Fan Club 7" (Year 2)

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

33RPMHero wrote:

Rogicon wrote:

I don't post very often,  I got mine in the mail yesterday, with a new t-shirt as well.  I haven't listened to it yet.  It's two cover songs, Tom Waits and a twopointeight song.

Hrm......the picture that was sent out a while ago confirmed that one of the songs was an original by The gaslight anthem.

Seriously??? Ugh I am so done with this club. Am I crazy or were we not promised a NEW song annually? I would not have paid 40 buck for a vinyl if I'd known it was going to only be covers.

pretty sure the club promised two exclusive songs, not new Gaslight songs.

Does the digital fan membership also get the annual songs?

TheEmptyBones wrote:

Does the digital fan membership also get the annual songs?

Yep. You just them in an email digitally. No vinyl though.

ral wrote:

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

33RPMHero wrote:

Rogicon wrote:

I don't post very often,  I got mine in the mail yesterday, with a new t-shirt as well.  I haven't listened to it yet.  It's two cover songs, Tom Waits and a twopointeight song.

Hrm......the picture that was sent out a while ago confirmed that one of the songs was an original by The gaslight anthem.

Seriously??? Ugh I am so done with this club. Am I crazy or were we not promised a NEW song annually? I would not have paid 40 buck for a vinyl if I'd known it was going to only be covers.

pretty sure the club promised two exclusive songs, not new Gaslight songs.

You're right, it definitely just says an exclusive 7" on the site. But I still feel like it was suggested somewhere ahead of time that it would be a new song. I was also surprised when we got two songs the first time. So whatever was originally said, wasn't what it ended up being. Which, technically as long as they follow what it says in the official description of the club then they didn't break any rules, so to speak.

Still doesn't change the fact that I'm not happy about this. I wish it was clearer (or that someone clarified this along the way) because I know I was not the only one who got the wrong idea and I certainly feel like I wasted money. I probably would've been disappointed but renewed anyway if I had known this in advance, but definitely only the digital version. I like the occasional cover but I wouldn't pay for any covers on vinyl, I don't care how good they are.  

I think what kind of annoys me the most here is last year I paid $25 dollars, and that got me a vinyl with a NEW GASLIGHT song and a new version of again, a GASLIGHT song, (being that it's a fan club for them, I would hope at least 1 of the 2 was theirs, new or not), and with the bonus surprise of the letterman webcast, this more than paid for itself. While I know they couldn't cut it with a vinyl at that price again, and I get that, having the songs both be covers kinda feels like I paid $15 more this year for a lesser product.

Idk to each his own on this. I think I'm done buying things from these guys that isn't just the plain old CD/Vinyl, tickets, and maybe a t-shirt. Because between the "Super-deluxe" ripoff, the non-sense with infinite merch being the only ones with the bonus footage for the short DVD (did that ever go out to people?), and this, I just don't wanna lose any more money because of a technicality in the fine print or because I didn't realize "60 pages of photos" meant "60 pages, only half have photos, and of those photos half are already on the internet". Better safe than broke with little to show for it. Or maybe I'll just wait till you guys buy them and start talking about what you actually got and then decide if it's worth it   . But seriously, I don't have this issue buying from any other band. I don't get what the problem is here   .

Ugh, that's enough complaining for one day.


Side note: any ten club members on here? I have a question to ask someone who's been in it for at least a few years.

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

You're right, it definitely just says an exclusive 7" on the site. But I still feel like it was suggested somewhere ahead of time that it would be a new song. I was also surprised when we got two songs the first time. So whatever was originally said, wasn't what it ended up being. Which, technically as long as they follow what it says in the official description of the club then they didn't break any rules, so to speak.

Still doesn't change the fact that I'm not happy about this. I wish it was clearer (or that someone clarified this along the way) because I know I was not the only one who got the wrong idea and I certainly feel like I wasted money. I probably would've been disappointed but renewed anyway if I had known this in advance, but definitely only the digital version. I like the occasional cover but I wouldn't pay for any covers on vinyl, I don't care how good they are.  

