Customer Reviews

Live on Two Legs

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The songs on this live CD were performed amazingly well. New bass lines, endings and guitar solos turned old songs into new power. I did have a couple problems with this CD however, the main one being I thought the selection of songs was not that great. There were a lot of songs that were too soft to really rock the house off on the album. The only other thing that bugged me was poor sound quality. Any true Pearl Jam fan that does not get this is making a mistake but for newcomers I would reccomend holding off until you are more aquintated to the band.

This Pearl Jam live album was recorded during the Yield tour in 1998. At the time like everyone else I was disappointed by the setlist because it didn't have some of their bigger hits (Animal, Jeremy, etc) Years later I have stopped lamenting what should have been on here and focus on the great songs that are on here.

1. Corduroy. Great song from Vitalogy. Starts this live album off right.

2. Given to Fly. My favorite of all Pearl Jam songs. Taken from the Yield album this live version soars and gives me chills. Amazing song.

3. Hail Hail. Great fast paced rock song taken from No Code.

4. Daughter. An acoustic driven song that has a special addition part added on while played live. Taken from Vs.

5. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town. Another acoustic song taken from Vs. One of the better tunes to sing along too.

6. Untitled. This song is not from an album and can be considered as the intro to MFC.

7. MFC. Good midpaced rocker taken from the Yield album.

8. Go. This is a really fast punkish song taken from Vs. One of my favorites.

9. Red Mosquito. Great opening guitar and really good song from the No Code album.

10. Evenflow. Hit song from Ten. The guitar interplay and solos are wonderful.

11. Off He Goes. Great acoustic song from No Code.

12. Nothingman. Another acoustic singalong from Vitalogy.

13. Do the Evolution. Fast paced punk rocker that really scorches. Taken from Yield.

14. Betterman. Big hit off of Vitalogy. Starts slow and acoustic before they crank up the amps.

15. Black. Perhaps the greatest version ever recorded. Taken from Ten.

16. F*ckin Up. Neil Young cover. Great album closer.

This is a realy good CD to start your Pearl Jam collection. I reccomend getting all of their albums. They have made 2 studio albums since this tour to hear those songs live I reccomend you get any of their official live bootlegs. Pearl Jam are a great band and they really are one of the best live bands ever.

Known by its fans for its stunning live performances and having flooded the market with seemingly endless (146 as of now) live albums, selecting a live Pearl Jam record can be a bit of a chore. "Live on Two Legs" has two distinctions the other live work doesn't-- it's the only live record from the 1998 tour and its a compilation of shows rather than a single show.

What does this mean? Simply put, the performances are stunning start to finish-- there's no flub ups, there's no forgotten lyrics, and there's no songs that feel a bit flat. But with that, there's a sort of lack of coherence in performance-- Pearl Jam is one of the few bands that's translated well from a live act to record BECAUSE their live albums don't edit out the goof ups, the crowd chats, and so on, well, except for this one. But because it's a compilation, it is rather well polished.

Still, it's a good set-- fantastic perforamnces of, among others, "Daughter" (featuring parts of "Rocking in the Free World" and "W.M.A." on the tag), the "Untitled"/"MFC" suite boils and blows over, and "Do the Evolution" is always just a monster at the live shows. And with each album that was then-available represented (with four from the then new "Yield", three each from "Vs." and "Vitalogy", and a pair each from "No Code" and "Ten"), fans of any of the material are likely to be happy.

Still, I'd check out any of the commercially available 2003 shows (particularly the mostly acoustic Benaroya Hall show) before this one, but if you're nervous about where to jump in and want a polished but somewhat inauthentic feel for the band's live show, this might be a good place to look.

why not 5 stars you ask? well, considering they have released official bootlegs for each concert during the entire 2000 and 2003 tours, this live album falls a bit short in comparison.

for those that bought the album as it came out (and arent familiar with unofficial bootlegs), several "firsts" made this album memorable.

1. the introduction of the song "untitled"

2. first live recording acoustic recording of "off he goes"

3. "f*ckin up"

4. the first official live recording of classic songs

Play it loud, play it often...

This was a good live PJ recording at the time it was released but Pearl Jam has released so many live recordings now it puts this collection to shame. If you're a PJ fan this can certainly help round out your collection but if you're looking for one good live PJ to add this is not the one.

I went to see them on the tour this album was taken from and can honestly say I've never seen them more at ease with themselves. Of all their albums, and there's not a bad one in the bunch, I find myself listening to this one most. Where the albums themselves go for certain moods, this one just goes for energy and has it in spades. I'm really glad they chose to use many of the songs that weren't hits, per se, but were more represetnative of who they are as a band. If anyone remembers, the band put out a three disc import set of live material consisting of just about everything from the first two albums, no need to rehash those songs when they have moved so far ahead in songwriting. All things considered, it just rocks.

Live On Two Legs (1998.), the Pearl Jam's first live CD release

During the 1990's, the Pearl Jam released some remarkable and classic material. However, after the release of their critically acclaimed fifth album, 'Yield', in February 1998, the one thing the band lacked was an official live release. However, this all changed during the band's tour to support the Yield album. The tour, as the band themselves agreed, was a resounding and extremely fulfilling success for all involved so, as a result, the band decided to have their first shot at producing a official live CD towards the end of the tour, with the release of 'Live On Two Legs'. Due to this, loads of fans of the band, especially those who had never seen the Pearl Jam live before, had an opportunity to hear them live on CD.

