The purpose of these threads is to take the time and go back and listen to the Pearl Jam albums you remember but haven't sat down with in a long time. What did you think? is it what you remembered?



Part I: Ten

it's been a long time since I listened to vs. as a record.


Oh man, the beginning of Go is sooo good. this is the best build to any of their songs--it's ominous and foreboding and important sounding without sounding self important. I wish they did it live.

I listen to Go all the time so nothing new here with the song, but I think Vs. has my favorite production of any of the records (maybe Vitalogy is better). It's loud and forceful without going too far. I don't think they ever captured the raw power in their music as well as they did here. Much of Go is nonsensical but it hardly matters since the song just hits so hard.

The transition from Go to Animal is great--you have this frantic, almost violently ogasmic outro, a few moments of silence and then the explosion right into animal, and this song is produced so well. I kinda forget how rich animal sounds. Largely weak, almost nonsensical lyrics but again it doesn't matter because the experience of the song is so striking.

Animal has another terrific ending--like Go they manage to capture the emotional intensity of the great Ten outros but boil them down to a much more concentrated form. And the slow start to daughter gives you a chance to cool down after Animal/Go for the long stretch of mid-tempo songs that follow. Eddie's early 90s voice is in full effect here but the song sounds so rich it doesn't matter. I barely listen to daughter anymore, but I'm not sure why. I kinda forget how good this song is. Mike's solo in the middle is nice and clean, and the echoey effect on Eddie's voice at the end is cool, and the outro music is really good.

Go -> Animal is one of the best one two punches in rock.

And going to Daughter is perfect. It's a lot like the transition from Brain Of J -> Faithful.

Daughter's probably my favorite of the songs that I think of as radio hit Pearl Jam songs.

vs is the best record from them or at least its the record that sums to me what i feel is the band about.
the production is perfect, its sounds awesome.
really, nothing new here for me , im always listening to vs.

I'm really not surprised that VS is your favorite album.

That post sounded douchier than I meant it to be.

The fade out at the end of Daughter helps make the jump start at the beginning of Glorified G less jarring. Glorified G probably deserves more love than it gets. Yeah this is a stupid song, but it's a fun riff and at the same time this song doesn't take itself too seriously. There's some bitter sarcasm here, some self-righteousness, and it overreaches, but the music is so playful that it makes it all okay. Pearl Jam has never done fun well, but they come close here. It'd be interesting to see what they would have done with this song today when they're a little better at it.

I am still surprised how great this record sounds. They never captured the hard hitting immediacy of their sound as well as they did here.

I actually really like the music in dissident, and Eddie sounds good. The lyrics aren't anything special but it's actually a fun song to sing along too (it's one of the less demanding moments in the early catalog). Listening to it now I can't figure out why I don't like this song more than I do. I think I just overplayed it over the years.

W.M.A. NEEDS to be about two minutes shorter than it is, since it eventually starts treading water, but this is a cool atmospheric piece that runs out of ideas and is enjoying itself too much to stop.

The long cooldown probably makes Blood hit harder. Like Go and Animal this is a much richer song than I often remember. Not a particularly brilliant song (starting with Vitalogy the fast songs become, for the most part, much smarter) but the joy and skill of the playing carry them much further than the writing justifies. I forget how exuberant these songs are.


Crap--that baseball game commercial just popped into my head at the start of this. RVM is like GTF--a song that is easily among their best but I rarely feel like listening to anymore. The 3 guitar parts are really well integrated here and the song moves along so well. Listening to this has me wondering why i don't do it more often. And the outro (the most Ten part on the record I think) gives the song a well deserved climax.

WMA does not need to be shorter.

I'm not sure I've ever agreed with any of your posts as much as I do this one.

Rats is another song that is dripping with a judgmental kind of innocence, but the music is a lot of fun. For a record where so many of the songs are basically in the same headspace there's a lot more variety here than I recall.


Small Town is interesting. This is one of my all time favorite Pearl jam songs, and sounds young, like everything on this record (I actually think Ten sounds older), but there's a gravity, even wisdom to it that makes this very striking (as opposed to a song like Rats, which is trying to be wise but isn't)

I don't think I like Leash's place on the album. I'm not sure. I actually enjoy the song quite a bit (some great moments and the same energy as the rest of the record) but it feels almost regressive sandwiched between Small Town and Indifference.

