Ten - Pearl Jam

Advantages: Pioneers of grunge, originality.
Disadvantages: Couple of weaker tracks.

...affect the music at all. Ten is a grungy, riff-based, intelligent marvel of a record. And if you were expecting grunge then you wont be disappointed – opener ‘Once’ is built on a rough riff, heavy drum beat and Vedder’s raw vocals. Oh and of course, solo’s aplenty. This heavier element is witnessed at several key points throughout the album – second tracks ‘Even Flow’ continues what ‘Once’ started with again the heavy guitar sound, peaking chorus ...
...did. This isn’t true and Ten shows this with its blend of mellow and hard, soft and strong, hard riffs and chill out slow burning tracks. With Nirvana often being named as the band who created grunge, Pearl Jam do perhaps get over looked. But this is a band who have stood the test of time and are still releasing music over ten years after their explosive debut, ‘Ten’. With the timely revival of grunge in the shape of Bush, InMe, Everclear and Nickleback ... Read review

Advantages: Eddies vocals, some nice tunes.
Disadvantages: The Nirvana "connection"

PEARL JAM - TEN ---------------- Pearl Jam, are a slightly unknown band in this country, which is a big shame as we seem to miss out on so much great american rock music, and end up with the watered down pop, even when we do get a nice guitar in a song, its by a "band" such as Busted, now dont get me wrong, i can see why lots of young kids like their music but it doesnt rock! So this brings me to an album that does Rock, released way back in 1991, ...
...got into, i mean i was only 11 at the time!! know 12 years later this album is still as strong and fresh as it was then. THE BAND -------- Pearl Jam were originally known as Mother Love Bone, but with the tragic death of their lead singer Andrew Wood, there came this great band. Forming after the lead singer Eddie Vedder got a demo tape from the then Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer, Jack Irons, who later went on to be a Pearl Jam drummer. This ... Read review

Advantages: Every track is a true gem. 'Black', 'Alive' and 'Evenflow' are personal favourites.
Disadvantages: That there's only 11 songs!

Pearl Jam can be summed up simply: grunge for the thinking man. More intelligent than Nirvana but equally edgy, this album should be as famous as the latter's 'Nevermind,' but for some inexplicable reason, it isn't. This is their best album, a classic, and contains a massive variety of musical styles and ideas. 'Jeremy,' MTV's video of the year at the time is one of many outstanding grunge anthems. Evenflow is punchy and rocks on a steady groove, ...
...as opposed to Nirvana's 'ground-breaking' Smells Like Teen Spirit. However it's not all Eddie Vedder's trademark grunty voice over hard rock songs, this album has a sensitive side aswell, which is brought out best in 'Black' and 'Oceans', tracks that also prove the bands musical ability. These guys can really play their instruments, in particular bassist Jeff Ament, who, whilst having a penchant for wearing silly hats, plays 8 and 12 string basses ... Read review

Advantages: Stunning, jaw-dropping, powerful and immediate, I hope that's an advantage.
Disadvantages: That is wasn't four times as long on the same vibe, as Pearl Jam lost the edge after this debut.

Pearl Jam 10 is without doubt the best debut around. No frills no spills, just simply the best. When they got together, they had just four days of solid practising and jamming before launching into a gig, and the album followed very soon after. With a raw edge about it, it has a warmth to it that very few artists acheive in the studio, a real immediacy. Starting with the driving Once it sets its path from the off, before launching furiously into ...
...with another blues anchored speed solo.Alive comes next and what an anthum it is before slipping into the screeching, aggresive Why go. Then the mood eases for Black, beautiful and emotional, Jeremy and Oceans, the only track that doesn't have the live potential of the others. Back on to the harder rock vibe sees Porch scream by (check out MTV Unplugged for the best version of Porch - and my favourite rock song - that you'll ever hear) and shift ... Read review

Advantages: a classic
Disadvantages: quite old now

this was a brilliant album, everyone said Pearl Jam were like nirvana but I always thought they were more like guns and roses. They could do the punky fast paced songs like nivana eg Why Go home and Porch but could also do the big rock ballards like Jeremy and Black. The lyrics are really personal and Eddie Vedder who is the lead singer has a very deep voice but has a good range and good delivery. Every song is a classic from this album starting ... Read review