The 'Live On Two Legs' CD, without question is a capture of an exceptional live performance from the Pearl Jam. I myself am a massive fan of the Pearl Jam and own a lot of their studio albums, however I was unsure about how well they translated live until I bought this album. Like other legendary bands, the Pearl Jam are simply awesome live and in many parts their performances sound just as flawless as the studio recordings for the albums! This is over 70 minutes of Pearl Jam greatness to put it mildly. The band do a perfect selection of stuff from all their five albums which they had released by Nov. 1998 when this CD was first released. Each of the first five albums gets a 2/3 track representation plus there are a couple of other songs including a new song, written by Neil Young called 'F*ckin' Up'. In many ways, this could easily be used as a good introduction to the Pearl Jam (maybe even as good as the 'Rearviewmirror' compilation) because, eventhough it doesn't feature all of the radio staples, it contains all of the 'classic' Pearl Jam material which any new prospective fan is just gonna love! All of the band members give some class performances. Some of Mike McCready's solos on the guitar are phenominal, and in some ways are better than those on the studio albums. Eddie Vedder's voice sounds no different to what we hear on the albums, just as powerful as ever. Plus Gossard's rhythms and Jeff Ament's bass lines are very strong live and give the music great presence. This release is also the first to feature drummer Matt Cameron, and let's face it, the great ex-Soundgarden drummer ain't goin' to make any mistakes in a live performance!

It's hard to pick highlights from this great live CD but there are just some moments which stand out above the rest. The band's performance of 'Daughter' is one, with the band cleverly shaping the song at the end into part of the 'W.M.A.' song. The new material transmits very well, Vedder's vocals on 'Do The Evolution' are just as foreboding as they are on the studio album, and the performance of 'Given To Fly' is a real highlight too. For crowd atmosphere at its best, look no further than the performance of 'Betterman' were the crowd sing along in their masses. The untitled acoustic song is well worth a listen, as is the Neil Young song 'F*ckin' Up', which is has as great aggressive riff to it and makes an excellent concert closer! For me these are the highlights of a remarkable concert and I haven't even talked about the great stuff the band perform from 'No Code' or 'Ten' or the emotive performance of 'Nothingman'.

'Live On Two Legs' is one hell of a live performance. It is a top rate effort from the band who have produced so much great music during their time. Fortunately also, this is not the band's only live release and there's DVD's and double CD's such as 'Live At Benaroya Hall' to look out for, and I haven't even begun to mention their 2000 full tour CD releases! 'Live On Two Legs' is an excellent capture of the band showing the full extent of their immortal 1990's material which has made them one of the best band's ever and is a must own for any fan of the band and even for new listeners too!

wow Pauly, you and your imaginary friend Jawn[whoever the h*ll he is] go to every freakin Pearl Jam album and say they suck, Creed ?rocks?, and RAAWWWRR...?
Anyway, Pearl Jam are the best band ever, and I couldnt imagine anyone who gives Pearl Jam 1 or 2 stars knows good music at all.

OK...I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan and granted this live album reveals their true niche: straight forward intense rock played live and pure, but alongside all the copious amounts of bootleg live CD's the band released from their 2000-2001 it doesn't hold up.

For a live Pearl Jam experience this feels pieced together with distinct song breaks and an abbreviated play list. Every single one of the bootlegs with the exception of Seattle 2 are double CD sets (Seattle is three). With the bootlegs you get all of the crowd interludes, the funny mistakes, the inter-set dialogue. With Live on Two legs you do get some good music, but it is more refined. Refined in the sense that someone was able to take their best cuts from the whole tour and compile them, mesh them together so what is left is something less than the "concert" experience.

Granted the band sounds great and truly transform some of the songs from the studio versions. I was never drawn so much to "Given To Fly" from "Yield" until I heard it played live. Their best version is on the Pearl Jam Live DVD in St Louis with a deaf interpreter signing and dancing on stage with Eddie. Other standouts from Live on Two Legs are the "untitled" prelude to MFC. It was also great to hear "Red Mosquito" included here with a truly emotive powerful guitar bridge ala the axe-slinging brilliance of Mike McCready.

For intensity and purity skip this one and go get the Katowice Poland (night 2) from the bootlegs, then you'll know what I mean and hear what PJ is supposed to sound like live.

These tracks were mastered by a genius. This album starts out with the best live version of "Corduroy" I have ever heard. "Off He Goes" will put a shiver down your spine. "Daughter" will blow your mind you as PJ breaks into a cover of "Rockin in the Free World" with a little "WMA" thrown in as well. My favorite track on this album has to be "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town", Eddie's vocals are perfect throughout the album. You can really tell PJ put a lot of time and effort into the selection of tracks from each of the shows. This was originally going to be a 2 disc set but they put so much into this they didn't have time to do the second CD. With the songs they chose you will never miss it. You get a full representation of all past releases. If you like even one of PJ's tunes you need to own this CD. It sounds like they packed 30,000 people into a studio to record this. I can't say enough good things about this album to do it justice. The only thing missing here is "Yellow Ledbetter". But I believe they made up for it. Beg, borrow, steal, just get this album!