Album: Ten
Released: 1991
Appreciated, but often overlooked for the role that they played, grunge kingpins Pearl Jam are next on my challenge list. Recognised by many as part of the group of heroes who came out of Seattle with a mission of making hard rock music, their legendary status is not as a result of being overhyped. I love Nirvana, and I can appreciate bands like Alice In Chains and Soundgarden, but Ten is the album that seems to make critics swoon, so step up Eddie Vedder and co.
As an album opener, Once showcases Eddie Vedder's scruffy vocal style perfectly, and is a perfectly good rock song. Even Flow is regarded as one of the bands classics, with its mainstream rock appeal and memorable vocal rhythm. Vedder croons like Robert Plant, and Mike McCready lets rip on his axe of doom. The volume remains, but with a smoother delivery bordering on the "ballad" tag, Alive sounds like the sort of stuff Nickelback would put out, but then get lambasted for it. However, because this is Pearl Jam, I don't need to be looking over my shoulder whilst I praise it. Poignant lyrics about death and guilt paired up with improvised lead guitar make for an impressive number. I don't know what it is about Black that has me thinking of James Hetfield, with vocal and lead guitar melodies that the Metallica man wouldn't turn away from. It's not what you'd expect from a so-called "grunge band", but the dynamics of Black make for an album highlight.
The song Jeremy is another anthem of the nineties. It's hardly a bright spark of Ten but it has a hook that I'm finding difficult to ignore. Oceans makes use of vocal effects and a clean guitar tone, before giving way to Porch, a hard rock number. Ten is wrapped up with Release, a nine minute journey split into what seems like two songs, culminating in a fairly pointless three minute instrumental outro.
An often celebrated album created by five young men filled with ambition and hope, Ten is the thinking man's Nevermind. It is the sort of album that fans of any genre of music would enjoy, and even though Nevermind is an incredibly popular and brilliant record, it doesn't cover as many bases as Ten does. Mike McCready is a very different guitarist to Kurt Cobain, and in some ways different to Jerry Cantrell, but he is one of the highlights of the band for me, without overlooking the rest of the group. It would be lazy to pigeonhole this with all of their fellow grunge bands, because there is so much more to it than angst and fuzzy guitars. You can hear the influence from these guys in a lot of more recent rock bands, so no matter what you think of them, they're inspirational, and from this album, I can understand why.
Rating: 8/10
Recommended songs: Even Flow, Alive, Black
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