Pearl Jam is continuing to make a bit of noise in celebration of its 20th anniversary.
The band inked a publishing deal with Kobalt Music Publishing that will include the reissuing of the group’s back catalog. According to a press release announcing the deal, the band will reissue Vs. and Vitalogy next year.
In 2009 the band reissued its debut album Ten in multiple forms including a superdeluxe edition that contained the original album on 180 gram vinyl, a remastered version of the record on 180 gram vinyl and a 180 gram vinyl recording of the band’s 1992 Magnuson Park concert called Drop in the Park. The superdeluxe version also contained the records on CD, a DVD of the band’s MTV Unplugged and other pieces of Pearl Jam memorabilia. When Ten was reissued plans for the future reissuing of the rest of the band’s catalog were announced so Thursday’s news of the reissues was to be expected.
There is no word on release dates for the reissues of Vs. and Vitalogy or whether they will contain additional content outside of what was released on the originals. The reissues will, however, be repackaged according to the release. An email has been sent to Pearl Jam’s camp seeking further comment on the reissues and this post will be updated if more details are revealed.
Also, as reported last week, the band will release Live on Ten Legs, a live album containing music from the band’s 2003-2010 tours, on Jan. 18, 2011.
Kobalt will also handle Eddie Vedder’s solo catalog and his “new solo works.”
In addition to the news of the reissues, a moderator on Pearl Jam’s message boards dropped the below bit of cryptic information:
The little birdie stopped by and proclaimed in a deep bellowing voice,“I am the great and powerful Birdie!”
“WTH?” we said.
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” declared the Birdie.
“One man stands alone?” we said.
“Tweet,” said Birdie before he flew away.So, be sure your memberships and addresses are up to date by the end of this weekend or you’ll be singing the Scarecrow’s song.
Of course the logical assumption is that Eddie Vedder will embark on a solo tour next year. He has yet to play an official solo show in Seattle so here’s to hoping if the news is a solo Vedder tour that Eddie books a few nights at the Paramount or Moore. Another possibility is that the “One man stands alone” part of the message could be regarding news of the Vs. reissue considering the album was originally titled Five Against One.
Here’s the press release announcing the deal with Kobalt:
PEARL JAM SIGN EXCLUSIVE WORLDWIDE ADMINISTRATION (EX?US) DEALS WITH KOBALT
NEW YORK (November 18, 2010) ? On the cusp of their 20th anniversary, Pearl Jam, one of the most popular and influential bands in the world, has concluded three long-term worldwide exclusive administration deals (excluding the U.S.) with leading global independent publisher Kobalt Music Group (Kobalt).
The announcement was made today by Willard Ahdritz, CEO and Founder of Kobalt.
Through the agreements, Kobalt will immediately begin administration of Pearl Jam’s forthcoming new material, and assume administration of their first two multi?million selling global smash albums, Ten and vs. In addition, Kobalt will administer all of lead singer/songwriter Eddie Vedder’s solo catalog including his critically?acclaimed soundtrack to Into The Wild and the song “Better Days” from theEat Pray Love soundtrack, plus new solo works. In 2012, the rest of Pearl Jam’s entire back catalog (featuring the albums Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act, Pearl Jam, Backspacer) will move to Kobalt.
As part of the new relationship, Kobalt will additionally handle synch licensing and promotion of Pearl Jam repertoire and Eddie Vedder solo repertoire for use in motion pictures, TV advertising, games, ringtones, and other media.
“We’re extremely proud and honored to be working with Pearl Jam and look forward to a long relationship with new releases and other exciting activity planned for their 20th anniversary in 2011,”said Ahdritz, “I’d like to also acknowledge Merril Wasserman, our Sr. VP Business Development, who was instrumental in executing this deal on behalf of Kobalt.”
Forthcoming releases from Pearl Jam include a new compilation album, Live On Ten Legs (Island Records), which is set for release internationally on January 17, 2011. Also planned in 2011 are re?packaged, re?issues of vs. and Vitalogy.
Executives involved in the deal included Willard Ahdritz; Elliot J. Groffman of Carroll, Guido & Groffman, attorney for Pearl Jam; Kelly Curtis of Curtis Management, manager for Pearl Jam; Jamie Cheek of Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy, business manager for Pearl Jam; and Michele Anthony, consultant to Pearl Jam and their label, Monkeywrench Records.
