I'm excited to hear them. I just didn't even know they existed until I posted about them on Dec 31.

I'll get to them today after my run.

Lemme know where it ranks on the 2020 list

I'll text you

I got my 45 this weekend. Matter of Time is much better divorced from the video, but Say Hi just feels dork and lame.

I get it, but meh.

I would be interested if they included the Springsteen cover. That was a great cover of Growin’ Up.

Releasing that EP as a 12" would have made a great RSD release.

This is tonight.

Al Bundy guest appearance on Free World??

What do balding old white guys focused on reliving past glory have to do with Pearl Jam?

They have what
We got half of
Haven’t got?

Something like that

this I tell you, brother
you can't have one without the other

Melodies really come through....

Bumping to drop the extended review into the thread.


Matter of Time:

Released in December 2020 to very little fanfare, Matter of Time is technically an EP. However as four of the six songs are covers, and three of those four songs are acoustic covers of existing Pearl Jam material, and two of those three acoustic solo covers are of already acoustic d numbers, it’s easy to see why this didn’t make a huge splash. It is likely a product of that parent creativity trap Eddie had discussed elsewhere – trying to create when and how he can in the brief windows available. It may have also been motivated more by the desire to help rather than a burning need to say something, as the two original songs (Matter of Time and Say Hi) were part of a livestream to raise money to benefit a non-profit group (founded by Eddie and his wife Jill) that does EB (Epidermoysis bullosa) research. It is a rare, sometimes fatal disease that causes skin to take on a paper-thin texture and blister/bleed easily. Human contact is difficult. It’s a great cause, but the final EP ultimately ends up feeling a little incomplete and inessential, though the DNA of something more meaningful is certainly present.

Matter of Time: Matter of Time showcases some simple piano instrumentation to accompany Eddie’s vocal, vaguely reminiscent of REM’s Nightswimming (though Nightswimming is a masterpiece). I believe this is Eddie’s only song written/performed entirely on piano (we have a few unreleased organ solo tracks). The music creates a sense of distance that calls for something to bridge it, and it is appropriate for a song about a disease that makes human contact painful, and sometimes impossible. It’s a condition whose tragedy would absolutely speak to Eddie, and its clear in his performance. Simply reading up on the disease undoubtedly enhances the song.

There are some nice lyrical moments in here especially those that directly references the reality of the disease, and its imposition of physical barriers that can only be torn down emotionally. The title and chorus speak of time, and the hope that eventually there will be a cure. The repetition of a ‘matter of time’ doesn’t quite land with the impact you’d want it to have (which is a performance issue, there isn’t anything striking in the melody or delivery) but there are some great moments in the verses. Knowing that he is singing about a disease that can kill children, lyrics like “when your time is limited nothing happens too soon” hit hard. But the most powerful imagery focuses on hands, and the impossibility of direct physical connections that we take for granted.

“Still times when nothing’s alright as we bandage up all our parts”
“So much space between us in the distance of our hands”
“Shrink the space between us/A reaching of a hand”

It builds into a pretty bridge and layered vocals in the outro that try to create a sense of community, where Eddie looks to embody the earlier claim to “be a builder of bridges.” They don’t quite pay off on the promise. The sadness that drenches the rest of the song doesn’t quite go away, which mutes the emotional impact, and there also isn’t a memorable lyrical sequence to hold onto. The intent is clear, but it still feels like an idea is being worked out, something that does appear in Eddie’s writing on occasion, when he believes something so strongly and passionately that he doesn’t always bridge the distance between what he experiences in his heart and what other people need to know and understand to feel the same way. It’s too bad. This is something Eddie/Pearl Jam have done exceedingly well on other songs (River Cross is a great recent example, an adaptation of a song Eddie wrote for his solo tour) and knowing a bit more about the EB does make the verses a lot more powerful. Ironically, Matter of Time could have really been something moving with just a little more time.

