Cameron Crowe‘s Pearl Jam Twenty, a documentary about the rock band Pearl Jam, will premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival before making its way later that month to select theaters.

A 384-page hardcover book will be released on September 13 in conjunction with the film, as well as, of course, a 2-disc soundtrack, which will include 29 unreleased tracks (see full track listing here below). The soundtrack comes out on September 20, 2011, but you can take a listen to one song from it, “Crown of Thorns,” right now in the player below.

You can also check out the trailer for the film here below. The doc is said to contain tons of rare video, interviews, and music of the Seattle band, who’s now celebrating 20 years together, as well as many hours of recent footage shot by Crowe. If you’re a fan of the band, this is going to be a real treat.

The MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is Into The Wild Motion Picture Soundtrack, from Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, for only $3.99.

Vedder played all of the instruments on the album, which includes nine original and two cover songs.

The album is also available on CD for $9.54.

Note, this deal is valid only for today, Wednesday, June 15, 2011.

Pearl Jam
Live On Ten Legs
Monkeywrench
Released January 17 (UK) January 18 (U.S.: CD | MP3) 2011

I hate Pearl Jam. I’ve spent many hours on my guitar trying to sound as good as Stone Gossard and Mike McCready. I gave up a long time ago trying to play the bass like Jeff Ament and I have as much chance of being a better drummer than Matt Cameron as I have of finding a voice like Eddie Vedder in my armpit. I find them sickeningly good and I can barely stand it.

Of course, I am joking about my ‘hatred’: I adore Pearl Jam. This year Pearl Jam has lined up a list of surprises to coincide with the 20th anniversary of its debut album, Ten. To kick things off comes the release of new live album, Live On Ten Legs. Recorded at various concerts during 2003-2010 and at 18 tracks long it’s a good collection of Pearl Jam songs with at least one track from all of its back catalogue (with the exception of No Code).

Pearl Jam was the musical guest on last night’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by Jude Law, and now video from their performance is online.

The band played two songs — “Just Breathe” and “Unthought Known” — and also appeared in one of the skits. All three videos are here below.

I was hoping the writers would find a way to fit Pearl Jam into one of their sketches, like they’ve done with so many musical guests before. While their appearance was cool and definitely worth watching, I wish they could have gotten more screen time. The skit they were in was a take on the classic monster on the wing episode of The Twilight Zone.

While I love Pearl Jam and the two songs they performed, I think they were poor choices to play on SNL. They were very Eddie Vedder centric and are some of their slower, quieter sections. I’m not that that’s a bad thing, but with only two selections I’d expect them to perform something where every band member had plenty to do and where at least one song was more hard rock. It was still good, though, I’m just saying I thought it strange. Both tunes are from their latest album Backspacer.

In 2006, Pearl Jam spent a week touring the Italian countryside. They put on concerts from Bologna to Pistoia, playing landmark venues such as the medieval Piazza del Duomo, and the Arena di Verona — a roman amphitheatre built in 30 AD.

Along with them they brought famed celebrity photographer Danny Clinch to document their journey, both on and off stage. Using several different video formats including Super-8 and High Definition, Clinch expertly captures the energy and emotion of the band’s live performances, as well as the intimate and quiet moments in-between.

With his unrestricted access and unique perspective, Clinch is able to put together a concert video/road documentary that I imagine plays as close to real life as you’re likely to get without risking a restraining order. Immagine in Cornice, which translates from Italian as Picture in a Frame, comes across as just that — a candid snapshot of the lives of six musicians as they rock their way through the hamlets and cities of Italy.

And ROCK they do! The two and a half hour documentary chronicles thirteen of their performances from throughout the week-long tour, covering many of their most well-known songs like Alive, Even Flow, and Better Man as well as face-melters like Blood (see track listing below). This is due in large part to singer Eddie Vedder, who we learn compiles each night’s set-list mere moments before the show is set to begin based on a myriad of meta-intangibles, such as the evening’s energy and vibe.