So, I've ummed and ahhed about writing a music review for a while. Music is my biggest passion but I'm not sure how best to get my views down in words - I don't think shouting to the world "AHHH It's amazing, go and buy it immediately!" will suffice. So I thought I'd start with a review of my favourite album of all time (no pressure!). "Ten" is Pearl Jam's debut album, released in 1991 on a relatively small budget. Now if you've never heard Pearl Jam before the best word to describe them is passionate. This is mainly shown by Eddie Vedder's (lead vocalist) raw, gritty and purely amazing voice. His tones are soothing yet angry, soft yet ...  Read the complete review

The first album from the longest surviving of all the Seattle groups of the early nineties. What makes this truly remarkable is that half the group rose from the ashes of Mother Love Bone after the death of singer Andy Wood, and the other half hadn’t ever met. Guitarist Stone Gossard had recorded a tape of demos with bass player Jeff Ament and passed them around initially looking for a drummer. The tape made its way into the hands of Jack Irons formerly of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, he declined the stool but recommended a friend of his who was a singer. Enter Eddie Vedder, within weeks he’d moved up to Seattle and they had recorded this amazing ...  Read the complete review

Ten by Pearl Jam (1991) In my other reviews I've kept mentioning that the guitars "sound like Pearl Jam" so it looks like I'm going to need some new similes. Jeff Ament - bass Stone Gossard - guitar Mike McCready - guitar Dave Krusen - drums Eddie Vedder - vocals The guitars sound like... well, they don't sound like Nirvana, so let's get that out of the way, because the whole "grunge" phenomenon is as unhelpful now as it was back then. I know guys with very lank hair who insist the only grunge albums were made by Mudhoney in the 1980s, and if you argue with them well then they'll make you listen to ...  Read the complete review

If one word were to define Eddie Vedder, lead vocals of Seattle rockers Pearl Jam, then for me it’d be passionate. Having survived the grunge era of the early 90’s, an era which saw the end of the likes of Nirvana and Alice In Chains, Vedder and his merry men have continued to blaze a trail through to the current day, releasing albums that, despite slowly diminishing in quality, have still showed fleeting glimpses of promise. Critics will state that the ‘real’ Pearl Jam died after the release of their second full length ‘Vs’ in 1993, but I beg to differ; simply because the bands music began to lack the raw aggression that fuelled their early releases, doesn’t immediately  Read the complete review

After my graduation from university at the end of June this year I was overcome by a liberating sense of freedom and relief, a sense that my time was my own time and I could do whatever the hell I wanted with it. I started to read more books, fall back into my old hobbies and take up some new ones. I also began to widen my horizons musically, discovering new artists and sounds - a sort of musical epiphany, you might say and it began with my discovery of Pearl Jam. I can't really believe that I hadn't heard of them up until July this year. After a few songs, I was blown away by their rawness and intensity, musically and lyrically. 'Ten' is an album which ...  Read the complete review