There is no irony in the title of
Eddie Vedder
's first full-fledged solo album: these are indeed songs performed on a ukulele, an instrument uncommon but not unknown to rockers.
George Harrison
was a well-known advocate of the small four-string instrument, and
Vedder
's hero
Pete Townshend
once cut a lovely little gem called
"Blue Red and Grey"
on ukulele, a song that could easily slide onto this gently ramshackle collection of covers, re-recordings, and new tunes. To say that this is a minor album is to dismiss its intimacy and miss its appeal:
's self-imposed curse is that he takes everything very seriously indeed, so to hear him without the weight of the world on his shoulders is disarmingly inviting. He has nothing more in mind on
Ukulele Songs
than singing, whether it's with duet partners
Glen Hansard
and
Cat Power
or just on his own, tossing out love songs, something he generally has avoided with
Pearl Jam
.
never has been ashamed of his bleeding heart -- it's something that grounds
even when they're in full-blast bombast mode -- yet it's refreshing to have a record where that heart is pushed toward the center, beating fully and proudly on his lightest, sweetest album yet. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine