Ten - Pearl Jam

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

Where it all began for one of the best bands to still be rocking today. The album claimed by many to be the best Pearl Jam album ever, though I disagree with this view. For me this is the best debut album release in the last 20 years, but to say it's the best Pearl Jam have done would be doing them a disservice. While CD has the stand out moments that every Pearl Jam release does, sometimes the dynamics of the CD and the tracks as a collection are a bit messy, though this rawness is what you expect for a first release from a (then) young band. This was the worlds introduction to Pearl Jam and as all PJ albums since have done, Ten covered many taboo ...  Read the complete review

PEARL JAM - TEN ---------------- Pearl Jam, are a slightly unknown band in this country, which is a big shame as we seem to miss out on so much great American rock music, and end up with the watered down pop, even when we do get a nice guitar in a song, its by a "band" such as Busted, now don't get me wrong, I can see why lots of young kids like their music but it doesn't rock! So this brings me to an album that does Rock, released way back in 1991, this was one of the first rock albums that I got into, I mean I was only 11 at the time!! know 12 years later this album is still as strong and fresh as it was then. THE ...  Read the complete review