Pearl Jam reteams with producer O'Brien for new disc (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Pearl Jam has started recording itsninth studio album, guitarist Mike McCready told Seattle radiostation KISW on Thursday (May 1).

Though only "four or five" songs are complete so far,McCready said the band hopes to release the record in 2008.

The new effort, a follow-up to the group's self-titled 2006album, finds Pearl Jam reteaming with longtime producer BrendanO'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against the Machine) for thefirst time since 1998's "Yield." O'Brien has also producedPearl Jam's "Vs." (1993), "Vitalogy" (1994) and "No Code"

(1996).

"Brendan works really fast," bassist Jeff Ament has told. "He's a super pro. I've always felt, workingwith him, that he understood me as a bass player and that's notalways easy. A lot of producers are there to please the singer.But I've always had a great rapport with him. I can tell him Iwant something to sound like the O'Jays or Led Zeppelin or PJHarvey and he gets it."

Pearl Jam is about to embark on a 13-date East Coast tourthat runs from June 11-30.

Reuters/Billboard