RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
Ten – Pearl Jam
First of all, thanks to @BlueHammer85 for this nomination. It’s an album that I own but haven’t played for years, so it’s interesting to revisit this one after all these years.
Whether they wanted to or not, Pearl Jam became one of the standard bearers for the grunge movement as it hit its peak in the early 90s, and Ten was of the course one of the big albums of that time. But what is grunge? Let’s get this one out of the way first.
In all honesty, it feels like a marketing term because the main “grunge” bands all sounded radically different: Nirvana played punk-inspired loud-soft/loud-soft music, Alice in Chains were closer to Bon Jovi or Poison than the others and Pearl Jam joined Soundgarden in playing classic rock. So, for the sake of argument, let’s just say grunge is playing some form of rock, being from Seattle, wearing a lumberjack shirt and involuntarily being recruited by the marketing men in return for a leg-up in the music business.
You can see why Ten sold by the bucket-load: it’s slick stadium rock ready to take on tour. Granted, Eddie Vedder’s lyrics concerning outcasts and tortured souls maybe provides Pearl Jam with something that differentiates them from other mainstream rock bands of the time, but this is definitely more mainstream than Nirvana.
The feelings I get from listening to this are not much different from 30-odd years ago. I was disappointed that such a hugely touted album sounded so underwhelming. It’s not bad, far from it, but for the most part, it doesn’t live up to the hype. It rumbles along pleasantly enough, but for me there are very few standout tracks or moments.
The highlights arrive early: “Even Flow” has a great pace to it. There’s a lot going on with the guitars and bass whilst Eddie applies his trademark vocals. “Alive” is by far the best track on the album for me – in fact it’s one of the best rock songs of the 90s. That opening electric guitar and acoustic strum, the chorus and then the guitar solo that just seems to go on forever as the song reaches its climax, the drums and bass thrumming faster and faster. It’s a true masterpiece.
However, after this 1-2 (or actually, 2-3), the thrills are few and far between. Despite Foggy’s recent comment, I enjoyed “Black” more this time. It’s a gentler start to a song that increases in intensity as it progresses, and that seven-note piano (keyboard?) part is very nicely done. “Jeremy” is a great rock song, telling the true story of a high school student who shot himself in front of his class. “Jeremy spoke in class today” is such a powerful lyric.
After “Jeremy”, it feels like the album is downhill. I do like “Garden” and the guitar solo just over halfway through is sublime, and whilst there’s nothing bad here, it all feels a bit humdrum.
Whilst possible to review Ten without comparing it to Nirvana’s Nevermind and Soundgarden’s Superunknown, I’m not going to, because the latter option is far more fun. I own all three of these albums and whilst I appreciate their places in rock history, I have issues with all of them. From a personal point-of-view, I like about half of Nevermind, the rest being a bit too shouty or weird for me. Superunknown is my favourite of the three and has four or five absolutely immense tracks (and Chris Cornell’s voice is amazing) but at fifteen tracks it’s about 50% too long.
So, whilst Nevermind is therefore a 50% for me and Superunknown 66%, Ten is less than 50%. It’s certainly good enough for 6/10, and if there were more tracks on the same level as “Alive” and “Jeremy”, it would be a 7 or 8.
First of all, thanks to @BlueHammer85 for this nomination. It’s an album that I own but haven’t played for years, so it’s interesting to revisit this one after all these years.
Whether they wanted to or not, Pearl Jam became one of the standard bearers for the grunge movement as it hit its peak in the early 90s, and Ten was of the course one of the big albums of that time. But what is grunge? Let’s get this one out of the way first.
In all honesty, it feels like a marketing term because the main “grunge” bands all sounded radically different: Nirvana played punk-inspired loud-soft/loud-soft music, Alice in Chains were closer to Bon Jovi or Poison than the others and Pearl Jam joined Soundgarden in playing classic rock. So, for the sake of argument, let’s just say grunge is playing some form of rock, being from Seattle, wearing a lumberjack shirt and involuntarily being recruited by the marketing men in return for a leg-up in the music business.
You can see why Ten sold by the bucket-load: it’s slick stadium rock ready to take on tour. Granted, Eddie Vedder’s lyrics concerning outcasts and tortured souls maybe provides Pearl Jam with something that differentiates them from other mainstream rock bands of the time, but this is definitely more mainstream than Nirvana.
The feelings I get from listening to this are not much different from 30-odd years ago. I was disappointed that such a hugely touted album sounded so underwhelming. It’s not bad, far from it, but for the most part, it doesn’t live up to the hype. It rumbles along pleasantly enough, but for me there are very few standout tracks or moments.
The highlights arrive early: “Even Flow” has a great pace to it. There’s a lot going on with the guitars and bass whilst Eddie applies his trademark vocals. “Alive” is by far the best track on the album for me – in fact it’s one of the best rock songs of the 90s. That opening electric guitar and acoustic strum, the chorus and then the guitar solo that just seems to go on forever as the song reaches its climax, the drums and bass thrumming faster and faster. It’s a true masterpiece.
However, after this 1-2 (or actually, 2-3), the thrills are few and far between. Despite Foggy’s recent comment, I enjoyed “Black” more this time. It’s a gentler start to a song that increases in intensity as it progresses, and that seven-note piano (keyboard?) part is very nicely done. “Jeremy” is a great rock song, telling the true story of a high school student who shot himself in front of his class. “Jeremy spoke in class today” is such a powerful lyric.
After “Jeremy”, it feels like the album is downhill. I do like “Garden” and the guitar solo just over halfway through is sublime, and whilst there’s nothing bad here, it all feels a bit humdrum.
Whilst possible to review Ten without comparing it to Nirvana’s Nevermind and Soundgarden’s Superunknown, I’m not going to, because the latter option is far more fun. I own all three of these albums and whilst I appreciate their places in rock history, I have issues with all of them. From a personal point-of-view, I like about half of Nevermind, the rest being a bit too shouty or weird for me. Superunknown is my favourite of the three and has four or five absolutely immense tracks (and Chris Cornell’s voice is amazing) but at fifteen tracks it’s about 50% too long.
So, whilst Nevermind is therefore a 50% for me and Superunknown 66%, Ten is less than 50%. It’s certainly good enough for 6/10, and if there were more tracks on the same level as “Alive” and “Jeremy”, it would be a 7 or 8.