Mirror Ball is the twenty-third studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, and features members of American rock band Pearl Jam. It was released on June 27, 1995, through Reprise Records. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA in the United States.
In the same year, Pearl Jam released an accompanying EP titled Merkin Ball.
The album was remastered and reissued in 2026 by Warner Records.
Background
As grunge peaked in popularity in the early 1990s, some of the bands expressed admiration for Young's career and influence. At least one music writer noted a similarity in ethos and style between the emerging genre and Young's work, dubbing him the "Godfather of Grunge". Of the younger groups, Young had a particularly close relationship with Pearl Jam. He explains, "We're sympathetic. They're definitely old souls—they've been around. Musically there's youthful energy, but without the sound of inexperience. And our musical styles are compatible; it's like a big wall of sound with a lot of nuances in there." Pearl Jam incorporated "Rockin' in the Free World" into their setlists throughout their 1992 tour. In October, both artists performed, separately, at Bob Dylan's The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, and Young invited the band to play an acoustic set two weeks later at that year's Bridge School Benefit concert. Pearl Jam appeared as an opening act on Young's 1993 tour of North America with Booker T. & the M.G.'s. In September, Young joined the group to perform "Rockin' in the Free World" at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards.
In January 1995, Young asked Eddie Vedder to induct him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Later that week, Young agreed to appear alongside Pearl Jam at a benefit supporting Voters for Choice, where he performed new songs "Song X" and "Act of Love" with his longtime collaborators Crazy Horse. At the benefit, Pearl Jam joined Young on stage for an encore performance of "Act of Love", which the band had learned by recording Young's set at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Young was inspired by the performance and became eager to record the song with the band in a studio. "I said, 'Maybe we ought to record it. It sounds good.' They were thinking the same thing. So we set a date to go in and record. I wanted to have more than one song, so I came in with three songs in hand."
Recording
The album's recording sessions took place in January 1995 and February 1995 at Ann and Nancy Wilson's Bad Animals Studio in Seattle. The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien, who had previously worked on Pearl Jam's 1993 album, Vs., and 1994 album, Vitalogy.
Young joined Pearl Jam in the studio in January 1995, eleven days after performing with the band at an abortion-rights benefit in Washington, D.C. The album was recorded in four days' studio time (January 26, January 27, February 7, and February 10). Young recorded the songs live in the studio, songs he had written the day before each session. "The beauty of the thing is that hardly any talking had to happen at all. I'd bring the song in and run it down, then everybody would play it. I don't think we did more than five takes on anything. We all knew what we had to do. Everybody was together." Vedder explained that he was "in the midst of a pretty intense stalker problem," adding that "leaving the house wasn't the easiest thing to do." Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard said that Mirror Ball "came at a time when we needed it, that Neil thought we were a band that would be good to make a record with. He probably felt sorry for us. He made it all right for us to be who we were. He's not taking his career so seriously that he can't take chances. Suddenly, our band seemed too serious."
On the lyrical content of Mirror Ball, Young said, "There's idealism and reality, the two have got to come together yet there are always major problems when they do. Maybe that's the crux of what I'm trying to say in this new album. It's also a commentary of the differences between my peace and love '60s generation and the more cynical '90s generation." He elaborates in a contemporary radio interview: "It's kind of like a bunch of flashes of things going on all at the same time or something. So you get kind of the feeling that your life is flashing before you. So that makes you think you're floating up on the ceiling somewhere watching. I just got caught up in this thing where everything just kept happening and all I could do was write it down."
"Downtown" includes references to Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. The reference to Led Zeppelin was partly inspired by Young's performance with the band at the 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where they played "When the Levee Breaks" together.
"Throw Your Hatred Down" explores the nature of conflict and shares a message of non-violence. "I was thinking about the kids in the schoolyard who are fighting - like just the different ways to go and they're started right there. Just how...where does it start...where do we start the conflict? You know, where does it begin? It must begin at birth or something, because conflict is always there. It seems part of our nature, as sad as it sounds. I mean it must just be there...and I just, you know...was drifting around in my head trying...I just had all these images of this...conflict and people planning ways to overcome evil and evil planning ways to encroach on good."
