Pearl Jam - Ten
This is one of my favourite albums ever, I mean really, I think its as close to a perfect album as I've ever heard.
This is of course the debut album from the Seattle grunge gods, Pearl Jam, released in 1991.
The album itself contains many variants on everything in it, with the brilliant Eddie Vedder showing off his vocals when he was at his prime.
The vocals range from strange grunts and such in solo's and at the end of lines, which just make the songs I feel, to the powerful lyrics of the verse and chorus of most songs thrust at us by the powerful lungs of Eddie Vedder, in tracks such as Once, Even Flow, and Jeremy. He also, however, shows a much lighter side to his vocals as he breaks down into the smoother, more solemn tracks, such as Alive, with the melodic guitar taking the place of the bass on melody to start with, before switching back to the usual set-up, and the drums taking a much quieter, smoother track than many other tracks.
As mentioned above, in many tracks the bass takes the role of melody in place of a rhythm guitarist, as they had only the one guitarist at that time, and the well placed bass-lines that mix in with the drums almost perfectly leave the album with a melodic back-track which perfectly compliments the powerful vocals and guitar work done by Eddie Vedder and Mike McCreedy respectively.
The guitar in the album itself lends a strong aspect to it, emphasising some of the more memorable riffs, such as that on Jeremy, and matching the vocals on many songs, such as Alive, where it rises and falls with Eddie Vedders voice, giving more emphasis to it and allowing the songs to flow from verse to chorus and back, without losing any of the power that Vedder brings to the tracks. However on some tracks, such as Why Go, Mike McCreedy also joins with the rhythm, playing the main riff, which the bass-follows, allowing the song to seamlessly slip into and out-of the solo, and also giving McCreedy more chance to show what he can do as he can easily fit several riffs in that, once again, add emphasis to the track.
The albums lyrics are often tending towards a darker theme, albeit that they sound rather more upbeat and quite joyous, tracks such as Jeremy, Even Flow, Alive, and Black all consider much more depressive themes, such as a bullied child killing himself in front of his class-mates (Jeremy), the lack of coherence in an illiterate homeless man (Even Flow), and a lack of reason to live (Alive). However the lyrics, paired with Vedder's powerful voice, flow perfectly with the songs, giving them some rather interesting sounds, such as the rather saddening Black, or the quite upbeat Even Flow.
Overall, As I said I am rather biased towards this album as I have loved every track on it since I first heard it, so I would recommend every single person on the planet listen to this album.
10/10
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