Say Hi: Say Hi is a simple song, just Eddie and an acoustic guitar. It’s simple earwormy melody and lyrics, would be easy to dismiss without further context in another song. Just as knowing a bit about EB helps the Matter of Time verses lyrics sing, Say Hi is written for a 6-year-old boy who has the disease. It turns what felt disposable into an open-hearted gesture that captures the unaffected empathy and warmth that Eddie radiates not only in his best music, but as a person. That underneath the public persona Eddie Vedder is, at base, someone who cannot hope but care deeply about every person he meets – someone who wants to know their story and bring just a little more light into their life than was there before.

What is kind of amazing is that there is nothing even slightly condescending about the performance. He sings with the same commitment he would any other song of this style, and treats Eli with the same generosity he would any of his other heroes. It’s a 56 year old rock star who can effortlessly command a space with 50,000 people genuinely respecting the courage of a small child, and willingly learning from his example.

“Cause the first one to reach out a hand/shows more courage than the one who does last.
With all our imperfections/your light shines in all directions/cutting through.”

I do not know more about this young boy’s illness, or his history. But the world is a slightly brighter place for this gesture. What it must mean to Eli, his family, and anyone else whose children struggle with something awful and undeserved (which is pretty much all child suffering) and take comfort knowing the gesture was made.

The Covers

The rest of the EP consists of simple, unadorned presentations of Just Breathe, Future Days, Growin’ Up (Springsteen), and Porch. Just Eddie with his guitar offering live in-studio performances. They are worth a listen, even if they don’t transform the songs.

It’s nice to hear Just Breathe without the bells and whistles, and Eddie adds some of his typical live changes to the lyrics, as “I don’t want to hurt” becomes “I don’t want YOU to hurt” or “There’s so much in this world to make me bleed” to ‘make us bleed.” It captures the core beauty of the song, even if it isn’t a definitive performance.

Future Days in particular benefits from a stripped-down performance, which showcases the intimacy of the song without some of the elements on Lightning Bolt that edged it into self-parody (though I loved that violin and do miss it). It’s a song to whisper to your loved ones as they drift off to sleep – more promise than lullaby, and that it is more effectively captured here.

Eddie has leaned more heavily into his Springsteen influences in the post-Riot Act years, and it was fun to get a cover of Growin’ Up, but this isn’t new. Early bootleg cds of Eddie’s Bad Radio work had, nestled between the Chili Pepper funk influences that aged terribly, a cover of Springsteen’s One Step Up so faithful you would swear it was Bruce singing.

And while we got the definitive acoustic version of Porch in 1992, and the solo flourishes Eddie adds here are already present in the live full band versions, I’m never going to complain about another rendition of one of their greatest songs. There’s some grasping tension in the music that comes through in the acoustic version that is easy to miss in the storm and stress of the typical performances.

Ultimately the Matter of Time EP can’t be called essential, but there is material here worth the occasional visit, especially knowing more of the context. It’s also very much a record influenced by his fatherhood – both in the paternal care shown to children in the original compositions, and the ‘daddy is going to play some music and it’s going to make it all better’ vibe that colors the performance and writing in subtle but real ways. It exposes the core of much of his modern songwriting sensibilities. How it is dressed up and transformed (if at all) becomes the question.

what do folks think of this? It feels like the release that time forgot, and it's barely a year old

I have this at a 2, but it's really a 2.5

Meh. Don’t think much of it.

The pj songs we’re all done via live streams for various benefits or concerts. Millions of versions elsewhere


The 2 new tracks were for a very specific benefit and don’t have much appeal beyond that. Hearing the songs during the benefit was touching.


Matter of time done by that huge choir was cool though

yeah, i dont think about this as an official release, even if its one. It was a nice touch from Ed to raise money, so kudos to him.

I dont think i listen to those two songs more than once.

I didn't know that choir performance existed. Lets go watch.

Two initial thoughts

1, I hate to say it, but I'm not 100% sure Eddie can pull of that hat
2. It's interesting that Ed seems to bounce between Eddie and Ed in terms of how he addresses himself. I always wonder what to call him when I write.

yeah, the Ed stuff first appear on Yield right? on those liner notes he was called Ed Vedder.

I think its also on Riot Act and then its been Eddie Vedder again.

that was lovely. It's also an interesting way to unpack the bones of the song. There are some lovely melodic moments in it, and a few lines that would have benefited from a little more reworking so they flowed a little better.