Limited double vinyl LP pressing including gatefold jacket. Pearl Jam is the eighth studio album by Pearl Jam, released on May 2, 2006 on J Records. It was the first and only release for J Records, their last album issued by Sony Music. It was the band’s first full-length studio release in almost four years, since Riot Act (2002). Following their performances at the Vote For Change tour in 2004, the band commenced work on Pearl Jam in November 2004 at Studio X in Seattle, Washington and finished in February 2006. The music on the record was proclaimed as a return to the band’s roots, with an emphasis on up-tempo songs with an aggressive sound. The song lyrics are mostly told from the point of view of characters and deal with the socio-political issues in the United States at the period, such as the War on Terror. Pearl Jam was critically well received and was a commercial success, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and eventually outselling the band’s previous release, Riot Act. The album also produced three singles-“World Wide Suicide”, “Life Wasted” and “Gone”.