I think what kind of annoys me the most here is last year I paid $25 dollars, and that got me a vinyl with a NEW GASLIGHT song and a new version of again, a GASLIGHT song, (being that it's a fan club for them, I would hope at least 1 of the 2 was theirs, new or not), and with the bonus surprise of the letterman webcast, this more than paid for itself. While I know they couldn't cut it with a vinyl at that price again, and I get that, having the songs both be covers kinda feels like I paid $15 more this year for a lesser product.

Idk to each his own on this. I think I'm done buying things from these guys that isn't just the plain old CD/Vinyl, tickets, and maybe a t-shirt. Because between the "Super-deluxe" ripoff, the non-sense with infinite merch being the only ones with the bonus footage for the short DVD (did that ever go out to people?), and this, I just don't wanna lose any more money because of a technicality in the fine print or because I didn't realize "60 pages of photos" meant "60 pages, only half have photos, and of those photos half are already on the internet". Better safe than broke with little to show for it. Or maybe I'll just wait till you guys buy them and start talking about what you actually got and then decide if it's worth it   . But seriously, I don't have this issue buying from any other band. I don't get what the problem is here   .

Ugh, that's enough complaining for one day.


Side note: any ten club members on here? I have a question to ask someone who's been in it for at least a few years.

I've been a Ten Club member for far too long, so fire away with any questions.

It's funny that you mention the Ten Club because I was going mention the songs selected for their holiday singles. In the past they've included some combination of originals, covers, live performances, ramblings, demos, and one year even had a song by REM. Some have been great, some have been complete throwaways, and most end up somewhere in between.

As for the 45rpm club, they definitely could do a better job with communicating things related to the club (giving out updates, replying to emails, etc) and I don't mean just sending out monthly newsletters with new merch. It still feels like the entire club was thrown together relatively quickly without really knowing what they were getting into or how they were going to deliver it.

ral wrote:

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

You're right, it definitely just says an exclusive 7" on the site. But I still feel like it was suggested somewhere ahead of time that it would be a new song. I was also surprised when we got two songs the first time. So whatever was originally said, wasn't what it ended up being. Which, technically as long as they follow what it says in the official description of the club then they didn't break any rules, so to speak.

Still doesn't change the fact that I'm not happy about this. I wish it was clearer (or that someone clarified this along the way) because I know I was not the only one who got the wrong idea and I certainly feel like I wasted money. I probably would've been disappointed but renewed anyway if I had known this in advance, but definitely only the digital version. I like the occasional cover but I wouldn't pay for any covers on vinyl, I don't care how good they are.  

I think what kind of annoys me the most here is last year I paid $25 dollars, and that got me a vinyl with a NEW GASLIGHT song and a new version of again, a GASLIGHT song, (being that it's a fan club for them, I would hope at least 1 of the 2 was theirs, new or not), and with the bonus surprise of the letterman webcast, this more than paid for itself. While I know they couldn't cut it with a vinyl at that price again, and I get that, having the songs both be covers kinda feels like I paid $15 more this year for a lesser product.

Idk to each his own on this. I think I'm done buying things from these guys that isn't just the plain old CD/Vinyl, tickets, and maybe a t-shirt. Because between the "Super-deluxe" ripoff, the non-sense with infinite merch being the only ones with the bonus footage for the short DVD (did that ever go out to people?), and this, I just don't wanna lose any more money because of a technicality in the fine print or because I didn't realize "60 pages of photos" meant "60 pages, only half have photos, and of those photos half are already on the internet". Better safe than broke with little to show for it. Or maybe I'll just wait till you guys buy them and start talking about what you actually got and then decide if it's worth it   . But seriously, I don't have this issue buying from any other band. I don't get what the problem is here   .

Ugh, that's enough complaining for one day.


Side note: any ten club members on here? I have a question to ask someone who's been in it for at least a few years.

I've been a Ten Club member for far too long, so fire away with any questions.

It's funny that you mention the Ten Club because I was going mention the songs selected for their holiday singles. In the past they've included some combination of originals, covers, live performances, ramblings, demos, and one year even had a song by REM. Some have been great, some have been complete throwaways, and most end up somewhere in between.

As for the 45rpm club, they definitely could do a better job with communicating things related to the club (giving out updates, replying to emails, etc) and I don't mean just sending out monthly newsletters with new merch. It still feels like the entire club was thrown together relatively quickly without really knowing what they were getting into or how they were going to deliver it.

