Here's the first thing you should know before giving Stone Gossard's Bayleaf a spin: this ain't Pearl Jam. Though Stone Gossard, sideman for the seminal Seattle alt-rock outfit, has been banging out riff after unstoppable riff for the past decade, Bayleaf is a decidedly more light-hearted affair--- Gossard's attempt at quirky guitar-pop.

So, is Bayleaf Pearl Jam goes pop? No, because nothing here really resembles Pearl Jam. Stone's vocals echo that of "Mankind," the tongue-in-cheek pop-rock gem he wrote for PJ's 1996 album No Code, but the music is about as dissimilar as one can get.

Stone Gossard, together with an unofficial assemblance of friends and acquaintances, decided to take a more layered approach than his work with his more famous band. He has abandoned his stripped-down brand of arena-rock for something a bit more multi-faceted. Lyrically, Stone's songs are cryptic, and not as emotional as PJ frontman Eddie Vedder's lyrics tend to be. Musically, Stone has tapped into every possible musical crevasse--- '60s jangle-pop, Byrds-like 12-string flourishes, blues-rock--- to create something a little, shall we say, friendlier?

That's not to say that you're going to be hearing Bayleaf all over the radio any time soon. I mean, let's face it, I doubt anyone that bought this album would have without Stone's involvement in Pearl Jam. And half of the people that *did* buy Bayleaf were probably disappointed half-hearted PJ listeners who wish the band would go back to their harder-rocking days of Ten and Vs. Therein lies one of the reasons I like Bayleaf so much, actually--- Stone's adamant distancing of Pearl Jam-like material. Heck, if Stone's still in good with his bandmates and feels like writing PJ-ish songs, what's to stop him from just contributing to a PJ record? Pearl Jam have moved on from the days of "Alive" and "Even Flow," and, as much as I like those songs, I wouldn't want them to go back to that. Been there, done that, and so on and so forth. Same goes for Gossard. As much as I like what he does with Pearl Jam, I didn't/don't want Bayleaf to be a PJ record.

Luckily, he hasn't. He recalls other musicians at times, sure, but what honest-to-God recording artist hasn't? Lyrically, he conjures up the libido of Mick Jagger on the catchy chorus of the whip-smart-sarcastic "Pigeon": "I'm not through sleeping/ I'm not through sleeping around." "Fits" has vague echoes of Iggy Pop, and "Unhand Me" sounds like it could have been one of Soundgarden's lighter tunes.

Gossard's written every song on here, and he sings on all but one track. The only other constant presence throughout the album is Stone's friend Pete Droge, who generally shoulders guitar duties along with Gossard. Singer Ty Wilman lends his vocals to three tracks--- "Unhand Me," "Cadillac," and "Fend It Off"--- and sings backup on "Hellbent." There's an assortment of drummers--- including Matt Chamberlin, Mike Stone, and, on three tracks, Mr. Gossard himself--- and bassists, bass duties normally taken on by Guy Davis, but occasionally by Gossard or Droge.

Upbeat, quirky, melodic guitar-pop is generally the name of the game here. The avant-garde smirk-pop of "Bore Me"; the gospel-esque rumination on dysfunctional families "Every Family," bolstered by Ron Weinstein's Hammond organ; the uber-poppy, percussive "Cadillac."

But every now and again, Gossard and company toss a wrench into the machinery. The appropriately-titled "Fits" is the most melancholy song on here, and, while Gossard appears to be most adept at incendiary jangle-pop, the dark, sparse track ends up being the best on the album. Another standout track is "Unhand Me," the best track to feature Ty Wilman on lead vocals--- Stone actually does the soft-verse loud-chorus thing here, which generally comes off as gimmicky, but works in favor of "Unhand Me" here. For pretty much that reason alone "Unhand Me" is the only song that one could remotely picture Pearl Jam performing.

"Anchors" and the title track are both softer, piano-driven pieces. "Bayleaf," especially, the longest song here, is gorgeous. Of course, as indicated by my four-star rating, the album does stumble near the end--- "Hellbent" and "Fend It Off" aren't nearly as strong as the rest of the songs on Bayleaf, and they seem hastily tacked on, most likely due to their placement at the very end of the album.

With Bayleaf, Stone Gossard has crafted something that's beyond Pearl Jam. Full of catchy hooks, gorgeous melodies, and incendiary songcraft, Bayleaf comes awful close to being a guitar-pop masterpiece. I love what Gossard does with Pearl Jam, but he's piqued my interest with Bayleaf--- what, exactly, could this man accomplish outside of the confines of his day band? Hopefully, Stone Gossard will release another solo record, and we'll all learn the answer to that question.





Recommended: Yes