12 May 16, 2006 THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY Arts & Entertainment Pearl Jam returns to their roots

The semester is just about over, seniors are graduating (congratulations!), and many students are making their plans for the summer. Some students will vacation at the beach, move back in with their families, or even use their time to travel overseas. Quite a few students will also be looking for jobs and internships to gain experience, a little extra money, or both. Other students may not have even started their job search for the summer, and upon reading this article, may suddenly have a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach. There is some good news though; it’s not too late to get a summer internship position! The Shriver Center has lots of opportunities for students in all majors, and can help students find a summer position that is relevant to their major where they can earn credit and get paid at the same time. Many academic departments at UMBC offer courses that coincide with internship experience and are geared toward students earning credit for internships. The Shriver Center also provides students the opportunity to convert their current jobs into a credit-bearing internship. If a summer job relates to a student’s area of study, and if the job provides opportunities to use skills students learned in the classroom in a hands-on [amazon.com] Back to Basics: Pearl Jam’s new record will please fans. nature, then chances are it’s a position that can be converted to an internship for credit. And while current students are in the its considerable chops. Lead guitarist Mike But the biggest downfall of Pearl Jam is best position to be served by the Shriver ALLEN MCFARLAND McCready’s solos sound more vibrant than its lyrics. The band has always felt the need Center, new graduates and alums are in a Retriever Weekly Contributing Writer they have in ages. The prodigious talents to say something meaningful, rather than just great position to help the Shriver Center. of drummer Matt Cameron, who joined write mindless love songs. Though the motive Many of the intern and co-op positions in Pearl Jam has never been a revolutionary Pearl Jam in 2000 after the breakup of is commendable, the execution sometimes the Shriver Center database are sent in by band, but it has always been a very good one. Soundgarden, are put to better use than they isn’t. The band gets overtly political on alums. It’s important for alums to keep in Each of its albums has had a different feel, were on his previous records with the band. tracks such as “World Wide Suicide,” but mind that they’re in a great position to help distinct but not unfamiliar, as the band has And the legendary Eddie Vedder, who seemed doesn’t manage to say anything particularly their alma mater and their fellow students evolved and fine-tuned its sound. Reviewers to have grown weary of belting out songs with interesting as it has in the past in songs like by referring open positions to the Shriver have not always appreciated the turns which his magnificent pipes on Pearl Jam’s last two the simple yet profound exploration of racial Center as potential slots for future UMBC the band has taken on its creative path. discs, harnesses his powerful voice on tracks profiling in “W.M.A.” “Pearl Jam” features interns. Pearl Jam is back with its eighth studio such as “Gone” and “Come Back.” much less inspired lyrics, such as those Have a great summer, and stop by the album, and this time around critics have The band also breaks some new ground on “Marker in the Sand,” which bemoans Shriver Center if you need help finding a applauded the self-titled effort as a “back to on “Pearl Jam.” A sun-dappled, funkified religious violence: “And the solution?/ Well, summer internship or co-op! The Shriver basics” record, a return to the hard-rocking guitar colors “Army Reserve.” Keyboards, from me far would it be/ But the delusion/ Is Center is open all summer, Monday form that rocketed them to superstardom which the band first started using consistently feeling dangerous to me.” I hate killing in the through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, and in the early 1990s. But Pearl Jam partisans on their last album, “Riot Act,” are better name of God as much as the next guy, but if is located on the first floor of the Public will hear a much different album, one that utilized here, particularly with the accenting Vedder can’t come up with intelligent lyrics Policy building. culls from the many styles which the band piano of “Inside Job.” And the band rips a on the subject then maybe he shouldn’t come Submit your career questions to has explored over the years. The rapid-fire page from the book of one of its idols, Neil up with any at all. [email protected]. chords of “Comatose” call to mind “Spin the Young, with “Wasted Reprise,” a one-minute Another sample from “Severed Hand”: Sponsored by: Black Circle” from the band’s third record, song with nothing more than a pump organ “If I don’t lose control/ Explore and not The Shriver Center: Connecting “Vitalogy.” The acoustic “Parachutes” is and Vedder’s vocals. (One wonders if Pearl Jam explode/ A preternatural other plane/ With students with internship, co-op, and reminiscent of the subdued “Binaural” disc. will ever do an acoustic record, a la Young’s the power to maintain.” OK, Eddie… service-learning opportunities. Public “Gone” and “Marker in the Sand” feature “Harvest Moon.” The band could certainly No matter. “Pearl Jam” is ultimately Policy, first floor. choruses that channel catchy guitar riffs from pull it off, but it might require them to do an a record that features an excellent band 410.455.2493, www.shrivercenter.org “Yield.” uncharacteristically toned down tour.) doing much of what it does best. If that is Career Services Center: Providing In short, Pearl Jam brings together its Not everything shines on the album. the definition of a “back to basics” approach students with career and job search vast musical experience on this new record. “Life Wasted” and “Worldwide Suicide,” then more bands should try it. skill development, full and part-time And the band sounds better than it has in which open the album, are hard-rockers that job listings, on-campus interviews, job years. Few acts can match up with Pearl don’t really, well, rock. Bassist Jeff Ament, Allen McFarland is a Contributing Writer fairs and help with the graduate school Jam’s raw musicianship, but while this has who helped pen some of Pearl Jam’s greatest for The Retriever Weekly. He can be reached application process. Math/Psych 204, always been apparent at their renowned live songs, including “Why Go” and “Jeremy,” for comment at [email protected]. 410.455.2216, [email protected], www. shows, in recent years their talent has seemed continues his songwriting slump with his careers.umbc.edu somewhat stifled in the studio. two plodding contributions, “Big Wave” and This time around the band shows off “Army Reserve.”