to of all I just want to say this book is imformative and I will recommend it to any Pearl Jam fan. The book however starts off on a very confusing path through the many bands they went through before forming Pearl Jam. Then, finally you come out of the mess of the first 3 or 4 chapters to the band's release of Ten. These chapters display great amount of description on the band's first years and unfornately this does not continue on through the rest of the book. The next chapters tell the life of Eddie Vedder and the turbulent years that have greatly influenced his music. The rest of the book is about the band's following albums but it lacks the description that was used for the section of the book focused on Ten. The second half of the book is when the author gets a little anti-PJ saying that there anti-fame and battle against ticket master were just publicity stunts.However she shows some evidnce that they were at fault as thier inability to mount a tour or cancel them at the final minute left many fans to distrust them.A good read but a little too anti-pearl Jam.

The book started out good with biographies on Jeff and Stone but took a turn for the worst when the rest of the book was nothing but Ten, Ten, Ten and Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. The book seemed to slam on the band and Eddie in particular due to all the interviews being of a negative nature. When the author finally got done talking about Ten and Eddie Vedder's family tree around page 250 they decided to write about those other albums for the last 100 pages. I really wouldn't recommend this book.

This is far and away the best, most interesting biography I have ever read on Pearl Jam. The author, a former Rolling Stone writer who apparently knows the band well, writes engagingly and shares information on Pearl Jam that has never before been revealed, much of which contradicts their myth. Though this is largely a sympathetic look at the band, Ms. Neely does not shy from tackling material that Pearl Jam's public relations team might have preferred she gloss over. The book contains many funny anecdotes, a beautiful collection of photos from private collectors that I'd never seen anywhere, and a massive, poignant section on Eddie Vedder's childhood that was truly engrossing. The only book I've ever read on Pearl Jam that made me feel as if I were actually getting the real inside view. Very credible and detailed, without the annoying factual errors that have ruined other biographies on the band for me. Die hard fans who live to believe in the Pearl Jam myth may be put off by some of the revelations in this book, those readers might be more comfortable with one of the "fan" biographies on the band. But serious readers who are interested in an accurate, unvarnished portrait of Pearl Jam will surely find this a great read. Highly recommend it.

Though this book was very informative and captivating (my professors asked me many times to quit reading it during their lectures and when out, i found myself looking forward to getting home so i could read more) the book is undoubtedly very negative towards the band and paints Ed in an almost "excentric bratt" light. Not to sudgest that Ed is the most normal person in the world (or maybe he is the appitamy of normal) the book subtly interveiws only persons who have been offended by Ed such as Dave Abrussezzes, his step-father, Chris Carufto, and other such characters. It would have been nice to hear from his mother or brothers or wife or publicist or someone who liked him. Though the recounts are literarity factual, they are focused through a negative filter created by bitter aquaintances. The discography of the band starts well, but by the end of the book, it seems like the author has become somewhat bored of writing about the actual music, and would rather focus on raucus and provocation. Unfortunately, individual biographies are very limited to all but Ed and that's too bad, because we can find out about Eddie in the music, but no one seems to let us know much about Stone, Jeff, Mike, or Dave/Jack's up-bringings. Oh well. Some good information. Definitely a must read for ne true fan, but u'll still feel dissapointed by book's end.