Ten - Pearl Jam > Reviews > The Original and Best

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

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

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

PEARL JAM – TEN

Perhaps it’s because their lead singer didn’t die an untimely death. Perhaps it’s because the band never burnt away but carried on going and stood the test of time. Perhaps it’s because the band weren’t thrown into the media spotlight in the same way Mr. Cobain and co. were. Whatever the reason is this album, which helped to define grunge in exactly equal measures to Nirvana’s Nevermind album has been overshadowed by its fellow genre giant – and unfairly so.

When the grunge scene exploded from Seattle in the early 90’s bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and indeed Pearl Jam were those leading the way. Formed from the remains of Mother Love, a band split due to the death of their vocalist and Californian singer/songwriter Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam were responsible for one of the most grunge defining albums of the 90’s, Ten.
Hounded by the press for being ‘Fake Grunge’ at the time the band spent less time in the spotlight than Nirvana but this didn’t 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 and emotion riddled raw vocals. Perhaps the best known track on the album ‘Alive’ is a grunge anthem and along with ‘Teen Spirit’, is one of the best grunge songs ever written and definitely a highlight as is the steady giant ‘Jeremy’ a song about a boy in Texas who killed himself in front of his school class.

Other tracks demonstrating the original grunge sound which so many bands have tried…and failed to reproduce (yes Nickleback we are talking about you…) include Porch, an album highlight as its hectic sound flattens out into a chorus sung by Vedder like a man desperately trying to get words out of his mouth on his final breath of air, Why Go and Deep which complete the grungey core of this album.

But what’s that? There’s more to Pearl Jam than the grunge they created? That’s right. The band has a more subtle, quieter side to them – much like their front man. Black, often hailed by today’s elite brand of rock stars as one of the greatest songs if not just by Pearl Jam but of all time is a creative jem on the album. Sounding like a lost man Vedder sings with a regretful tone to a slow burning and powerful tracks tinted with emotion, especially on its final peak as Vedder cries ‘I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life…why can’t it be with me?’. A highlight for any album. Though other mellower tracks on the album, such as the chilled out ‘Oceans’, the sleepy ‘Garden’ which builds into a powerful yet slow chorus, the anathematic ballad of ‘Release’ and the faint ‘Wash’, don’t grab you in the way Black does, they are all tracks of beauty that balance out the mix between heavy and mellow that the band have created on the album. The album finishes on ‘Dirty Frank’ an upbeat comedy tracks bearing a striking resemblance to ‘Give It Away’ by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers with erratic lyrics – a positive closing to what is a very complete album.

As the pioneers of grunge it is often assumed by those who haven’t given the band a proper chance that this is all they 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 and another growth in the popularity of Nirvana due to box-sets, journals and law suits etc… perhaps its time to take a look back to and remember where it all started with the original and the best ten years ago, ‘Ten’.