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Pearl Jam is one of those bands that people just love. Right from the release of their classic debut Ten people went ape shit for this band, and why wouldn't they? The songs are immediately powerful, loaded with emotion and darkness, and buoyed by the rawness of the overall sound of the band. Yet for some reason, as much as I enjoyed Ten and Vs, the band never really clicked with me until they expanded their sound to include more raw punk sounds and the occassional ballad on Vitalogy. It must have clicked with a lot of other people as well as this was the second fastest selling album in history at the time, behind only Vs. It was of course catapulted by some very strong singles, but the overall feeling of the album - from the packaging to the songs - is a thing of beauty. I remember my brother bringing this home back in '94 and being awed by the beauty of its simple cardboard packaging, the beautfiul book that came with it, and the smell, something like a melted crayon that oozed from it. It's one of those moments in my musical life that won't ever forget and that was before I ever listened to a single note on the album.
Kicking off with "Spin the Black Circle", Vitalogy is probably the most complete album in the Pearl Jam catalog. Among infighting and the growing fame of front man Eddie Vedder, the band somehow pushed out an album rife with emtion and energy. It clicks immediately with the opening track and goes pummeling through a huge array of sound never before heard from Pearl Jam. Fuzzed out punk segments, arching romantic ballads, and the crunchy grunge riffs live everywhere on this album.
Listening to Vitalogy is by far the mst rewarding experience of all the albums in the Pearl Jam catalog. This has stood as my favorite for some time, yet it seems a lot of people under value you it opting for the stadium sized anthems of Ten. As good as their debut was Vitalogy is the album that showed growth and the ability to change with the times, allowing Pearl Jam to go from being a grunge band to one of the best, longest running bands in the world.
Pearl Jam - "Spin the Black Circle"
Pearl Jam - "Nothingman"
Pearl Jam - "Corduroy"
Pearl Jam - "Bugs"
Pearl Jam - "Better Man"
2 comments:
Despite being into all things Seattle back then, Pearl Jam just struck me as a newer version of Bad Company. They music was too polished, the songs were too long. They were everything the other bands - Nirvana, Mudhoney, Supersuckers - were not. I have a great respect for their politics and their fight against Ticketmaster and they are obviously huge music historians (as evidenced by their choices of cover songs), but have never found anything interesting about their music.
Here, here. I get into arguments with PJ fans about this all the time. Thank you for echoing my views so perfectly.
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