When you think of the grunge movement, one name originally comes
\nto mind – Pearl Jam. With their debut album
\nTen<\/i>, they won the hearts and acclaim of millions of fans,
\nand set a standard for the alternative world.<\/p>\n
So I guess you’d expect me to hold this album up on a pedestal
\nand praise this album to the point of nausea.<\/p>\n
Well, get your flame mail ready, ’cause it ain’t gonna happen.
\nWhile this album has some very solid performances and is worthy of
\nsome praise,
\nTen<\/i> is not the masterpiece many people want to make this
\nalbum out to be. It is, in fact, spotty.<\/p>\n
Eddie Vedder and crew deserve great praise for their two hits,
\n“Alive” and “Jeremy,” songs which defy the rules of radio success
\nbecause of the common lack of rhymes. Maybe this is what makes
\nthese songs so appealing – the fact that they break the mold. The
\ndual guitar attack of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready is a powerful
\nforce that hasn’t been heard often in rock music, and Jeff Ament’s
\nbass work is subtle but as powerful as a sledgehammer.<\/p>\n
Two other songs stand out as solid efforts from Pearl Jam.
\n“Evenflow” is another song released as a single with a scorching
\nguitar line. However, the surprise here is “Release,” a song whose
\npower is in its gentleness. Vedder’s vocals build from a soft hum
\nto a wail that chills to the bone. Some versions I’ve heard on
\nlow-quality bootlegs from their first tour are quite powerful –
\neven blowing away this version.<\/p>\n
But the rest of
\nTen<\/i> is quite stagnant. “Why Go” is a little too wild and
\nuncontrolled, while “Black” tends to ramble.too much. A good
\nportion of the second half of the album is made up of sheer filler,
\nsongs which are nothing special. In fact, if it weren’t for the two
\nhits,
\nTen<\/i> would merely be an average debut album, not the
\nmulti-million seller it became.<\/p>\n
So what caused
\nTen<\/i> to build from sluggish sales to the phenomenon it
\nbecame? One word: airplay. Another word: overkill. While bands like
\nSoundgarden and Nirvana earned their dues and took their time
\nbuilding up a fan base, Pearl Jam seemed to come from nowhere and
\novertake their competition. (And please don’t flame me to remind me
\nabout Green River and Mother Love Bone – if it hadn’t been for
\nAndrew Wood’s overdose, Pearl Jam would never have happened… and
\nthey were together only for one album, for Chrissake.)<\/p>\n
But with the advent of alternative popular radio (and a huge
\nmedia push from Sony Music), Pearl Jam went from nobodies to
\nheadliners. (I had the opportunity to interview Pearl Jam before
\ntheir breakthrough – and I passed it by. Chalk up one of the few
\nmistakes I’ve made.)<\/p>\n
While the singles on this one are worth the effort and are
\njustification enough to purchase this one,
\nTen<\/i> is not the par excellence fans of Pearl Jam make it out
\nto be. It’s worth checking out, just be cautious on many of the
\ntracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5726],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-35604","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pearl-jam","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35604"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35604"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}