STICKY CONTENT
All the Pearl Jam studio albums, rated by KEITH CAMERON.
TEN
★★★★
(Epic, 1991)
Six months after singer Andrew Wood fatally overdosed, the core of Seattle hard rock hopefuls Mother Love Bone auditioned a singer who’d written lyrics to two of their new band’s songs while surfing. Pearl Jam’s debut was duly conceived out of tragedy, infused with a mystic spirit, and offered a Valhalla feast of hot fret action. The bombast got tempered on 2009’s remix, but songs like Alive and Even Flow endure for good reason.
VS
★★★
(Epic, 1993)
Whatever your definition of ‘grunge’, Ten was more along-forthe-ride than driving-the-bus. Possibly stung by purist opprobrium, Vs dressed down the Bad Company licks and permitted distortion, without ever conveying the sense the band were certain this was how to follow their surprise hit debut. But Eddie Vedder’s angst avatar was authentically dark-eyed on Daughter, while Rearviewmirror’s riff chase was pure berserker thrill. The start of a fruitful bond with producer Brendan O’Brien.