Haha that was actually what I was going to ask you. Since I know the 45 club uses basically the same model as the ten club, I was curious of how their holiday singles worked. How often would you say originals show up as part of it? and do they ever do two of the same (ie, 2 covers, 2 live, etc). Because it sounds like something like a really strong live version of a song (like one that stood out as different) and a cover, or an interesting demo could be interesting (just not two of the same). I'm curious about the ramblings...haha. But it also seems like those could be boring half-assed "throw this insignificant live version and this crappy demo on there" too. <<although honestly I still think anything's better than 2 songs the band didn't write.

Also, I was looking at what you guys get awhile back because I was considering joining (still am) and it seems like there's at least a handful of other interesting things as part of the membership (both versions). Would you say that club does a good job of offering enough other things as part of the deal that if the singles are complete crap you still feel you got your money's worth (or close to it)?

I ask because I figure 45 will likely follow a similar path (or possible never get going on the ten club level) and I'm trying to get an idea of if I'm only gonna feel my 20 or 40 bucks was worth it once every 2 years, 5 years, 10, etc.

I feel like there are a lot of good ideas being thrown around for the club, yet they're not being executed properly at all. Everything seems to be planned out on paper well and marketed to us, but when it comes time to execute what they have been preaching, they fall short and rush through things. The "Halloween" track if I recall was said to have been taken from a performance that was already released on YouTube. It seems like things just get thrown together for this exclusive. I'm sure there are a few songs that never make it to an album but have been recorded in some capacity. Why cant we get one of those? As far as this pattern of tardiness from IM, I really feel its just another sign of them putting stuff together last minute. They had a great reason for lateness in the storm last year, but I think two years in a row now? come on.

Infinite merch are so bad with customer service, they pretty much ignore my emails. I payed for the international vinyl package way back in August and have my confirmation email but since the 45club website started I have no previous orders on my infinite merch and 45 accounts. When I email to confirm my things are on there way and why all my previous orders are not showing up I get no response. So far the pre-sale part has been a let down as the pre-sale for the u.k tour was open to anyone who had a ticketmaster account as well anyway. For the money you really don't get all that much. I mean a 7" release even when limited is only like 5 pounds but you pay at least triple for this. Anyone on here from England received anything yet ?

Bobul wrote:

I feel like there are a lot of good ideas being thrown around for the club, yet they're not being executed properly at all. Everything seems to be planned out on paper well and marketed to us, but when it comes time to execute what they have been preaching, they fall short and rush through things. The "Halloween" track if I recall was said to have been taken from a performance that was already released on YouTube. It seems like things just get thrown together for this exclusive. I'm sure there are a few songs that never make it to an album but have been recorded in some capacity. Why cant we get one of those?  As far as this pattern of tardiness from IM, I really feel its just another sign of them putting stuff together last minute. They had a great reason for lateness in the storm last year, but I think two years in a row now? come on.

I almost wish Brian had never said any of the ideas he had for the club in the beginning because they were all awesome and yet we have like 2 of them (the vinyl and the ticket presales). And realistically he did warn us (and this is kind of a given anyway) that all of this would not be implemented from the get go. But it's pretty bad that the few things that were implemented are having as many issues as they are. Even if the band wanted to add more to the club, how would they ever? If vinyls and t-shirts are too much of a challenge, what on earth would happen with more stuff?

And yeah you'd think there'd be extra b-sides but those keep getting put out with things like the b-sides record, or that EP that was only sold in the UK. Maybe if Mercury and SideOneDummy and whoever would stop trying to get every last drop out of extra stuff outta these guys, there would be something left that was cool to release to the club. I guess the flip side of that is maybe we just wouldn't get to hear those songs at all though, so who knows.

Are people liking the cover songs? I haven't them yet. I understand the desire for a fan club to do more, but if they do end up recording 18 songs in studio that awesome for everyone. Maybe the 2015 Fan club release would have a demo or acoustic version of a song from their their new album.

So, are these full band or solo acoustic?

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

Haha that was actually what I was going to ask you. Since I know the 45 club uses basically the same model as the ten club, I was curious of how their holiday singles worked. How often would you say originals show up as part of it? and do they ever do two of the same (ie, 2 covers, 2 live, etc). Because it sounds like something like a really strong live version of a song (like one that stood out as different) and a cover, or an interesting demo could be interesting (just not two of the same). I'm curious about the ramblings...haha. But it also seems like those could be boring half-assed "throw this insignificant live version and this crappy demo on there" too. <<although honestly I still think anything's better than 2 songs the band didn't write.