Indifference is like RVM. I rarely listen to it anymore, but this has always been,and still is, one of my favorites. They strike such a great balance between a stark simplicity and a lush atmosphere. The song is drenched in the fullest emptiness you ever heard. Eddie sounds great and I have always liked the lyrics a lot, and this does such a great job closing the actual record--actually taking the time to resolve everything that came before (their last songs almost always do this though--they've always made sure that the last song on the record ties together all the themes).


Vs. is such a youthful, exuberant sounding record. That might be the thing that is most dated about it. I could see Vs. appearing in another era, but I couldn't see it being made by an older band. There's a simplicity to it that is almost naive.

A lot of the song writing on Eddie's part is much weaker on this album than I recall (although the high spots are really high), but the songs just sound good and are performed with more energy than just about any other PJ record. I don't think any other PJ album is this charged. It might be one of the reasons why this record sounds dated for some people. They do a masterful job with some sub par songs.

There's also no real journey here. Although Indifference tries to close it out by pulling it all together there's no real growth on the record until the very end, and it's too much shoehorned into one song. And so in a weird way Vs. ends up feeling more repetitive than it actually is.

I have been listening to this CD a lot lately, as I was sort of considering writing up a guided tour of the album.

I'm all in with Stip on the first two songs. The album intro to Go is just amazing and if they did it live even just once in a while it would be amazing. Go seems so loud and in your face and just ferocious and then it goes out with a flurry and you have about a second and a half where it's quiet and you start to collect yourself feeling like something calmer must be coming ... and instead Animal starts and it's even louder and more in your face than Go. It's an amazing transition that both songs benefit from.

Also, since these two songs start the record (and to some degree because you do also get Blood, RVM, and Leash later) I tend to think of Vs. as a much more relentless, loud record than it is. Other than the 5 songs mentioned, the record is pretty midtempo throughout, with the slow burn of Indifference at the end. But the way it starts, coupled with the lyrics throughout, mean that this album always lives in my memory as an angry album, even though sonically, at least, it's really not.

I've enjoyed many "Rearviewmirror"s over the years but none for me will ever surpass the original studio version. I like the long middles but the original short middle is perfect, and the guitar parts are vocal rounds in the outro are never better integrated than they were on the record.

I'm not sure if it's Dave A. or what, but I generally think "Elderly Woman" was best, if not on the record itself, then definitely during this era.

And "WMA" was my first favorite song on Vs. I'll always love it.

I really think they should re work the end of the song, vocally, to at least mimic the studio recording. They have enough vocalists...eddie should be just screaming the "rearview mirror!!!" While stone/jeff/ and or matt do the other parts...

The nature of "RVM" has changed a lot. The middle section has evolved but the song itself has become too sloppy to pack near the wallop that I like it to. Just listen to the LOXL version--Eddie sounds like he can barely be bothered to walk to the mic to cough the lyrics up. And he always sings the "head at your feet/fool to your crown" passage twice, instead of the "I couldn't breathe." Actually, maybe he just forgot it's there. Maybe Eddie should participate in the "Let's Actually Listen to the Albums Event" at RM.

Go to Animal is probably my favorite back to back songs on any album of the band.

When I add up my 1-5 song ratings on each album and average them out Ten comes in highest, however Vs is my favorite Pearl Jam album most of the time. Powerful musically, Ed still sounds amazing, and Dave is kicking ass on the kit. I'll have to review the songs when I have time later. The harder rocking stuff rocks like a motherfucker and the slow stuff is beautiful. What an amazing album. Glorified G, Dissident and WMA are the only tracks that I'd call average (for Pearl Jam) but I still enjoy them and there are no skippers on this disc. The last Pearl Jam album with no skippers for me.

i love how youthful it sounds... i would like to retrack this one though. Dissident/ Glorified G is a brickwall at the beginning of the album. i would have let the rock go on a little longer... i do get a funny tinge of nostalgia from hearing Glorified G, though... Dissident is a weird wannabe Jeremy or something. i wonder how many of these ideas Ed had been kicking around since Bad Radio... had a newfound appreciation of WMA since Bonnaroo and like all the different versions except the MSG one... RVm is the only song that if they DON'T play at a show, i'm dissappointed. just awesome... Elderly Woman is a GREAT song... Leash is cool. i miss those days before youthful rebellion and angst were played out... still kinda indifferent to indifference.

Alright, here we go.

Bass intro to "Go" is fucking badass.

I really love "Go". Such an awesome, feverish, intense song. Probably my favorite song in this album.

The little shouts he does before the chorus are kind of funny, though. "Don't!... Saaemm!... Such!... Baerrh!"

"TAEESHH! Turnn! Daeem!!!! Siiemmmm!!! Please please pleeeease..."