Vs - Pearl Jam find their true voice (Vs. - Pearl Jam)

Member Name: navidson

Product:	Vs. - Pearl Jam
Date:	23/04/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Consistently excellent

Disadvantages: None

Arriving on the back of the huge, widespread adoration of their debut album 'Ten', Pearl Jam then proceeded to confound expectations with a very different album, 'Vs'. At the time this album was released, Pearl Jam were riding such a wave of popularity that it was the fastest selling record in history, and was probably as popular as the band were ever to be.

Whereas 'Ten' had more of a loose-limbed, groovy, bluesy feel to much of it, 'Vs' is more muscular and tense - Opening track 'Go' and 'Animal' are both short, aggressive tracks, full of driving guitar and a more forceful sounding Eddie Vedder on vocals. They display their trademark sensitivity with tracks such as 'Daughter' and 'Indifference', fusing a more expensive sound to Vedder's gorgeously evocative voice.

There are elements of tribal influences in both 'Glorified G' and 'WMA' (The latter especially) showing the band starting to spread its wings. The album highlight is undoubtedly 'Rearviewmirror' which manages to encapsulate all of Pearl Jam's best qualities into 5 minutes - Impassioned vocals, relentless guitars, distinctive melodies - Theyre all here, and sounding better than ever.

Summary: Grunge masters pack a punch