Also, I was looking at what you guys get awhile back because I was considering joining (still am) and it seems like there's at least a handful of other interesting things as part of the membership (both versions). Would you say that club does a good job of offering enough other things as part of the deal that if the singles are complete crap you still feel you got your money's worth (or close to it)?

I ask because I figure 45 will likely follow a similar path (or possible never get going on the ten club level) and I'm trying to get an idea of if I'm only gonna feel my 20 or 40 bucks was worth it once every 2 years, 5 years, 10, etc.

A little over half of the songs on the TC singles (26 out of 48) have been covers and a third of them have been 2 covers (or 4, 1995 had a double 7" with 4 songs after they missed 1994). Also, about a quarter of the songs were originals of some sort, either studio, demos or live debuts. The last few years have alternated between 2 covers and 2 live tracks, then a few years of an original plus a cover. Unfortunately the recent singles have included some stuff that was already widely available online albeit in better quality. A full list of PJ's holiday singles can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam_discography#Ten_Club_Holiday_singles

As for the membership overall, it's probably still worth the money but the value has definitely declined (at least for me). In the past, fan club members were able to order tickets to multiple shows per tour and seating was based on seniority. While my number wasn't the greatest, I was able to get tickets to a lot of shows and secure seats that would've probably been impossible to acquire via Ticketmaster. They've since changed to a lottery for every show which greatly reduces they chances of getting tickets to multiple shows. As I've gotten older, my ability and desire to see a week of shows has decreased but it's still disappointing that I probably wouldn't be able to do so with Ten Club tickets.

It's pretty hard to say if they fan club will be worth it without knowing what your interests and expectations are. If you sign up just for tickets, know that the band might not tour every year or if they do, might not play many shows or shows nearby. I'm sure there are some people that sign up just for the merch and PJ offers a ton of it now. That was never a huge draw for me but it's there. The single is still a decent offering but as I said before, it can be pretty hit or miss, so you're taking a risk if that's your main interest. There's also access to PJ radio, the fan forums, and some other exclusives on their website. In the past I've considered not renewing my membership but it seems worth it to maintain access to some of these things and keep my seniority from 1997.

A lot of this can be transferred over to the 45 RPM Club. I know Gaslight's not going to tour every year and I know the single's going to be late (or might suck) but I'll give them $20 for a few years and hope they figure things out.

ral wrote:

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

Haha that was actually what I was going to ask you. Since I know the 45 club uses basically the same model as the ten club, I was curious of how their holiday singles worked. How often would you say originals show up as part of it? and do they ever do two of the same (ie, 2 covers, 2 live, etc). Because it sounds like something like a really strong live version of a song (like one that stood out as different) and a cover, or an interesting demo could be interesting (just not two of the same). I'm curious about the ramblings...haha. But it also seems like those could be boring half-assed "throw this insignificant live version and this crappy demo on there" too. <<although honestly I still think anything's better than 2 songs the band didn't write.

Also, I was looking at what you guys get awhile back because I was considering joining (still am) and it seems like there's at least a handful of other interesting things as part of the membership (both versions). Would you say that club does a good job of offering enough other things as part of the deal that if the singles are complete crap you still feel you got your money's worth (or close to it)?

I ask because I figure 45 will likely follow a similar path (or possible never get going on the ten club level) and I'm trying to get an idea of if I'm only gonna feel my 20 or 40 bucks was worth it once every 2 years, 5 years, 10, etc.

A little over half of the songs on the TC singles (26 out of 48) have been covers and a third of them have been 2 covers (or 4, 1995 had a double 7" with 4 songs after they missed 1994). Also, about a quarter of the songs were originals of some sort, either studio, demos or live debuts. The last few years have alternated between 2 covers and 2 live tracks, then a few years of an original plus a cover. Unfortunately the recent singles have included some stuff that was already widely available online albeit in better quality. A full list of PJ's holiday singles can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam_discography#Ten_Club_Holiday_singles

As for the membership overall, it's probably still worth the money but the value has definitely declined (at least for me). In the past, fan club members were able to order tickets to multiple shows per tour and seating was based on seniority. While my number wasn't the greatest, I was able to get tickets to a lot of shows and secure seats that would've probably been impossible to acquire via Ticketmaster. They've since changed to a lottery for every show which greatly reduces they chances of getting tickets to multiple shows. As I've gotten older, my ability and desire to see a week of shows has decreased but it's still disappointing that I probably wouldn't be able to do so with Ten Club tickets.

