Vital!!! (Vitalogy - Pearl Jam)

Member Name: Pulsebeat

Product:	Vitalogy - Pearl Jam
Date:	01/05/02 (184 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: yes

Disadvantages: a few

For those who don't like them, Pearl Jam will always be second-rate chancers who winged their way to fame on the bcak of Nirvana's coat-tails. However, over time it appears as those Pearl Jam have transformed themselves into one of those bands who manage to make impassioned and heartfelt music, transcendent of fashion and musical trends. Undoubtedly, Pearl Jam hit their commercial peak with the release of their first two albums 'Ten' and 'Vs' (the fastest selling album ever upon its release) and accordingly, many people believe that these two records mark the point where the band were also at their best. However, far from being the landmark album that it is often hailed as by fans, 'Ten' now sounds like severely dated cock-rock. On the other hand, 'Vitalogy', which was much maligned by critics when it originally came out, now seems something of a criminally-underrated masterpiece.

Back when 'Vitalogy' first appeared in 1994, grunge was flailing around like a dying fish. Its posterboy Kurt Cobain had committed suicide, and the critics had decided that it was time to move on and find a new musical phenomenon. Thus Britpop was born, and with Blur and Oasis releasing the monumentally huge 'Parklife', and 'Definitely Maybe', suddenly Pearl Jam seemed like the most anachronistic and irrelevant band on the planet. This meant that 'Vitalogy' was absolutely panned by the music press upon its release. To them it reeked of a band trying too hard to be 'punk', and wallowing in self-pity. Admittedly, 'Vitalogy' has a contrived half-finished air about it (which always happens to massive bands who feel ashamed about selling millions of albums), but this helps to give the album a touch of sensitivity which was lacking before in Pearl Jam's music. The so-called 'punk' gestures which accompanied the album - such as releasing it on vinyl a week before CD, and trying to avoid ha
ving a barcode on the product on so it could not enter the charts - ,also seem a little childish, but they also help to point towards the most important thing about 'Vitalogy' - the music.

The LP kicks off with 'Last Exit', a few jazzy chords precede the track and then it explodes into a belting punk/garage (in the non-two step sense of course) mess. Eddie Vedders vocals, previously blustery like the wind, now seem cracked, vulnerable and much more appealing. It seems like an odd start to the album, somewhat of an album-filler as opposed to the definitve statement of intent that most bands choose to open their new records, but over time, the track gains charm and depth. Next up is 'Spin the Black Circle' a song about the virtues of vinyl, which perhaps serves as an indication of Pear Jam's desire to get back to the basics of making music. This again is a raw punk blast, which made it somewhat surprisingly in the UK top ten singles chart, and despite the band's best po-faced effert, this track is good fun.

Essentially, the album's rockier songs, great as they are, pale in comparison to the album's more tender moments. Three tracks stand out as pure crack-your-heart-in-two tearjerkers and these are 'Nothingman', 'Immortality', and 'Betterman'. Of these, 'Nothingman'is truly one of the most beautiful songs to emerge from the 90s. Its simplicity is its main virtue, a simple, familiar chord change reminiscebnt of early R.E.M., allows the nuances of Eddie Vedder's voice to resonate deeply with the listener, as he sings: 'Once divided, nothing to subtract/ Some words when spoken, can't be taken back'. It's a million miles away from the stadium-rock poses that marred 'Ten', and I defy you not to be wiping the corner of your eyes with your hanky by the time of its conclusion.

To make the comparison again, it seems as if Pearl Jam had moved into R.E
.M. territory with 'Vitalogy', and despite being relatively early-on in their career, this album is their 'Up'. With 'Up', R.E.M. tried to shrug off commercial anticipation for them to make another 'Automatic for the People', by making a stark and desolate album which was more about the music than record sales. Similarly Pearl Jam had got about as big as it is possible for a band to get, and made a similar move into less-commercial territory with 'Vitalogy'. What's more, the effect of both these records was to reduce both bands' fanbase considerably, but leaving them with hardcore followers who would merely expect the bands to make interesting and moving music. Which both R.E.M. and Pearl Jam have continued to do.

I find 'Vitalogy' particularly endearing precisely because of its half-formed lack of cohesion. There are several pointless, but likeable ditties such as 'Bugs' which features Eddie Vedders amateurish attempts to play the accordian whilst singing: 'I've got bugs, bugs in my hair', sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and a pissed Captain Birdseye. Another track such as this is 'Aye Davinita' which is a short Spanish influenced jam which only features the lyrics of its title. Only, the "look at our arty abstract sound-collage a bit like the also crap Revolution no. 9" track (called 'Heyfoxymophandlemommathatsme' or 'Foxy Mop' on the CD version) is what could be labelled conventionally "shit".

One more thing to mention about 'Vitalogy' is that it is exquisitely packaged. The vinyl is especially impressive, made to resemble an old medical journal with a pull-out book with lots of weird scribbling and pictures. However, I'm not sure that you can buy the vinyl anymore, so you'll have to make do with the CD (you heathen!!!) which anarchically will be too big to fit in your CD rack (that'll teach you huh!
). Anyway, 'Vitalogy' is an album, which can now be reassessed out of the context of the grunge comedown. Evidently it is not an album for everyone, but it is a truly surprising and deep statement from a band who were previously considered to be bandwagon jumpers. Its one of the few albums that truly deserves to be called "interesting".

I'm gonna start giving ratings out of ten from now on I think, because I end up giving everything 4 or 5 if I like it, but there's a great deal of variation amongst these marks. So 'Vitalogy' gets a big, fat....9.

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