The album closes with the extended "Scenery" featuring the group with Brendan O'Brien on piano and "Fallen Angel" which reprises the melody of "I'm the Ocean" with Young alone on pump organ.
Packaging
A mirror ball graces the album's cover. Because of legal complications between their respective record companies, only Young's name appears on the album sleeve, although the members of Pearl Jam are credited individually in the album's liner notes. Pearl Jam's Merkin Ball complements the layout and content of the album packaging for Mirror Ball.
Tour
Following the completion of Mirror Ball, the members of Pearl Jam (minus Vedder) and producer O'Brien (on keyboards) joined Young in August 1995 for an eleven-date tour in Europe to promote the album. When the band toured, fans referred to them as "Neil Jam". Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready said, "It was a dream come true. We got to play a bunch of Neil Young songs with Neil Young himself and got to go to Berlin, to Jerusalem, to the Red Sea." This tour proved very successful with Young's manager Elliot Roberts calling it "one of the greatest tours we ever had in our whole lives." The performance in Dublin was professionally filmed and recorded for potential commercial release.
Reception
Mirror Ball reached number five on the Billboard 200 album chart. Mirror Ball has been certified gold by the RIAA.
NME gave Mirror Ball a nine out of ten. In the review, Mirror Ball is called "another fine Neil Young album....the record's sound is...big, woolly, live and booming." Mirror Ball received a nomination for Best Rock Album.
Track listing
Outtakes
The songs "I Got Id" and "Long Road", both written and sung by Vedder, were cut from the album. The tracks were later released on Pearl Jam's 1995 Merkin Ball EP.
Personnel
- Neil Young – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, pump organ
;Pearl Jam
- Jeff Ament – bass guitar
- Stone Gossard – electric guitar
- Jack Irons – drums
- Mike McCready – electric guitar
- Eddie Vedder – vocals on "Peace and Love", background vocals
;Production
- Brendan O'Brien – production, mixing, electric guitar, piano, background vocals
- John Aguto, Sam Hofstedt, Chad Munsey – assistant engineering
- Nicky Alexander, Girsh – drum technicians
- Joel Bernstein – production assistance, typography, and mosaic portrait of Neil Young
- Gary Burden – art direction and design
- Rhonda Burns – CD label computer graphics
- Nick DiDia – additional engineering
- Henry Diltz – back cover and inside photo
- Brett Eliason – engineering
- Emek – logo lettering
- Joe Gastwirt – Analog to HDCD transfers, digital editing, digital mastering
- John Hausman – production assistance
- KPOB – art direction and design assistance
- Tim Mulligan – digital editing, digital mastering
- John Nowland – Analog to HDCD transfers
- Jeff Ousley, Tim "Scully" Quinlan – guitar technicians
- "Pflash" Pflaumer – assistance
- Sal Trentino – amplifier technician
- Ian Geiger – guitar technician
- George Webb – bass technician
- Keith Wissmar – ambience
Chart positions
Album
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Chart (1995)
! scope="col" | Peak<br />Position
|-
! scope="row" | Norwegian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 2
|-
! scope="row"| Swedish Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 3
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 4
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 4
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| style="text-align:center;"| 5
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 4
|-
! scope="row"| German Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 8
|-
! scope="row"| New Zealand Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 10
|-
! scope="row" | Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)
| style="text-align:center;" | 11
|-
! scope="row"| Austrian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 15
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 18
|-
! scope="row"| Swiss Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 24
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!scope="column"|Chart (1995)
!scope="column"|Position
|-
! scope="row"|German Albums Chart
|align="center"|48
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2"| Year
!rowspan="2"| Single
!colspan="2"| Peak chart positions
|-
!style="width:2.5em;font-size:75%"| US Main<br />
!style="width:2.5em;font-size:75%"| CAN<br />
|-
|rowspan="2"|1995
|"Downtown"
| style="text-align:center;"| 6
| style="text-align:center;"| 13
|-
|"Peace and Love"
| style="text-align:center;"| 34
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| colspan="30" style="text-align:center; font-size:8pt;"| "—" denotes songs that did not chart.
|}
Certifications and sales
References
External links
- Mirror Ball information at neilyoung.com