Pearl Jam
Ten (1991)
Genre: Grunge, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock
What a colossal album, Ten is one of those ground breaking debut productions, I listened to recently first time in about 10 years this past week, and I was
floored to remember how good this album was, to rediscover this masterpiece .
Back in the day when this production came out, I stole it from my dad who had
bought it on cassette. Now if you
haven't listen to this album stop reading this review and get your hands on it
.
Vocals and Lyric: Eddie Vedder is one of the most gifted rock singers
ever and even on this band first album, he just knocks it out of the park, with
mega anthemic "Even Flow", somewhat personal "Alive" and
the very political charged "Jeremy" which is about gun violence and
school shootings, that sadly is still a very revlevant today in the US. 12
Instrumentation:
Guitar: Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, are probably
one the best guitar units in a rock band out there, they have already have a
defined style on this album with some notable influences from old school blues
solos and Jimi Hendrix licks on the more
mellow tracks.
Bass: Jeff Ament is one of the best rock/hard rock
bass players ever, he is present on each sonf doing stuff, keeping the bass
line interesting, but never overloads the song. Plus on this album he uses
other than a traditional electric bass, he uses a fretless bass or a upright
bass on a couple of tracks and a special
bass on Jeremy that on ever bass string
it has the equivalent guitar string giving the bass a very warm sound.
Drums: Dave
Krusen does a fantastic job, but
his playing is highlighted on a outtake called "Dirty Frank", note
Dirty Frank has a break where they play "Freaky Style2 from the Red Hot
Chili Peppers, which caught me totally by surprise 7.6
Melody and/or
Structure: Eddie Vedder's melodic work on tracks like "Black" is just
phenomenal. 12
Sound, Production and Feeling: This probably
the only aspect that didn't hold up over the years it sounds like a late 80's
at moments 8
Songs: Killer track list, the whole band is just
focused on making great songs. 11
The Bad:
Originality: This album is a milestone Grunge album, these guys where
the trail blazer with Nivana for the Grunge and Alternative rock of the 90's 12
Overall: 62.6
Vs. (1993)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Grunge, Hard Rock
I must note to you the reader that I also had this album on cassette and I loved
walking around town with my walkman with
this album blasting my ears and oh man this Pearl Jam album just comes out swinging, it probably has the heaviest
none metal tracks out there, with Go, Animal and Blood are freaking intense,
these tracks probably will scare any casual listeners the band picked up with
Ten, that's a ballsy move for these guys.
The album in general leans more on alternative rock
than on grunge, it does lack focus at moment like most alternative rock albums. Now breaking down this album let's
start with Eddie, the main change for Vedder on this album is that at
moments he sounds more intense and like a dude about to lose it, just adding to
the heavier songs. The Guitars have the same high quality of playing,
but they add more pedal effects. And my last instrumental observation is that
the band has a new drummer Dave
Abbruzzese.
Now on a song level this album has some mega tracks,
but this production does have fillers, but because most of the album is so good
you barely notice. A major improvement compared to the last album is that this album does sound much better,
Brendan O'Brien production work just makes this album sound timeless, fresh and
chuck full of energy.
Overall: 61.5
Vitalogy (1994)
Genre: Grunge, Alternative Rock
On this album the band dives deeper to establish their own style
and sound, only equatable to Pearl Jam, the more energetic tracks have a punky
feel and energy and the the more mellow track know how to take their time. It's
a much more focused than Ten and Vs, and in general it a fantastic album very
well rounded that grow on you over time as a whole.
Overall: 59
No Code (1996)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Grunge
I was such a
dick when I was teen my dad gave me this album and Binaural as a gift
from trip and since I was super into
metal at the time, anything related to grunge was lame so I gave both albums to a
friend, and man what a stupid mistake I had committed, because they where
fantastic productions, Now on this album Pearl Jam
proceeds in their journey to go deeper into their own sound it a progression
from their last album, its more folky and hippy in feeling and in tone, but the
material isn't as good as the previous album, but don't get me wrong the track
list is pretty good in general. This is the
first album with the Ex Red Hot Chili Peppers Jack Irons on the drums.
Overall: 50.9
Yield (1998)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Hard Rock
PJ is back and they sound pumped, reinvigorated and with no string attached, even
though they don't break new ground, they serve the listener with batch of
fantastic straight up rock songs, and "Do the Evolution" put them on
the radar of a new generation of fans.
Overall: 58.5
Binaural (2000)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Man these guys are still running strong with another
album that is solid as hell, they have matured as song writers and have made a
very balanced album, they know what it takes to rock out, but also exploring
the more mellow Psychedelic side of rock, fantastic use of atmospheric type of
mix, use of silence, a calm tone and bluesy solos, you can't go wrong . This
album has the addition of the Sound Garden's drummer Matt Cameron.
Overall: 59.5
Riot Act (2002)
Genre: Alternative Rock
One thing is very apparent on this album some of the
songs have much more effort put in them than others
for example "You Are"
is a impressive track with a brilliant use of pedal effect or "I Am
Mine" there first single in a long
time has tons of good arrangements, but the rest of the album is pretty bland with
a few good rockers.
Overall: 49.2