It's pretty hard to say if they fan club will be worth it without knowing what your interests and expectations are. If you sign up just for tickets, know that the band might not tour every year or if they do, might not play many shows or shows nearby. I'm sure there are some people that sign up just for the merch and PJ offers a ton of it now. That was never a huge draw for me but it's there. The single is still a decent offering but as I said before, it can be pretty hit or miss, so you're taking a risk if that's your main interest. There's also access to PJ radio, the fan forums, and some other exclusives on their website. In the past I've considered not renewing my membership but it seems worth it to maintain access to some of these things and keep my seniority from 1997.

A lot of this can be transferred over to the 45 RPM Club. I know Gaslight's not going to tour every year and I know the single's going to be late (or might suck) but I'll give them $20 for a few years and hope they figure things out.

Thank you so much for the detailed response! I never would've guessed there'd be that many covers involved. I think not having that foresight then for the 45 club it made it seem even more ridiculous to have covers for the 7". I still think it's a crappy "perk" but I can't expect any band to have a quality new song for a fan club every year. As I've said, it could've been articulated better for those of us with no previous fan club experience, but anyway. If 45 follows this pattern (which I assume it will) I'm just gonna go with digital from now on. 20 is worth the perks. 40 not so much.

As for the ten club, it sounds like one of those things where having a decent number makes it still worth holding on to, but I'm not sure of this late in the game it's worth signing up. Although from what little merch I've seen it seems like the club has better stuff. The general public stuff mostly sucks in my opinion. Anyway, thanks for the info!

Got mine today! No download card. Going to listen to it now.

Just what I noticed though. Mines not that blue color?! So we know there's multiple pressings. My membership number is low so how could I got bumped from that press?! Unless mine is the first press? Need answers lol.

How's the new song?

looks a bit shabby tobe honest.

I'm a bad reviewer but:

The waits cover is about 2:13 long. I compared it to the original, quickly, but not in depth. So it has horns. Some drums. And Brian mimics that hard voice in some areas. I guess similar to that THC Mary ann hardness. But he's also melodic(?) light(?) too. it's a mixture of hard and soft

The twopointeight is about 3:56 long. Full band song. More "mellower" I'd say. Like they don't go hard like, lets say, great expectations. More like a ladykiller soft sort of groove. Idk I really relate this one to ladykiller for some reason. It's interesting.

I'm going to let these sit before I pass judgement. But twopointeights is a nice little tune...

I thought there were supposed to be an original song?

zerb012345 wrote:

I thought there were supposed to be an original song?

Go back a page or so lol, two covers.

Debonair wrote:

zerb012345 wrote:

I thought there were supposed to be an original song?

Go back a page or so lol, two covers.

oh my bad lol. Still, new Gaslight stuff.
and "I thought there were supposed to be an original song"? really? wow. I should have proof read that.

The t-shirt looks much nicer than last year, at least.

Dig the green vinyl.

steady now steady now wrote:

So, are these full band or solo acoustic?

I got mine today and I can now say that they are not solo acoustic.  This chimes with Benny's tweet of long ago, which 'Debonair' reminded me of, that they were working on songs for the fan club.

'Debonair' has already described the songs quite well.  I actually enjoyed them, not least hearing some new instruments like horns and keyboards/synth.

It is odd that there was no download card, and that the download has not been released to club members yet, but maybe they are trying to prevent rips appearing online right away.

Wow uk got theirs fast?! I'm wondering if they preshipped the oversea ones so there wasn't an unfair US has them weeks before.

Debonair wrote:

Wow uk got theirs fast?! I'm wondering if they preshipped the oversea ones so there wasn't an unfair US has them weeks before.

I have a feeling I may have had a certain advantage here ...   

We'll see how long it takes overall, both within the US and to the UK and elsewhere.