It's no secret that Pearl Jam and Neil Young have mutual love and respect for each other's work.
Young has previously referred to Pearl Jam as “old souls – they've been around. Musically there's youthful energy, but without the sound of inexperience” in a 1995 Guitar World interview. In 1992, Pearl Jam included Rockin' in the Free World in their setlist and also supported Young on his 1993 North American tour.
The culmination of their relationship, however, was the moment Young recruited the band to record on his 1995 album, Mirror Ball. In a new interview on the Broken Record Podcast, Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament recall the "nerve-wracking” but equally “joyful” recording sessions.
“He called me last summer,” says Ament. “He just goes, ‘Man, your guys’ playing on this is so great. And I think I moved so fast from record to record, I don't really get a chance to listen back.’
“‘But I'm really listening to how you guys chose to play, and I appreciate you so much. I hope we get to do it again.’ And of course, you're like, ‘Oh, can we please do that again, because we'll give you more space and will be so much better than we were in 1995.’”
Gossard also recalls how fast Young worked during those sessions, and how they all worked hard trying to keep up with him. “He plays the song once for us. We learn the chords and he's like, ‘Okay, we're gonna record it,’ and then you record it,” he reflects. “We're just trying to remember the chords.”
Despite largely utilizing three-chord songs, the magic of Young's songwriting influenced both Gossard and Ament, and increased their admiration for the Godfather of Grunge.
As Gossard remarks, “It's just like playing three chords. There's nothing more satisfying than having transcendence in three chords, where it's not all the years of studying music, and it's not any sort of science or anything that is rigor. It's just literally joyful play, with three notes.”
Of course, with the pressures of working to Young's pace, the sessions weren't completely stressless: Ament mentions how the anxiety and pressure of playing with one of his idols also got the better of him.
“It was four days of recording the Neil songs. I had the flu for two days. So it might have just been like pushing down the pressure and the anxiety. You're in the studio with one of your favorite, if not your favorite artist ever, and not wanting to let him down and let the whole session down.”
“None of us are studio musicians. I mean, there's people that can come in and chart things out in two seconds, like play by ear,” Gossard explains. “You're kind of trying to find the basic chords and then quickly find something that helps those chords, and it was nerve-wracking for me.”
Despite the stress, both Gossard and Ament agree the experience was one of their favorite things they have ever done. As Ament puts it, “It felt like a dream.”
